#BUT i was just protecting the law of our great city i love british people yes <3 this is the end everyone else go home NOW ok <3'

[evita-shelby]

Between the Shadow and the Soul

Chapter 13

Tw: slight description of gore, mentions of a hate crime

“You know gypsies don’t actually come from Egypt, Mr. Solomons, white Europeans assumed they were and suddenly everyone forgot that the Roma people, are actually from some part in India and called them gypsies instead of Romani.”

The stench was strong enough to make Eva want to retch, bit she forces the bile back down her throat. Can't project strength when vomiting in front of your enemies.

“I’m afraid you’re late to the party, Mrs. Shelby.” Alfie Solomons ate his matzah and acted as if the blood, brain matter and other garbage around him was not something out of a horror novel. Eva had seen worse, growing up under a dictatorship meant seeing the law kill its own people quite often.

In 1907, Diaz sent an army to end a riot in the biggest factory in Veracruz, it had awakened this thirst for justified violence, but what could a girl of eleven do? By the time she was eighteen and three months she drove a knife through a man’s head until it came out the other way. After that she began sleeping with a knife under her pillow.

“A shame, I’ve been to a Passover Seder once and I have been dying to see how it compares to the one I attended in Mexico City. Although, Doctor Pereira’s Seder was quite something, despite that we were all arrested for treason right after.” that was a lie, but it wasn’t like Solomons could contact Isaac and Jael Pereira to see if it was true. Both had died when some Catholic cunts burned their house.

“All your little stories end up with you being arrested, don’t they?” he jokes and Eva wants to hit him. It’s his fault everything fell apart. Sabini killed their men at the Eden and got away from the police, Arthur and chunk of the survivors here were in prison for the murder of Billy Kitchen, and Eva knows Campbell is after Michael for some fucking reason.

All because Tommy wants to string along an heiress in her pretty horse ranch god knows how many hours away. Her husband may be a genius, but hilariously stupid when it comes to love. Had Eva not married him, Grace would've no doubt been Mrs. Shelby despite everything she did in 1919.

“The hard life of living in a dictatorship, Mr. Solomons. Imagine my surprise when I talked shit about the British government and no one showed up to publicly execute me!” Eva says with mock astonishment. “But enough about my colorful past, you broke our treaty, killed our ally, and framed my brother-in-law. And that is not something I forgive easily.”

“You’ve got some balls on you, Mrs. Shelby, makes me wonder if your gypsy husband knows what he married.” He says offering her half of his flat bread and she refuses. If she eats anything it will come back up.

“I am just here just to tell you, that Smith, Riley and Arambula will no longer transport your ‘bread’ and you will not be receiving any profit from the shipments to Halifax and New York.” Eva knew Solomons needed their ships more than they needed their business.

“Gonna make me regret it then, sweetheart? You have no one here to protect you, your little husband doesn’t even know you’re here, doesn’t he?” he taunts her. True she is utterly defenseless, but that was what made her so great at making people do what she needed them to do. Alfie may be batshit insane, but he was a lot smarter than he looks.

“He’ll betray you again, you know.” Eva looks at Alfie with something akin to pity. “Greed makes people forget things like morals and years of friendship if there is something to be gained.

Oh, and Chag Pesach Samech, Mr. Solomons.”

---

“He could’ve killed you.” Tommy lectures her incensed that she’d stupidly risk her life just to intimidate their enemies. His wife rolls her eyes like some teenager. Except fourteen-year-old Finn has the decency to look sorry.

Eva doesn’t. Eva didn’t regret doing what she did, in fact she looked proud of it.

One night and everything fell apart. Now all they have left untouched was Eva’s shipping company and who’s to say they will still have that by lunch.

They’d have to appease the Black Country boys, and Eva had already tried to explain it was Sabini and Solomons who’d killed Billy Kitchen, but as usual they didn’t believe her. Either way the treaty was off and they’d have to go back to relying on Eva’s readings to make sure their boats aren’t attacked.

She climbed on his lap, wanting to make him forget he was angry that she’d done something so risky. “Would’ve made things so much easier for May, wouldn’t it? If you were suddenly made a widower.”

Eva was a jealous woman, especially now that the baby made her self-control slip. She toys with the buttons on his vest before going to the ones on his trousers. She’d wind him up and leave him like that, just because he’d thought about another woman.

Nothing had happened with May, he briefly considered it, but in the end he couldn’t. Although that didn’t stop his all-knowing wife from being furious the moment he walked into the house.

“You went with no one else but a driver, Evie, he could have killed you and I would have burned Camden Town in revenge.” Tommy would have done worse than that if someone dared to hurt Eva, Solomons looked like a tough fucker, but that has never stopped him before.

“Solomons wouldn’t have killed me, he’s batshit insane, but I knew what I was doing. What I didn’t see was that Campbell would have Moss of all people arrest Michael for what happened to the Marquis. Would’ve had Sabini’s head on a platter for you, but instead you'll have to settle with his address and the list of all the policemen in his pocket.” His wife was seemingly born into this type of life. No other woman could ever come close to Eva. She was a perfect partner in more ways than one. “That merits a reward, doesn’t it, Tommy.”

“Like what, Evie?” He had planned for this to be a surprise, but Eva had likely already figured it out. Of course, they’d have to multitask and plan their next move, but it would be worth it.

“A weekend in London, just us. You’ve had plans made weeks ago when we went to the pictures, apparently.” she looks smug, like she always does when she finds out any surprise he has for her. Tommy had hoped her lack of visions lately would keep things a secret, too bad those things come as they please.

“Did you see it in the cards, love?” he asks his hands snaking up her pretty day dress. Two could play that game.

“No, with the exception of Solomons coming back to our side, and Campbell being murdered by Polly at the Derby, I haven't had no other visions.” Evie answers his unspoken question, leaving him to figure out how she discovered it. “I found out the normal way, surprisingly.”

Normal way, what she calls everything not gained through the second sight.

“Was it Wag or the maid who called you?” he asks her.

“Wag, who told Uncle Jack about being able to get tickets for him and Aunt Penny as well.” Her voice becomes unsteady as he gets where he wants, but she moves his hand away and stands up. Tommy knew what she’d do next, Eva always does that when she hasn’t quite forgiven him about whatever she’s angry about. Tomorrow night, he’ll make sure she forgets everything including her own name.

“I need to get my black dress back from the seamstress, can’t look shabby when you introduce me to Charlie Chaplin tomorrow night.”

---

How do you know Charlie Chaplain’s bodyguard, Tommy?” Eva asked him. She knew something, something that would tell him why her aunt and uncle were here too.

“He was a bookie in Birmingham before he went to Los Angeles. He is also Romani Gypsy as is Chaplin. Born at the Black Patch as well, but he hides it.” He explained and then asked, “How’s Wag related to you?”

“Nanna Ethel’s maiden name was Macdonald, according to Uncle Jack, Wag’s my fourth cousin.” she answers in a whisper. “Apparently, he was supposed to come to Nanna’s funeral last year, but there was a scheduling mix-up with Chaplin. Never met Wag though.”

“Wag, Mr. Chaplin, let me introduce you to my wife and Wag’s lovely cousin, Eva Shelby.” Tommy introduces her and Eva really hopes this time she won’t be forced to help hide a famous actor in a basement because they spoke against the government. Although that did earn her a beautiful ruby ring from a very thankful Mimi Derba.

---

Notes:

sike! no angst on this chapter!

so yeah, romani people actually come from a place in northern india and since white europeans are so bad at geography (Colombus thought the world was pear shaped and the Americas were indian because brown people were there) they assumed those brown people were egyptian, which is where the word (and slur) gypsy comes from.

mimi derba borin in 1893, Mexico City, was a mexican actress during the revolution, apprently she was so political that she had to be hidden in a basement when the government sent soldiers to arrest her for being outspoken. she went on to found Azteca Studios, Mexicos first film studio in 1917 where she became Mexico's first female director.

the riot in veracruz that Eva witnessed as a child did in fact happen. it was the Huelga de Rio Blanco/ the Strike of RIo Blanco, where two thousand workers of a textile factory went on strike, burnt a company store to the ground and Porfirio Diaz then ordered the military to kill them. 223 male workers were killed as were 12 female workers, but appratently there were more casualities ---enough to fill several railroad platforms that involved both adults and children. Diaz went on to throw a banquet to congratulate the army for suppressing the riot. Strangely you won't find that in the english page on wikipedia, which sounds vaguely biased against the strike since one of the companies involved was american and the other french and says that the likelyhood of there being more than 70 people dead at the incident, which sounds like something the mexican government would do: cover up a body count.

Also episode 5 takes place in March but then the Derby happens in June, until Grace showed up saying she was pregnant I had assumed not much time has passed lol

#thomas shelby fanfic #between the shadow and the soul #thomas shelby x oc #tommy shelby x oc #peaky blinders fanfiction #tw for mentions of gore #ocappreciation #oc appreciation

[kellyvela]

THE WOLF THAT SLEW THE DRAGON

The other day I made this little post:

Here is Jon Snow killing his aunt to protect Sansa… Oh I’m sorry, this is Saint George killing the dragon to protect a redhead princess. In some versions of the tale Saint George marries the princess… [x]

I did it as a little funny post really, after reading some very bad takes about Targaryen dragons... But after just a small research the last couple of days the things I found are really amazing. Let’s see:  

I already knew about the Legend of Saint George - the Dragon Slayer, and even asked @sansaastark​ to photoshop GRRM’s head on Saint George’s body:

But who was this man, Saint George - the Dragon Slayer? Does he really influenced GRRM?

Saint George was a Roman soldier that was martyred and beheaded following the Emperor orders, after refusing to participate in the persecution of christians because he was a christian himself. 

This part of Saint George’s life reminds me of the Faith of the Seven versus the Old Gods in ASOIAF.  It also makes me think about Jon Snow refusing to abandon the Wildlings and allowing them to cross the Wall, against the ancient law of the Night’s Watch.

Saint George ascended quickly in the Roman Army and became a member of the Praetorian Guard, whose members served as personal bodyguards and intelligence for the Roman emperors, something like the Kingsguard.  

This reminds me of a very young Jon Snow becoming the Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch, you know: “the shield that guards the realms of men”. Also according Fire & Blood: “Visenya modeled their vows (Kingsguard’s vows) on those of the Night’s Watch; like the black-cloaked crows of the Wall, the White Swords served for life, surrendering all their lands, titles, and worldly goods to live a life of chastity and obedience, with no reward but honor.”

But the most famous part of Saint George’s story is the legend that says he slew a dragon:

In the well-known version from Jacobus da Varagine's Legenda aurea (The Golden Legend, 1260s), the narrative episode of Saint George and the Dragon took place somewhere he called "Silene", in Libya.

Silene in Libya was plagued by a venom-spewing dragon dwelling in a nearby pond, poisoning the countryside. To prevent it from affecting the city itself, the people offered it two sheep daily, then a man and a sheep, and finally their children and youths, chosen by lottery. One time the lot fell on the king's daughter. The king offered all his gold and silver to have his daughter spared; the people refused. The daughter was sent out to the lake, dressed as a bride, to be fed to the dragon.

Saint George by chance arrived at the spot. The princess tried to send him away, but he vowed to remain. The dragon emerged from the pond while they were conversing. Saint George made the Sign of the Cross and charged it on horseback, seriously wounding it with his lance. He then called to the princess to throw him her girdle (zona), and he put it around the dragon's neck. When she did so, the dragon followed the girl like a "meek beast" on a leash.

The princess and Saint George led the dragon back to the city of Silene, where it terrified the populace. Saint George offered to kill the dragon if they consented to become Christians and be baptized. Fifteen thousand men including the king of Silene converted to Christianity. George then killed the dragon, beheading it with his sword, and the body was carted out of the city on four ox-carts. The king built a church to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint George on the site where the dragon died and a spring flowed from its altar with water that cured all disease. Only the Latin version involves the saint striking the dragon with the spear, before killing it with the sword.

The Golden Legend narrative is the main source of the story of Saint George and the Dragon as received in Western Europe, and is therefore relevant for Saint George as patron saint of England. The princess remains unnamed in the Golden Legend version, and the name "Sabra" is supplied by Elizabethan era writer Richard Johnson in his Seven Champions of Christendom (1596). In the work, she is recast as a princess of Egypt. This work takes great liberties with the material, and makes St. George marry Sabra, and have English children, one of whom becomes Guy of Warwick. Alternative names given to the princess in Italian sources still of the 13th century are Cleolinda and Aia.

Source

You can read various versions of the Legend of Saint George and the Dragon here. 

It’s very interesting that between the names given to the princess of the legend are Sabra and Aia, names that sound pretty much like the names of the Stark sisters: Sansa and Arya.  

It’s also pretty interesting that the princess was ‘sent out to the lake, dressed as a bride, to be fed to the dragon’. This bit remains me very much of Sansa who is strongly linked with marriage in ASOIAF.   

Researching about the princess of the story, I found a very cute version of the legend in a web specialized in children’s audio-books. Here is the part about the princess: 

Then one day, the name of the princess was shaken out of the urn. According to the King’s own law, his daughter must be sacrificed. He called the people together and offered them gold and treasure if only they would agree to spare her from the dragon. The judges who oversaw the lottery said that it must be completely fair, or else the people would no longer accept it. And so, much saddened, the king said to the princess, “My dear, I shall never see your wedding day.”

A week went past, and the day arrived when she must meet her fate. The palace servants dressed her in her wedding gown and placed a crown of flowers on her head. They led her out of the city in a procession, and headed for the lake where the dragon lived.

Source

The King’s lament and the princess dressed her in her wedding gown with a crown of flowers on her head sounds as if the princess was about to marry the dragon. This bit sounds very much like Jenny of Oldstones, Lyanna and Sansa Stark... And take note that the first two actually had a romance with a Targaryen man, you know, a dragon...    

This description of the princess, wearing her wedding gown with a crown of flowers in her head, has been depicted by Edward Burne-Jones in the paintings of his Series “The Legend of St George and the Dragon”:

Princess Sabra Drawing the Lot:

The Princess Sabra Led to the Dragon: 

The Princess Tied to the Tree: 

Where do I see those long sleeves before? Oh yeah in Sansa’s costumes on the Show and also in the description of his wedding dress in the books: “The points of the long dagged sleeves almost touched the ground when she lowered her arms.” - A Storm of Swords - Sansa III

This addition to my little funny post tell us more about the relationship between Saint George and the princess: 

Source: The Union Jack: The Story of the British Flag by Nick Groom.

via @butterflies-dragons [x]

This bit: “Saint George is often described as ‘Our Lady’s Knight’ and was strongly associated with the Cult of the Virgin, which contributed to his role as a model of chivalry and courtly love”, reminds me more and more of Sansa, the character most associated with chivalry and courtly love in ASOIAF.  We also have a link to the Faith of the Seven and The Maiden, that reminds me of this ASOIAF passage: “The Maiden lay athwart the Warrior, her arms widespread as if to embrace him.” - A Clash of Kings - Davos I. Sansa would be the Maiden and Jon would be the Warrior.  

The secular version of the legend, the one where George marries Sabra, was also depicted in paintings, here’s an example:   

 The Wedding of St. George by Dante Gabriel Rossetti:

I love that Sabra is wearing a rose in her hair, I will come back to this detail later.

As if all of these findings weren’t enough, yesterday @tell-me-this-isnt-jonsa​ made this very interesting contribution:

Want to hear a fun fact?

While St. George is now most often associated with England and English iconography, his legend actually spans across Europe and parts of Asia. Relevant to our interests, in Slavic and Germanic folklore, St. George is also the patron saint of wolves, otherwise known as the “Master of Wolves” or a wolf herdsman, able to tame and/or command these wild beasts, as well as protect people and livestock from them.

@tell-me-this-isnt-jonsa [x]

You can read more about Saint George as the Master of Wolves here.

Saint George as the “Master of Wolves” or “Wolf Herdsman” reminds me of Jon Snow being crowned King in the North (I know this only happened in the Show, but there is a possibility that this happens in the Books as well).  Either way, Jon Snow is a character strongly linked to leadership, and that’s what being a master or a herdsman ultimately means.  And talking about masters, leaders and Kings, is worth to say that Saint George is also known as the “Prince of Martyrs”.  

After this very important addition, I talked with my friend @flibbertigiblet about all the symbology and similarities between the Legend of Saint George and ASOIAF.

