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educatedinyellow · 7 months

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People I Wanna Know Better

Thanks for thinking of me, @sanguinarysanguinity :)

Last song?

My son has been singing Tale As Old As Time from Beauty and the Beast all day. He's super adorable doing it, too, and you've gotta love a classic <3 We miss you, Angela Lansbury.

My funniest musical adventure from this week, though (as you know, Sang), was finding out that David McCallum -- who apparently played oboe and arranged orchestral scores, having studied music at first before switching to acting -- recorded a jazz number in the 1960s which then got sampled by Dr. Dre in the 1990s to create what, according to my brother, is 'definitely one of the most famous hip hop beats of all time' (warning: explicit language including the n word).

Who knew? Like a good secret agent, his influence pops up where least expected!

Favorite color?

Blue-green.

Currently watching?

Not much of anything lately, to be honest. I just haven't found time to fit in a movie at the end of the day, and I don't have any new TV shows I'm currently following. But I'm sure I'll catch the Dr. Who specials when they come out in a month or two. I might watch Loki season 2. And I do still like to read and watch movie reviews and collect a 'to be watched' list for myself.

A couple films that came out this year that sound good & I would like to catch up with are Rye Lane ("Raine Allen-Miller reinvents the romantic-comedy genre utilizing vibrant colors, a fisheye lens, and British rap to present a truthful depiction of London that celebrates Black joy in Rye Lane." -Jillian Chilingerian; "Rye Lane is a shock to the system and the current landscape of romantic comedies. It’s loving, genuinely humorous, and an effortless crowd pleaser. A beautiful, energetic reminder that love is worth going after time and again." -Tina Kakadelis)

and Fancy Dance ("Cloaking a family drama in crime-film conventions, the plot of Native American filmmaker Erica Tremblay’s exceptional directorial debut concerns a young woman’s disappearance from an Oklahoma reservation and her family’s urgent attempts to locate her....not even halfway through the film, Tremblay (who is from the Seneca-Cayuga nation) and co-writer Miciana Alise’s keenly observant script has touched on a disconcertingly complex array of social issues, including endemic poverty, racism, foster care, and drug and alcohol abuse in Native communities. For the filmmakers, though, it’s the crisis of missing and murdered indigenous women and girls that provides the film’s thematic throughline. Handled with candor and grace, these concerns are well integrated into the narrative and dialogue (often in the Cayuga language) so that they’re recognizable, but not melodramatically manipulative." - The Hollywood Reporter)

I'd also like to rewatch some Man From UNCLE, catch up with Spielberg's West Side Story, watch the latest Indiana Jones movie (which despite all the negative press my brother says was good fun), and sometime maybe get around to the Sandman series from last year and Good Omens 2 from this year.

Last movie?

Uhhhhh, maybe Mission Impossible 7 back in July?

Sweet/spicy/savory?

I dislike spicy. I like savory just fine. I like sweet best, but I have had to learn to seek it out in new forms this year. In January my blood test results indicated I was approaching the upper edge of what's considered pre-diabetic and edging close to full-on Type 2. I have been at high risk to develop it, not only due to family history, but also because I had gestational diabetes when I was pregnant a decade ago. I was told at that time that 1 in 2 women with gestational diabetes go on to develop type 2 within 10 years, and, ahaha, look at the time. So, this year I have been working much harder to reverse those trends and make healthy changes to my diet and get more active. I joined a Diabetes Prevention Class (there's a national program for this, by the way, though it's not well-advertised. My doctor didn't tell me about it, because they never told me anything, but I found a search engine online that helped me find classes locally. Mine is a free, virtual, 12-month program run out of a nearby hospital as a community health initiative and geared toward helping people make lasting lifestyle changes using a small support group style). All this is just to say that I am eating fewer sugars and carbs these days, but I can still get my sweet tooth fix enjoying my red peppers, honeycrisp apples, chocolate-dipped quinoa crisps, and coconut water :) I'm also happy to say that when I was retested in July my blood sugar was so far improved that I have almost dipped out of the pre-diabetic zone altogether and back into what's considered normal range. But of course, it's not something you can stop once you hit a certain number -- the goal is to keep doing this for the rest of my life. So far, it's been going fine and I'm figuring out what I like to eat that's within my new purview. I have to say that California Pizza Kitchen's cauliflower crust mushroom pizza makes me very happy <333333

Relationship status?

If my marriage were a person, it would be old enough to vote. Hurray!

Current obsessions?

My cousins introduced me to a spelling bee game this summer, and over the last week I've picked it back up and am finding it a bit addictive. The two of them regularly ace its highest levels, but I content myself with the goal of getting to the "Great" goalpost and then walking away :) It's fun, but the full word list is, to me, a bit frustrating because it's hard to guess what anachronistic spellings, odd plurals, or never-used permutations they will decide to count (you won't take 'glugging' one day, but you want me to try 'ufts' the next? bah humbug!!) *shrugs* If you're not a completist and would be happy just finding as many patterns as you can, it's a good little daily hamster run for the brain. The solutions to one day's challenge are posted on the following day.

Last thing you googled?

Glugging, LOL. I was, like, oh god, is it somehow not a real word? Better check before I post. But it is!! VINDICATION!!

I will say I also got miffed at the thing for wanting "annum" but not accepting "unum" (oh, we're accepting Latin if it's for accountants but not if it's for a national motto? FINE.) And I was denied "unarm," but that one I eventually had to concede -- you can be unarmed or you can disarm someone else, but 'unarm' by itself isn't actually a thing, okay. But neither is 'ufts', spellbee, GET OFF MY LAWN.

Anyhow, I argue with it and then come back the next day to play again :)

I tag anyone who wants to share, of course!

#memes

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abcnewspr · 1 year

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ABC NEWS STUDIOS’ ‘SOUL OF A NATION’ PRESENTS ONE-HOUR PRIMETIME SPECIAL DELVING INTO THE RISE OF ASIANS IN HOLLYWOOD, IN HONOR OF ASIAN AMERICAN, NATIVE HAWAIIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER HERITAGE MONTH

The Special Features Interviews With Oscar®-Winning Actors Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan, Oscar-Winning Producer Jonathan Wang From ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ and Others

‘The New Face of Hollywood – A Soul of a Nation Presentation’ Airs Friday, May 26 (8:00-9:00 p.m. EDT), Next Day on Hulu

ABC News’ Emmy®-Award winning “Soul of a Nation” returns with a special presentation, “The New Face of Hollywood,” in honor of Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Heritage Month. The one-hour primetime special delves into the rise of Asians in Hollywood, following the historic Oscars® sweep of “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” the blockbuster multiverse film about the struggles of a Chinese American immigrant family. “Nightline” co-anchor Juju Chang sits down with trailblazing star Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian woman in history to win an Oscar® for Best Actress, and Ke Huy Quan, the former child star who won Best Supporting Actor after a 20-year hiatus from acting. Chang’s intimate interviews with Yeoh and Quan detail their personal journeys, their experiences through the highs and lows of fame, the setbacks often faced by Asian actors in Hollywood, and how their triumphant Oscar wins reverberated throughout the Asian American community and beyond.

The special will also take an unvarnished look at the complex history of Asians in Hollywood, including discrimination, bias and problematic portrayals, featuring interviews with legendary performer James Hong, one of the most prolific Asian American actors of all time; Anna Wong, the niece and namesake of the first Chinese American film star Anna May Wong; and trailblazing actress Nancy Kwan, who catapulted to fame in the '60s.

“The New Face of Hollywood” celebrates visibility and the power of representation with stars and creatives who are currently writing a new chapter in Hollywood, including Jonathan Wang, Oscar-winning producer of “Everything Everywhere All at Once”; Hawaiian Chinese actor Jason Scott Lee, star of the Disney+ series “Doogie Kamealoha, M.D.” and the new Hawaiian-language film “The Wind and The Reckoning”; Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, star of the popular teen comedy series “Never Have I Ever”; Emmy Award-winning writer and producer Kelvin Yu, creator of the new Disney+ series “American Born Chinese”; and Adele Lim, co-screenwriter of “Crazy Rich Asians,” and director of the upcoming film “Joy Ride.” The special will also feature insight on Asian American representation in film from columnist Wajahat Ali, author, “Go Back to Where You Came From”; Rebecca Sun, senior editor, diversity and inclusion at The Hollywood Reporter; and writer Jeff Yang, co-author, “RISE: A Pop History of Asian America from the Nineties to Now”; and sociologist and pop culture expert Nancy Wang Yuen, author of “Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism.”

“The New Face of Hollywood – A Soul of a Nation Presentation” airs Friday, May 26, at 8:00 p.m. EDT on ABC, next day on Hulu.

Melia Patria is the executive producer for “The New Face of Hollywood – A Soul of a Nation Presentation.” Tine is the series director, and Stephanie Wash is executive editorial producer. David Sloan is senior executive producer and creative head of ABC News Studios.

ABC News Studios’ “Soul of a Nation” will also present primetime specials for PRIDE Month (June 6) and Juneteenth (June 19) on ABC. Additional details will be announced in the coming weeks.

About ABC News Studios

ABC News Studios, inspired by ABC News’ trusted reporting, is a premium, narrative non-fiction original production house and commissioning partner of series and specials. ABC News Studios champions untold and authentic stories driving the cultural zeitgeist spanning true-crime, investigations, pop culture and news-adjacent stories. ABC News Studios’ original titles include critically acclaimed documentaries “Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields,” “The Lady Bird Diaries,” “Aftershock” and “The Murders Before the Marathon” as well as compelling docu-series, including “Killing County,” “Wild Crime,” “Death in the Dorms” and “Mormon No More.”

*COPYRIGHT ©2023 American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. All photography is copyrighted material and is for editorial use only. Images are not to be archived, altered, duplicated, resold, retransmitted or used for any other purposes without written permission of ABC News. Images are distributed to the press in order to publicize current programming. Any other usage must be licensed.

ABC News Media Relations

Anna Negrón

[email protected]

-- ABC --

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astrognossienne · 3 years

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scandalous beauty - dolores del río - an analysis

“I love my native Mexico but I love Hollywood, too. It has brought me much happiness and yet, while here I have been miserably unhappy also. But through it all I have found myself, my work and my true destiny.” - Dolores del Río

Like Lupe Vélez, Dolores del Río was a pioneering Latina actress, however del Río’s reach was longer. Far from being stigmatized as a woman of colour, she was acknowledged as the epitome of beauty in the Hollywood of the 1920s and early 1930s. While she insisted upon her ethnicity, she was nevertheless coded white by the film industry and its fans, and she appeared for more than a decade as a romantic lead opposite white actors. Returning to Mexico in the early 1940s, she brought enthusiasm and prestige to the Golden Age of Mexican cinema, becoming one of the great divas of Mexican film. With struggle and perseverance, she overcame the influence of men in both countries who hoped to dominate her, ultimately controlling her own life professionally and personally. Her sophistication, style and artistry bewitched everyone from Stella Adler to John Ford, Federico Fellini, and her great friends Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, who proclaimed to be “totally in love with her, just like forty million Mexicans and one hundred and twenty million Americans who couldn’t be wrong.” She was America’s first Latina superstar, and by the early 1930s, she was one of Hollywood's ten top moneymakers. Hers was a charmed life, but not even she was without problems. A child of privilege in her native Mexico, her family’s status was destroyed in the Mexican Revolution, and her desire to restore her comfortable lifestyle inspired del Río to follow a career as an actress. Discovered and promoted by American director Edwin Carewe, her obsessive protector and Svengali, as the “female Rudolph Valentino,” del Río’s aristocratic, Spanish-European background was constantly pushed to counteract Hollywood’s racism against Mexicans; indeed she was generally thought to be one of the most beautiful actresses of her era, and was the first Latin American movie star to have international appeal. She worked for over five decades and paved the way for Latin American stars in American cinema.

Dolores del Río, according to astrotheme, was a Leo sun and Aries moon. She was born María de los Dolores Asúnsolo López-Negrete in the Mexican town of Durango; she was an only child born to parents who belonged to the wealthy Mexican aristocracy. She was the second cousin of actor Ramón Novarro and a cousin to actress Andrea Palma. They lived the high life in the company of intellectuals and artists. Dolores attended a prestigious school but soon their world was turned upside down, threatened by an insurrection led by Pancho Villa in the region. Del Río and her mother escaped Mexico City disguised as peasants, while her father crossed the border to the United States. When the family eventually reunited in 1912, they did so under the protection of Francisco I. Madero. In 1920 she married the 18-year older attorney Jaime Martinez del Río and became a socialite. Her career got off to a good start when in 1925 when the lauded American director Edwin Carewe was invited to her home and saw her perform and dance for her family and friends. He persuaded del Río and her husband to moved to the United Sates and go to Hollywood to be in his films. While in Hollywood, del Río played a variety of leading roles, from European aristocrat to "native" girl to European peasant.