First she told me this:

The country of Georgia, where devotions to the saint date back to the fourth century, is not technically named after the saint, but is a well-attested back-formation of the English name. However, a large number of towns and cities around the world are. Saint George is one of the patron saints of Georgia; the name Georgia (Sakartvelo in Georgian) is an anglicisation of Gurj, ultimately derived from the Persian word gurj/gurjān ("wolf").

Source

So yeah, ladies and gentlemen: GEORGE = WOLF

So Saint George is literally: THE WOLF THAT SLEW THE DRAGON

And my little funny post was right after all: Jon Snow killing his aunt to protect Sansa could be the televisual representation of Saint George killing the dragon to protect Princess Sabra... 

The story of Saint George and the Dragon symbolizes the good winning over the evil. The Christianity winning over paganism, where the dragon represents the evil, the paganism; the princess represents the Catholic Church/Virgin Mary; and Saint George is the Champion of the Catholic Faith.  

Jon Snow is not a Champion of the Faith of the Seven tho, he worships the Old Gods. A very classical GRRM twist, making the Old Gods the pagans and shaping the Faith of the Seven as the Catholic Church. Don’t worry tho, Sansa Stark professes both religions, but I would dare to say that, at this point of the story, she prefers the Old Gods.  

After finding all these gems, so many things make sense. Like the way GRRM talks about dragons, calling them nuclear weapons; and the way he expresses his love of wolves.   

About dragons:

Dragons are the nuclear deterrent, and only Dany has them, which in some ways makes her the most powerful person in the world. But is that sufficient? These are the kind of issues I’m trying to explore. The United States right now has the ability to destroy the world with our nuclear arsenal, but that doesn’t mean we can achieve specific geopolitical goals.

Power is more subtle than that. You can have the power to destroy, but it doesn’t give you the power to reform, or improve, or build.

—Vulture 2014

THEM: And the dragons?

GRRM: “Oh sure, dragons are cool too,” he chuckles. “But maybe not on our doorstep”

—The Guardian - 2018

What drives Dany? With Dany I’m particularly looking at the… what effect great power has upon a person. She’s the mother of dragons, and she controls what is in effect the only three nuclear weapons in the entire world that I’ve created. What does it do to you when you control the only three nuclear weapons in the world and you can destroy entire cities or cultures if you choose to? Should you choose to, should you not choose to?

—“Interview exclusive de George R R Martin, l'auteur de Game Of Thrones” de -Le Mouv’-

About wolves:  

Chris Long: What your favorite things about wolves are? What drew you to wolves? Because it seems like you have a passion for them.

GRRM: I like their ferocity. I like the fact that they’re social animals, that they have, they’re packs, they’re not lonely hunters. They have their own society, their own packs. They work together. You know I’ve tried to make that point in “Game of Thrones” and that will come back to it in later books, you know. When winter comes, the cold wins blow, the lone wolf dies, but the pack survives. And human beings need to keep that in mind too. We all need each other. We all need packs. That’s true on a football team as well. The individual star can’t succeed without great teammates around him.

—George RR Martin in The Fish Bowl with Chris Long

It’s not a surprise then, that GRRM has called the Starks “The Heroes of the Story”, and the Starks are wolves, and one of them could be destined to slay a dragon to protect a member of their pack, and become a legend: THE WOLF THAT SLEW THE DRAGON...  Just like happened in the Show...    

To be honest, as thorough as GRRM is, I’m very sure he knows a lot about his namesake Saint George “The Dragon Slayer”, and he seems proud to bear the name:

John Hodgman: That’s how I can’t sue you, If you steal from history and add a dragon. I can’t sue you.

GRRM: I’m working off my own, you know, karma here, because I’m George, and what’s he known for? He killed the dragon, you know, come on. Come on, I was almost abolished at one point when the Catholic Church was reviewing all the saints, I was terrified that George would be abolished, because they abolish a lot of fiction, I said George is only known for killing a dragon, how can they keep him in, but they did so, that was, that was good.

John Hodgman: I’m glad you stayed anointed.

GRRM: That’s right.

—In conversation: George R. R. Martin with John Hodgman

As far as I know, GRRM is an atheist, but he went to a catholic high school: 

Chris Long: You also grew up in Bayonne, right?

GRRM: Right, Bayonne, New Jersey, yeah.  

Chris Long: So you have, somebody that works on my crew said they’re from Bayonne. They said to ask you about the Bayonne Bees. Did you go to there, were you at the high school, the Bayonne Bees?    

GRRM: No, that was our archrival. I went to the Catholic high school, Marist, and the Royal Knights.  

—George RR Martin in The Fish Bowl with Chris Long

Marist is a catholic congregation named after Blessed Virgin Mary. And their Football Team is called the Royal Knights. Royal Knights huh... I wonder why?

Interestingly enough, Saint George is often described as ‘Our Lady’s Knight’ and was strongly associated with the Cult of the Virgin, which contributed to his role as a model of chivalry and courtly love.

And remember that according to the most known version of the legend, “The king built a church to the Blessed Virgin Mary and Saint George on the site where the dragon died”.

I really hope Sansa Stark finds her true knight someday, someone as brave and gentle and strong as Saint George - The Dragon Slayer... Someone we could call “Our Lady of Winterfell’s Knight” or maybe “The Queen in the North’s Knight”...

Anyway, continuing with the recount of my research, after that I told my friend about my favorite version of the Legend of Saint George and the Dragon, this one from Catalonia, Spain:

The Legend of Saint George

The legend explains that long ago, in Montblanc (Tarragona) a ferocious dragon, capable of poisoning the air and killing with his breath, had frightened the inhabitants of the city. The inhabitants, scared and tired of the dragon´s ravages and misdeeds, decided to calm him by feeding him one person a day that would be chosen randomly in a draw. After several days, the princess was the unlucky one.

When the princess left her home and headed towards the dragon, a gentleman named Saint George, dressed in shining armor, riding a white horse, suddenly appeared to rescue her. Saint George raised his sword and stabbed the dragon, at last releasing the princess and the citizens from this turmoil.

From the dragon's blood a rose-bush grew with the reddest roses that had ever been seen. Saint George, now a hero picked a rose and offered it to the princess.

Source

Montblanc, the town of this story, literally means “White Mountain”, very Winterfell-ish... 

So, remember that Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s painting where Sabra is wearing a rose in her hair during her wedding? That painting reminds me of this version of the legend.

A knight giving a rose to a princess is a trope GRRM used a lot in ASOIAF: Lyanna’s crown of winter roses, The Rose of Winterfell, Loras giving Sansa a red rose, Sansa wearing the rose Loras gave to her in her hair, Marillion’s song for Alayne: 'The Roadside Rose', etc.  Also, a rose is a very important element of certain story GRRM loves: Beauty and the Beast. 

Saint George’s day (April 23th) is a very important festivity in Catalonia, Spain. Saint George is their Patron Saint and this day is also known as the Catalan Valentine’s Day:

Saint George´s Roses

Sending roses is the most significant thing about this festival. Anyone can make this offering, although as tradition dictates it is the man who must give a rose to his beloved. According to the legend, Saint George saved his princess by killing the dragon from whose blood grew a rose. That is why some consider it the Catalan Valentine´s Day, because Saint George is said to be, par excellence, the patron saint of lovers in Catalonia.

Source

That’s why Saint George's Day is also known as The Day of the Rose in Catalonia.

Since we got romantic at this point, my friend told me about some potential Jonsa AUs based in the Legend of Saint George and the Dragon, and she also mentioned Saint George’s Cross, the one on the England flag.

To that detail, I mentioned the Saint Andrew’s Cross, the one on the Scotland flag, and how GRRM has made the Starks very Scot coded. I also mentioned how the Union Jack, the United Kingdom’s Flag was created by merging Saint George’s (Englad), Saint Andrew’s (Scotland) & Saint Patrick’s (Ireland) crosses.

And after that, my friend said to me this: 

“Following that logic - Jon's non-Stark half (I don't want to say Targ), as represented by St George's cross, which theoretically gives him the birthright to rule England/The southern kingdoms, plus his Stark side/Sansa, as represented by St Andrew/Scotland = The 7K/Westeros with Jonsa as King and Queen”. 

At that point I was screaming: ¡¡¡THIS IS THE HENRY TUDOR & ELIZABETH OF YORK -WAR OF THE ROSES- JONSA THEORY!!!

And then, after all this information, I decided to write this post.  My friend took the same decision, so expect more on the subject!

It was a long ride. I could be right about all of this or maybe just a little, or more probably, I’m all wrong, but it was a blast! 

As my friend, @shieldofrohan​​ likes to say: “GRRM’s own name is a fucking spoiler for the books”  

***The end***

#jonsa #saint george and the dragon #grrm

[dropintomanga]

The Manga Life over the Suburban Life

As a kid-to-early teenager growing up, I was enamored by Highlander: The Series. I was fascinated with the idea of immortal beings who went through notable historic periods that are alive today and fighting one another in modern urban settings. Out of that love, I went into other series/franchises with a modern fantasy element. 

One of those series was BLEACH. I was impressed with the idea of a evil-spirit hunting modern-day teen hero fighting to protect his home, Karakura Town. However, I was more enamored with the introduction and exploration into Soul Society, a world that’s more in-line with an ancient world and with fascinating characters to boot compared to Karakura Town’s suburban vibe and cast.

So what am I getting at here? I read something fascinating of note last year regarding children’s literature. The article in question was about why the setting in most children’s books don’t take place in suburban areas. 

There’s some good arguments on why that’s the case. One argument is that cities, when compared to the suburbs, have more things to do and different types of people to see. Another argument suggests that suburbs aren’t ripe for exploration as they’re not surrounded by nature, but by houses/garages/malls/etc. I do think the best explanation for why suburbia isn’t that popular for a children’s book setting is because it’s just downright boring.

Now back to BLEACH. Imagine if the entire story took place in Karakura Town. While seeing more Hollows and Soul Reapers duke it out at a local high school is cool, it feels limiting because fans will start to wonder where did all these spiritual beings come from and what those worlds are like. Fans want to see what those areas are like. The human mind loves to come up with theories. Plus suburbs tend to be smaller in size than cities. The nature of suburbia being small and somewhat enclosed creates somewhat of a creative wall.

I also think back to Highlander as the series took a location shift every mid-season from the urban settings of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada to rich and vibrant Paris, France. The fight scenes feel nicer in some ways because in Vancouver, you get fights in alleys and abandoned buildings. In Paris, the fights feel a bit more magical because the places Immortals fight at usually have hundreds of years of history attached to them. 

Another franchise that came to my mind when it comes to the limitations of suburbia in well-recognized fictional media is Final Fantasy VII. While I know there was a remake that took place entirely in the game’s initial setting, Midgar (a clear reflection of what real-life cities are like today), the real beauty comes after that part in the original game where you get to go on the world map with an entire planet to explore, learn important things about the environment around us and have an excellent main theme that encourages you along the way. 

Back to the subject of books, manga isn’t exactly children’s literature. Yet it’s a good and influential visual medium full of great series that ignore suburbia even if they have some presence in the grand scheme of things. There’s a lot of talk about the psychology of suburbia with regards to its effects on teenage youth - i.e. the major audience for manga in the West.

While the suburbs are technically safe, their inherent structure involves people having to isolate themselves from others as they strive for extrinsic goals. There’s no genuine desire to have communal groups as zoning laws create barriers with unintended consequences (i.e. segregation). Everything feels the “same.” For children born to parents determined to live in suburbia, this can have serious ramifications on their mental health. When you’re very well-off like most suburban residents, life starts to lack some kind of purpose. Teens striving for  that purpose in their suburban area may end up doing harmful things that jeopardize their psychological well-being as their parents are busy dealing with their own lives to care. 

It’s like being trapped in a carefully crafted bubble that’s supposed to protect you from “threats” that actually get you to question the meaning of it all. 

A disclaimer here - I grew up and live in New York City suburbs. To be fair, I don’t mind it as long as I have the internet to access all my fandom needs and wants. However, as of late, I learned how much of my current neighborhood’s residents have beliefs I don’t agree with. I can’t stomach living in the city though as it’s so compact. I can’t stand a constant stream of NYC’s lights and noise. If you’re an older adult, it’s okay if you want to live the suburban life as long as you keep your imagination and social ties active.

I sometimes feel we’re not fostering the imagination of kids living in suburban areas enough in positive ways. I think about the many young fans who live far from cities and can access manga. I don’t want to say they’re lucky compared to what I went through to read manga at their age. I think they deserve it. They get that the “normal life” adults want them to live isn’t always the best choice. The fantasy worlds young fans discover through manga give them an escape into possibility - a possibility that they can do more with their lives outside of suburbia and realization - a realization that there’s more to life than their daily routines.

Suburbs restrict possibility and realization. The best children’s books usually don’t involve suburbia because the point of them is smashing all kinds of walls a la Attack on Titan. The same goes for manga and its appeal to teenagers. Yes, freedom can be very frightening if you’re unprepared for it, but it’s also exhilarating.

The potential freedom presented by books (literature/manga/etc.) for children and teens is something that should be passed down because they remind them that their voices do matter in a time where adults still have way too much say in things. To quote a now 102-year old Holocaust survivor, Helen Fagin, on books saving lives.

“There are times when dreams sustain us more than facts. To read a book and surrender to a story is to keep our very humanity alive.”

#manga #psychology #mental health #suburbia #books #teens #youth psychology #teen psychology

[blackswaneuroparedux]

Anonymous asked: My granddaughter is 16 and in the us navy sea cadet program here in the USA. She hopes to become a naval aviator. She love reading military books. Any recommendations for her. Her mom says she reads anything military from equipment to history. I could use advice on a reading list to buy books for her. William Law

Thank you William for sending me this. It’s certainly one of the most interesting asks I’ve ever had the pleasure to reply to because it involves my love of Classics and also being a former military aviator.

So I put some thought into it because I can sense a kindred spirit in your grand daughter. She must be a remarkable young girl if she is as focused and committed as you say she is in terms of her life goals. If I may say so she is also blessed to have a grandfather like you who recognises the value of reading books to aid her and inspire her.

I have tried to confine myself to the narrow parameters of recommending books that can appeal to a precocious teenager that have a connection to naval and maritime themes (rather than the landed military) and have a general connection to women in the navy or as aviators. So the list is broken into personal memoirs, naval and maritime history, fictional works, and finally a select Classics list.

If you will indulge me I have included the Classics because I firmly believe a grounding in the Classics (from as early age as possible) is so culturally enriching and personally rewarding. In my experience the wisest military leaders and veterans I have ever had the privilege of knowing were grounded in the Classics.

To my mind Classic history, literature and poetry belongs in any library relating to maritime affairs. It provides a flavour of sea life, helping strategists understand this alien element. Just as important, it enlivens the topic. As you will know, ships and fleets do not make history; people do.

It is by no means a comprehensive list but something to start with. I’ve decided not to give you a bullet point laundry list but add some notes of my own because I found it fun to do - and in doing so I found myself looking back on my teenage years with equal icky amounts of embarrassment, regret, foolishness, fun, and joy. 

1. Personal memoirs

West with the Night by Beryl Markham

‘Poetry in flight’ best describes this 1942 memoir from aviatrix Beryl Markham of bush flying in Africa and long-distance flight, which includes her solo flight across the Atlantic. Lyrical and expressive her descriptions of the adventure of flying continue to inspire generations of women pilots, including myself when I learned to fly.

Markham was a colonial child and was raised by her father on a remote farm in Njoro, British East Africa (present-day Kenya). After a tomboyish childhood spent roaming the Kenyan wilds, she moved upcountry to Molo, becoming a racehorse trainer. There she saw her first plane and met British pilot Tom Black, who became her flight instructor and lover. Soon Markham earned her commercial pilot’s license, the first woman in Kenya to do so, and began to freelance as a bush pilot. Much of West With the Night concerns itself with this period in Markham’s life, detailing her flights in an Avro Avian biplane running supplies to remote outposts or scouting game for safaris.

Since airfields were essentially nonexistent in Africa at the time, Markham’s flights were particularly dangerous, punctuated with white-knuckle landings in forest clearings and open fields. In fact the dangers of African flying claimed the lives of a number of aviators. Markham eloquently describes her own search for a downed pilot: “Time and distance together slip smoothly past the tips of my wings without sound, without return, as I peer downward over the night-shadowed hollows of the Rift Valley and wonder if Woody, the lost pilot, could be there, a small pinpoint of hope and of hopelessness listening to the low, unconcerned song of the Avian - flying elsewhere.”

Markham’s memoir shies away from personal details - she is rumoured to have had an affair with an English prince - and straightforward chronology, instead focusing on vivid scenes gathered from a well-lived life. Rarely does one encounter such an evocative sense of a time and place as she creates. The heat and dust of Africa emanate from her prose. Anyone interested in aviation, in Africa, or in simply reading an absorbing book will find much to like in its pages. Ernest Hemingway, a friend and fellow safari enthusiast, wrote of Markham’s memoir, “I wish you would get it and read it because it really is a bloody wonderful book.”

It is a bloody brilliant book and it’s one of the books closest to my heart as it personally resonated with my nomadic life growing up in foreign countries where once the British empire made its mark.

I first read it on my great aunt’s Kenyan tea farm during the school holidays in England. I got into huge trouble for taking a treasured first edition - personally signed by Markham herself - from the library of my great aunt without permission. My great aunt - not an easy woman to get on with given her questionable eccentricities - wrote a stern letter to the head teacher of my girls’ boardng school in England that the schools standards and moral Christian teachings must be in terminal decline if girls were encouraged to pilfer books willy nilly from other people’s bookshelves and thus she would not - as an alum herself - be donating any more money to the school. It was one more sorry blot in my next school report.

Fly Girls: How Five Daring Women Defied All Odds and Made Aviation History by Keith O’Brien

For pioneering pilots of the 1920s and 1930s, the challenges were enormous. For women it was even more daunting. In this marvellous history, Keith O’Brien recounts the early years of aviation through a generation of American female pilots who carved out a place for themselves and their sisterhood. Despite the sensation they created, each “went missing in her own way.” This is the inspiring untold story of five women from very different walks of life - including a New York socialite, an Oakland saleswoman, a Florida dentist’s secretary and a Boston social worker - who fought and competed against men in the  high-stakes national air races of the 1920s and 1930s — and won.

Between the world wars, no sport was more popular, or more dangerous, than airplane racing. Thousands of fans flocked to multi-day events, and cities vied with one another to host them. The pilots themselves were hailed as dashing heroes who cheerfully stared death in the face. Well, the men were hailed. Female pilots were more often ridiculed than praised for what the press portrayed as silly efforts to horn in on a manly and deadly pursuit. The derisive press dubbed the first women’s national air race “The Powder Puff Derby.”

It’s a brisk, spirited history of early aviation focused on 5 irrepressible women. Florence Klingensmith, a high-school dropout who worked for a dry cleaner in Fargo, North Dakota, and who trained as a mechanic so she could learn planes inside and out but whose first aviation job was as a stunt girl, standing on a wing in her bathing suit. Louise McPhetridge Thaden a girl who grew up as a tomboy and later became the mother of two young kids who got her start selling coal in Wichita. Ruth Elder, an Alabama divorcee was determined to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic. Amelia Earhart was of course the most famous, but not necessarily the most skilled. Ruth Nichols who chafed at the constraints of her blue-blood family's expectations of marrying into wealth and into high society.

In 1928, when women managed to get jobs in other male dominated fields, fewer than 12 had a pilot’s license, and those ambitious for prizes and recognition faced entrenched sexism from the men who ran air races, backed fliers, and financed the purchase of planes. They decided to organise: “For our own protection,” one of them said, “we must learn to think for ourselves, and do as much work as possible on our planes.” Although sometimes rivals in the air, they forged strong friendships and offered one another unabated encouragement. O’Brien vividly recounts the dangers of early flight: In shockingly rickety planes, pilots sat in open cockpits, often blinded by ice pellets or engine smoke; instruments were unreliable, if they worked at all; sudden changes in weather could be life threatening. Fliers regularly emerged from their planes covered in dust and grease. Crashes were common, with planes bursting into flames; but risking injury and even death failed to dampen the women’s passion to fly. And yet their bravery was only scoffed at by male prejudice. Iconic  oilman Erle Halliburton believed, “Women are lacking in certain qualities that men possess.” Florence Klingensmith’s crash incited a debate about allowing menstruating women to fly.

And yet these women still took off in wooden crates loaded with gasoline. They flew over mountains, deserts and seas without radar or even radios. When they came down, they knew that their landings might be their last. But together, they fought for the chance to race against the men - and in 1936 one of them would triumph in the toughest race of all. And When Louise Thaden became the first woman to win a national race, even the great Charles Lindbergh fell curiously silent.

O'Brien nicely weaves together the stories of these five remarkable women in the spirit of Tom Wolfe’s The Right Stuff who broke the glass ceiling to achieve greatness.

Thoughts of a Philosophical Fighter Pilot by James Stockdale

Thoughts on issues of character, leadership, integrity, personal and public virtue, and ethics, the selections in this volume converge around the central theme of how man can rise with dignity to prevail in the face of adversity- lessons just as valid for the challenges of present-day life as they were for the author’s Vietnam experience.Vice Admiral James Stockdale, a senior research fellow at the Hoover Institution, served in the U.S. Navy from 1947 to 1979, beginning as a test pilot and instructor at Patuxent River, Maryland, and spending two years as a graduate student at Stanford University. He became a fighter pilot and was shot down on his second combat tour over North Vietnam, becoming a prisoner of war for eight years, four in solitary confinement. The highest-ranking naval officer held during the Vietnam War, he was tortured fifteen times and put in leg irons for two years. It’s a book that makes you think how much character is important in good at anything, especially being a thoughtful and wise leader in the heat of battle.

Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life And Maybe The World by Admiral William H. McRaven   On May 17, 2014, Admiral William H. McRaven addressed the graduating class of the University of Texas at Austin on their Commencement day. Taking inspiration from the university's slogan, "What starts here changes the world," he shared the ten principles he learned during Navy Seal training that helped him overcome challenges not only in his training and long Naval career, but also throughout his life; and he explained how anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves-and the world-for the better.

Admiral McRaven's original speech went viral with over 10 million views.

Building on the core tenets laid out in his speech, McRaven now recounts tales from his own life and from those of people he encountered during his military service who dealt with hardship and made tough decisions with determination, compassion, honour, and courage.

The book is told with great humility and optimism. It provides simple wisdom, practical advice, and words of encouragement that will inspire readers to achieve more, even in life's darkest moments.

Service: A Navy SEAL at War by Marcus Luttrell with James D. Hornfischer 

Navy SEAL Marcus Luttrell is more known for his other famous best seller Lone Survivor but this one I think is also a thrilling war story, Service is above all a profoundly moving tribute to the warrior brotherhood, to the belief that nobody goes it alone, and no one will be left behind. Luttrell returned from his star-crossed mission in Afghanistan with his bones shattered and his heart broken. So many had given their lives to save him-and he would have readily done the same for them. As he recuperated, he wondered why he and others, from America's founding to today, had been willing to sacrifice everything - including themselves-for the sake of family, nation, and freedom.

In Service, we follow Marcus Luttrell to Iraq, where he returns to the battlefield as a member of SEAL Team 5 to help take on the most dangerous city in the world: Ramadi, the capital of war-torn Al Anbar Province. There, in six months of high-intensity urban combat, he would be part of what has been called the greatest victory in the history of US Special Operations forces. We also return to Afghanistan and Operation Redwing, where Luttrell offers powerful new details about his miraculous rescue.

Throughout, he reflects on what it really means to take on a higher calling, about the men he's seen lose their lives for their country, and the legacy of those who came and bled before. I did rub shoulders with the US special forces community out on my time in Afghanistan and whilst their public image deifies them I found them to be funny, pranksters, humble, brave, and down to earth beer guzzling hogs who cheerfully cheat at cards.

The Spirit of St. Louis by Charles A. Lindbergh

Being one of the classics in aviation history, this well written book is an epic aviator’s adventure tale of all time. Charles Lindbergh is best known for its famous nonstop flight from New York to Paris in 1927 as it changed the history of aviation. “The Spirit of St. Louis” takes the reader on an extraordinary trans-Atlantic journey in a single-engine plane. As well as provides insight into the early history of American aviation and includes some great fuel conservation tips!

20 Hrs. 40 mins by Amelia Earhart

How can any woman pilot not be inspired by Amelia Earhart?  Earhart's first transatlantic flight of June 1928 during which she flew as a passenger accompanying pilot Wilmer Stultz and co-pilot Louis Gordon. The team departed from Trepassey Harbor, Newfoundland, in a Fokker F.VIIb/3m on 17 June 1928, landing at Pwll near Burry Port, South Wales, exactly 20 hours and 40 minutes later. The book is an interesting read but I much prefer her other book written in 1932 The Fun Of It. The book is Earhart's account of her growing obsession with flying, the final chapter of which is a last minute addition chronicling her historic solo transatlantic flight of 1932. The work contains the mini-record of Earhart's international broadcast from London on 22 May 1932. Earhart set out from Harbour Grace, Newfoundland on 20 May 1932. After a flight lasting 14 hours and 56 minutes Earhart landed in a pasture at Culmore, north of Derry, Northern Ireland. The work also includes a list of other works on aviation written by women, emblematic of Earhart's desire to promote women aviators.

2. Naval and military history

The U.S. Navy: A Concise History by Craig L Symonds

Symonds’s The U.S. Navy: A Concise History is a fantastic book from one of the doyennes of US naval history. I cannot think of any other work on the US Navy that provides such a thorough overview of American naval policy, navy combat operations, leadership, technology, and culture in such a succinct manner. This book is perfect for any reader - young or old -  just wading into the waters of naval history and not knowing where to start, or for someone who wishes to learn a little bit about each era of the navy, from its founding to its modern-day mission and challenges.

His other distinguished works are more in depth - mostly about the Second World War such as the Battle of Midway and the Normandy landings - but this is a good introduction to his magisterial books. His latest book came out in 2019 called World War II at Sea: A Global History. I have not read this yet but from others who have they say it is a masterful overview of the war at sea.

Six Frigates: The Epic History of the Founding of the U.S. Navy by Ian W. Toll

Before the ink was dry on the U.S. Constitution, the establishment of a permanent military became the most divisive issue facing the new government. The founders - particularly Jefferson, Madison, and Adams - debated fiercely. Would a standing army be the thin end of dictatorship? Would a navy protect from pirates or drain the treasury and provoke hostility? Britain alone had hundreds of powerful warships.

From the decision to build six heavy frigates, through the cliff-hanger campaign against Tripoli, to the war that shook the world in 1812, Ian W. Toll tells this grand tale with the political insight of Founding Brothers and the narrative flair of Patrick O’Brian.

The Pursuit of Victory: The Life and Achievement of Horatio Nelson by Roger Knight

The starting point of Roger Knight’s magnificent new biography is to explain how Nelson achieved such extraordinary success. Knight places him firmly in the context of the Royal Navy at the time. He analyses Nelson’s more obvious qualities, his leadership strengths and his coolness and certainty in battle, and also explores his strategic grasp, the condition of his ships, the skill of his seamen and his relationships with the officers around him – including those who could hardly be called friendly.

This biography takes a shrewd and sober look at Nelson’s status as a hero and demolishes many of the myths that were so carefully established by the early authors, and repeated by their modern successors.

While always giving Nelson his due, Knight never glosses over the character flaws of his heroic subject. Nelson is seen essentially as a "driven" personality, craving distinction in an age increasingly coloured by notions of patriotic heroism, traceable back to the romantic (and entirely unrealistic) depiction of the youthful General James Wolfe dying picturesquely at the moment of victory in 1759. Nor does Knight take Nelson's side in dealing with that discreditable phase in 1798-99, when he is influenced, much for the worse, by his burgeoning involvement with Lady Hamilton at Naples and Palermo. Knight accepts that this interlude has left an indelible stain on Nelson's naval and personal record. But he traces the largely destructive course of Nelson's passion for Emma with appropriate sensitivity.

Nelson was a shrewd political operator who charmed and impressed political leaders and whose advancement was helped by the relatively weak generation of admirals above him. He was a difficult subordinate, only happy when completely in command, and capable of great ruthlessness. Yes he was flawed, but Nelson's flaws, including his earlier petulance in dealing with higher naval authority - only brought fully under control towards the end of his career - pale before his remarkable strengths. His outstanding physical and moral courage and his inspired handling of officers and men are repeatedly and effectively illustrated.

1812: The Navy’s War by George C. Daughan

When war broke out between Britain and the United States in 1812, America’s prospects looked dismal. British naval aggression made it clear that the ocean would be the war’s primary battlefield - but America’s navy, only twenty ships strong, faced a practiced British fleet of more than a thousand men-of-war.

Still, through a combination of nautical deftness and sheer bravado, a handful of heroic captains and their stalwart crews managed to turn the tide of the war, besting the haughty skippers of the mighty Royal Navy and cementing America’s newly won independence.

In 1812: The Navy’s War, award-winning naval historian George C. Daughan draws on a wealth of archival research to tell the amazing story of this tiny, battle tested team of Americans and their improbable yet pivotal victories. Daughan thrillingly details the pitched naval battles that shaped the war, and shows how these clashes proved the navy’s vital role in preserving the nation’s interests and independence. This well written history is the first complete account in more than a century of how the U.S. Navy rescued the fledgling nation and secured America’s future. Daughan’s prose is first-rate, and his rousing accounts of battles at sea will certainly appeal to a popular audience. 

I was given this book as a tongue in cheek gift from an American friend who was an ex-US Marine officer with tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was obviously trying to rib me as good friends do. But I really did enjoy this book.

Among the most interesting insights is Daughan’s judgment on the effect of the American invasion attempts in Canada; all ultimately defeated. Demanded by enthusiastic War Hawks unencumbered by knowledge or experience who predicted that the Canadians would flock to U.S. banners, these incursions became the groundwork for a unified Iraq Canada - Ha!

What I liked was the fact that Daughan places the war in its crucial European context, explaining in detail how the course of the Napoleonic Wars shaped British and American decision making and emphasising the North American theatre’s secondary status to the European conflict. While they often verbally castigated Napoleon’s imperial ambitions, American leaders were in the uncomfortable position of needing Napoleon to keep winning while they fought Britain, and his defeat and (first) exile to Elba prompted an immediate scramble to negotiate a settlement. Despite its significance, few historians have bothered to systematically place the War of 1812 in the context of the Napoleonic Wars, and Daughan’s book does exactly that.

Empires of the Seas: The Siege of Malta, The Battle of Lepanto, and the Contest for the Centre of the World by Roger Crowley

In 1521, Suleiman the Magnificent, the great Muslim ruler of the Ottoman Empire, dispatched an invasion fleet to the Christian island of Rhodes. This would prove to be the opening shot in an epic clash between rival empires and faiths for control of the Mediterranean and the center of the world.

In Empires of the Sea, acclaimed historian Roger Crowley has written a thrilling account of this brutal decades-long battle between Christendom and Islam for the soul of Europe, a fast-paced tale of spiralling intensity that ranges from Istanbul to the Gates of Gibraltar.

Crowley conjures up a wild cast of pirates, crusaders, and religious warriors struggling for supremacy and survival in a tale of slavery and galley warfare, desperate bravery and utter brutality.

Empires of the Sea is a story of extraordinary colour and incident, and provides a crucial context for our own clash of civilisations.

One hundred Days: The Memoirs of the Falklands Battle Group Commander by Admiral Sandy Woodward RN

Written by the man who masterminded the British victory in the Falklands, this engrossing memoir chronicles events in the spring of 1982 following Argentina’s takeover of the South Atlantic islands. Admiral Sandy Woodward, a brilliant military tactician, presents a complete picture of the British side of the battle. From the defeat of the Argentine air forces to the sinking of the Belgrano and the daring amphibious landing at Carlos Water, his inside story offers a revealing account of the Royal Navy’s successes and failures.

At times reflective and personal, Woodward imparts his perceptions, fears, and reactions to seemingly disastrous events. He also reveals the steely logic he was famous for as he explains naval strategy and planning. His eyewitness accounts of the sinking of HMS Sheffield and the Battle of Bomb Alley are memorable.

Many in Whitehall and the armed forces considered Woodward the cleverest man in the navy. French newspapers called him “Nelson.” Margaret Thatcher said he was precisely the right man to fight the world’s first computer war. Without question, the admiral’s memoir makes a significant addition to the official record.

At the same time it provides readers with a vivid portrayal of the world of modern naval warfare, where equipment is of astonishing sophistication but the margins for human courage and error are as wide as in the days of Nelson.