Within a few years after her arrival, she was a major hit and her appeal was astonishingly broad. She quickly came to command a substantial salary and to exercise control over her choice of films, scripts, and camera angles. Despite the fact that she did not speak English when she first began and had to have the director 's instructions delivered through interpreters, she made the transition to sound films gracefully. Her accent was deemed slight, attractive, and not specific to a particular country. As socially attractive as she was, physically and personality-wise, the truth is that a major part of del Río’s seamless transition into Hollywood is down to racism and white supremacy. While her contemporary (and nemesis) Lupe Vélez was viewed as the "bad Mexican wildcat" (to be fair, her temperament didn’t help this stereotype), Dolores was viewed as the "good Spanish lady." The contrast between the two stars and their degrees of acceptance reflected society’s stereotypical dichotomy between "good" Spanish and "bad" Mexican images– which has its roots in U.S. history. While most Mexicans were perceived as racially inferior, the elite Hispanic Californianas were deemed European and superior while the mass of Mexican women were viewed as Indian and inferior. Californiana women who possessed land and intermarried with Anglo men were depicted positively; they were represented as aristocratic and virtuous and they epitomized "good" women; but this was at the price of denying their racial identity, and being treated as racially superior to Californiano males and the rest of their people. So as such, she soon divorced her Mexican husband Jaime in 1928 and two years later married MGM art director Cedric Gibbons (who happened to be Gary Cooper’s wife’s uncle).

Soon after her marriage, she was romantically linked with actor Errol Flynn, filmmaker John Farrow, writer Erich Maria Remarque, film producer Archibaldo Burns, and actor Tito Junco. However, it was her affair with Orson Welles, who considered her the love of his life, that was arguably her most high profile relationship. She and Welles met at a party hosted by director Darryl Zanuck. The couple felt a mutual attraction and began a discreet affair, which upon eventual discovery caused the divorce between Dolores and Gibbons. Their relationship lasted for 4 years; she ended it when she got word of Welles cheating on her. She decided to end her relationship with Welles through a telegram that he never answered. According to his daughter, Rebecca, until the end of his life, Welles felt for del Río a kind of obsession. Weeks later, her father died in Mexico. With these personal and professional downturns, Dolores del Río returned to Mexico in the 1940s and became a significant part of the Mexican film industry’s Golden Era. She was the muse of director Emilio Fernández and starred most notably in Las Abandonadas (1944) and La Malquerida (1949). On a national and even international level though, Dolores del Río will perhaps always be best remembered for her role in the 1946 classic María Candelaría, which is said to be the film of which she was most proud. It also marked the first tentative steps of the Mexican film industry into the world of serious cinema and was the first Latin American film to be screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1946, where it won the Grand Prix (now known as the Palme d’Or) for Best Picture. After her triumph in her native homeland, she returned to Hollywood and played opposite Henry Fonda in The Fugitive (1947). She continued to work steadily, starring in various TV shows and films until retiring in 1978. On April 11, 1983, del Río died from liver failure at the age of 78 in Newport Beach, California.

Next week, I’ll focus on her one-time lover, an iconoclastic disruptor who took on the conventions of Hollywood and won: the amazing Taurus Orson Welles.

Stats

birthdate: August 3, 1904

major planets:

Sun: Leo

Moon: Aries

Rising: Leo

Mercury: Virgo

Venus: Leo

Mars: Cancer

Midheaven: Taurus

Jupiter: Aries

Saturn: Aquarius

Uranus: Sagittarius

Neptune: Cancer

Pluto: Gemini

Overall personality snapshot: She had a large, warm-hearted, extroverted personality that was always eager to embrace life, love and success – in big doses. There was something about her that assumed the divine right to live life to the full, and her intensity and impatience, along with her personal ambitions, pulled her ever onwards into new projects, fresh relationships and greater challenges. She was something of a gambler and had a daring and dramatic spirit which propelled her forward to make her mark, a sense of personal destiny which can only be exciting and noble. And she was prepared to fight for that glorious destiny if she had to, although she would rather simply steal the show and convince everyone with her intelligence, originality, courage and fabulous style. One of her most beguiling qualities is that she was totally lacking in guile and pretense. Although her own personal destiny was what interested her, paradoxically she at first looked for people she could admire and make into personal heroes. Strongly influenced by a favourite teacher, friend, poet, sports champion or movie star, she could then emulate them and learn through experience how to be great.

She loved the process of creating, as well as the applause that came at the end. Indeed, she relied on those adoring strokes and affirmative responses more than she liked to admit. Life without people would be colourless and boring for her. Social interaction was her life-blood – she could be the life of the party, a real ham and an eccentric, ready to take up the most outrageous dare. But when her extrovert escapades dry up, so did she. She may have, in fact, driven herself to exhaustion and then collapse like a child, home from an all-night rave-up. Yet despite her headlong rush into the experience of life, she was not necessarily irresponsible. Daring and highly idealistic dreams worked away inside her and made her want to improve things, to show people the way, and she may have simply taken charge – for a while. Intensely self-motivated, she did not respond well to orders from others, even though she could be quite bossy herself. There is a touch of the preacher inside her, and she approached her work with great enthusiasm and commitment. She needed space to do her own thing, to learn from her own mistakes, and to learn how to impose her own brand of self-discipline. Her innate self-dramatizing tendencies made her a natural for the theater, business, lecturing, the media – areas that involved group interaction and provided scope for her original and iconoclastic ideas.

She had great presence with a strong-featured face and a sunny glow of inner self-confidence and displayed a regal quality in her posture and carriage; was definitely well-built. She sought perfection in whatever she did and could be very critical of herself and her own efforts. In this way, she often became overly critical and pedantic, especially under stress. She was basically an honest person, and it disturbed her greatly when she had to deal with people who were not. Anyone who violated her sense of trust had a very hard time getting it back. It was very important for her to know that she had the security of a guaranteed paycheck coming in regularly. She had an artistic side to her that obviously influenced her choice of career as an actor. Once she had decided upon her career, she was able to (and most certainly did) pursue it with great determination. She had boundless enthusiasm and big ideas coupled with high expectations of succeeding. She was also self-sufficient and broad-minded. Her genuine pioneering spirit, positive outlook and large-scale personal ambitions led her right to the top. She needed to learn to think before you take on a challenge, and all risks should have been carefully considered. She needed to learn to relax and slow down. She was anxious to prove herself both to others and to herself. If anyone said that she couldn’t do something, she defied them to try and stop her. As long as she felt that she was the one in control, she had a high degree of optimism and was fun-loving, loving to play at life.

She had an original mind and used every skill she possessed to gain control of her affairs. She found it hard to let go of the past, and it would have been good if she did so that she could grow. She was willing to tolerate austerity for as long as it was justified. She respected institutions for as long as they served her purpose. She had the ability to judge what was viable or important. She belonged to a generation with fiery enthusiasm for new and innovative ideas and concepts. Rejecting the past and its mistakes, she sought new ideals and people to believe in. As a member of this generation, she felt restless and adventurous, and was attracted towards foreign people, places and cultures. She was part of an emotionally sensitive generation that was extremely conscious of the domestic environment and the atmosphere surrounding their home place and home country. In fact, she could be quite nostalgic about her homeland, religion and traditions, often seeing them in a romantic light. She felt a degree of escapism from everyday reality, and was very sensitive to the moods of those around him. Dolores embodied all of these Cancer Neptunian ideals, when she returned to her native Mexico in 1943, a country of which she was very proud, her decision to return to her roots changed her career. As a Gemini Plutonian, she was mentally restless and willing to examine and change old doctrines, ideas and ways of thinking. As a member of this generation, she showed an enormous amount of mental vitality, originality and perception. Traditional customs and taboos were examined and rejected for newer and more original ways of doing things. As opportunities with education expanded, she questioned more and learned more.

Love/sex life: She had a heroic conception of herself as a lover. She saw herself as strong and in control, the protector of the weak and the saviour of the desperate. Unfortunately, the realities of her love life didn’t always support this notion. Often it was her tender feelings that required protection and her desperate plunges in and out of love that called for a saviour. In order to justify this discrepancy, she often had to be less than honest, both with her lover and herself. The person most likely to win her heart would have been that individual who made it appear as if she was the champion when, in fact, she was the one crying for help. Her tendency toward self-deception often extended to a failure to admit to her very natural emotionalism and sexual passivity. Unfortunately, there always came a day of reckoning when she had to “own” her emotional susceptibility and capitulate to her sloppy feelings of dependency and her deep-seated need for affection. The good news was that surrendering everything for love wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it was. She may have lost her dignity but what she got in return made it all worth while.

minor asteroids and points:

North Node: Virgo

Lilith: Pisces

Vertex: Sagittarius

Fortune: Taurus

East Point: Leo

These points in her chart, however minor, packed a major punch in her sex appeal as well. Her North Node in Virgo dictated that her tendency to dream and be disorganized needed to be tempered by developing more practical and down-to-earth attitudes. Her Lilith in Pisces meant that she was a woman who was a natural born mystic and cultivated her own myth. Her Part of Fortune in Taurus and Part of Spirit in Scorpio dictated that her destiny lay in attaining personal freedom through seeking material security and comfort. Happiness and good fortune came through tangible and practical results that had a solid foundation. Her soul’s purpose lay in delving fearlessly into the unknown. She felt spiritual connections and saw the spark of the divine when she could strip away the outer layers of experiences and get to the core of a situation. East Point in Leo dictated that she was more likely to identify with the need for pleasure (including the potential of liking herself) and comfort. Vertex in Sagittarius, 4th house reveals that she dreamt of the pinnacle of adventure when it came to mating. Her psyche yearned to be carried away to the ends of the earth or to be exposed to every manner of religious and/or philosophical theory known to man and then some. Her yearning was strong and really deep when it came to rarefied experiences of any sort. Encountering and wanting to join with her demanded that she always had an itinerary that will provide her with the maps to explore the roads that they have not yet traveled, to say nothing of the different worlds they have dreamed of but not yet experienced. She had a childlike orientation, in all of its manifestations, toward relationships on an internal level. That implicit dependency and impressionable nature that was instilled in her childhood persisted far into maturity. The concomitant explosions and occasional tantrums when these constructs are violated also accompany this position. She had a need for emotional security and comfort in a committed relationship, no matter how many years it has endured. She often had deep fears, typical of children, of abandonment, as well as a need for protection and universal acceptance, no matter how she acted, which she needed her partner to respect and nurture, rather than rebuke, especially in adulthood.

elemental dominance:

fire

earth

She was dynamic and passionate, with strong leadership ability. She generated enormous warmth and vibrancy. She was exciting to be around, because she was genuinely enthusiastic and usually friendly. However, she could either be harnessed into helpful energy or flame up and cause destruction. Ultimately, she chose the latter. Confident and opinionated, she was fond of declarative statements such as “I will do this” or “It’s this way.” When out of control—usually because she was bored, or hadn’t been acknowledged—she was be bossy, demanding, and even tyrannical. But at her best, her confidence and vision inspired others to conquer new territory in the world, in society, and in themselves. She was a practical, reliable man and could provide structure and protection. She was oriented toward practical experience and thought in terms of doing rather than thinking, feeling, or imagining. Could be materialistic, unimaginative, and resistant to change. But at her best, she provided the practical resources, analysis, and leadership to make dreams come true.

modality dominance:

fixed

She liked the challenge of managing existing routines with ever more efficiency, rather than starting new enterprises or finding new ways of doing things. She likely had trouble delegating duties and had a very hard time seeing other points of view; she tried to implement the human need to create stability and order in the wake of change.

house dominants:

12th

9th

1st

She had great interest in the unconscious, and indulged in a lot of hidden and secret affairs. Her life was defined by seclusion and escapism. She had a certain mysticism and hidden sensitivity, as well as an intense need for privacy. Traveling, whether physically across the globe, on a mental plane or expanding through study was a major theme in her life. She was not only concerned with learning facts, but also wanted to understand the connections formed between them and the philosophies and concepts they stood for. Her conscience, as well as foreign travel, people and places was also of paramount importance in her life. Her personality, disposition and temperament was highlighted in her life. The manner in which she expressed herself and the way she approached other people is also highlighted. The way she approached new situations and circumstances contributed to show how she set about her life’s goals. Early childhood experiences also factored in her life as well.

planet dominants:

Mercury

Sun

Venus

She was intelligent, mentally quick, and had excellent verbal acuity. She dealt in terms of logic and reasoning. It is likely that she was left-brained. She was restless, craved movement, newness, and the bright hope of undiscovered terrains. She had vitality and creativity, as well as a strong ego and was authoritarian and powerful. She likely had strong leadership qualities, she definitely knew who she was, and she had tremendous will. She met challenges and believed in expanding her life. She was romantic, attractive and valued beauty, had an artistic instinct, and was sociable. She had an easy ability to create close personal relationships, for better or worse, and to form business partnerships.

sign dominants:

Leo

Aries

Virgo

She loved being the center of attention and often surrounded herself with admirers. She had an innate dramatic sense, and life was definitely her stage. Her flamboyance and personal magnetism extended to every facet of her life. She wanted to succeed and make an impact in every situation. As a Leo dominant, she was, at her best, optimistic, honorable, loyal, and ambitious. She was a physically oriented individual who took pride in her body. She was bold, courageous, and resourceful. She always seemed to know what she believed, what she wanted from life, and where she was going. She could be dynamic and aggressive (sometimes, to a fault) in pursuing her goals—whatever they might be. Could be argumentative, lacked tact, and had a bad temper. On the other hand, her anger rarely lasted long, and she could be warm and loving with those she cared about. She was a discriminating, attractive, thorough, scientific, hygienic, humane, scientific woman and had the highest standards. Her attention to detail was second to none and she had a deeply penetrative and investigative mind.

Read more about her under the cut.

Dolores del Rio was the one of the first Mexican movie stars with international appeal and who had meteoric career in the 1920s/1930s Hollywood. Del Rio came from an aristocratic family in Durango. In the Mexican revolution of 1916, however, the family lost everything and emigrated to Mexico City, where Dolores became a socialite. In 1921 she married Jaime Del Río (also known as Jaime Martínez Del Río), a wealthy Mexican, and the two became friends with Hollywood producer/director Edwin Carewe, who "discovered" del Rio and invited the couple to move to Hollywood where they launched careers in the movie business (she as an actress, Jaime as a screenwriter). Eventually they divorced after Carewe cast her in her first film Joanna (1925), followed by High Steppers (1926), and Pals First (1926). She had her first leading role in Carewe's silent version of Pals First (1926) and soared to stardom in 1928 with Carewe's Ramona (1928). The film was a success and del Rio was hailed as a female Rudolph Valentino. Her career continued to rise with the arrival of sound in the drama/romance Bird of Paradise (1932) and hit musical Flying Down to Rio (1933). She later married Cedric Gibbons, the well-known art director and production designer at MGM studios. Dolores returned to Mexico in 1942. Her Hollywood career was over, and a romance with Orson Welles--who later called her "the most exciting woman I've ever met"--caused her second divorce. Mexican director Emilio Fernández offered her the lead in his film Wild Flower (1943), with a wholly unexpected result: at age 37, Dolores del Río became the most famous movie star in her country, filming in Spanish for the first time. Her association with Fernández' team (cinematographer Gabriel Figueroa, writer Mauricio Magdaleno and actor Pedro Armendáriz) was mainly responsible for creating what has been called the Golden Era of Mexican Cinema. With such pictures as Maria Candelaria (1944), The Abandoned (1945) and Bugambilia (1945), del Río became the prototypical Mexican beauty. career included film, theater and television. In her last years she received accolades because of her work for orphaned children. Her last film was The Children of Sanchez (1978). (x)

#leo #dolores del rio #star analyses #scandalous stars #astrology #long ass post #mine

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xtruss · 3 years

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Double Standards of the US

Gabby Petito’s Death is Tragic. But I Wish Missing Women of Color Got This Much Attention

Considerable resources were dedicated to finding Petito’s body. Yet Indigenous people in Wyoming are more likely to disappear and to be killed, and their cases are barely noticed

— Akin Olla | Guardian USA | 25 September, 2021

Interior Secretary Deb Haaland said extensive news media coverage of Petito’s death should be a reminder of the hundreds of Native American girls and women who are missing or murdered in the United States. Photograph: Evan Vucci/AP

The apparent murder of 22-year-old Gabby Petito has been a consistent part of the American news cycle since she disappeared on 11 September. Her YouTube presence and participation in the Instagram #vanlife subculture, which involves young people travelling around the country living aesthetically appealing lives in vans and converted buses, provided plenty of content for internet detectives on sites like TikTok and Reddit to consume. Her story is heart-wrenching, especially after police footage has emerged of Petito and her fiance, Brian Laundrie, who is now a “person of interest” in her death, having a domestic crisis.

But the story also feels eerily familiar – so familiar, in fact, that there is a term for it: “missing white woman syndrome”. White women, particularly conventionally attractive middle- or upper-class white women, tend to receive disproportionate media coverage when they go missing. Petito’s case is tragic, but the media attention it has attracted replicates a systemic pattern.

Gabby Petito deserves justice; there is no doubt about that. Her death was ruled a homicide by a Wyoming coroner on 21 September, a few days after her body was discovered. She’d been missing for weeks after a roadtrip with her fiance, who returned from the trip without her and soon went missing himself. Her story quickly went viral on social media outlets: a Reddit forum created to track her case has accumulated more than 119,000 members at time of writing, and TikTok videos featuring her have received over 200m views.

“It is concerning when policy priorities are so clearly weighted toward victims of certain racial identities and social classes.”

The media joined in this explosion of attention, and public officials soon followed. The Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, declared online that he has directed all state agencies to assist with the search for Laundrie, who is on the run. I hope they catch him. According to 2019 numbers, however, there are well over a thousand other missing persons in Florida alone. Media attention influences how politicians and law enforcement agencies allocate resources, and it is concerning when policy priorities are so clearly weighted toward victims of certain racial identities and social classes.

It should be said that a lot of the attention that Petito received can be ascribed to the fact that she already had a devoted online following at the time of her death, vaulting her disappearance into an instant cause célèbre on platforms like TikTok and Reddit. But this does not remove racial bias from the picture. It is not as if media outlets conspire behind closed doors to prioritize white women, but producers, editors and news consumers have biases that influence coverage. This bias may even exist on an algorithmic level: Black TikTok content creators have long argued that their content is more likely to be suppressed. Dances created by Black teenagers are often scooped up and popularized by white kids who are able to amass a larger audience. One TikTok user has provided evidence that the platform feeds people content from creators of the same race as those who created content they’ve viewed in the past, further driving any other biases that may already be in play. There is nothing wrong with Petito’s case getting attention, but there is the lingering question of who isn’t getting the same attention – or any attention at all.

This is especially striking given that women of color are more likely to go missing in the US in the first place. The FBI believes that 33.6% of the Americans who go missing every year are Black, even though Black people constitute only 13.4% of the population. In fact, that number is probably an underestimate, because Black girls are often categorized as runaways and not as missing persons. Black children are also more likely to remain missing. Non-profit organizations like the Black and Missing Foundation have tried to fill the gaps in law enforcement priorities by shining a light on individual missing Black people and the statistics behind them.

Indigenous women have a lower official rate of missing persons cases, but there is considerable evidence that this is due to underreporting and poor coordination by law enforcement agencies. In 2016, for example, the National Crime Information Center, a federal database, found that 5,712 Indigenous women and girls had gone missing, but only 116 cases were recorded by the US Department of Justice.

Considerable resources were dedicated to finding Petito’s body in Wyoming earlier this week. Yet 710 Indigenous people have gone missing in Wyoming between 2011 and 2020. Indigenous people in Wyoming are more likely to go missing, and less likely to be found in the first 30 days. Indigenous women are 6.4 times more likely to be killed, and their deaths receive the least coverage in the state.

None of this reflects on Petito as a person or lessens the sadness of her death. The problem lies with our society, a society that passes anti-abortion laws that devalue the lives of women and those who can give birth, a society in which women who are murdered are usually killed by current and former romantic partners. The US needs to deal with the violence that exists within it, and must reckon with the reality that the attention and resources that go towards cases of violence are based on skin color. The harsh truth is, if Gabby Petito had been Black, her name would have long faded from the public consciousness, if it had ever been there at all.

— Akin Olla is a contributing opinion writer at the Guardian

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ucflibrary · 3 years

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Women’s History Month began as a week-long celebration in Sonoma, California in 1978 which was centered around International Women’s Day on March 8. A year later during a women’s history conference at Sarah Lawrence College, participants learned how successful the week was and decided to initiate similar in their own areas. President Carter issued the first proclamation for a national Women’s History Week in 1980. In 1987, Congress (after being petitioned by the National Women’s History Project) passed Pub. L. 100-9 designating March as Women’s History Month. U.S. Presidents have issued proclamations on Women’s History Month since 1988.

The Libraries will be hosting two virtual events to celebrate Women’s History Month for 2021. The first is a talk by Nicholson School of Communication faculty member, Dr. Kimberly Voss, called “Make No Mistake, Florida is Crucial”: Sen. Lori Wilson and the Equal Rights Amendment, which discusses efforts to ratify the ERA in Florida. The second is a panel discussion called Women & Academia in the Time of COVID where five UCF faculty and administrators will discuss the impact of the COVID pandemic and remote learning on their teaching, scholarship, service loads and personal lives. Both events are free and open to the public. Click on the links to register to attend.

We have created a list of books about women, both history and fiction, suggested by staff. Please click on the read more link below to see the full book list with descriptions and catalog links. And don’t forget to stop by the John C. Hitt Library to browse the featured bookshelf on the main floor near the Research & Information Desk for additional Women’s History Month books.

A Girl of the Limberlost by Gene Stratton Porter Elnora Comstock grows up on the banks of Limberlost Swamp in Indiana with her bitter mother, Katharine. Unable to afford an education, Elnora develops a plan to sell artifacts and moths from the swamp. Suggested by Pat Tiberii, Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Services

A Woman of No Importance: the untold story of the American spy who helped win World War II by Sonia Purnell Based on new and extensive research, Sonia Purnell has for the first time uncovered the full secret life of Virginia Hall--an astounding and inspiring story of heroism, spycraft, resistance, and personal triumph over shocking adversity. It is the breathtaking story of how one woman's fierce persistence helped win the war. Suggested by Dawn Tripp, Research & Information Services

All the Horrors of War: a Jewish girl, a British doctor, and the liberation of Bergen-Belsen by Bernice Lerner Drawing on a wealth of sources, including Hughes's papers, war diaries, oral histories, and interviews, this gripping volume combines scholarly research with narrative storytelling in describing the suffering of Nazi victims, the overwhelming presence of death at Bergen-Belsen, and characters who exemplify the human capacity for fortitude. Lerner, Rachel's daughter, has special insight into the torment her mother suffered. The first book to pair the story of a Holocaust victim with that of a liberator, it compels readers to consider the full, complex humanity of both. Suggested by Katie Kirwan, Acquisitions & Collections

Data Feminism by Catherine D'Ignazio and Lauren F. Klein This book offers strategies for data scientists seeking to learn how feminism can help them work toward justice, and for feminists who want to focus their efforts on the growing field of data science. But it is about much more than gender. It is about power, about who has it and who doesn't, and about how those differentials of power can be challenged and changed. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

Field o' My Dreams: the poetry of Gene Stratton-Porter compiled and edited by Mary DeJong Obuchowski In her introduction to Porter’s work, Obuchowski argues that the natural and spiritual themes of Porter’s poetry mirror the self-same concerns regarding nature and social issues found in her fiction and nonfiction. Reflecting and in some cases reacting against, current social attitudes at a time of political and demographic change, she was in demand as a columnist for popular magazines and a widely read fiction writer. Porter wielded considerable influence over her reading public, and in that role she acted as a reformer, particularly regarding the environment but also on behalf of women, children, and education. Suggested by Pat Tiberii, Interlibrary Loan and Document Delivery Services

Finish the Fight!: the brave and revolutionary women who fought for the right to vote written by the Staff of The New York Times Who was at the forefront of women's right to vote? We know a few famous names, like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but what about so many others from diverse backgrounds—black, Asian, Latinx, Native American, and more—who helped lead the fight for suffrage? On the hundredth anniversary of the historic win for women's rights, it's time to celebrate the names and stories of the women whose stories have yet to be told. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

Founding Sisters and the Nineteenth Amendment by Eleanor Clift In this riveting account, political analyst Eleanor Clift chronicles the many thrilling twists and turns of the suffrage struggle and shows how the issues and arguments that surrounded the movement still reverberate today. Beginning with the Seneca Falls Woman’s Rights Convention of 1848, Clift introduces the movement’s leaders, recounts the marches and demonstrations, and profiles the opposition–antisuffragists, both men and women, who would do anything to stop women from getting the vote. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

Free Food for Millionaires by Min Jin Lee Casey Han's four years at Princeton gave her many things, "But no job and a number of bad habits." Casey's parents, who live in Queens, are Korean immigrants working in a dry cleaner, desperately trying to hold on to their culture and their identity. Their daughter, on the other hand, has entered into rarified American society via scholarships. But after graduation, Casey sees the reality of having expensive habits without the means to sustain them. As she navigates Manhattan, we see her life and the lives around her, culminating in a portrait of New York City and its world of haves and have-nots. This fresh exploration of the complex layers we inhabit both in society and within ourselves. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

From Equal Suffrage to Equal Rights: Alice Paul and the National Woman's Party, 1910-1928 by Christine A. Lunardini The woman's movements and work in American history during the second two decades, was dramatic. It dealt with the past, with pageants and politics; with different organizations and with conflict from within. It took on the Democrats, founded a National Woman's Party; it waged a home front war. It dealt with prison, and resolution. It went from equal suffrage to equal rights. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

Indelicacy by Amina Cain A cleaning woman at a museum of art nurtures aspirations to do more than simply dust the paintings around her. She dreams of having the liberty to explore them in writing, and so must find a way to win herself the time and security to use her mind. She escapes her lot by marrying a rich man, but having gained a husband, a house, high society, and a maid, she finds that her new life of privilege is no less constrained. Not only has she taken up different forms of time-consuming labor - social and erotic - but she is now, however passively, forcing other women to clean up after her. Perhaps another and more drastic solution is necessary? Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

See Jane Win: the inspiring story of the women changing American politics by Caitlin Moscatello After November 8, 2016, first came the sadness; then came the rage, the activism, and the protests; and, finally, for thousands of women, the next step was to run for office—many of them for the first time. More women campaigned for local or national office in the 2018 election cycle than at any other time in US history, challenging accepted notions about who seeks power and who gets it. Journalist Caitlin Moscatello reported on this wave of female candidates for New York magazine's The Cut, Glamour, and Elle. In this book, she further documents this pivotal time in women's history. Closely following four candidates throughout the entire process, from the decision to run through Election Day, readers are taken inside their exciting, winning campaigns and the sometimes thrilling, sometimes brutal realities of running for office while female. Suggested by Megan Haught, Student Learning & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Taking on the Trust: the epic battle of Ida Tarbell and John D. Rockefeller by Steve Weinberg Long before the rise of mega-corporations like Wal-Mart and Microsoft, Standard Oil controlled the oil industry with a monopolistic force unprecedented in American business history. Undaunted by the ruthless power of its owner, John D. Rockefeller, a fearless and ambitious reporter named Ida Minerva Tarbell confronted the company known simply as “The Trust.” Through her peerless fact gathering and devastating prose, Tarbell, a muckraking reporter at McClure’s magazine, pioneered the new practice of investigative journalism. Her shocking discoveries about Standard Oil and Rockefeller led, inexorably, to a dramatic confrontation during the opening decade of the twentieth century that culminated in the landmark 1911 Supreme Court antitrust decision breaking up the monopolies and forever altering the landscape of modern American industry. Suggested by Dawn Tripp, Research & Information Services