3. Fiction

The Caine Mutiny by Herman Wouk

The majestic novel that inspired the classic Hollywood film The Caine Mutiny with Humphrey Bogart. Herman Wouk's boldly dramatic, brilliantly entertaining novel of life-and mutiny-on a US Navy warship in the Pacific theatre was immediately embraced, upon its original publication in 1951, as one of the first serious works of American fiction to grapple with the moral complexities and the human consequences of World War II.

The Sand Pebbles by Richard McKenna

It’s a fantastic novel that inspired a Steve McQueen film of the same name. Watch the movie if you haven’t, but read the book. It’s impossible to do a story of this sweep justice in two hours, even with the great McQueen starring.

Naval friends tell me The Sand Pebbles has been a fixture on the US Chief of Naval Operations’ Professional development reading list, and thus all mariners should be encouraged to read. And it’s easy to tell why. Most American seafarers will interact with the Far East in this age of the pivot, as indeed they have for decades.

Told through the eyes of a junior enlisted man, The Sand Pebbles recounts the deeds of the crew of the fictional U.S. Navy gunboat San Pablo during the turbulent 1920s, when various parties were vying for supremacy following the overthrow of China’s Qing Dynasty.

It’s a book about the mutual fascination, and sometimes repulsion, between Americans and Chinese; the tension between American missionaries and the sailors entrusted with protecting them; and China’s descent into chaos following the collapse of dynastic rule.

How do you separate fact from fiction or myth when writing a historical novel. Wisely, McKenna lets the reader to conclude there’s an element of myth to all accounts of history. Causality - what factors brought about historical events - is in the eye of the beholder. The best an author of historical fiction can do, then, is devote ample space to all contending myths and leave it up to readers to judge. Sailors, missionaries, and ordinary Chinese get their say in his pages, to illuminating effect. Authors report, the readers decide.

Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War by P.W. Singer and August Cole 

The United States, China, and Russia eye each other across a twenty-first century version of the Cold War, which suddenly heats up at sea, on land, in the air, in outer space, and in cyberspace. The fighting involves everything from stealthy robotic–drone strikes to old warships from the navy’s “ghost fleet.” Fighter pilots unleash a Pearl Harbor-style attack; American veterans become low-tech insurgents; teenage hackers battle in digital playgrounds; Silicon Valley billionaires mobilise for cyber-war; and a serial killer carries out her own vendetta. Ultimately, victory will depend on blending the lessons of the past with the weapons of the future.

The book’s title, Ghost Fleet, comes from an expression used in the U.S. Navy that refers to partially or fully decommissioned ships kept in reserve for potential use in future conflict. These ships, as one might imagine, are older and naturally less technologically sophisticated than their modern counterparts. Singer and Cole cleverly use this concept, retiring older ships and weaponry in favour of newer versions with higher technological integration, to illustrate a key motif in the book: while America’s newest generation of warfighting machinery and gear is capable of inflicting greater levels of punishment, it is also vulnerable to foreign threats in ways that its predecessors were not. The multi-billion dollar, next generation F-35 aircraft, for instance, is rendered powerless after it is revealed that Chinese microprocessor manufacturers had implanted malicious code into products intended for the jet.

I’m a huge sucker for intelligently written thrillers and I found Ghost Fleet to be a page-turning speculative thriller in the spirit of Tom Clancy’s The Hunt for Red October. The debut novel by two leading experts on the cutting edge of national security, it is unique in that every trend and technology featured in the novel - no matter how sci-fi it may seem - is real, or could be soon.

Master and Commander by Patrick O’Brian (Aubery-Maturin series)

This, the first of twenty in the splendid series of the famous Jack Aubrey novels, establishes the friendship between Captain Jack Aubrey, R.N., and Stephen Maturin, ship’s Irish-Catalan surgeon and intelligence agent, against a thrilling backdrop of the Napoleonic wars. Details of a life aboard a man-of-war in Nelson’s navy are faultlessly rendered: the conversational idiom of the officers in the ward room and the men on the lower deck, the food, the floggings, the mysteries of the wind and the rigging, and the roar of broadsides as the great ships close in battle.

I have the first editions of some of the series and I have treasured them ever since I read them as a teenager. I felt like stowing away on the first ship I could find in Plymouth. The Hollywood film version by Peter Weir with Russell Crowe as Jack Aubrey is a masterful swashbuckling film and perhaps a delightful way into the deeper riches of the other novels in the epic series.

Beat to Quarters by C.S. Forester (Horatio Hornblower series)

Horatio Hornblower remains for many the best known and most loved of these British naval heroes of Napoleonic Age. In ten books Forester recounts Hornblower's rise from midshipman to admiral, during the British navy's confrontation with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. For readers, the books work as a window into history because of the outstanding details that appear in these books. Through this singular series, according to critics, C.S. Forrester - like Patrick O’Brian - has contributed his own uniqueness to the confluence of fact and fiction.

They are above all ‘ripping good yarns’, with fast-moving plots, stirring battle scenes, lively dialogue, and vivid characters, but they also offer a picture of the British navy during the period; and Hornblower himself is an original and memorable literary creation as fictionally charismatic as James Bond.

Young Hornblower is introspective, morose, self-doubting. He is crippled by the fear that he does not have the qualities to  command other men. He is harder on himself than anyone else would dare to be – and is, simply, one of the most complete creations of character in fiction. This is why many teenagers love Hornblower because they can see something of themselves in his adventures from from chronic self-doubt to soaring swashbuckling self-confidence. Hornblower is much more relatable than the brooding seasoned Jack Aubrey for instance.

I recommend reading the books in the order they were written rather than chronologically. In the first written novel, Beat to Quarters (also published as The Happy Return), we find Hornblower in command of a frigate in lonely Pacific waters off Spanish Central America. He has to deal with a mad revolutionary, fight single-ship duels with a larger vessel, and cope with Lady Barbara Wellesley (who provides a romantic interest to the series).

In A Ship of the Line Hornblower is sent into the Mediterranean, where he wreaks havoc on French coastal communications before plunging into a battle against the odds. Flying Colours is mostly set in France: in it Hornblower escapes captivity and returns to England a hero. In The Commodore he is sent with a squadron into the Baltic, where he has to cope with the complex politics of the region as well as helping with the siege of Riga. And in Lord Hornblower a mutiny leads to involvement with the fall of Napoleon — and brings him to prison and a death sentence during the Hundred Days. Forester then went back and described Hornblower's earlier career. Lieutenant Hornblower is perhaps my favourite of the Hornblower books.

Piece of cake by Derek Robinson

It’s an epic tome covering the opening twelve months of World War Two, from the phony war in France to the hasty retreat back across the Channel and then the valiant stand against the might of the Luftwaffe in what became known as the Battle of Britain.

The book follows the exploits of the fictional Hornet squadron and its members, a group of men who work hard and play harder. Though fiction, this immaculately researched novel based on an RAF Hurricane fighter squadron in 1940 highlights the ill-preparedness of Britain in the early stages of Word War Two.

Its British black humour is on full throttle with its nuanced observations of class politics and institutional ineptness. The manic misfits, heroes and bullies of Hornet Squadron discover that aerial combat is nothing like what they have been trained for. The writing sears the reader’s brain and produces some of the finest writing on the air war ever put to paper.

Be warned, though, this story isn’t about one specific character or ‘hero’. Indeed, just as you get to know a pilot, they are either chopped or killed; such is the nature of war in the air. Even though this is initially frustrating, you soon come to realise just how authentic Robinson’s storytelling is, and that this is exactly what it must have been like to be part of an RAF squadron on active service, never knowing who of your comrades would be alive from day to day. And, although the war proper for Hornet squadron doesn’t start until late in the book, when it does come the rendition of the dogfights in the air are so gripping that you’ll feel like you are actually there, sat next to the pilot in his cramped Hurricane cockpit, as Messerschmitt 109s scream by spitting death from all points of the compass.

All in all, this is a thoroughly entertaining (and educational) novel, and a must read for anyone interested in the RAF and how so few stood against so many. It has the dark humour of Heller’s Catch 22 but with a very distinctive British humour that can be lost on other foreigners. I recommend it as a honest and healthy antidote to anyone thinking of all pilots and the brave deeds they do in some deified light when in fact they are human and flawed as anyone else. Anyone who’s ever been a pilot will recognise some archetype in their own real life in this darkly comic British novel.

Lord Jim by Joseph Conrad

Lord Jim has it all. It's not just a novel of the sea but a work of moral philosophy.

Night Flight by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

In my humble opinion the greatest aviation fiction book ever written. It made the celebrated French aviator famous and Antoine de Saint-Exupery would go on to write the timeless classic The Little Prince.

Saint-Exupéry, though born into French nobility was always the odd one out as a child. Portly but jovial, he had bags of courage and curiosity to match his thirst for adventure and travel. He doggedly pursued his dream of becoming a pioneering pilot. In the 1930s he was an airline pilot who flew the north African and south Atlantic mail routes. During the long lonely hours in the cockpit he had enough time to accumulate experience and reflections which could be fit into Night Flight.

The novel itself narrates the terrifying story of Fabien, a pilot who conducted night mail planes, from Patagonia, Chile, and Paraguay to Argentina in the early days of commercial aviation when it was dangerous and pilots died often in horrendous accidents. The book romantically captures the danger and loneliness of these early commercial pilots, blazing routes in the days before radar, GPS and jet engines.

Night Flight is a good gateway into his other aviation themed books. Each of them are magical in capturing the austere feelings of seeing the world and its landscapes from above. Southern Mail, The Aviator, and Wind, Sand and Stars are fantastic reads.

Night Flight is inspiring for every pilot by sharing a unique magic of piloting an airplane.

These books changed my life as it inspired me to fly as a late teen. I still re-read Saint-Exupery’s writings sometimes as a way to tap into that youthful joy of discovering the wonders of flying a plane and when the impossible was only limited by your will and imagination. I cannot recommend his novels highly enough.

4. Classical

The Odyssey by Homer translated by Emily Wilson

Homer should the read at any age and for all seasons. I’ve chosen Emily Wilson’s recent translation because it’s good and not just because her publication was billed as the first woman to ever translate Homer. Wilson is an Oxford educated Classicist now a professor of Classics at Pennsylvania. Every discussion of Emily Wilson’s Odyssey is prefaced with the fact that hers is the first English translation of the poem by a woman, but it’s worth noting that Caroline Alexander’s Iliad (Ecco 2015) was also published as the first English translation by a woman to much less hoopla (to say nothing of Sarah Ruden’s Aeneid, Yale University Press 2009).

While a woman translating Homer’s epic is certainly a huge milestone, Wilson’s interpretation is a radical, fascinating achievement regardless of her gender. Disregard the marketing hype and the Wilson’s translation of Odysseus’ epic sea voyage home still stands tall for its fast paced narrative.

Compared with her predecessors’, Wilson’s Odyssey feels more readable, more alive: the diction, with some exceptions discussed below, is straightforward, and the lines are short. The effect is to turn the Odyssey into a quick-paced page turner, an experience I’d never had reading this epic poem in translation.

The War of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians by Thucydides translated by Jeremy Mynott

This is the classic treatise about what is essentially rowboats and spears of one of the most important and defining wars of Western civilisation. A long story of people killing one another, cynically justifying their cruelties in pursuit of power, making gross, stupid and fatal miscalculations, in a world devoid of justice. It's a long, drawn out tragedy without any redeeming or uplifting catharsis. If you are not already an extreme pessimist, you will lose all illusions about the inherent goodness of human beings and the possibility of influencing the course of events for the better after you read this book. You will be sadder but you will be wiser. Thucydides called his account of two decades of war between Athens and Sparta “a possession for all time,” and indeed it is the first and still most famous work in the Western historical tradition.

People look at me in a shocked way when I tell them that you can learn 90 percent of what you need to know about politics and war from Thucydides. Maritime strategy falls among the remaining 10 percent. If you want to read about the making of strategy, Clausewitz & Co. are your go-to works. If you want big thoughts about armed strife pitting a land against a sea power, Thucydides is your man. Considered essential reading for generals, admirals, statesmen, and liberally educated citizens for more than 2,000 years, The Peloponnesian War is a mine of military, naval, moral, political, and philosophical wisdom.

Finding the best and most accessible translation (and commentary) is key otherwise you risk putting off the novice reader (especially the young) from ever taking an interest in the Classical world e.g. I would never give the Thomas Hobbes translation to anyone who is easily bored or is impatient with old English. There are many good modern translations to choose from and here you have Strassler, Blanco, and Lattimore that are more used in America. Richard Crawley’s is the most popular but also the least accurate.

My own personal recommendation would be to go for Jeremy Mynott’s 2013 work which he titled The War of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians. Mynott was a former publishing head at Cambridge University Press and emeritus fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, as well as a leading expert on birds and natural history. Mynott’s aim is to re-introduce Thucydides to the reader in his “proper cultural and historical context”, and to strip back the “anachronistic concepts derived from later developments and theories”. Hence the name of the book: The War of the Peloponnesians and the Athenians, not, as it is usually called today, The Peloponnesian War.

But what is in a name? In this case, a great deal, since it contains Mynott’s mission statement in miniature. He has dropped the conventional name for the work, for which he correctly says there is no evidence from antiquity, in favour of a less one-sided title derived from Thucydides’s opening sentence. This is just one example of the accretions which Mynott’s edition aims to remove, so that the reader can come closer to being able to appreciate Thucydides’s work as it might have been received in classical Greece. In my humble opinion it is a minor miracle that Mynott has achieved in conveying in modern English the literary qualities of this most political of ancient historians.

The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan

I’m deliberating ignoring Victor David Hanson’s book on the Peloponnesian War (A War Like No Other) not because it’s not good (because it is in parts) but because I prefer Prof. Donald Kagan’s book.  Professor Kagan at Yale is one of the foremost scholars of Ancient Greek history. He has written a concise but thorough history of the Peloponnesian War for a general audience It's not the least bit dry for those with an interest in ancient history. The book’s an easy read. Kagan’s writing style is clear and straightforward.

Like any scholar worth his salt, Kagan is conversant with the scholarly consensus, with which he is for the most part in step, though he occasionally offers alternative scenarios. Much of the book is simply riveting. Like when the Spartan general Brasidas retakes Amphipolis, or the naval battle fought late in the war for control of the Hellespont. Woven throughout is the longer story of the Athenian turncoat, Alcibiades. Kagan’s analysis of the tactics and strategy of the conflict always seems on target. Interestingly, despite their reputations, the aristocratic Spartans usually come across as vacillating and indecisive while the democratic Athenians are aggressive and usually seize opportunity with successful results. Kagan refrains from drawing analogies to modern politics, although there’s certainly plenty of opportunity for it.

Professor Kagan preceded this one-volume history with a four-volume history of the war that took him around 20 years to write. That four volume series is a much more detailed and academic consideration of political motives and military strategy. But with this single volume, Kagan was able to produce a fast-moving tale, full of incident and colourful description easily readable for the general reader.  

Lords of the Sea by John R. Hale

This book spans the history of the Athenian navy, starting with its founder, Themistocles, and carrying the story through to the fall of Athens - its real fall at the hands of Alexander the Great, not the brief unpleasantness at Spartan hands - in 4th century B.C. Along the way Hale furnishes a wealth of details about naval warfare in classical antiquity. Lords of the Sea profiles Athens' seafaring culture fascinatingly, probing subjects on which Thucydides remains silent. An invaluable companion to Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, and a rollicking read to boot.

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius

Meditations is a series of personal writings by Marcus Aurelius, Roman Emperor 161–180 CE, setting forth his ideas on Stoic philosophy. Marcus Aurelius wrote the 12 books of the Meditations in Koine Greek as a source for his own guidance and self-improvement. It is possible that large portions of the work were written at Sirmium, where he spent much time planning military campaigns from 170 to 180. Some of it was written while he was positioned at Aquincum on campaign in Pannonia, because internal notes tell us that the second book was written when he was campaigning against the Quadi on the river Granova (modern-day Hron) and the third book was written at Carnuntum.

It is not clear that he ever intended the writings to be published, so the title Meditations is but one of several commonly assigned to the collection. These writings take the form of quotations varying in length from one sentence to long paragraphs.