The Book of Gutsy Women: favorite stories of courage and resilience by Hillary Rodham Clinton and Chelsea Clinton Hillary Rodham Clinton and her daughter, Chelsea, share the stories of the gutsy women who have inspired them—women with the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions, and get the job done. Ensuring the rights and opportunities of women and girls remains a big piece of the unfinished business of the twenty-first century. While there's a lot of work to do, we know that throughout history and around the globe women have overcome the toughest resistance imaginable to win victories that have made progress possible for all of us. That is the achievement of each of the women in this book. To us, they are all gutsy women -- leaders with the courage to stand up to the status quo, ask hard questions, and get the job done. So in the moments when the long haul seems awfully long, we hope you will draw strength from these stories. Because if history shows one thing, it's that the world needs gutsy women. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

The Good Fight by Shirley Chisholm Chisholm describes being the first woman, and first black woman, to run for President, and how politicians operate. She writes about her relationships with black political leaders Walter Fauntroy, Louis Stokes, Ron Dellums, and Julian Bond. She gives her views on what direction black politics should take in the years to come. Suggested by Megan Haught, Student Learning & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Unapologetic: a Black, queer, and feminist mandate for radical movements by Charlene A. Carruthers Drawing on Black intellectual and grassroots organizing traditions, including the Haitian Revolution, the US civil rights movement, and LGBTQ rights and feminist movements, Carruthers challenges all of us engaged in the social justice struggle to make the movement for Black liberation more radical, more queer, and more feminist. She offers a flexible model of what deeply effective organizing can be, anchored in the Chicago model of activism, which features long-term commitment, cultural sensitivity, creative strategizing, and multiple cross-group alliances. Suggested by Megan Haught, Student Learning & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Unmarriageable by Soniah Kamal In this retelling of Pride and Prejudice set in modern-day Pakistan, Alys Binat has sworn never to marry--until an encounter with one Mr. Darsee at a wedding makes her reconsider. A scandal and vicious rumor in the Binat family have destroyed their fortune and prospects for desirable marriages, but Alys, the second and most practical of the five Binat daughters, has found happiness teaching English literature to schoolgirls. Knowing that many of her students won't make it to graduation before dropping out to marry and start having children, Alys teaches them about Jane Austen and her other literary heroes and hopes to inspire them to dream of more. Suggested by Sara Duff, Acquisitions & Collections

#ucflibrary #featured bookshelf #women's history month #booklr #reading list #tumblarians

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silent-era-of-cinema · 3 years

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Barbara La Marr (born Reatha Dale Watson; July 28, 1896 – January 30, 1926) was an American film actress and screenwriter who appeared in twenty-seven films during her career between 1920 and 1926. La Marr was also noted by the media for her beauty, dubbed as the "Girl Who Is Too Beautiful," as well as her tumultuous personal life.

Born in Yakima, Washington, La Marr spent her early life in the Pacific Northwest before relocating with her family to California when she was a teenager. After performing in vaudeville and working as a dancer in New York City, she moved to Los Angeles with her second husband and became a screenwriter for Fox Film Corporation, writing several successful films for the company. La Marr was finally "discovered" by Douglas Fairbanks, who gave her a prominent role in The Nut (1921), then cast her as Milady de Winter in his production of The Three Musketeers (1921). After two further career-boosting films with director Rex Ingram (The Prisoner of Zenda and Trifling Women, both with Ramon Novarro), La Marr signed with Arthur H. Sawyer to make several films for various studios, including The Hero (1923), Souls for Sale (1923), and The Shooting of Dan McGrew (1924), the first and last of which she co-wrote.

During her career, La Marr became known as the pre-eminent vamp of the 1920s; she partied and drank heavily, once remarking to the press that she only slept two hours a night. In 1924, La Marr's health began to falter after a series of crash diets for comeback roles further affected her lifestyle, leading to her death from pulmonary tuberculosis and nephritis at age 29. She was posthumously honored on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for her contributions to the film industry.

Barbara La Marr was born in 1896 as Reatha Dale Watson to William and Rosana "Rose" Watson in Yakima, Washington (La Marr later claimed she was born in Richmond, Virginia). Her father was an editor for a newspaper and her mother, a native of Corvallis, Oregon, already had one son, Henry, and a daughter, Violet, from a previous marriage. La Marr's parents had wed some time during 1884, and had a son, William Watson, Jr., born in June 1886, ten years before she was born. Through her mother, La Marr was of German and English descent.

In the 1920s, the elder Watson became a vaudeville comedian under the stage name of Billy Devore. The Watsons lived in various locations in Washington and Oregon during La Marr's formative years. By 1900, she was living with her parents in Portland, Oregon, with her brother William, her half-sister Violet Ross, and Violet's husband Arvel Ross. As a child, La Marr also performed as a dancer in vaudeville, and made her acting debut as Little Eva in a Tacoma stage production of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1904.

By 1910, La Marr was living in Fresno, California, with her parents. Some time after 1911, the family moved to Los Angeles, and La Marr worked at a department store. La Marr also appeared in burlesque shows. In January 1913, her half-sister, now going by the name of Violet Ake, took her 16-year-old sister on a three-day automobile excursion with a man named C.C. Boxley. They drove up to Santa Barbara, but after a few days, La Marr felt that they were not going to let her return home. Ake and Boxley finally let La Marr return to Los Angeles after they realized that warrants were issued for their arrests, accusing them of kidnapping. This episode was published in several newspapers, and La Marr even testified against her sister, but the case eventually was dropped. La Marr's name appeared frequently in newspaper headlines during the next few years. In November 1914, she came back to California from Arizona and announced that she was the newly widowed wife of a rancher named Jack Lytell and that they were supposedly married in Mexico. She also stated that she loathed the name Reatha and preferred to be called by the childhood nickname "Beth."

After marrying and moving in with her third husband, vaudevillian Ben Deely, La Marr, who at one time had aspirations of being a poet, found employment writing screenplays at Fox Film Corporation using the name Folly Lyell. She wrote numerous scenarios for studio shorts at Fox and United Artists, many of which she based on her life, earning over US$10,000 during her tenure at the studios. She was credited as writer Barbara La Marr Deely on the films The Mother of His Children, The Rose of Nome, Flame of Youth, The Little Grey Mouse, and The Land of Jazz (all released in 1920).

La Marr continued to write short screenplays for the studio and supported herself by dancing in various cities across the country, including New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, and at the 1915 World's Fair in San Francisco. La Marr's dance partners included Rudolph Valentino and Clifton Webb, and her dance routines attracted the attention of publisher William Randolph Hearst, who featured her and a dance partner in a series of articles published in the San Francisco Examiner around 1914.

While working in the writers' building at United Artists, La Marr was approached by Mary Pickford, who reportedly embraced her and said, "My dear, you are too beautiful to be behind a camera. Your vibrant magnetism should be shared by film audiences." La Marr's association with filmmakers led to her returning to Los Angeles and making her film debut in 1920 in Harriet and the Piper. Though a supporting part, the film garnered her attention from audiences. La Marr made the successful transition from writer to actress with her supporting role in The Nut (1921), playing a femme fatale. Later the same year, she was hired by Douglas Fairbanks to play the substantial part of Milady de Winter in The Three Musketeers.

Over the next several years, La Marr acted frequently in films, and became known to the public as "The Girl Who Is Too Beautiful", after Adela Rogers St. Johns, a Hearst newspaper feature writer, saw a judge sending her home during a police beat in Los Angeles because she was "too beautiful and young to be on her own in the big city." This publicity did much to promote her career. Among La Marr's films are The Prisoner of Zenda and Trifling Women, both 1922 releases directed by Rex Ingram. Although her film career flourished, she embraced the fast-paced Hollywood nightlife, remarking in an interview that she slept no more than two hours a night.

In 1923, La Marr appeared in the comedy The Brass Bottle, portraying the role of the Queen, and Poor Men's Wives. She had a supporting part in the Fred Niblo-directed comedy Strangers of the Night, and was noted in a New York Times review for her "capable" performance. She starred in the lead role, with Bert Lytell and Lionel Barrymore, in The Eternal City (1923), which featured a cameo appearance by Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

In 1924, during the filming of Thy Name Is Woman, production supervisor Irving Thalberg made regular visits to the set to ensure that La Marr's alcoholism was not interfering with the shoot. The same year, La Marr's first starring, above-the-title role came in the drama Sandra, from First National Pictures, which she filmed in New York City in August 1924. La Marr had served as a co-writer on the film, which focused on a woman suffering from a split-personality disorder Upon release, the film received dismally negative reviews.

La Marr's final screenplay, titled My Husband's Wives, was produced by Fox in 1924, arriving in theaters shortly after the release of Sandra, and before the production of what proved to be her final three films: The Heart of a Siren (a mixed reception), The White Monkey (a critical failure), and The Girl from Montmartre (a critical success, albeit posthumously released). While shooting The Girl from Montmartre in early October 1925, La Marr collapsed on set and went into a coma as the studio wrapped production without her with use of a double in long shots.

Although the tally is usually given as five, La Marr officially was married only four times. No documentation exists to prove the existence of her alleged first husband, Jack Lytelle, whom she claimed to have met while visiting friends in Yuma, Arizona in 1914. According to La Marr, Lytelle became enamored with her as he saw her one day riding in an automobile while he was on horseback. The couple allegedly married the day after they met, but Lytelle, it was claimed, died of pneumonia only three weeks into the marriage, leaving only a surname for Mrs. Lytelle to inherit.

La Marr's first official documented marriage on June 2, 1914, was to a Max Lawrence, who later turned out to be a former soldier of fortune named Lawrence Converse. He already was married with children when he married La Marr under a false name, and was arrested for bigamy the following day. Converse died of a blood clot in his brain three days later on June 5.

On October 13, 1916, La Marr married Philip Ainsworth, a noted dancer. Although the son of well-off parents, Ainsworth eventually was incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison for passing bad checks, and the couple divorced in 1917. She married for a fourth time to Ben Deely, also a dancer, in 1918. Deely, who was over twice her age, was an alcoholic and a gambling addict, which led to the couple's separation in April 1921. Before the divorce from Deely was finalized, La Marr married actor Jack Dougherty in May 1923. Despite separating a year later, they remained legally married until her death.

Some years after La Marr's death, she was revealed to have given birth to a son, Marvin Carville La Marr, on July 29, 1922. The name of the boy's father has never been released. During her final illness, La Marr entrusted the care of her son to her close friend, actress ZaSu Pitts, and Pitts' husband, film executive Tom Gallery. After La Marr's death, the child was legally adopted by Pitts and Gallery, and was renamed Don Gallery. Don Gallery died in 2014.

La Marr partied long hours and got very little sleep during the latter part of her career, often pairing this behavior with drinking during especially low points; she once told an interviewer: "I cheat nature. I never sleep more than two hours a day. I have better things to do."[8] In addition to her drinking and lack of sleep, during the last two years of her life La Marr went on several extreme crash diets to lose weight.[8] La Marr was rumored to have at one time ingested a tapeworm head in a pill to help her lose weight.

By late 1925, La Marr's health had deteriorated significantly due to pulmonary tuberculosis. While filming her final feature, The Girl from Montmartre, La Marr collapsed on the set and lapsed into a coma. In mid-December, she was diagnosed with nephritis, an inflammation of the kidneys, as a complication of her already tubercular state. La Marr was bedridden through Christmas, and by late December, she reportedly weighed less than 80 pounds (36 kg).

Some historians and writers have claimed that La Marr was addicted to morphine and heroin, which she had been prescribed after injuring her ankle and which may have contributed to her health problems. In Sherri Snyder's 2017 biography of La Marr, the writer states that these claims were untrue and erroneously reported. A frequently recirculated rumor was that La Marr was arrested for morphine possession in Los Angeles; however, Snyder states that this claim was mistakenly attributed to La Marr, when it had in fact been actress Alma Rubens who had been arrested in January 1931, five years after La Marr's death. Ben Finney, a close friend of La Marr, contested the claims of drug use, stating: "It is inconceivable that during our close friendship I would not have known if she were a junkie," adding, "She did well enough with booze."

On January 30, 1926, La Marr died of complications associated with tuberculosis and nephritis at her parents' home in Altadena, California, at the age of 29. Her friend, film director Paul Bern, was with her when she died. La Marr's son later speculated that Bern may have been his biological father, though this eventually was disproved; Bern died in a mysterious shooting six years later.

La Marr's funeral at the Walter C. Blue Undertaking Chapel in Los Angeles attracted over 3,000 fans, and five women reportedly fainted in the crowd and had to be removed by police to safety. After her removal from the church during the funeral procession, hundreds of fans flooded the chapel hoping to obtain flowers from the decorative arrangements. She was interred in a crypt at Hollywood Cathedral Mausoleum, in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. For her contribution to the motion picture industry, La Marr has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1621 Vine Street.

Producer Louis B. Mayer, a longtime admirer of La Marr, named actress Hedy Lamarr after her. She is also referred to in the popular 1932 Flanagan and Allen song "Underneath the Arches" during a break in which Ches Allen reads the headlines from a 1926 newspaper. Children's author Edward Eager set an episode of his 1954 book Half Magic at a showing of La Marr's Sandra and includes ironic descriptions of the movie.