When US Vice-Admiral. James Stockdale was shot down and became a prisoner of war in Vietnam, he attributed his survival to studying stoic philosophies, particularly Marcus Aurelius’ “Meditations.” Aurelius, the Roman emperor, wrote his simple rules for living by candlelight and they have been a source of strength for the thoughtful man of arms or the cultured citizen ever since. I also think teenagers would gain a lot from reading Meditations than endure reading angst-ridden nihilism of many tacky teenage books out there.

SPQR by Mary Beard

Anything by Cambridge Classics professor Mary Beard is worth reading. Everyone loves Mary Beard, fast becoming one of Britain’s national treasure. I’m not just saying all this because she was one of my teachers at Cambridge. I think SPQR is a wonderful book. Ancient Roman history is so very dense and intricate that it can be difficult to teach and learn about. Mary Beard makes it accessible- and she goes through it all, from the early days right up until the present day.

Ancient Rome was an imposing city even by modern standards, a sprawling imperial metropolis of more than a million inhabitants, a "mixture of luxury and filth, liberty and exploitation, civic pride and murderous civil war" that served as the seat of power for an empire that spanned from Spain to Syria. Yet how did all this emerge from what was once an insignificant village in central Italy? Mary Beard provides a sweeping revisionist history to get to grips with this thematic question.

‘SPQR’ is just four letters, but interwoven in those four letters are thousands of years and pages of Roman history. Cicero used to talk about the ’concordia ordinum.’ He said there was a harmony between all the orders in Rome. It’s like a pyramid hierarchy structure. At the top you have the ′senatus′ or the Senate—the aristocrats, the rich men who make decisions. Underneath that you have the ’equites’ who we don’t talk about as much , but they have their own spheres of power. They’ve got a bit of money and are a lower level. And underneath that you’ve got the ’populus’ or the people. SPQR is the harmony between the senatus and the populus and how they work together. That’s where Rome comes from: it’s not just about the Senate. The Senate can’t work without the people and vice versa. So ‘SPQR’ is basically a four-letter summation of the Roman constitution. It’s what it should be, though often isn’t. One of the reasons why - and she writes about this very well - Rome falls apart is because that relationship of harmony and hierarchy does fall apart under Caesar and Pompey in the 1st century BC.

Imperium by Robert Harris

This is one of my favourite novels, even if it weren’t classical, because like all Harris’ books it’s written like a smart thriller. I’m a huge Robert Harris fan. A lot of Robert Harris’ books are quite similar: they have a protagonist and you see the story - all the machinations - through his eyes. In Imperium we see the life of Cicero through the eyes of his slave, Tiro. We know Tiro was a real person, who recorded everything Cicero wrote.

The late Republic is one of my favourite periods of any period of history ever. You get all the figures: Cicero, Caesar, Pompey, Crassus, Octavian, Antony and Cato. Robert Harris paints compelling portraits of these people so nicely that even with Crassus, say, who comes up every so often, you get a sense of who he is. There are actually two more books in the trilogy: Lustrum and Dictator. Once you get to Dictator, you know who Julius Caesar really is, you know why he’s doing it.

#ask #question #books #reading #naval #maritime #classics #literature #fiction #history #personal #war #military #antiquity

[carriagelamp]

November 2020: A Months of Familiarity

This November ended up being a month of me either rereading old favourites, exploring new books by favourite authors, or a mix of both.

…Be prepared for so much Terry Prachett, I found his audiobooks on Libby last month and since that I’ve been unstoppable.

The Amazing Maurice and his Educated Rodents

The first of my Terry Practhett books to mention! I chose to include this one on my list because it’s a beautiful stand alone novel, perfect to read if you’ve never touched on of Pratchett’s works before, and is often overlooked.

The book is about Maurice, an “amazing” cat by his own admission, who has teamed up with a stupid boy and his very own plague of rats. The moneymaking scheme is simple: set the rats loose on a town and after causing a panic let the boy stroll in and offer to play his pipe and lead them away… for a fee. This is working well, until Maurice, the boy, and the rats arrive in the town Bad Blintz. Here the rats are beginning to question the morality of their work, the boy gets entangled with a young, mischievous local girl, and they’re all shocked to find out that the town already has a real rat infestation… or so the rat catchers claim. Things quickly turn sinister and deadly as the group is forced to confront not only the cruelty of humanity, but something even more sinister living in the small, dark, hidden place of the town.

This is a YA book, unlike some of Pratchett’s other novels, so it’s a quick, fun read, while still having all of his dry wit and heavy, complicated thoughts about society, morality, belief, and what it means to be a person. It’s a genuine delight to see Maurice and the rats, recently made sentient by wizards’ rubbish, struggle to come to terms with who they were and who they are now.

Black Pearl Ponies: Red Star & Wildflower

Y’all it ain’t a secret at this point that I enjoy a stupid horse girl book, right? I picked up the first two books of the Black Pearl Ponies books from the library on a whim and they were basically what they promised. Girl lives with family on ranch, father helps train horses, girl goes on pony adventures with ponies. A particular focus is given to horse welfare and care. Very mediocre but a nice thoughtless covid read if you, like me, get a craving for animals books written for seven year olds from time to time. Plus this comes with the added humour of it being written, as far as I can tell, by a British author who thinks all Americans are stetson wearing cowboys which I find unreasonably funny.

Crenshaw

I love Katherine Applegate’s work; I read the Endling series earlier this year and they are overwhelmingly good. Crenshaw was also an enjoyable read, though not my favourite by her. It read a little bit like a book I read last fall, No Fixed Address, which was also a very good read though not my usual genre. Crenshaw is about a boy, Jackson, whose family, though close-knit and loving, is experiencing financial difficulties and struggle with food scarcity, homelessness, and all the instability and stress that results from this. During this tumultuous time, Jackson is surprised by the reappearance of a tall, bipedal, snarky cat — Crenshaw, his old imaginary friend. This is a charming book that blends genuine, real world hardships with whimsy and magical realism.

The Enemy Above: A Novel of WWII

Since it was Rememberance Day this month, I decided to pick up a holocaust novel. This book is about 12-year-old Anton, a young Jewish boy who finds himself fleeing from his Polish farm in the middle of the night with his old grandma when a German raiding party that attacks their village in an effort to make the countryside “judenfrei”. The book is, perhaps, not the most well-fleshed out, but it’s fast-paced and exciting for a child/YA audience that’s being introduced to holocaust literature, without trying to downplay the absolutely horror and brutality of the Nazis. It manages to strike a satisfying balance between fear, tragedy, and hope.

“Everything he had heard was true. He was just a twelve-year-old boy and yet they hunted him. He had broken no laws, done nothing wrong. He was simply born Jewish. How could anyone want to kill him for it?”

Gregor the Overlander

Somehow I never knew that Suzanne Collins wrote anything other than The Hunger Games? I stumbled across this series at a used bookstore and was first taken by the cover and then shocked when I realized I recognized the author’s name. Well The Hunger Games was such a good read, how could I not pick up a book with people riding on a giant fucking bat?

Such a good choice. I’m almost done book two and bought book three today after work. It is exactly the sort of low fantasy that I live for, when a fantasy world lives so close to the real world that you can practically touch it. I also love the fact that while all the wild fantastical elements are happening, you still have the main character taking care of his toddler sister the whole time. It’s at times charming, hilarious, and nerve-wracking!

It’s about Gregor, a normal kid who’s doing his best to help his mom take care of his two younger siblings ever since his father disappeared years ago. Gregor expected months of boredom when he agrees to stay home over the summer instead of going to camp like his sister in order to watch his baby sister, Boots, and their grandma while his mom is at work. He never could have expected that a simple trip to the apartment’s laundry room would lead to both him and Boots tumbling miles beneath the earth into the pitch black Underland, a place filled with giant rats and bugs and people with translucent skin who fly through the massive caverns on huge bats. He also could have never expected that he would get wrapped up in a deadly prophecy that would force him to travel into distant, dark lands into the waiting claws of an overwhelming enemy.

Kings, Queens, and In-Between

A Canadian queer novel that I’ve seen trumpeted everywhere. Libraries, classrooms, bookstore, this book got so much hype (and has such a pleasing cover) that I had to get my hands on it. Now, I’ve got to admit that it’s not really my genre; I don’t love realistic fiction. But that being said, it’s a fun, heart-warming, queer romp through that explores gender, sexuality, love, family, friendship… there’s a lot of lovable, quirky, complicated characters that get thrown together in unexpected ways at a local summer carnival. While there’s tension and misunderstandings and mistakes, this is overall a very optimistic and loving novel, and would be a great read if you want a queer novel that reads like cotton candy.

Love, The Tiger

This book is the graphic novel equivalent of a nature documentary. There’s no text, but you follow a day in the life of a tiger as it moves through the jungle on the quest for food. The art is honestly beyond outstanding, and though it’s a really quick read it is so very worth it. I’ve also read Love, The Lion in this series (also good, though a bit more confusing imho) as well as one of the books from his other series Little Tails which is still very nature and education based, though for a slightly younger audience.

Making Money

More Pratchett! Making Money was the first Discworld book I ever read, and it’s one of my most reread ones — it’s an ultimate comfort read! This is technically the sequel to Going Postal (another book I reread this month), in which conman Moist Von Lipwig is saved from a rightful death at the noose in exchange for agreeing to work for the city. Going Postal sees Moist narrowly dodging death in many varied forms as he tries to get the Anhk-Morpork postal service back on its feet and get the drifts of dead, whispering letters moving again. In Making Money things at the post office have become… too easy. Moist is bored, restless, until he finds himself thrust into a new job: head of the Royal Mint. There he has been given not only charge of the biggest bank in Anhk-Morpork, but also a dog with a price on its head, a lethal family with all the money in the world out for his blood, and the fear that his secret past life may be on the verge of being exposed to everyone, all while he’s desperately trying to make money…

The Moist series is honestly an example of Pratchett at his absolute best imo, and the amount of humour, wit, adventure, and scathing commentary he can build around a bank is outstanding. Cannot recommend enough.

The One And Only Ivan

Another book I’ve been hearing everyone talk about, as well as another Katherine Applegate book. It’s been on my radar for a while, but with the sequel and a movie coming out, it had everything at a fever pitch and I finally picked it up. Fantastic read, I definitely enjoyed it more than Crenshaw. This book was based off the true story of Ivan, a gorilla taken from his home in the jungle and sold to the owner of a mall, where he spent years of his life growing from child to adult silverback in a small, concrete enclosure. In this fictionalized version, everything changes for Ivan and his friends, when a new baby elephant is bought to help revitalize the mall attractions and Ivan makes a promise he doesn’t know how to keep: to protect this baby, and keep her from living the life Ivan and his friends were forced to. This book made me very emotional. Applegate’s picture book that goes along with it is also a great companion read.

Ranma ½

I realized that our library had the 2-in-1 editions of Ranma ½ and honestly that was it for me. This has been a favourite series of mine since I was in middle school and realized that the creator of Inuyasha had written other things. It is unapologetically ridiculous and larger-than-life and you have to love the shameless joy it has at being ludicrous. It does start to feel a little repetitive the further into the series you go, but at the moment, with covid, I find I have a huge tolerance for rereading slightly repetitive things so long as they make me happy. And boy howdy does the vaguely queer undertones, endless pining, and relentless slapstick of Ranma ½  make me happy. This is classic manga y’all and if you’ve never read it you should!

The basic premise, for anyone that doesn’t is that of an bonkers martial arts comedy. It follows Ranma and his father who, while training in China, fell into cursed springs. Each spring has the tragic legend of a person or animal who drowned in it, and if someone falls in they inevitably turn into that creature any time they’re doused in cold water. Ranma had the misfortune of falling into “The Spring of Drowned Girl” and, indeed, turns into a girl anytime he’s hit with cold water. Things continue to spiral out of control when Ranma meets his arranged fiancée, Akane, who is as exasperated by this situation as Ranma. Both would rather be fighting people than worrying about things like romance. And don’t worry, there is lots and lots and lots and lots of some of the goofiest martial arts fights that you can imagine for a bunch of high schoolers.

Through the Woods

A beautiful and creepy Canadian graphic novel. I honestly really don’t even know how to describe it in a way that does it justice. It’s a collection of short horror stories, with beautiful, flowing art style that draws you in and sends chills down your spine. I’ll let the art doing the talk, and honestly beg you to go find a way to read this graphic novel:

The Witch’s Vacuum Cleaner: And Other Stories

The last Terry Pratchett book on my list (though shout out to the others I’ve listened to this month: Wee Free Men, Hat Full of Sky, Men At Arms, and Snuff) and one that I actually physically, rather than listening to the audiobook. I included this one because unlike the others, this was a Pratchett book I had never read before. It collects a number of Pratchett’s short stories that had been written for children over a number of years. These weren’t necessarily my favourite examples of Pratchett’s writing (I prefer his longer work that can really dive into social issues) but it was such a quick, easy, fun read that you can’t really help but be charmed by it. I liked the stories that took place in “the wild wild west (of Wales)” in particular.

#book review #book reviews #chatter #listen i know no one but me really cares about this but i look forward to the end of every month #when i get to look back at which books i've read and try to decide one the twelve best to ''review'' #but it's also nice to think that maybe adding a little positivity and book love might help other people find books #that will help them get through covid like they've been helping me #terry pratchett #discworld #the amazing maurice and his educated rodents #moist von lipwig #the witch's vacuum cleaner #katherine applegate #the one and only ivan #crenshaw #canadian literature #canlit #canadian lit #queer lit #queer literature #queer books #through the woods #emily carroll #ranma #ranma 1/2 #kings queens and in-betweens #gregor the overlander #suzanne collins #the enemy above #middle grade novels

[lucentshadow]

Favourite stories

Or more like stories i still think about even thought it was years since i read/watched them. I made this list to kind of make myself think what i actually like about them. If you have any recommendations based on this list feel free to let me know. Here is just a list, more under the cut. 

Psycho Pass

The Bartimaeus trilogy

Les Miserables

Brave new world

Démon súhlasu

Powers

Books by Jane Austen

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

Megamind

Martin Eden

My youth romantic comedy is wrong as I expected

Disclaimer: I just want to point out some stuff i personally liked about these stories. This is by no means a complete assessment of them, i know there’s more in them then i absorbed the last time i watched or read them.

Psycho Pass

In Japan Sibyl system judges people based on their crime coefficient – the likelyhood of them commiting a crime and being dangerous to other people. Those with high crime coeficient but no criminal history are called latent criminals and they are taken away from society and put into rehabilitation centers, which mostly means they’ll never get back out. Some latent criminals can under strict conditions leave the center and help in police investigation as Enforcers – hunting dogs for Inspectors.

There’s a lot i like about this series. The setting is interesting, the villain has kind of an interesting point, and then there are characters. Characters in this series are in my opinion not examined and developed as they could be, except for a few. That being said, Ginoza Nobuchika is one of my all time favourite characters. As an inspector, he wants to do what‘s right and believes Sibyl is the only right way to do that. So he strictly keeps in line, even tries to despise people closest to him who became enforcers, because if Sibyl is right, then they were in the wrong . Stuff happens of course and whole his character development is wonderful, but i won’t spoil anything more. And then there’s Akane. A role model. I love how Akane can think about crimes without ever affecting her crime coefficient (which is something that sent a few people to the enforfcers camp) and that’s because in the end her ultimate motive is to protect people and the law. 

The Bartimaeus trilogy  by Jonathan Stroud

The government of Britain consists of magicians – caste of people with knowledge to summon and control demons, who then have to obey them. With their powers, magicians control the rest of the population, keeping them away from education and true source of their power. We follow three main characters – Nathaniel „John Mandrake“, sold by his parents to become a magician and to believe magicians are what keeps the country safe,  working his way up the power ladder to become part of the British government, djinni Bartimaeus, summoned by Nathaniel, and determined to make Nathaniels life as miserable and troublesome as he can while he is forced to obey him, and Kitty Jones, a commoner, determined to tear down magicians rule.

If you ever thought that it was unrealistic how wizards in Harry Potter decided to hide from Muggles instead of taking control over the world, than i present you with Bartimaeus, where privileged caste of magicians controls commoners by power gained by exploitation of demons.

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

So, i only watched two movies and read about 250 pages from the book, but let me tell you, Jean Valjean is one my favourite characters ever. I love what kind of a person he becomes even after everything he’s been through. I still have to read the whole book, though.

Brave new world by Aldous Huxley

People are born in the factory, they are conditioned to enjoy their life in a prescribed way, to fulfil every pleasure, to eradicate every negative feeling by drugs, and then to die and be recycled. People are conditioned to like the way they will lead their lives. So what is a meaning of life then? Is the meaning of life to find happiness? To be entertained? What if we get that and we are always etertained, we are always happy. What then? And what do we need to sacrifice to get that?