#barbara la marr #silent era #silent hollywood #silent movie stars #1920s hollywood

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iandeleonwrites · 3 years

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Ian’s Case: A Personal Statement for Grad School Admission

Personal Statement, Ian Deleón

“He felt something strike his chest, and that his body was being thrown swiftly through the air, on and on, immeasurably far and fast, while his limbs were gently relaxed.”

It was more than a decade ago when I first read those words. Written by the American author Willa Cather, Paul’s Case: A Study in Temperament has always felt to me like an intimate account of my own life penned by a woman one hundred years in the past.

That is a feeling which makes me proud; that my personal whims, fears, and desires, could find their echo long ago in a story about a young man and his pursuit of a meaningful life. Because of it, I felt a pleasing sense of historicity at a time when I was struggling so much with my own.

I grew up in Miami Beach. Literally not more than a block away from water for most of my life. My father had emigrated from Cuba with his family in 1980. My mother had come on a work visa from Brazil a few years later. They met on the beach, had an affair, and I came into the world in May of 1987.

My life was marked with in betweenness from the very beginning. My parents’ relationship did not last long, so I grew up traveling between houses. I had two families. I was American, but I was also Cuban and Brazilian. I even have a Brazilian passport. I spoke three languages fluently, but I couldn’t dance salsa or samba. I felt at home with the working class immigrants and people of color in my neighborhoods, but I often had to work hard to prove I wasn’t just some gringo with a knack for foreign tongues.

[A quick note on Paul’s Case––If it happens that the reader is not familiar with the short story, let me briefly summarize it here: A disenchanted youth in turn of the century Pittsburgh feels increasingly alienated from his schoolmates, his teachers and his family. His only comfort is his position as an usher at Carnegie Hall, where he loses himself in the glamour of the art life. Having no drive or desire to become an artist, however, the dandy Paul makes a spur of the moment criminal decision and elopes to New York City. There, he is able to live out his fantasies in a financial masquerade for about a week’s time, until the authorities back home finger him for monetary theft. Learning that his father is en route to the city to collect him, Paul travels to the countryside and flings himself in front of a speeding train, musing about the elegant brevity of winter flowers.]

When I first encountered Cather’s short story I was blown away by the parallels I saw between my own life and Paul’s. In 2005, fresh out of high school, I was living mostly with my father as my mother had relocated to faraway West Palm Beach. I was an usher at the local concert hall, a job I cherished enough to volunteer my time for free. I became entranced by the world of classical music, opera, theater, and spectacle––often showing up for work early and roaming the performance spaces, probing high and low like some kind of millenial phantom.

In school, however, I had no direction, no plan. I had good enough grades, but no real motivation, and worst of all, I thought, no discernible talent. I probably resented my father for not being cultured enough to teach me about music, theater, and the arts. No one in my family had ever even been to a museum, or sat before a chamber orchestra. And it didn’t seem to matter to them either, they could somehow live blissfully without it.

Well I couldn’t. I began to mimic the fervor with which Paul immersed himself in that world, while also exhibiting the same panic at the thought of not being able to sustain my treasured experiences without a marketable contribution to them. But here is where Paul and I take divergent paths.

I was attending the Miami Dade Honors College, breezing my way towards an associate’s degree. I took classes in Oceanography, Sociology, Creative Writing, Acting and African Drumming. I was experimenting and falling in love with everything.

But it was my Creative Writing professor, Michael Hettich, who really encouraged the development of my nascent writing talent. Up until that point my ideas only found their expression through class assignments, particularly book reports and essays on historical events. My sister had always felt I had a way with words, but I just attributed this to growing up in a multicultural environment amongst a diversity of native languages.

As a result of that encouragement I began to write poetry, little songs and treatments for film ideas based on the short stories we were talking about in class. Somehow, thanks to those lines of poetry and a few amateur photographic self portraits, I was admitted to the Massachusetts College of Art & Design for my BFA program.

There, I attended classes in Printmaking, Paper Making, Performance Art, Video Editing, and Glass Blowing. I was immersed in culture, attending lectures and workshops, adding new words to my vocabulary: “New Media” and “gestalt”. I saw my first snowfall. I had the dubious honor of appearing at once not Hispanic and yet different enough. I was overwhelmed. I felt increasingly disenchanted and out of place in New England, yet my work flourished and grew stronger.

It was during this time that I developed a passion for live performance and engagement with an audience. I also worked with multi-channel video and sculptural installations. Always, I commented on my family history, grappling with it, the emigrations and immigrations. I even returned to those early short stories from Miami Dade, one time doing an interpretive movement piece based on The Yellow Wallpaper. Most often I talked about my father. He was even in a few of my projects. He was a good sport, though we still had the occasional heated political disagreement. We never held any grudges, and made up again rather quickly. It would always be that way, intense periods of warming and cooling. A tropical temperament, I suppose.

I continued to take film-related classes in Boston, but my interests gradually became highly abstracted, subtle, and decidedly avant-garde. I had no desire to work in a coherently narrative medium. This would eventually change, but for now, I let my ambitions and aspirations take me where they would.

I returned home to Miami for a spell after graduation. I traveled the world for five months after that. I moved back to Boston for another couple of years, because it was comfortable I suppose, though I was fed up with the weather.

Finally, I wound up in NYC. Classic story: I followed a charming young woman, another performance artist as luck would have it, a writer too, and a bit of an outsider. We were quickly engaged and on the first anniversary of our meet cute we were married on a gorgeous piece of land in upstate new york, owned by an older performance-loving couple from the city. Piece of land doesn’t quite do it justice, we’re talking massive tracts, hidden acres of forest, sudden lakes, fertile fields, and precocious wildlife. As they say in the movies, it really is all about location, location, location.

Nearly all of our significant personal and professional achievements in the subsequent years have centered around this bucolic homestead. After meeting, courting, researching and eventually getting married there, we soon decided we would stage our most ambitious project to date in this magical space––we would shoot...a movie.

We hit upon the curious story of an eighteenth century woman in England called Mary Toft. Dear Mary became famous for a months-long ruse that involved her supposed birthing of rabbits, and sometimes cats. The small town hoax ballooned into a national controversy when it was eventually exposed by some of the king’s physicians. My wife and I were completely enthralled by this story and its contemporary implications. Was Mary wholly complicit in the mischievous acts, or was she herself a sort of duped victim...of systematic abuse at the hands of her family, her husband, her country?

We soon found a way to adapt and give this tale a modern twist that recast Mary as a woman of color alone in the woods navigating a host of creepy men, a miscarriage, and a supernatural rabbit.

Over the course of nine months, our idea gestated and began taking the form of a short film screenplay. This was something neither of us had done or been adequately trained to do before. But we knew we wanted it to be special, it was our passion project. We knew we didn’t want it to look amateurish––we were too old for that. So we took out a loan, hired an amazing camera crew, and in three consecutive days in the summer of 2017 we filmed our story, Velvet Cry. It was the most difficult thing either of us had undertaken...including planning our nuptial ceremony around our difficult families.

It was an incredible experience––intoxicating––also quite maddening and stressful. But it was all worth it. Because of our work schedules, it took us another year to finish post production on the film, but throughout that process, I knew I had found my calling. I would be a writer, and I would be a Director.

Perhaps I had been too afraid to dream the big dream before. Perhaps I had lacked the confidence, or simply, the life experience to tackle the complexity of human emotions, narratives, and interactions––but no longer. This is what I wanted to do and I had to find a way to get better at doing it.

In the intervening months, I have set myself on a course to develop my writing abilities as quickly as I could in anticipation of this application process. I know I have some latent talent, but it has been a long time since I’ve been in an academic setting, and in any case, I have never really attempted to craft drama on this scale before.

I’ve read many books, listened to countless interviews, attended online classes, and most importantly, written my heart out since relocating down the coast to the small college town of Gainesville in Central Florida with my wife in June of 2018. It was through a trip to her alma mater of Hollins University that we learned about the co-ed graduate program in screenwriting a few months ago. After all the debt I accrued in New England, I didn’t think I would ever go back to college, though I greatly enjoyed the experience. But what we learned about the program filled me with confidence and a desire to share in the wonderful legacy of this school that my wife is always gushing about.

Our Skype conversation with Tim Albaugh proved to be the deciding factor. I knew instantly that I wanted to be a part of anything that he was involved with, and I had the feeling that my ideas would truly be nurtured and harnessed into a craft––something tangible I could be proud of and use to propel my career.

I continue to mine my childhood and adolescence in Miami for critical stories and characters, situations that shed light on my own personal experience of life. I’ve found myself coming back to Paul’s Case. No longer caught up in the character’s stagnant, brooding longings for a grander life, I’m now able to revisit the story, appreciating the young man’s anxieties while evaluating how it all went so fatally wrong for Paul. There was no reason to despair, no cause for lost hope. I would take the necessary steps to become the artist I already know myself to be. The screenplay I am submitting as my writing sample is a new adaptation of this story, making Paul my own, and giving him a little bit of that South Florida flavor.

I will close by reiterating how I have visited Hollins, and heard many a positive review from the powerful women I know who have attended college there. As a graduate student, I know Hollins can help me to become a screenwriter, to become a filmmaker. This is the only graduate program to which I am applying––I have a very good feeling about all this.

I want to be a Hollins girl.

#college essay #paul's case #queer writing #hollins university

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newagesispage · 4 years

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MARCH 2020

PAGE RIB

The Stones are touring the U.S. again.

*****

Paul Reubens is touring with Pee Wee’s Big Adventure.

*****

Al Franken is touring.

*****

Keenan Thompson and Hasan Minhaj are bringing comedy back to the White House Correspondents dinner on April 5.

*****

Days alert: There is some casting news but most of this won’t show up until the fall. Word is a couple of newbies will be Remington Hoffman who will play Li Shin, son of Mr. Shin and Emily O’Brien may join the cast. Nadia Bjorlin (Chloe) may be on her way back. Let’s bring the original Phillip back for her!!! Brandon Barash (Stefan) will return as well as Louise Sorel ( Vivian )and Alison Sweeney ( Sami). Judi Evans is headed back. Will she play Adrienne or Bonnie?? It looks like Casey Moss (JJ), Freddie Smith (Sonny), Chandler Massey (Will) and Galen Gering (Rafe) mill head out for awhile.

*****

It looks like Friends freaks will finally get their reunion on HBO. I am glad they aren’t bringing the characters back and are just getting together to talk about their time together.

*****

Downhill hit theatres on Valentine’s Day with Will Ferrell, Julia Louis- Dreyfus and Zoe Chao. The film was written and directed by Nat Faxon and Jim Rash.

*****

The more I see of it, the more I LOVE Stumptown, the best show that nobody seems to know about. Please renew ABC!!!!!

*****

So.. Rush Limbaugh got the Medal of Freedom. Oh my.

*****

Shadow Inc. owned by former Clinton and Obama staffers made an app that thoroughly fucked up the Iowa caucus. It was good at calculating the results but not delivering them. And hey.. Wolf Blitzer, stay off the phone with people that are trying to get those results. Let them just do their job!!

*****

Brooklyn 99 is back and Vanessa Bayer is there!!!

*****

Rod Blagojevich is out and hitting every show that will have him. Trump pardoned him along with 10 other criminals including Ed DeBartolo Jr., Mike Milken and Bernard Kerik.

*****

Forty thousand kids won’t get free lunch because Trump threw them off food stamps. The two usually go hand in hand. Getting food stamps automatically sets a kid up for the free lunch program.

*****

Over 1000 former DOJ officials have asked Bill Barr to resign.** 70 former Senators have written an open letter to congress to tell them they are not fulfilling their congressional duties.**” Yoo Hoo! Bush, Clinton, Carter, Obama, you’re up.” –Patricia Arquette

*****

Pete Davidson and Kaia Gerber have split.

*****

Indiana Beach is closing after 94 years.

*****

Denny Hamlin won the 2020 Daytona 500.

*****

Can’t we get some real gigs for Rainn Wilson and Curtis Armstrong? Ok, so Cyrtis Armstrong was on Stumptown so thank goodness for that! They can do better than Dominoes and Little Caesars ads. And how funny is it that Dominoes, known for its very Chrustian owners use a Risky Business ( a film about prostitutes) ad for their product. Hmm.

*****Hey.. Comics, quit bringing up Trump and his former womanizing. It didn’t work with Clinton and it won’t work here. People just don’t seem to care. Focus on the real damage he is doing.

*****

Scary Clown is working on opening nearly a million acres of land in Utah for energy exploration that had been a National monument. Redford and Romney can’t be happy about that.

*****

A new animated series from a brand new production company owned by Natasha Lyonne and Maya Rudolph looks promising. Look for The Hospital.

*****

Southern Illinois University is giving Bob Odenkirk an honorary degree.

*****

Ukranian immigrants Lt. Col. Vindman and his twin brother are out. Ambassador to the EU Sonland is out.

*****

The Democrats had a debate on Feb. 7 . At Andrew Yang’s first chance to speak, he rehashed his stump speech. I mean, c’mon give us something new. There really seemed to be a restrained nervousness on the stage that night. Klobachar seemed too needy but she got great reviews. Biden called Buttigieg ‘a friend ‘ a couple of times. Mayor Pete did quite well. ** Deval Patrick is out** Andrew Yang is out.**Michael Bennet is out** Another debate was on Feb. 19.** Bloomberg/Yang? Is this true?

*****

Check out the new series, Hunters. It is awesome, funny and terrifying!

*****

Dozens of Native American women and girls have disappeared from Big Horn county, Montana over the last few years. The victims were later found dead and Trump has put a federal task force together.

*****

Grassley and Wyden are trying to get lower prescription drug prices but Moscow Mitch won’t bring the proposal to the floor. Others are looking to get some traction on HR3.

*****

JSW Steel has sued the Trump administration for refusing to exempt it from paying the levies on slabs of steel that the company imports.

*****

64 women have filed sexual harassment or discrimination lawsuits against Mike Bloomberg. I’m not a fan of the guy but it does seem sort of coincidental. It does not seem to matter cuz all his ads seem to be working, he is picking up steam. Tom Steyer is gaining a bit of momentum as well.

*****

The corona virus has brought us Covid 19. 600 people are being held in quarantine camps that the military has set up. Italy has new cases and the disease is spreading. Scary Clown is trying to spin it all.

*****

ICE is being sent into sanctuary cities to cause trouble for immigrants.

*****

You have to check out Horse girl with Alison Brie, Molly Shannon and Matthew Gray Gubler on Netflix .

*****

Rapper Larry Sanders AKA LV is letting us in on a miscarriage of justice he has had to live thru. LV, best known for his work on Coolio’s Gangsters Paradise, was approached by police and later put on the Calgang database. The practice put about 80,000 mostly African Americans on a sort of gang list. In a 2016 audit it was found that there were many inaccuracies including the names of babes who could not possibly be gang affiliated.

*****

Nature does not need people. People need nature. –Harrison Ford

*****

The Clark bar is back. The roll out has started in Pittsburgh and will soon spread across the country.

*****

Scientists have found some turtle fossils that are the size of a car in South America.

*****

U can donate to the Trump campaign and may win a yaqut and hunting trip with Don Jr. The Beach Boys will perform.

*****

The Oscars were held Feb. 9. Brad Pitt and the production design team won for Once upon a Time in Hollywood. Woo Hoo! Word is that Pitt has hired a speech writer to write his acceptances. JoJo Rabbit won for adapted screenplay. Little Women won for Little Women and Toy Story 4 for animated film. Laura Dern won best supporting actress. Renee Zellweger and Joaquin Phoenix too home the top actor prizes. Parasite surprised everybody and won best pic and got Bong Joon Ho a best director statue. My best dressed were Billy Porter, Antonio Banderes and his date, Janelle Monae ( her opening seemed to make some in the audience uncomfortable), Robert DeNiro, Laura Dern, Diane Ladd, Geena Davis, Regina King, Charlize Theron, Adam Driver, Joanne Tucker, Cynthia Erivo, Scarlett Johansson, Natalie Portman and Kathy Bates, I don’t know what Kristen Wiig and Idina Menzel were thinking. Wiig always has a unique style so I have to admire that. ** The ratings were down. I have heard people saying they just don’t watch award shows or late night shows anymore because they are afraid things will get political. Funny, that is part of the reason I watch!

*****

Tom Papa was pontificating about a real dog show that should have REAL dogs. It would make a great weekly show with people bringing on their dogs.

*****

The goalies of the Hurricanes were out of commission and David Ayres, the Zamboni driver was brought in to help and the won against the Maple Leafs. Woo Hoo!!

*****

Hooray for New Hampshire and their use of paper ballots. Things in the campaign got a little shook up with Bernie taking the top followed by Pete and Amy.

*****

2 years of research in Canada has brought the announcement of a new discovery. Skull fragments that were cleaned and collected about 10 years ago have been named Thanatotheristes or the reaper of death. The discovery helps us all learn more about the early times of Tyrannosaurids, a sub group that includes T.Rex.

*****

New Jersey has a ban on self- serve pumps and another state is talking about getting in on the action. The gas station attendant act has been proposed in Illinois.

*****

Van Jones was right when he said we shouldn’t give Trump any press coverage for a week. He would hate it. Trump loves the old adage of bad publicity is better than none because he just must have attention. It would never work for they just can’t resist.** Joe Mcguire is out after he warned of Russian interference. If you want to keep your job in this administration, do not tell the truth. Now at the Department of National Intelligence is Johnny Mcentee , a 29 year old former football player who worked on the campaign. He immediately called department heads and said he wanted lists of never Trumpers in their offices. ** And who is in charge of weeding out the people in the government who may be disloyal to Scary Clown? Well, it is none other than Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court justice Clarence. She calls it the list of snakes. Trump is now saying he even wants liberal judges on the Supreme Court to recuse themselves when it comes to “Trump related cases”. It just keeps getting worse.

*****

Trump had fun in India. He should, his business has 5 projects going there right now worth 1.5 billion.

*****

Harvey Weinstein was found guilty of rape and criminal sexual assault. He was not found guilty of all the charges that included predatory behavior.

*****

Andrew Yang is a new correspondent at CNN. He tells us that he is getting word from former donors that Bloomberg is calling those big donors. Allegedly he is telling them they do not have to donate to his campaign because he can afford his own campaign but he still won’t forget them. He would like them to save their money and not give money to other democrats running either.** And I am so sick of talking heads trying to tell us to play it safe. We are not as stupid as we look, thank you!! ** Now there is a firestorm about Bernie telling the world that the education program that Castro implemented was a good thing. I understand the anger and it could not have come at a worse time and he did it to himself. BUT.. We are adults and we have to be able to talk about things as they really are, not in sound bites. Castro sucked and history teaches us that bad people do good things occasionally and good people do bad things once in a while. ** It seems that everyone was in agreement that we would all gather behind the winner of the democratic campaign to beat Trump. Suddenly when it could be Bernie, everybody is bitching.

*****

This month held 2 more Democratic debates. The Nevada debate got pretty heated. I see that Mayor Pete and Bloomberg are lefties (left handed that is). Pete always looked poised and articulate which I appreciate and he got in a good one when he mentioned that the party should choose someone who is actually a democrat. Bernie seemed a little rattled by that. Later Pete really dressed down Amy Klobuchar and made himself look like a dick. Joe Biden jumped in with his credits occasionally but often seemed a bit lost. He slammed back that they were all talking about the health care plane he helped to create and that he himself had dealt with the Mexican President. His name came up after it was mentioned that Amy could not remember the President’s name. The gloves were off with Bloomberg as Elizabeth Warren called him out on Billionaires and NDA’s. I loved the interaction but realistically Mr. Mike can’t just release people from agreements they made in an NDA, especially if it did not involve him. Bloomberg sounded pompous and clueless about the world outside of his company. He got a moan when he said he couldn’t exactly use turbo tax and when he said he may have told a few jokes that women didn’t like. He brushed off his taxes much like Trump does. The former mayor of NY called out socialists as communists. Klobuchar had the best comeback of the night when she was told her health care plan could fit on a post it. She proclaimed that the post it was invented in her state of Minnesota. Again, there were people shouting from the audience as Joe tried to talk. C’mon give everybody an equal chance.

*****

The South Carolina debate was fiery as well. The CBS debate was hosted by Gayle King and Norah O’Donnell. Bloomberg was booed right off the bat about Russia helping Bernie but he late had many cheers. He and Biden and Steyer had some real support there. Tom Steyer was actually quite impressive and seemed well spoken. He was the only one who brought up the impeachment. He had a great point that we all know that republicans who did not convict Trump are complicit in the Russian meddling. Then he ruined it all by being alarmist with his fear. He warned us off the former republican and the socialists. I loved Bernie’s ideas about small business’s getting in on the marijuana business and not letting big corporations taking it over. He is also the only one in debates that I have seen consistently bring up Native Americans. Biden again kept jumping in to tell us that he did this or that. Amy disagreed about a bill he claimed to have written. Warren said “dig in” numerous times. She went for the jugular with Bloomberg when she said a former female employee of his said to “kill it” in response to her pregnancy. He denied it but it sure is memorable. She did make great points that he has given much money to Linsey Graham’s campaign as well as other republican runs including against her. BTW he also gave 2.3 mil to Rick Snyder, the Gov of Michigan after the water crisis was well known. I love that Amy is always saying that we shouldn’t fight amongst ourselves but she just does not have the votes so she needs to go. Bernie got some boos about guns for he seems the softest in that area.

*****

Joe Biden won the South Carolina primary in a big way.

*****

Dick Van Dyke, Sarah Silverman and Public Enemy among others will be at the Bernie Sanders rally in L.A. on March 1.

*****

Just think what the 400 million that Bloomberg spent on his campaign could have done for the debt of the average American. Instead of a campaign for a presidency that he can’t win, he could have helped so many get a leg up.

*****

I don’t understand why “respected” journalists like Chuck Todd don’t throw W H reps off the set when they disrespect him or his colleagues with fake news jabs.

*****

Bob Moore of Bob’s Red Mill is giving his company away to his employees. Now, that’s a boss!!

*****

Bone, Thugs and Harmony have made a deal with Buffalo Wild Wings to rename themselves Boneless thugs and Harmony. The publicity stunt is to promote boneless wings.

*****

NASA is hiring.

*****

Scotland has made feminine sanitary products free!!

*****

Is this true? There were pigeons in Nevada with MAGA hats glued to their heads??

*****

The final Criminal Minds has aired. CBS often aired double episodes which made it seem like they really wanted to get rid of it. Kirsten Vangsness and Erica Messer wrote the final episode which seemed to give special attention to Penelope and Reid as they were the originals. The other characters seemed a little overlooked but they all had happy endings. Where was Reid’s new girlfriend? I was hoping to see Shemar Moore but it was great to see Reisgraf and Howell which are old favorites.

*****

Animal Kingdom returns to TNT on May 28.

*****

So there is a bit of a mess with the Roger Stone sentencing. Trump is hopping mad about the long sentence recommendation, Barr is said to be pretending to spar with the Prez, the DOJ is backing down and people are resigning.

*****

R.I.P. Shirley Jean Cade, Robert Conrad, Katherine Johnson, Lyle Mays, B. Smith, A.E. Hotchner, Bashir Jackson, Ja’net Dubois, Pat Agee, victims of the Molson Coors shooting and Orson Bean.

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uwmspeccoll · 1 year

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Native American/First Nations Woman Writer of the Week

WENDY ROSE

Hopi/Miwok writer Wendy Rose (1948-) was born in Oakland, California, and did not experience a reservation childhood. She had few connections to her Hopi and Miwok heritage save for stories from her father’s Hopi people. This childhood experience helped shape Rose’s poetry and her focus on reclaiming her cultural identity. Her work is influenced by ethnography, her personal experience of identity, and both her political and feminist stances. Besides poetry, Rose also writes nonfiction that addresses issues of appropriation of Native American culture.

As a young woman, Rose dropped out of high school, joined the American Indian Movement (AIM), and participated in the 1969-71 occupation of Alcatraz. Rose did return to school and earned a BA, MA, and a PhD in anthropology, all from the University of California, Berkeley. Her studies in anthropology helped bridge the gap between her early experiences and her indigenous identity, and she stated that during her time at Berkeley she often “felt like a spy in the field of anthropology.” This experience also led to a decades-long academic career.

UWM Special Collections preserves seven collections of Rose’s poetry: Hopi Roadrunner Dancing (Greenfield Review Press, 1973); Builder Kachina (Blue Cloud Quarterly, 1979); Long Division: A Tribal History (Strawberry Press, 1981); What Happened When the Hopi Hit New York (Contact II Publications, 1982); Going to War With All My Relations ( Northland Publishing, 1993); Bone Dance, (University of Arizona Press, 1994); Itch Like Crazy (University of Arizona Press, 2002).

See other writers we have featured in Native American/First Nations Woman Writer of the Week.

#Native American/First Nations Woman Writer of the Week #women's history month #Native Americans #Native American writers #Native American women writers #women writers #Wendy Rose #Hopi #Miwok #poetry #Native American poetry #women poets #Native American Literature Collection #Elizabeth V.

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sol1056 · 5 years

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sorry if this is a stupid question but why does dw need to have guest writers legally? :3 uwu I love your posts

hey thanks :D alright, I’ll explain best as I can with holiday brain. I am fully aware this may be more information you were expecting. I feel like I should probably put a warning label on my ask box. Objects in reply may appear smaller than they are. Or something like that.

The original Screen Writers Guild formed in the early 30s, and its purpose was to manage/track screen credits (who gets listed as the author of a screenplay). It turned into a professional association, which is sort of like a union but without the bargaining power, until it applied to be a formal union per the NLRB (National Labor Relations Board). Eventually it grew big enough that radio and television writers wanted in, too, and SWG then became the Writers’ Guild of America (actually two sister-unions, one for West and one for East).

Early on, there was apparently a rule that to join the union, you had to have professional screenwriter credits. But to be hired on a job that would give you those credits… you had to be a member of the union. The sole exception was definitely biased towards the old-boy network: become friends with the producer, and get hired despite your lack of credits. Not so great if you’re a woman or person of color trying to break in.

At some point the union changed its rules to address this, requiring studios to hire a certain number of freelance screenwriters. One version I’ve been told is that production studios generally need to have 18-20% of the episodes written by non-staff freelancers. An alternate version of expressing this rule is that 2-3 episodes per season must be by non-staff writers, for any show with more than one season under its belt.

No matter how you break it down, once a company becomes a guild signatory (iow, agrees to abide by union agreements), everything comes under the NLRB oversight. Legal requirement, all that jazz.

I took the time to go digging, and I think I found the subsections in the 2017 MBA (Minimum Basic Agreement) that covers freelancers hiring requirements. I’m pretty sure it’s article 20.B, “Television.” But it has rather dense legal language like the following, and it’s my day off and I am just not up for decoding this entire thing.

This is Article 20.B.3.e, parts (1) through (4).