Démon súhlasu („Demon of consensus“ or „Demon of agreement“) by Dominik Tatarka

Written in 1963 in communistic Czechoslovakia, this short story talks about a difference between a public and private consensus and how there is a discord between these two when a person becomes a pawn. I don‘t think there is an english translation of this book, but thanks to the style of the writing I’m afraid about a half of the quality would be lost in translation anyway. But here is my rough translation of a short quote i like:

A pawn is a man, who in the name of his conviction agrees to be promoted to a position, for which he‘s not enough.  A pawn is a role that a man plays, only plays, terribly plays. A pawn is a role, in which a man plays, that nothing is his fault, that over there higher up are the officials, who instead of him think, speak, plan, for him they decide, for him they take responsibility.

A pawn used to believe in his conviction, now he doesn‘t even believe.

A pawn can this way think,to be a righteous man, who got of the path only because of a general change.

A pawn is a beast, a pawn is a dangerous man, class enemy.

Powers by Ursula K. Le Guin

Main character grows up as a slave, but for a long time he doesn‘t see it as something that wrong, he doesn‘t rebel, and he even kind of advocates for it being that way. Family who owns him gives him education and he‘s growing up with children of the Family, playing games as if they were on the same side. There is a particular part of this story i think about from time to time. After stuff happens, he looses interest in the world and he‘s not in his actions, none of what he‘s doing has any meaning for him, everything he does is automatic and he let‘s the world decide his next course in life. And i can feel that.

  Books by Jane Austen

I remember i read Pride and prejudice in the first year of high school when i started reading classics. To be honest, i did not really understand it, just some kind of story about love i guess. I picked it up a few years later and found a witty ironic narrator talking about a women from a social class, who can‘t work because they don’t have to and that way work is considered beneath them, and any exertion is considered unnecessary attention-seeking and is looked down upon. If there’s not much to inherit and you can‘t live of your work, the only way to secure a living is to get married well.

  Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron

Okay, so, the main character is a horse. And he‘s the strongest willed horse alive. This story is basically the world trying to break him, and i have to tell you, i love seeing him disapoint . There is no need for a character development, Spirit is already perfect at the beginning, he knows his place in the world, cares about his herd and all he wants is to be with them and to be free. To be honest, the animals not talking is a great choice here. There‘s a line from one of the songs that i remember from time to time: If you loose yourself, your courage soon will follow. So be strong tonight, remember who you are.

  Megamind

Megamind‘s whole life was dedicated to defeating Metroman and to rule Metrocity, altough because of Metroman mostly he just end’s up in jail. But finally one day (thanks to an accident) he beats the superhero and becomes the most powerful person in the city. That‘s about ten minutes in the movie. However, as days go by he comes to the conclusion that his life without Metroman, his nemesis, lacks meaning. So he devises a plan to create himself a new superhero to fight. Superhero burnout, how our surroundings influence if we become good or evil, power not corrupting people just giving them a way to show who they‘ve always been, and more.

  Martin Eden by Jack London

Poor sailor saves a life of a man from higher society. When he meets the man‘s sister, he falls in love with her and starts educating himself to get to her level. And so the story of hypocrisy, shallowness and social injustice begins. As much as i’m still frustrated about the ending, the story itself still comes to my mind from time to time, but i have to reread it someday because i read it only once and it was a very long time ago, so i know there was a ton of themes and content that flew over my head at that time.

My youth romantic comedy is wrong as i expected by Wataru Watari

This has a certain similarities to Catcher in the rye, mostly in style. Main character Hachiman Hikigaya is an unpopular high scholler without friends but with massive defence mechanisms to help him deal with his life. Great inner monologues.      

 Honorable mentions: Gattaca, Interstellar, Dark knight, Truman show, Brothers Karamazov, Coco, Brother bear, Matrix, Hamlet, Mucha do about nothing, Aoharu x kikanjuu(no seriously, this is hilarious), King of Attolia, Epos of Gilgamesh, Into the wild, Back to the future, stories by Božena Slančíková Timrava, Mulan, Fate/Zero

#books #anime #what my favourite stories say about me #my post #megamind #psycho pass #les miserables #Ursula K. Le Guin #powers #annals of the western shore #Spirit Stallion of the Cimarron #oregairu #my youth romantic comedy is wrong as i expected #jane austen #martin eden #demon suhlasu #brave new world #the bartimaeus trilogy #bartimaeus #favourite stories #favourite books #favourite anime

[newagesispage]

                                                                            JUNE    2020

PAGE RIB

FX and Ryan Murphy will bring us season 10 of American Horror Story next year. The cast includes Mac Culkin, Kathy Bates, Sarah Paulson, Evan peters, Billie Lourd, Lily Rabe and Finn Wittrock. There will also be a spinoff called, wait for it, American Horror Stories. Woo Hoo!!

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Reno 911 is back

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I happen to have a clementine in my butt. –Jimmy Kimmel

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NASA got their dragon launch. It is unfortunate that they had to compete with the current cycle.

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Sam Springsteen (son of Patti and Bruce) has been sworn in as a Jersey City firefighter.

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Ryan Murphy’s Hollywood is great. I don’t know how to feel about the fast and the loose and the nice made up endings like Once upon a time in Hollywood.  Will this be a trend??** Another great one on Netflix is, Have a good trip.

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Are there biopics in the works for Michael and Janet Jackson, Whitney Houston, the Bee Gees and Bowie?? That is the word.

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Days alert: Look for Lani to become pregnant. Eli and Justin are both thinking marriage. Claire is back which will bring Shawn and Belle back. Gabi may be kidnapped. Word is that July will have a wedding every week that will lead to a funeral.  Allie Horton is all grown up and heading back with a secret. Will she be like Mom, Sami?? Brady thinks that ruining Titan will get back at Victor. Sonny and Will may get a chance at another child. Eve may be back later in the summer. And, C’mon Xander, do something wonderful to get your woman back. Lucas may be on the way back and Orpheus is leaving. ** Judi Evans (Adrienne) had a serious horseback riding accident on May 16. She had broken ribs, a collapsed lung and 2 chipped vertebrae. The good news was in the hospital they discovered a blood clot so the whole thing saved her life.

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Morton Buildings is being sued by 2 women for harassment and discrimination. One incident claims an employee said, “God created women by lining up all the men and castrating the stupid ones.” Another lawsuit was filed in 2009.**Thanks for the tip, Di.

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If you expect elementary school children to endure the trauma of active shooter drills for your freedoms, you can wear a mask to Costco. –Sara Elizabeth Dill

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House republicans have sued Pelosi to block proxy voting.

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Seth Rogan, Steve Carell and Ben Schwartz are donating funds to bailout Minneapolis protestors after the death of George Floyd.** The country has been turned upside down as another cop kills another black man. No need to rehash, we have all seen it. I wonder if those four horrible cops are proud of what they have done to their city. Could we finally have a tipping point in this time when racism is spotlighted with our racist President? After many incidents in just the past couple of weeks and everyone on edge with coronavirus, it has boiled over. Scary Clown threatens to start shooting as Minneapolis burns down. Burn down a police station, get a cop arrested (finally)? Seems worth it to me. The way the killer looked into the camera as if he was just so proud is gonna stick with us as it should.  ** A CNN crew were arrested live on the air but released later after Jeff Zucker spoke to Gov. Walz.**  Liberate Minnesota was the Trump tweet, well, they are working on it.** I am hearing people saying in all sincerity lately that it is time for the humans to go, we are ruining each other and the planet.

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If you have not seen the Killer Mike speech from Atlanta, you need to check it out.** Netflix, Hulu and Paramount are taking a stand and showing support for the Black lives matter movement.

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John Cusack put out video of police coming at him with batons and pepper sprayed him as he protested in Chicago. More than 1000 were arrested and it continues.** In Flint, Sheriff Chris Swanson and other police put down helmets and joined the protestors. Police in Schenectady took a knee and joined the march. The behavior is spreading and look what a difference it makes, could they be starting to get it?

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Never thought I’d say this but in light of everything that is happening, the DNC made a big mistake in not backing Berne Sanders. –Pete Buttigieg ** Ok, first, of course he is right but you helped set this all in motion. It is a bit late for that …or is it? Biden is not the OFFICIAL nom, the deal is not done yet. Will Bernie jump back in the race?? Perhaps we will soon see BERNE FOR PRESIDENT again.

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American carnage was a self -fulfilling prophecy, alas. –Susan Glasser

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Scary Clown 45 has designated Antifa a terrorist organization. ** There is no legal authority for designating a domestic group, any such designation would raise significant concerns. –ACLU

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In any season, police violence is an injustice, but its harm is elevated amidst the remarkable stress people are facing amidst covid-19. Even now, there is evidence of excessive police initiated force and unwarranted shootings of civilians, some of which have been fatal. –American Medical Association.

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Washington Week had a great discussion about how all the ills in US history have played out in 2020. Impeachment, pandemic, depression and civil unrest are all here at once.

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Word is that Trevor Noah has been proven much more popular than the other late night hosts since they have been at home.

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I predict the picture of the upside down flag with the backdrop of the burning liquor store will be the lasting image of the Trump Presidency.

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This is the Presidency George Wallace never had. –Max Boot

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Spanish flu, Polio, Aids, Covid-19: Why don’t people get any smarter? The masses (and sometimes those in charge) can get it wrong over and over again. From Dr.? Phil and Dr Oz and their cavalier attitude toward death to Rosie wanting her son to take a leave of absence from the grocery store, we just do not learn. Even before that, I can’t forget the woman who wanted to change her vote after she found out Buttigieg was married to a man. Is she even a dem? Do your research people! Respect others, people!! Have compassion, stop being so selfish and use your brains!!** Puerto Rico was a pre curser to the pandemic response.

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Amy Cooper Chris Cooper? WTF? Another liberal who is not really liberal.

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Crime in general is down and police shootings are up. And yes, now the opportunists are out of control and anger is boiling over but protests against police brutality causing police brutality is WRONG!

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Check out the book, What makes a marriage last, from Marlo Thomas and Phil Donahue.

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Ben Taub, Barry Blitt and Colson Whitehead have won the Pulitzer Prize.

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Word is that Nick Cage will play Joe Exotic of Tiger King fame. Of course he will.

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I refuse to wear a mask because God did not have us born with one.- Nino Vitali** How many people have you heard say, “The President isn’t wearing a mask, so I don’t have to.”

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It looks like Apple will partner with Paramount for Scorsese’s adaptation of Killers of the Flower Moon.

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Oh my: Scary Clown is having a twitter feud with twitter!  He has to, of course, lash out and now signs an executive order targeting social media. He is going on about section 230 which gives immunity to social media companies against being sued over content.  It could curb liability protection. Experts say it will only encourage lawsuits because he does not want to be edited.

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If Native American tribes were counted as states, the five most infected states in the US would all be native tribes. –Nicholas Kristof

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Did ya see that Jeff Epstein doc from James Patterson. It is lays blame in all directions. Why does it seem like all these old guys on there with all that money have such yellow teeth?

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Lindsey Graham is urging Federal judges in their mid to late 60’s to step down so they can fill the spots with republicans.

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Richard McGuire tried to live at Disney World in a zoological park that was closed down.

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Caterpillar, Levi, Black and Decker and others have cut jobs but gave millions to shareholders.

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Axl Rose and Steve Mnuchin had a twitter feud.

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China announced plans to introduce a National Security law in Hong Kong. The law enables mainland Chinese National security agencies to operate in the city for the first time. Using a rarely used constitutional method, they bypassed Hong Kong legislature. Since the former British colony became a semi-autonomous region of China more than 20 years ago, they have manages its own affairs. The law will affect media, education, politics and international business. Many acts will now be criminalized. Hong Kong is party to international treaties guaranteeing civil liberties that China is not. The U.S. is urging Bejing to reconsider. Pro- democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong were tear gassed as they yelled, “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times.”

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The Michael Flynn charges were dropped.

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Holyoke soldier’s home in Massachusetts lost 70 souls to Coronavirus. AP photographer David Goldman got a projector and cast big pictures the vets onto the homes of loved ones. Each one had a story including one vet who was sent to Nuremberg to guard Nazis. He claimed to have filled Hermann Goring’s glass with toilet water.

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The swimming Dinosaur, Spinosaurus has been getting a lot of attention.  The Sahara desert which was once massive rivers kept the first intact aquatic dinosaur.  With a snout, teeth and jaw like a croc, it is so far the only known kind of dinosaur that lived in the water.  The 50 foot long bizarre fin-like tail is like a giant paddle.  Paleontologists encourage others to have a look at other fossils to see if there are more.

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Octavia Spencer is said to have been telling everyone she is a year younger than she is. She is turning 50.

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The $69 million ventilator scam. Really? The White House heard from a guy who told them he could supply the product so the WH told NY to order them and stood behind the guy but it was a scam. Scary Clown sure loves his shady people, intentional or not.** A Florida woman, Rebecca Jones claims that she was asked to fudge the numbers to make reopening look better. ** Georgia moved their dates around on a graph to make their cases seem flattened. ** For 17 months, Florida investigated voter fraud for Trump and Gov. Scott. They found NOTHING!!

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Amazon stock price is up 25% yet they have become notorious for the terrible way they treat their workers. Bezos is set to become a trillionaire.

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We have to remember that order comes from chaos. True enhancements can come from large scale crisis. What will we learn from this one? This is a warning!!** Universal health care? No more buffets? ** Prices will probably go up everywhere what with the closings and all the extra cleaning. I hope this means that hotel bedspreads will be cleaned after every stay.  It looks like there may be no cocktails or food on planes.

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Take a virtual tour of the statue of liberty. All the fun without all the swaying.

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Local PBS stations are making it easier to learn. Students will be able to put on a channel for lessons that does not need cable or internet. Woo Hoo!!

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Insiders say that Trump threatened to sue his campaign manager because he did not agree with his assessment and the poll numbers in a 2 day rant.** Just one more example of Scary Clown double talk. Then: Less testing, less positives. Now: So much testing is a badge of honor.**Doctors without Borders are now here, not the third world countries that they usually help, it is US.

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Haven’t we had enough of powerful men being accused? A female Dem candidate would have been nice and Bernie did not seem to have any baggage that way either.

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Will the Senate see fit to ok some more stimulus $? 4 trillion to prop up Wall Street seems per the usual. Enough for them, let’s take care of those small businesses and those really in need.

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Thao and the get down stay down is one of the best in this internet entertainment era.

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Check out Stars in the House with Tony Shalhoub and others.

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The Detectorists on Acorn TV is a great little show!!

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Happy Day! There is a new season of At Home with Amy Sedaris!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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It looks like Pier 1 will permanently close as well as JC Penney, J Crew, Sears and Neiman Marcus.

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Check out the wonderful, This is about Humanity!!

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Have U seen the trailer for The King of Staten Island?? OMG Pete Davidson, Steve Buschemi and Marisa Tomei , just to name a few!! I can’t fucking wait!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Bill Maher looked really high on his 5-22-20 show. This working from home makes him much more mellow!!

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3 Russian doctors treating coronavirus have fallen out of windows in about a weeks time.** Russia boasts that it has more ventilators per capita than the U.S. After they made fun of us, on May 22, the first shipment of U.S. ventilators headed to Russia. They are a gift from Trump and the U.S. taxpayers. –Julia Davis

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State Department Inspector General Steve Linick is out.  Was he investigating Pompeo?  Trump never knows anything about any of it. Why are all the protectors of the rule of law thrown out?  ** Was Pompeo throwing lavish foreign policy dinners with Reba, Dale Jr. and the owners of that horrid chicken sandwich place? ** The clean water rule has been suspended which cuts protections for most of the country’s wetlands.

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The market facilitation program has been helping small farmers over the last few years in a $28 billion bailout. Trump’s sanctions brought this on and the corona virus has made it worse.  Mostly the money has helped bankers and bigger farms. Much like the stimulus $ that was earmarked for small business, there are loopholes that screw up the ‘rules.’ The cap is not being followed like they may say because the $ is going to “investors” in the farm and often not the actual farmer who works on a smaller scale. A small farm run by family members may not get the bailout. It seems to be more important to get a good lawyer who can manipulate the paperwork.  Sad that taxpayer $ is used this way.