(1) With respect to an episodic series or once-per-weekserial for which more than six (6) episodes, excludingthe pilot, have been ordered, Company shall have theoption of interviewing not less than one (1) freelancewriter for each story commitment which is unassignedat the time of the network program order for a givenbroadcast season.

For each such interview, Company shall inform thewriter at the beginning of the interview of all storylinesthen in work, provided that if a storyline is confidentialdue to marketing or other considerations, e.g., a"cliffhanger," etc., Company is not required to informthe writer of such storyline.

The number of such interviews may be reduced byone (1) for each freelance assignment made. It isunderstood that the requirement for such interviewshall not be deemed to imply in any way acommitment for employment.

Company shall furnish the Guild, upon request,written reports containing the name of the Company,the name of the particular series, the date of andnumber of episodes in the network order, the numberof story commitments in the network order, the namesof the freelance writers interviewed, the dates of suchinterviews, and the names of all freelance writersemployed by Company as a result of such interviews.

In the event the Company records an interview withthe writer, the Company shall furnish a copy ortranscription of such recording to such writer.

(2) In the alternative, in connection with a particularepisodic series, Company shall employ freelancewriters who have not been employed on such seriesin the previous broadcast season, to write not lessthan two (2) stories with option for teleplay in the caseof an initial network program order of thirteen (13)episodes or three (3) stories with option for teleplay,one (1) of which must be exercised, in the case of anetwork program order of twenty-two (22) or moreepisodes of each such series during a givenbroadcast season. In connection with once-per-weekserials, Company shall have the alternative right tocommit to one (1) teleplay per season for each suchserial.

In the alternative to the first paragraph of Article20.B.3.e.(2) above, the two (2) required stories withoption for teleplay in the case of an initial order ofthirteen episodes may be replaced with one (1)teleplay based on a story provided to the freelancewriter. Further, the three (3) stories with option forteleplay, one (1) of which must be exercised, may, inthe case of a network order of twenty-two (22) ormore episodes, be replaced with two (2) teleplaysbased on stories provided to the writers.

(3) Company shall elect either subparagraph e.(1) ore.(2) above for each broadcast season of a series.However, if Company elects subparagraph e.(1)above and does not generate the levels of freelanceemployment specified in subparagraph e.(2) above,then Company must comply with subparagraph e.(2)in the subsequent season of such series.Subparagraph e.(1) would thereafter be available onlyif the levels of employment specified in subparagraphe.(2) were fulfilled in the immediately prior season ofsuch series.

(4) The foregoing access provisions under this Article20.B.3. are not applicable to programs producedunder Appendix B of this Agreement.

Maybe we’ll get lucky and there’s a legal brain following me who can point out if I misread or, idk, translate or something. Frankly, I thought the “about 18%-20% of your episodes must be farmed out to non-staff writers” was a lot clearer. Lot less legalese, certainly.

Or maybe it’s just how things end up working out, once a series is done. At least, when I went through about 8 different series to compare staff writers vs non-staff, the percentages were pretty consistently around 20% written by non-staff freelance.

(Before you ask, yes, as a matter of fact, I did work for a law firm for several years in college, because it was good money and I got to play researcher at the law library when the law clerks needed extra help. And I got to sit in court and see some amazingly soap-opera-level drama. But that was suit law, and it wasn’t exactly last year that I finished college, so... anyway.)

As a side-note for anyone curious, SWG will also help companies find more diverse writers through programs like the TV Writer Access Project:

The mission of the TV Writer Access Project is to identify excellent diverse writers in order to provide a hiring resource for television writer-producers and increased access to WGAW members from groups that have been historically underemployed in television.

and the Inclusion and Equity committees:

There are nine Inclusion and Equity committees: the Asian American Writers Committee, Committee of Black Writers, Career Longevity Committee, Genre Committee, Latino Writers Committee, LGBTQ+ Writers Committee, Native American & Indigenous Writers Committee, Writers with Disabilities Committee, and the Committee of Women Writers.

In other words, when a company says, “gee, we just couldn’t see to find any women writers or non-white writers or queer writers or disabled writers…” that dog don’t hunt. The union is there to help companies do exactly that, and to make sure that all members – including marginalized community-members with historically higher barriers to entrance – get exposure.

Who knows, that info could be useful someday.

#television production #writers guild of america #sol explains things #or tries #I guess

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frances-fucking-farmer · 5 years

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I’ve Had a Broken Heart:

How the revival of Frances Farmer’s story served as a personal revival

During the darkest moments of my life, I discovered the story of Frances Farmer, an actress who was stripped of everything she had known due to her own personal demons. Her complicated narrative is marked by the details of arrests and imprisonment in institutions, but her legacy is much more than that. Almost 90 years have passed since she first made headlines with the controversial essay, “God Dies,” but now I hope to see to it that she is finally making the headline that she never made during her lifetime: one of hope.

The life of Frances Farmer is well-established in the headlines as one of Hollywood’s greatest tragedies. Perhaps that is due in part to the strong desire we have to bury our own problems in the deepest corners of our minds and focus on the pain of others, as told through the tabloids. The real tragedy is that she never had the opportunity to tell her story, but rather she was forced to defend it and portray herself as the media saw fit. Regardless, it was the revival of this character in film and song that I credit my own revival.

I was a sophomore in college the first time I heard the name, Frances Farmer. My public speaking class had been assigned to research and present on the informative topic of our choosing, and I opted to read my speech titled: “Mental Health in American Society.” I spent weeks researching the long-standing crisis, dedicating much of my time to learning about the cruel and inhumane treatments of patients during the early to mid-1900s. It was while working on this project that I became fascinated by her story and though a college assignment had provided her entrance into my life, it was a nervous breakdown during my twenties that truly introduced the two of us.

Known for my adoration of all things Jessica Lange, I discovered one of her greatest films, Frances, during an evening of wine and sadness. While the picture took a creative and exaggerated approach, Lange’s portrayal of Frances ultimately stripped the character down and made her appear as something the media rarely allowed her to be, and that was human. Looking past the outbursts, the anger, and the arrests, I saw a rebellious woman whose only true crime was her extraordinary and tireless search for peace. As I read her book later on, I only felt deeper toward that same belief.

Born in 1913, the Seattle native never had a chance to simply be. With dreams of becoming a writer, the 17 year published an essay titled “God Dies,” that ultimately won first prize in a contest sponsored by The Scholastic, a magazine for high school students. Rather than showing support for the young writer who had just won a national contest, the town responded by calling out the nature of her composition, strictly acting on illiberal fear. She described this as a defining moment in her life where for the first time she “found out how stupid people could be.” The essay detailed how she felt toward God, trying to justify him as a father figure of sorts and raised the question how, if he were just, then why would he help her find a favorite hat she had lost yet allow one of her classmates to lose both parents. How was this fair? She never outright denied God, but rather wanted answers to validate her experiences.

Years later while attending college, Frances won another contest that required selling subscriptions to a leftist newspaper. The town was yet again roused by her decision to accept the prize of a trip to communist Russia, yet her true purpose for traveling was to see the Moscow Art Theater and return to New York. Here she would rent a room with money from her refunded bus ticket to Seattle and immerse herself in the world of theater, which she considered to be true artistry. She soon attracted the attention of a Paramount talent scout, and within the next year she had been cast in two major films: Rhythm on the Range and Come and Get It. It was 1936 and Frances had just turned 23 years old.

Although success was instant, she treated staring in pictures as just another step toward her true desire to perform in the theater. Fighting for a dream is enough to shake anyone, but Frances was also fighting the studio and her mother - physically, mentally, and emotionally. She resented the life that the studio attempted to create for her; the glamorous lifestyle, the parties and premieres, and the constant casting of her in lackluster roles in B movies. Meanwhile in Seattle, her mother was ever-present in keeping up appearances and letting the town know that her daughter was now an alluring movie star.

In 1942, the life Frances was contracted to live collided with the one that she had been living. Alcohol was becoming a friend of the actress, and provided her the comfort of feeling numb. The decade was spent in and out of mental asylums where she was subjected to the many inhumane, torturous treatments used during that era of mental health rehabilitation, something I had learned in my college research years prior. She eventually regained legal control of her life and moved to Indiana where she wrote poetry and hosted her own television show. She passed away in 1970 at the age of 56.

While most desire to know the worst of her story, I feel that the 1940s did not define Frances as much as it defined the cruelty of those around her. As I familiarized myself with her narrative, I realized that did not see Frances as a patient, but as a broken human. She was strong-willed, outspoken, and a fighter during a time where women were expected to sit down and be quiet. Intuitive and fearless, she was stripped of everything she had known and made to believe she was insane, yet I think the true insanity lies within the minds of those who tried to tame her honest rebellion.

I found comfort in the spirit of Frances during the worst time in my life, when I began hiding myself away in the comfort of the four walls that surrounded me. At 18, I was awarded a scholarship to attend school for music; uninterested in academics, I used the opportunity to move to the city I had long desired to reside in. Six years later, I had moved away to find some peace, and to simply be alone. I was living in a top floor apartment overlooking the beautiful Old Hickory lake, yet I kept the blinds closed. The darkness was comforting, as was my new dependence on the bottle. Alcohol had only been an acquaintance up until this point, but had become a dear companion in recent months. During the first 24 years of my life, I had gone through severe bouts of depression, but I knew this time that it was more severe. It felt as if I were standing along the edge of a blade, ready to slip and fall at any moment, to break and to bleed from the lack of balance. And it was balance that I lacked as I overlooked the depth that served as my descent into madness.

I can pinpoint the moment that I felt my world begin to shake: Father’s Day 2017. Throughout my childhood, I regarded the day as a passing thought as I never really found a close bond with my father other than a 60 second phone call every three years. I had not seen him in over two years, but a strong urge took me to visit on this day. He died that night, and he took with him my hope to reconnect with him as well as my three younger sisters. Upon returning to Nashville after the service, I began drinking and it seemed as if I were losing every part of who I had been. What remained was being torn away, piece by piece. I had been refused a job due to my looks, being deemed “unfuckable” by the CEO. My next opportunity was short lived, as the company soon folded and provided a ten minute notice. I returned to retail to make ends meet for the time being. I became infatuated with a man who promised me the world, but instead stole the innocence I held close. After that night, the notion that I had control of anything had diminished to nothing. My depression and anxiety were now running my life, instead of moving within it. I lost my retail job because of my inability to turn it off, and I repeated the process with my next position. The bottle of vodka on the shelf followed me to work, and I began drinking on the job. I could no longer force a smile, and I found myself picking fights with my co-workers and customers just to feel something. I wanted to be angry or sad; I would settle to be anything but numb. It was after the new year that my boss let me go - and I let go of myself.

The loss of my job had been my breaking point. I had nothing left except for my sanity, which was escaping my grasp. Slowly, then quickly. I had pushed away everyone I had ever known, which left me completely alone with the exception of the liquor - I received my first DUI that same week. The culmination of everything was too much to live within the walls of my mind, much less share with my mother, who only offered me the chance to come home. She always heard my words, yet never truly listened to anything that I said. How could I return to the place that tossed me out, that was my first understanding at how cold the world could be? It was in my weakness that I finally relented and spent days on her sofa, realizing that the home I had come home to was no longer my home. I had nowhere to go and nothing left to lose; I broke.

It was during this time that I first saw Frances and I, for lack of better words, fell in love with her. Every emotion I felt in the deepest part of my soul, I watched as she was portrayed by Jessica Lange in the same essence. She was this deeply driven, independent, one way kind of woman who never chose to pick her battles. She fought for what she thought was best, even if it came down to tearing her apart. She knew what she wanted, and she knew that trying to live those dreams would eventually destroy her in the end. Frances had a lot of demons, something I was learning about for myself. I knew what it felt like to be taunted by your entire town, and what it felt like to chase after a dream in the big city. I knew what it meant to live with a rebellious spirit and still be told how to live. I knew what it meant to have those demons control the deepest part of your soul. And to be someone I had never known, much less lived within the same time as, I felt this parallel between our lives.

Truthfully, we are all just actors in this masquerade; I played the part just as she had. I fought for so long to be more than I was, and when I dropped my mask for the whole world to see, no one was more surprised than me. I believe the world tends to find those who have no boundaries and rein them in, to break them. It is a dangerous place for a woman with determination and a dream; times have not changed from her time to mine. We are all vulnerable, and they often wait until the first thread breaks before they assist in our unraveling. This is how I see the life of Frances Farmer; this is also how I see my own. However, I was given something that she was never granted: a chance.

For the rest of her life, Frances was forced to relive the worst moments of her life for the world to see, most infamously on This is Your Life. An opportunity to defend herself turned into a reminiscing of her greatest tragedies. I truly don’t believe that she ever found peace befitting her efforts to regain control, and sadly that’s where her story ends. But not mine…not yet. Looking back at my own collapse, I realize some will say that I suffered a nervous breakdown, and I would not be apt to disagree. Others would say nothing more than how I must have had a real bad day - I guess they’re right, too. How do you take such a time and give it a single answer that makes sense? The truth is somewhere within it all. The only thing I do know for a fact is that, regardless of our stories, each life matters in the end. As Frances famously asked, and it is with sincerity that I can answer, “yes, I have had a broken heart.”