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Just in time, the Space Force flag and plans for the super duper missile have been unveiled. WTF??

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Paula Poundstone is a woman I knew I liked. She was recently talking about not liking couches. I thought I was the only one, People are always telling me how much they love their couches and I don’t get it.

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Jeff Gibbs and Michael Moore are upset after Youtube pulled their doc, Planet of the Humans. After 8.3 million views, there was a copyright claim by Toby Smith of about 4 seconds of footage.  Now , this is not the first time that Moore has had problems with content in one of his movies.  Many have claimed there is a lot of fiction in this latest venture. I think I would just remove the possible copyright infringement and move on. It can now be seen on Vimeo.

A Florida law that restricts felon voting is found unconstitutional by a federal judge.** The RNC filed a lawsuit against California to stop mailing ballots to registered voters.

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R.I.P. Little Richard, Roy Horn, Jerry Stiller, Sam Lloyd, Ann Sullivan, Mike Cogswell, Michael Keenan, Shirley Knight, Irrfan Khan, Hana Kimura, Forrest Compton, Jimmy Cobb, George Floyd, Ken Osmomd, all the corona victims, Lynn Shelton, Richard Herd, Larry Kramer, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, Anthony James, Fred Willard and Carolyn Busch.

[lordfries]

Significant Indigenous Australian Rock Shelter Blasted for Money? More Likely Than You Think.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-26/rio-tinto-blast-destroys-area-with-ancient-aboriginal-heritage/12286652

I would first like to begin by acknowledging and paying my respects to the Ngunnawal people, the Traditional Custodians of the land on which I am communicating to you from today.

I would like to pay my respects to their Elders, past, present and emerging, and acknowledge all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders reading today, also paying my respects to your Elders, past, present and emerging.

In 2013, permission was signed off for Rio Tinto to detonate mining explosives near the Juukan 1 and Juukan 2 rock shelters in the Western Pilbara, Australia. Archaeologists have surveyed and excavated much of the sites, and through sweat and tears (and negotiations with local Elders) have turned up a plethora of breathtaking artefacts and paintings, digging up lost connections from ancestor to local. Recently, the action was passed and these two fantastically large, rich in local and historical importance rock shelters were abslolutely crumbled to dust by the distant explosion. 

What is most frustrating about this, is that through negotiations of the mining operation (in 2013!!! We had time to avoid this!!!!) acknowledgement of damage of these sites was taken into consideration and simply ignored (see the article link above).

 As an Australian, I am angry. As an archaeologist, I weep. 

If you don’t know much about Australian history, I’ll give you the low-down (which feels almost criminal because our history is too rich to put into mere dot points, but for the sake of brevity I will highlight what is important to my ranty rant);

Aboriginal Australians are thought to have arrived on the Australian continent 40,000-70,000 years ago. The reason this bracket is so large, is because artefacts are scarce and generally, the further you go back the harder it is to pin-pont.

We have some fantastic early examples of stone tool use, craft and community engagement displayed through artefacts found near Indigenous settlements. These artefacts are distinct from other upper/middle paleolithic sites, as the technology to make them are pretty much unique to the Aussie continent and thus require unique methods of analysis to catalogue and understand. 

Because of the nomadic lifestyles of very early Indigenous people and the arid conditions of many parts of Australia, these artefacts are rare to find whole (comparing to other upper/middle paleolithic sites) and thier availability will only decrease the further we go through time.

750,000+ indigenous Australians inhabited the Australian continent when European settlers (namely the British) arrived in 1770 (see helpful sites at the bottom). They promptly screwed things up - and there’s a lot of information on that available in the links below.

In 1900, there was an estimated 117,000.... A loss of over 84%. Let that sink in.

Today, we have some great legislation surrounding protection of heritage sites, but as it turns out, they aren’t as concrete and valued as we once thought (someone doing heritage law, I’d appreciate your input here).

Indigenous Australian archaeology is fascinating and so very important for many reasons, most of all because it is rare, and because we do not fully understand it yet. There is a deep, deep, rich culture that invigorates our land, and mining corporations like Rio Tinto are (quite literally) burying it in the sand. Our government is equally to blame, if not more, for letting this happen. The local community and Elders of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama (PKK) people are just devestated that a site so significant to their history and a direct connection to their ancestors has been flicked away by money-hungry coorporations. This isn’t the first time this has happened, and it won’t be the last. I’m just so angry. And shameful to be living in the capital city where this shit is happening right under my feet. I’m not sure why I needed to write all of this out... I suppose it’s a cry for help, a call for recognition. I don’t really want to bring events like the burning of Notre Dame in and compare it, saying someone’s loss is greater than another’s but I’d like to use it to strengthen how important this site is for the PKK Community. It’s the same shit. Just less publicity. Just less white.

NEGOTIATE BETTER. TALK WITH THE ELDERS. And once you’re done talking, LISTEN. L i s t e n .... Please. If consideration for Indigenous community opinion was as important as we make it out to be, these sites wouldn’t be anywhere near the firing line. I wouldn’t decimate your ancestral home, so don’t bloody decimate theirs.

Sort of feels like I’m doing an academic paper (or academic rant) here so I’ll slap on my website references, so you can go read ahead, and hopefully understand what the fuck is happening in my country (because I sure don’t). 

I’ll also clarify that I am white, and I recognise my privelage and I’m also doing what I can as an archaeology student to better understand my country and the beautiful * chef’s kiss * culture we are striving to preserve and grow. If you’re not Aussie, and any of this is confusing, please check out the links below, do your own research, or contact me, I’d be happy to learn with you. 

Much love (and crank), Your friendly (and angry) Australian archaeologist.

Helpful sites: https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/people/aboriginal-population-in-australia

https://australianstogether.org.au/discover/australian-history/colonisation/

https://australianmuseum.net.au/learn/cultures/atsi-collection/australian-archaeology/

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-0-387-35263-3_1

#australia #australian archaeology #archaeology #archeology #indigenous #indigenous australia #australian politics

[emilysarsam]

Contested soundscapes of urban informality: Soho’s rickshaw drivers

Authoritarian structures of governing work hard to challenge the existence of informal activities in the public realm. Creative or personal construction of public space is quickly met with suspicion, and in some cases even persecution and arrest, as “irregular” activities are often considered nuisances or associated with idleness, homelessness and crime. Our understanding of public spaces in cities seems to be shrinking in flexibility as our common perception of streets’ functions is often limited to that of transit.

Through this research project, I aim to explore the informal nature of pedicabs in London and attempt to identify issues that people face who work in this sector. In particular, I will be focussing on music’s role in both ameliorating their working conditions as well as oppressing their profession.

“Pedicabs”, or “rickshaws”, are three-wheeled bicycle taxis which operate through a legal loophole that emerged through the Metropolitan Public Carriage Act from 1869. This act classifies pedicabs as stage carriages and authorises them to ply for hire, as long as they run without motors. Spokespeople from TfL have claimed that they collaborate with the police “to deal with unsafe and antisocial pedicabs on the Capital's streets. Pedicabs are the only form of public transport in London that is unregulated and our powers are extremely limited, but we are doing all we can to enforce against dangerous and nuisance riders” (Rea 2017). According to the London Pedicab Operators Association, a voluntary association which represents the interests of the pedicab industry in London and has brought forth a code of practice for the profession, TfL refuse to engage in negotiations with them about the regulation of pedicabs (Chester 2015). The council of Westminster has enforced a legislation which forbids pedicabs to play music after 9PM, a law which has, according to testimonies from pedicab drivers, been exploited by the police to arrest undocumented workers and seize their pedicabs. They also claim that it encourages pedestrians and locals to file noise complaints in an attempt to further stigmatise the profession. Statements such as, “pedicabs are responsible for congestion issues, the overcharging of tourists and threatening of their safety” are common in British mainstream media (Hellier 2016). In December 2012, Boris Johnson attempted to ban pedicabs, insisting that "although there are a number of responsible pedicab companies, the fact is that these vehicles jam up the capital's roads and consistently fail to ensure the safety of their passengers” (TfL 2012). The common assertion that they contribute to congestion should be scrutinised as it overlooks the city’s flawed transport infrastructure which can be dangerous for both cyclists and pedestrians. Rickshaws however, could decrease congestion and pollution in London, which in January 2018 already reached its annual limit (Gabbatiss 2018). Pedicab drivers believe it is their right to play music at a moderate volume during working hours, as it uplifts their own and customer’s spirits. This targeting of defenseless and informal actors, by condemning them as “nuisances”, has proved to function as a method of ridding the streets of all unregulated activities and distract from more crucial issues that arise through economic development in urban hubs which would require systemic change to be improved (Wagner 2018).

Industrial production has created considerable constraints on our capacity to perceive public space from a variety of perspectives to a perspective of a space which is “organized for and by consumption” (Lefebvre 2003, P.20). I find a great deal of parallels between my observations of Soho’s streets and Henri Lefebvre’s understanding of the street in “The Urban Revolution”, which seeks out to uncover the street’s potential of facilitating social encounters. With the invasion of the automobile, social interaction in the streets is disappearing as urban life becomes increasingly functionalised, while its ludic and informative functions are overlooked. He also discusses the notion of movement within cities, which can both be forced and repressed by authorities who attempt to restrict the lingering and assembling of bodies, conditioning us to suspect people who use the public space for social or economic recreation and regard them as irregular (P.21).

Public space is defined by a sense of formality and public etiquette, which I consider a form of regulation and control over our individuality and creativity. Pedicabs don’t seem to fit this idea “formality” and are therefore confronted with hostility from political authorities who fear to lack power over their control. My research has lead me to believe that by playing music, pedicabs can transform our perception of public space in the urban environment, in particular streets, and create possibilities for social encounters and the exchange of knowledge. Through sharing my observations, I hope to illustrate that Soho’s streets can be regarded as an interactive theater where agents’ roles are liminal and shift between performers and spectators. Furthermore, I strive to shed light on the way that music is being instrumentalised by policy makers to target pedicab drivers and threaten their livelihoods. Instead I propose an alternative method of inquiry, in this case through dialogue about music, to identify the profession’s issues and struggles, in the hopes that government bodies such as TfL find ways of cooperating with pedicab associations and support them in developing a regulation system which will improve the precarious situation of the sector.

Monday,  9. April

Our story begins on Old Compton Street, just outside of Prince Edward Theater, where a row of pedicabs are parked. It’s about 10PM on a very wet and cold day in April, and it’s the rickshaw drivers’ last shot at finding customers before business officially dies off for the day. Amongst the noise of passing people and cars, blaring music of clubs and bars, one can hear the occasional bike horn honk and phrases such as “hello Miss, rickshaw ride?” and “London is more beautiful from the back of a pedicab”. One pedicab plays Haddaway’s “What is Love” from a soundsystem and introduces himself as Milan. “I usually play classical music”, he says. Milan has travelled all around Europe and came to the UK almost 10 years ago to do his masters. He goes on to tell me about how slow his day was and that he’s only made 12 pounds so far. He says, “only Brits today. They’re the worst customers.” Their lack of trust in pedicabs mainly stems from a video which was published online a couple of years ago and shows a pedicab driver charging a tourist 600 pounds for a short ride. Milan says he can easily charge a couple hundred pounds for a half-hour ride from rich people who don’t know any better. I ask him if he thinks he attracts more customers through his music and he says, “of course, and through my decoration!”. His sound system is attached to the frame of his bike around which he has hung fake plants and attached a disco light which flashes in different colors. His carriage is decorated with more fake plants and stickers, one of a Qatari football team, he tells me “to attract rich Qatari customers”, and two stuffed pikachus which he places on the bike’s backseat.

By now, all of the other pedicabs have left to try their luck at Queens Theater down the road. Milan tells me to meet him there later. On my way to Queens Theater, I cross paths with Soho’s night crowd, promoters trying to lure people into clubs, tourists heading home from China Town, homeless people trying to knick a pound or cigarette from partygoers. Once I reach the theater, I hear a horn honk and turn around to find Milan on his bike. He immediately continues his storytelling. “Pedicabs are a tricky business”, he says, “most of us are documented but some aren’t, and it’s the undocumented workers who come out late at night to avoid the police and offer rides at unbeatable prices, stealing our customers”. “There are other ways however, to earn an extra dime or two”, he tells me that he gets commissions from brothels to bring people there. “I can also help customers get other things, if you know what I mean”, he tells me. I ask Milan if he would prefer his profession to be regulated? He says, “are you kidding me? No way!”. Regardless of the prejudice and legal issues around pedicabs, he prefers the sector to remain irregular as it allows him to make more money. Pedicab drivers who rent their cycles and work for authorised companies, such as Bugbugs and London Pedicabs, charge a regulated fee and are in favor of the sectors’s regulation which could protect them from stigma and discrimination which they owe to the few pedicab drivers who bend the rules. We’re joined by another pedicab driver who parks beside us. Milan begins to swear at him for hanging a price list onto his bike. Milan says, “that’s illegal”. I ask him, “what is”? “The pricelist!”. I wonder, “how can something be illegal when the profession itself isn’t entirely regulated?”. Milan says, “it simply is.” I wonder if, within this informal system, Milan has created his own set of rules which determine what is legal and illegal. It’s about midnight now and the streets are emptying. We say goodbye and Milan invites me to meet him tomorrow at the Comedy Store down the road on Oxendon Street where he’ll be watching the football match.

Thursday, 12 April

It’s another damp and chilly night in Soho when I meet Volkan from Turkey in front of Palace Theater. He’s listening to “Sweet Dreams” by the Eurythmics so I ask him if he always plays music at work. He tells me that it’s his favorite part of the job. It gives him joy and motivation and sometimes helps him connect with clients as he lets them play their favorite tracks through an aux cable. In his view, a pedicab ride is a way to experience and discover the city rather than a mode of transport. Just a couple of days earlier, the media had reported about a pedicab driver who tried to charge two tourists 150£ for a short trip from Selfridges to Knightsbridge. Volkan says that after each such incident he can feel the negative effect on his reputation. Two tourists interrupt our conversation and ask for a ride to Green Park. The minute Volkan drives off, I hear a bike horn and blasting classical music. “Hey you! This is from your country! Your national heritage!”. Milan’s back with “Dein Ist Mein Ganzes Herz” by Franz Lehár. I’ve never heard the song before and he tells me that I can’t possibly be Austrian if I don’t. He’s in a hurry to get somewhere and tells me to find him in Chinatown in half an hour.  Parked next to the theater, I find Zaman from Bangladesh. He’s got a beautifully decorated bike and a big set of speakers. I ask why they’re turned off and he tells me, “it’s past 9PM! If the police catch me, I can get a huge fine or my cab could get seized!”. Soho feels like one of the loudest spots in central London, where drunk people shout and stumble across the streets and music blares out of nightclubs. The sounds of motored vehicles pollute Soho’s soundscape but still pedicabs are targeted and prohibited to play music during their busiest working hours. Zaman obeys the law out of respect for the residents who wake up early to go to school and work. He comments on passing pedicabs that play loud music and worries that they’ll jeopardize his reputation. I ask him if he thinks that the council enforced this legislation to legitimise the arrest of pedicabbers which they suspect to be undocumented workers. Zaman tells me it’s possible, but he blames pedicabbers themselves for not caring enough to enquire about the law and avoid problems. I thank Zaman for chatting to me and decide to head down to Wardour St. to see if I can find Milan. I find him parked in the middle of the pedestrian zone, waiting for work along with four other pedicab drivers. Milan immediately clarifies that he’s not really friends with the other pedicabbers. “It’s not me, it’s them! I don’t know why but they think I earn more money than they do!”. I ask him, “why?”. “What can I say? I’m a business man!”. Milan has a special way of dealing with clients which I get to experience in full action. A very drunk man approaches him and babbles, in words which I can’t quite make out, that he wants to go somewhere to get something. Milan tells him that he can get whatever he’s looking for in Camden and that he can take him there and back for 20 pounds. The drunk man agrees and calls for his friend. Milan tells me to wait for him and that he’ll be back in 20 minutes. I try to comprehend how Milan will manage his trip in 20 minutes but agree to wait for him. Meanwhile I speak to Pressi, another pedicab driver, who’s parked on Wardour St. and drives the slickest rickshaw in town which he’s named “Impressia”. I have heard other pedicabbers speak about him, calling him “the guy with the nicest bike in West End” or

“the man with the best soundsystem in town”. He starts telling me about “Impressia", which has its own website and which he built from scratch in Bulgaria. He then shipped it to Finland where he worked and lived for a couple of years before coming to London.

He continues to tell me about his passion for the movie “Into the Wild” and how one of the movie’s quotes, “Happiness is only real when shared”, inspired him to start a Facebook platform through which people from Bulgaria could connect. He tells me that, besides his bike, the platform is his proudest achievement in life and has helped people to meet, marry and start families. Milan’s back with a honk and Pressi ignores him. He tells  me that Milan is jealous that we are speaking and jokes that I should ask him to be my boyfriend because he has 500.000€ in the bank. Milan keeps honking and puts on “Dein Ist Mein Ganzes Herz” again. I say “bye” to Pressi and join Milan. He tells me that he took the two drunk men up the road to some drug dealers, fooled them into thinking they were in Camden and brought them back after charging them 20 pounds. He then says, “man’s gotta make a living!”. Exploitations like these have come to shape the general perception of pedicabs in London. From all of the rickshaw drivers I spoke to, Milan’s behavior struck me as unique. Everyone else seemed to really fear for their reputation and livelihood and make an effort to work transparently, with an overall aim for the sector to become regulated and their jobs to be secured.  

Some names in this paper have been modified to protect the identities of the pedicab drivers.

A soundmap of pedicabs in Soho, London

www.soundcloud.com/3am3ali/contested-soundscapes-of-urban-informality-a-soundmap-of-pedicabs-in-soho-london

References

Chester, Tim. Rickshaw Wars: Behind the handlebars of London's secretive industry. Mashable. 13 August 2015. Accessed April 26, 2018.

https://mashable.com/2015/08/13/rickshaw-wars-london-pedicab-industry/

Gabbatiss, Josh. One of London's busiest roads hits annual pollution limit with 335 days left of 2018. The Independent. 30 January 2018. Accessed April 25, 2018.

https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/london-busiest-roads-annual-pollution-limit-brixton-passed-2018-car-fumes-vehicles-uk-a8185416.html

Hellier, David. Transport for London Moves to Clamp down on Rickshaw Riders. The Guardian. The Guardian. January 1, 2016. Accessed April 25, 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jan/22/transport-for-london-rickshaw-riders-uber

Lefebvre, H., & Bononno, R., 2003. The urban revolution. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Rea, Samantha. London’s Pedal-Powered Rickshaws: Scourge Of Soho Or Eco-Friendly Fun? Londonist. 6 November 2017. Accessed April 25, 2018. https://londonist.com/london/features/london-s-pedal-powered-rickshaws-are-they-the-scourge-of-soho-or-eco-friendly-fun

Roy, Ananya, and Nezar AlSayyad. Urban Informality: Transnational Perspectives From the Middle East, Latin America and South Asia. Lanham, Md. ; Oxford: Lexington Books, 2004.

Transport for London. “Mayor Seeks Ban on Dangerous Pedicabs.” Transport for London. December 14 2012. Accessed April 25, 2018. https://tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2012/december/mayor-seeks-ban-on-dangerous-pedicabs.

Wagner, Kate. City Noise Might Be Making You Sick. The Atlantic. February 20, 2018. Accessed April 25, 2018. https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/02/city-noise-might-be-making-you-sick/553385/

Wikipedia contributors. Soho. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Accessed April 25, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Soho&oldid=837697240.

#soho #london #pedicab #rickshaw #soundscape #urban informality

[hongkongartman-mlee]

The Mystery Of An Old French Mansion ‘V54’ Owned By Ms Angela Leong In Happy Valley Is The Source Of Good Art For Dennis Chung And Ka Hang LAM  

Gladys Knight & The Pips sang:

“Why does it always seem the past is better

The winters were warmer

We look back and think

The grass was greener

The skies were bluer

The smiles were brighter…

And if we had the chance to do it all again

Tell me

Would we?

Could we?”

But, when you think of the good old days, think one word: death. Lucky that we are here but the people of the good old days have sadly all gone.

Many old buildings in Hong Kong are not protected by law although they are part of our beautiful past. Should we keep old buildings? Should history stand in the way of progress?

Happy Valley in Hong Kong is a 100-year-old tranquil district behind the bustling Causeway Bay. No.54 on Village Road is a very old, elegant and mysterious French-style house of originally about 20 rooms, inviting our mind to check the settled dust of the past on the stone slabs. The cheerful courtyard, where once boys and girls played, where the flowers bloomed under the golden sun rays, is at present just an empty enclosure where naughty pigeons fluttered. Rumour is that she has been abandoned for many years by a rich family, but waiting for a reason to become dignified again. The building developer in the 1920s was a legendary official and later a rich Eurasian mining businessman by  the name of Ho Lui Hap(何侶俠). Happy Valley was first used as an army camp in 1840 by the British but a terrible epidemic fatally burst forth. There was a muddy river. It later became a cemetery area as well as a racecourse. Yet, the course caught fire in 1918 and more than 600 visitors were killed. In the 1920s, the Government settled on a plan to turn Happy Valley into a high-class European residential area of three-storey blocks and so Ho constructed the No.54 mansion(‘V54’). There have been incomplete records, due to Second World War, about the owners of the lot. Land titles show that in the 1950s, the mansion was mysteriously divided into 2 blocks and one was re-developed. The present heritage belonged to one Madam Chan Siu Sau Ying(陳蕭秀英). The former chairman of Po Leung Kuk, one of the oldest NGO in Hong Kong, Madam Angela Leong(梁安琪) bought the house in 2009 and leased it to Po Leung Kuk nominally as a community art place in 2015. V54 welcomes short-term residence at below-market rates to working artists in town. There are also regular art activities.

Dennis Chung(鍾家耀), a young curator in charge of the art activities in V54, told me more about it. He studied social work but turned over his first leaf by being a radio programmer in 2000. Later, he devoted himself to art administration and curatorship. Dennis was mild-mannered and said, “I took up the job out of 3 reasons. I love heritage buildings. V54 is nostalgic, romantic and mysterious. When I sit here, every angle at the ceiling, window, fireplace and corridor is a blessed adventure. I always wonder who lived here and how they spent their time in the house. Secondly, I do have a mission. In Hong Kong, old buildings are not getting respectable with age and this is a shame! We trash our old things and memories. We fail to realize how very much we need them. Architectural preservation can save Hong Kong’s good treasures which we once embodied and will strengthen the moral bonding of our society. Another feeling which never dies in my heart is the happiness of sharing. I believe we are responsible for each other’s happiness. Look at here: artists, neighbours, visitors and Po Leung Kuk colleagues interact mirthfully in the name of art and without any money consideration.”

I asked, “Time passes and life changes. How would you feel?” Dennis sighed, “Some people in Hong Kong tend to think demolition of old buildings is the justifiable domestic consumption of a city for a better future. I disagree. Now, when an old building is going to be torn down, people rush to go there, take photographs and write ‘How sad that is’ on social media platforms. There must be more than that? Do we give business to old shops and restaurants? Do we donate to preservation projects? Do we object to ruthless demolitions?”

I asked, “This is why you organised an exhibition for the young artist Ka Hang LAM(林嘉恒)?” Hang is in his early twenties, shy and courteous. He told me, “I was born in the 1990s. Film industry in Hong Kong was already declining. Honestly, I did not watch a lot of movies but my fondness for drawing, especially human portrait, led me to where I am. I enjoy displaying the likeness, personality and mood of a person. Having completed my graphic design studies, I created a Facebook Page which allowed people to discover what I have drawn but the responses were disappointing. One day, after I watched a Marvel movie, I painted a picture of Wonder Woman. The public reaction was suddenly overwhelming and amazing. Since then, I have kept on using films including Hong Kong productions and their posters as the focus of my artistic expression. Dennis recently discovered and asked me to do an exhibition of my work in V54.”

I was attracted by Hang’s creativity, “It is not oil or acrylic paint on the canvas. What is it?” Hang exhibited a triumphant smile, “Our generation is good at computer art. Computer plays an important role in my concept development, production and printing of each piece of my artwork. Also, I do not follow a film poster exactly. Mine are often a ‘derivative work’ which are re-creations of the original, in the form of adaptation or transformation. I shared a belief with Dennis that art does not have to be serious or complicated. Pleasurable and relevant art in the different districts of Hong Kong enhances our lives by stirring wonderful feelings and inspirations. It reminds even a man in the street that we are all creative and emotional beings.”

Giving back to our community is a good example of philanthropy. Without V54, we could not have had the benefit of beautiful art in an old and timeless architecture in Happy Valley. Thank you, Madam Angela Leong!  You are great.

MLee

Introduction of Po Leung Kuk Acknowledgement – Online Museum https://youtu.be/8ID-_YWK2mU

Po Leung Kuk V54 Art Residence Acknowledgement - 保良局V54年青藝術家駐留計劃 https://youtu.be/fjdeJ16Y4eE

Historic Mansions on Yuk Sau Street, Happy Valley Acknowledgement – Explore with CVZ https://youtu.be/hpIkWs23PPM

Hong Kong Movie posters in the 60s to 80s Acknowledgement - Thomas Giam 嚴平凡 https://youtu.be/rF6chyd4RkQ

Love In A Fallen City Acknowledgement - Shaw Brothers https://youtu.be/W9fjN6vroVY

#V54 #No. 54 Village Road #Happy Valley快活谷 #Dennis Chung鍾家耀 #Ka Hang LAM林嘉恒 #Ho Lui Hap何侶俠 #Angela Leong梁安琪 #Chan Siu Sau Ying陳蕭秀英 #Gladys Knight & The Pips #1918 Racecourse Fire #Po Leung Kuk保良局 #Architectural Preservation #Marvel #Wonder Woman #derivative work

[falsemerits]

“I kept track of the violence done to Black people in my city, Toronto, and my country, Canada, as if it was being done to me, because it was, because it is, because that’s what Black people are facing in Canada and around the world, and I’d never been more aware of it.”

When Desmond tells of the violence that is happening to him metaphorically, through others who are experiencing it physically- All across Canada, I recognize this as truth. He is not being selfish in feeling that this violence is also done unto him, as it is for the person physically involved. It would be selfish to think that he could not relate, because that is not his problem in the moment. It would be selfish if because he lives in Toronto, and violence in British Columbia against Black people happens, that it has nothing to do with him. I will liken this to an experience of my own, and challenge others to think abstractly and connect the dots. September 11, 2001- A day of destruction, alleged terrorism, and global fear. I remember being in class when this happened, and my sixth grade teacher asked us to take a moment of silence for it and to discuss the event. This had nothing to do with Canada. I was not involved with these families that suffered, or the government that protected them. I was a little 10 year old girl, who only knew that if my dad, mom, uncle, aunt, or whoever I loved was in that tower that I would feel tragedy. To me, that is why I sympathized with this event. Because if something similar happened in my country, I would hope that others would share my same feelings.

Being metis, I share the same feelings that Desmond does for the violence Black people experience daily. Indigenous people are being profiled, and abused every day as well. Our causes are similar. I cannot attest that our origin stories are the exact same. I cannot say that one is more pressing than the other. All I know is that, if I can feel suffering for my ancestors, then I can share the same feelings with immigrants who were taken from their countries, forced into slavery, made to start their lives in North America, and to continue to be robbed of honour and respect every single day.

“A CBC News investigation that analyzed 461 fatal civilian encounters with police between 2000 - 2017 found that “70 percent of people who died struggled with mental health issues or substance abuse or both.” The combination of this violence with the police targeting of Black people makes Black people with mental health issues more likely to experience police violence. The CBC also found that, of the 461 deaths, “criminal charges were laid against 18 officers… With only two ending in convictions.”

To me, this is proof that our system of police and authority is grossly under trained and ill-prepared. Police are able to perform “wellness checks,” on civilians, but only when prompted by a person who has called and claimed that said person’s wellness is in question. Police feel that they do not have to assess, de-escalate, or consider external factors in an investigation, false or with merit. These are horrifyingly sad statistics, that I believe many people would just glaze over. The typical citizen doesn’t understand enough about mental health, to care about mental health. There is a culture of common socially acceptable misunderstanding, when mental health is in question. It is okay to not know. There are cues that one can detect about mental health, if given the chance. Crying, hyperventilating, excessive language, obvious frustration, resistance to identify, these are actually all signs that someone might be experiencing mental distress, or exacerbation of their pre-existing mental health condition. Police are here to enforce the protection of personal property and assets. Opting for violence against someone who is mentally unstable, Black, Hispanic, Indigenous, White, Asian any race is not the answer. Protect and serve. Protect lives of police, against usually unarmed unsuspecting vulnerable people, and serve to uphold the laws that help protect officers of wrongdoing. That is what that statement means nowadays. When officers use violence against people who have mental health problems, and do not question this as a possibility first, we see why this system fails 100 percent of the time.

“In my experience, the average white Canadian doesn’t know that British and French settlers enslaved Black and Indigenous people on these lands for two centuries, and simply shifted legislative tactics once they had abolished “legal” slavery. Those who do acknowledge slavery in Canada often add that it was “not as bad as in the States,” a nod to the white Canadian proverb used as a checkmate end to a conversation. No need to consider anti-blackness here. This idea that Canada’s racial injustices are not as bad as they could be- This notion of slavery lite, of racism lite, of what my friends calls “toy version of racism”- Is a very Canadian way of saying “remember what we could do to you if we wanted to.” Passive- aggressive racism is central to Canada’s national mythology and identity. White supremacy warns Black people against setting our own standards and pursuing dreams that stray too far from the global atmosphere of anti-blackness.”

My parents were never taught this, so they never had the opportunity to educate me. Years of public school didn’t ever teach me about slavery in Canada. Not even of slavery of Indigenous people. I remember being taught about the “trading,” and “successful negotiations” that would happen among settlers and my ancestors, sometimes after battles. Settlers considered themselves to be a type of saviour, to this land. Not once, were slaves given a voice in the education system that was taught when I was growing up. The reason for this, in my opinion, is that knowingly, this information directly contradicts the “hard work,” that British and French settlers did for Canada today. These settlers are the reason we even have an education system, the same system that blindfolds it’s students. That information would be detrimental to the foundation of Canada. This misleading information, this terrible kind of education is the reason why we have violence and racism in this country. This is why racialized groups are marginalized and oppressed. White Canadian citizens feel that they are the ones that are owed thank yous, and apologies. They are owed sympathy and rewards for “letting” immigrants take shelter in this great country.

“BLM-TO co-founders and their supporters marched into the 2017 parade close to the intersection of Yonge and College street where, a year earlier, they’d interrupted the festivities to call out Pride Toronto, the not-for-profit organization that runs the annual celebrations. This time the group’s signs read, “May we never again need to remind you that we, too, are queer,” and “May we never again need to remind you that WE built this” and that “we shut it down for ALL OF US.” I remember this as righteous, bold, inspirational and powerful- But not surprising.”

I wish I could have been there to agree with them. To rally beside them, and take honour in their pride. To me, this is a reminder that the society we live in today, no longer cares about history or where we came from. It no longer cares about the pain and suffering that was experienced, to get us to where we are today. When the executive of Pride misleading signed their list of demands when BLM-TO interrupted the parade and said the next day “What I did was move the parade forward,” I get that, however I felt distrust. I felt that having pride in your own dignity meant nothing, and that people are constantly misconstruing what this means. People mistake integrity, with entitlement. They confuse honour, with gratification. This was a great reminder that, where we come from, in all walks of life, our paths should never be forgotten. It should never be disrespected or looked down on. Everything that we go through, unjust or just, shapes, molds, and builds who we are today as a civilization and individuals.

“Canadians who do recognize historical injustice seem to understand it in this way:

Bad things happened.

Bad things stopped happening and equality was achieved.

The low social and political status held by Indigenous peoples is now wholly based on the choice to be corrupt, lazy, inefficient and unsuited to the modern world.”

Desmond quotes this excerpt from Chelsea Vowel’s novel “Indigenous Writes.” This three point bulletin explains exactly how most Canadians understand their country now. It highlights that things happened, and now there is a notion that those same things no longer happen. These days when government officials in Ottawa hold press conferences, or public meetings, they say “ We [I] would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishnaabeg People.” I am not disagreeing that they should not acknowledge it. However, I acknowledge that it is not enough, and never will be enough. Bad things happened to these people, and they get less than 2% of Canadian soil for reserves. Acknowledging that these lands once belonged, and still rightfully belong to these nations and tribes, only serves to coddle Canadians, and dismisses the conversations that many people are still fighting to have.