#frances farmer #jessica lange #personal essay #writing exercise #madness #mental health #depression #personal #frances 1982

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sentimentlabotomy · 5 years

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BASIC INFORMATION

Full name: Delcan Monroe Wellington

Pronunciation: Dell-kin Mon-row Well-ing-tin

Nickname(s) or Alias: D, Dell, Curly-Sue

Gender: Female

Species: Human

Age: 20

Birthday: 07/05

Sexuality: questioning

Nationality: American

Religion: Agnostic

City or town of birth: Buffalo, NY

Currently lives: Downtown Buffalo, NY

Languages spoken: French (fluently) , English

Native language: English

Relationship Status: Single

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Height: 5’3

Weight: 145 lbs

Figure/build: not muscular, average build, slightly toned, hourglass figure

Hair colour: dark brown

Hairstyle: curly, short, bangs, naturally curly

Eye colour: hazel

Skin colour: mocha toned, darker with a tan

Tattoos: N/A

Piercings: ear lobes are pierced, wears colored studs, silver locket necklace

Scars/distinguishing marks: a scar over her right eyebrow, pink flesh tone, only ½ of an inch in length

Preferred style of clothing: {see reference}

Frequently worn jewellery/accessories: necklace, small earrings.

HEALTH

Smoker? N/A

Drinker? Recreationally

Recreational Drug User? Which? N/A

Allergies: seasonal allergies, cats

Any physical ailments/illnesses/disabilities: N/A

Any medication regularly taken: N/A

PERSONALITY

Personality: curious, observant/analytical, defensive, hot headed, driven, stubborn

Likes: antiques, records, tea, milkshakes, reading, people watching, dogs, rain, spaghetti, pancakes

Dislikes: excessive heat, liars, coffee, cats, people who speak ill of her grandmother, rap

Fears/phobias: being in large crowds, public speaking

Favourite colour: lavender, purple

Hobbies: reading, writing, antique collecting, record collecting

Taste in music: classic rock, blues, rock, jazz

SKILLS

Talents/skills: talented writer, avid reader, analytical & observant, intelligence in most areas of historical knowledge & common knowledge.

Ability to drive a car? Operate any other vehicles? Can drive car

EATING HABITS

Omnivore/Carnivore/Herbivore (Vegetarian):

Omnivore

Favourite food(s): pizza, spaghetti, salads

Favourite drink(s): milkshake, loganberry soda

Disliked food(s): fish, sugar cookies, protein bars

Disliked drink(s): seltzer water, any diet soda

HOUSE AND HOME

Describe the character's house/home:

Delcan lives in a small studio apartment in downtown Buffalo, on top of a small antique store she runs. The business once belonged to Delcan’s late grandmother, who she had also shared the apartment with before her passing. Vintage interior, 80s vibe; plants, colorful cloth tapestry on the walls in the living room area. A small writing spot sits in the corner, complete with typewriter; next to a leather sofa adorned with accent pillows. A rocking chair in the corner opposite of the sofa, next to a large bookshelf that spans the rest of the wall on that side of the room. patterned rug, classic in design; estimated to be from the 40's, sits in the middle of the room, over the hardwood cedar floors. small hallway, wall covered in framed classic rock posters. On the opposite side of the wall, past the wide opening, Delcan's room. A different theme plays into this room. Fairy lights on the ceiling, records on nails as decor on the walls. A Crosley record player sits in the corner, on a small end table. A wooden crate stored underneath. Her bed faces the opening, the headboard again the wall opposite of the record player. This is all beyond the entrance with no door. This space was once an open room, much like the lounge. Though, it has no windows. A floral rug lays on the floor, just as you step into the space. The bathroom is a bit further down the hall. A shower, a toilet, a sink; the works. The doorknob to the bathroom is a vintage flower design. The door itself is cedar, like the floors in the living room. As you see out of the bathroom, a kitchen area. Counters of marble, an average refrigerator and a microwave as well as an oven. Against the wall, a small dining table with two chairs. In the corner, a coat rack and shoe rug. Right next to that, the front door leading down the steps to the first floor/ lobby area.

they share their home with anyone? Who?

Delcan used to share the apartment with her grandmother. Unfortunately, she has since passed.

Significant/special belongings:

floral rug, typewriter

CAREER

Level of education:

highschool education, in her last year of college for business

Qualification: qualified with a business license & communications in sales.

Current job title and description:

waitress part time, shop owner, full time

Name of employer:

Nana’s family diner (local family owned diner)

COMBAT

Peaceful or aggressive attitude? Aggressive at first, after time the aggressive mannerisms subside due to advancements in trust.

FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FOES

Parents names: ( Mother ) Eline R. Wellington. ( Father ) unknown

Are parents alive or dead?

mother is deceased, father is unknown

Is the character still in contact with their parents? No

Siblings? Relationship with siblings?

N/A

Other Important Relatives:

Grandmother

Acquaintances:

neighbors, customers at the diner & antique shop

Pets:

N/A

BACKSTORY

Describe their childhood (newborn - age 10):

Delcan Monroe Wellington was born July fifth, nineteen ninety eight; at five in the evening. Her mother was blessed with the baby girl, adoring her daughter with every ounce of her being. After money became scarce for the woman, Eline moved herself and her two year old daughter in with her mother. During the day, while Eline worked as an employee for a nearby jeweler. During the day, when Eline was at work, Delcan's grandmother took care of her. Not only did she care for her, she showed her music the two would dance around the room listening to records of the Beatles, the Beach Boys and the Monkees on repeat. Eventually, after the same routine for a pretty extensive amount of time; Delcan began school after daycare. Being 6 years old, she began kindergarten classes. Delcan had trouble making friends due to her stubborn mannerisms as well as her extensive differences in taste of music and shows. All of the kids she knew at school watched things such as ‘Barney ‘ and ‘Blue's Clues’. Delcan much preferred Winnie The Pooh and watching the Sherlock Holmes films with her grandmother. As time went on, Eline continued to work constantly. Delcan's grandmother, Dorothy; continued to be close with Delcan. Unfortunately, to the age of ten, Delcan had no friends to account for besides her grandmother.

Describe their teenage years to adult (11 - 20):

Age eleven was standard in the way things were going priorly. Age twelve was certainly much different. At age twelve, Delcan lost her mother due to a terrible car accident while she was on her way home from the jeweller’s shop. Dorothy kept custody of Delcan, who was beginning to change. Her hormones on top of her mother passing caused Delcan to pick fights at school, to which Dorothy eventually put an end to. After a few years of the two watching films, living together; listening to records continuously, Delcan got a job at the Nana's family diner at the age of 17. Working up to 5 hours a day after school, seven days a week; Delcan still made time for Dorothy on the weekends. Dorothy, who was an avid collector of antiques had opened a shop downstairs when Delcan was 13. It not only kept Dorothy busy, but it also gave her money to pay the bills. The shop was popular & all of the neighbors knew & adored Dorothy. At the age of 18, though, Delcan witnessed her grandmother begin to slowly forget everything around her. Unfortunately, Dorothy ended up with dementia at the age of seventy one. Within the next year and a half, Delcan took care of her grandmother until she passed. Unfortunately, it had been some time since Dorothy knew who Delcan was. After a small amount of time to grieve, Delcan pulled herself together and began to work harder to keep the shop open in Dorothy's memory. So, Delcan works as a waitress to cover expenses. Business is booming & stays that way.

STYLE REFERENCES:

Face Claim: Tashi Rodriguez

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howwelldoyouknowyourmoon · 5 years

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One of the first articles that mentioned Moon’s pikareum sex rituals

A.D. magazine May 1974 by Jane Day Mook (pages 30-36)

New Growth on Burnt-Over Ground

Third in an A.D. series offering a critical look at new religions in America.

Hope and fear are almost always entwined in the impulses that cause a man or woman to seek a faith. Therefore it is not strange that religions contain promises both of divine intervention or mercy, and of judgment. Thus, Judaism speaks of a messiah and an apocalypse, the faithful of Islam expect a delivering mahdi and a terrible, bright-sworded angel, and some Christian Scriptures indicate that Christ will summon saints to glory and the wicked to perdition on a future Day of the Lord. Even among the new religions now sprouting on the burnt-over earth of American religious life, the notes of hopeful expectation and dread of doom are sounded. Religious leaders arise, and are examined by their followers: Are you he (or she) who will deliver us? And almost always a direct answer is avoided in replies that sound strangely like, “Who do men say that I am?” Today, in many areas of America, people are asking a middle-aged Korean named Sun Myung Moon who he is. Writer Jane Day Mook, in six months of extensive research, has come up with some of the answers.

The Unification Church

There has been a rash of headlines:

Korean Preacher Urges U.S. Not to “Destroy President” Minneapolis Star, December 1, 1973

Watergate Day of Prayer Asked by Unification Church Washington Post, December 18, 1973

Unification Church Program Under Way in Houston Religious News Service, December 27, 1973

There have been other media reports:

█ On December 26, 1973, Congressman Guy Vander Jagt of Michigan read into the Congressional Record a statement by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon of Korea, founder of the Unification Church International, urging Americans to forgive, love, unite.

█ Governor Wendell Anderson of Minnesota and Mayors Charles Stenvig and Larry Cohen of Minneapolis and St. Paul, respectively, issued proclamations saluting Moon when he visited the Twin Cities in December last year.

█ Twelve hundred supporters of Moon turned out—with specially issued tickets (100 of them for the best seats up front) — to cheer President Nixon at the national Christmas tree lighting ceremony at the White House on December 13, 1973. They carried signs saying, “God loves Nixon,” “Support the President,” and quite simply, “God.” Afterward, when the President came to greet them in Lafayette Park, one writer reports, they knelt down as he drew near.

█ Six weeks later Moon was invited to the 22nd annual National Prayer Breakfast in the Washington Hilton Hotel. While it was going on, more than 1,000 of Moon’s followers gathered to sing patriotic songs and demonstrate their support of the President. Tricia Nixon Cox and her husband walked among the disciples and spoke with Neil Salonen, national head of the Unification Church.

█ The next day, Moon had an unscheduled meeting with President Nixon. He embraced the President and then, it is reported, “prayed fervently in his native tongue while the President listened in silence.” Before leaving, Moon exhorted the President not to knuckle under to pressure but to stand up for his convictions.

What is this all about? Who is this Korean religious leader, Sun Myung Moon, who reaches the eye of those in high office, including the President himself?

What is this Unification Church that has suddenly surfaced in the United States with so much noise and splash? Is it really a Christian church? Is its aim political or religious, or both?

The Unification Church (whose full name is The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity) found its way into the consciousness of a few Americans about 15 months ago. In Tarrytown, New York, a gracious estate of 22 acres overlooking the Hudson River quietly changed hands for $850,000. [Price confirmed by Michael Mickler in History of the UC in the US.] “Belvedere” became a center for the Unification Church.

---

Korean messiah? Christ of the second advent? Young Americans find new faith and new life in following him.

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Joyous, disciplined, loving, Moon’s young followers express the confidence of the deeply committed.

---

Suddenly the residents of Tarrytown discovered that, because this is a “church” and therefore tax exempt, they had lost $8,000 in city taxes. They discovered, too, that by the summer of 1973 the estate was teeming with young people—Japanese, Korean, German, Austrian, and especially British.

The British—115 of them—came in response to ads posted on their college bulletin boards: New York and back for $25 and a summer of “leadership training” to boot. But the Belvedere mansion was not adequate. Crowding was dismal, regulations and restrictions irksome, morale bad, the program unfocused, the unabashed conversion tactics unpalatable. A good many of the students apparently went home to England disappointed and angry.

Meanwhile, the Unification Church had purchased a home for their leader, Sun Myung Moon, who has acquired permanent residency visas in the United States for himself and his family. Reported purchase price of the second estate was $620,000 with an additional $50,000 said to have been spent for furnishings.

By summer’s end attention shifted to New York City and the start of Moon’s 21-city Day of Hope Tour. Full-page ads appeared in the local papers:

CHRISTIANITY IN CRISIS NEW HOPE

Rev. Sun Myung Moon

The ads carried, center-page, a picture of a pleasant-faced Korean man, sometimes in Korean dress, sometimes in Western, sometimes posed with the capitol dome in the background. They told of coming meetings in Carnegie Hall. The same pictures and message were in subways, drug stores, shop windows. They were on leaflets handed out by dozens of earnest young men and women, some American, some from abroad.

Invitations went out to city leaders, especially clergy: “Rev. and Mrs. Sun Myung Moon request the honor of your presence” at a dinner at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. ...

Mayor John Lindsay and Senator Jacob Javits sent messages of regret, but approximately 250 others came. Catholic and Protestant clergy, armed services chaplains, foundation executives, university professors. Solid names all.

The pattern was to be repeated across the country as the much publicized Day of Hope Tour moved south and west through the last three months of last year, and again in the second tour of 33 cities that began in mid-February.

I went with my husband to the first presentation by Mr. Moon at Carnegie Hall on October 1. Outside, a few protesters milled about (Jehovah’s Witnesses mostly). Inside, the lobby was full of young people, most of them Oriental. “Welcome Mother. Welcome Father,” said a charming Korean girl taking our tickets as guards looked through our briefcases. “Welcome to our program. Thank you for coming, Mother. Enjoy it please.”

Mr. Moon was already sitting on stage. He was wearing Western dress, as was his translator, Lieutenant Colonel Pak Bo Hi, formerly a military attache stationed in Washington.

Moon spoke in Korean, flailing the air and pounding the lectern. It was not easy to follow his message, which was about Adam, Eve, Satan, and the Holy Spirit, linked in a mysterious theology we could not piece together.

Who is this man Moon, and what was the message he wanted us to hear?

Sun Myung Moon was born in what is now North Korea in the village of Kwangju Sangsa Ri [in North P'yŏngan province] on January 6, 1920. His parents were Christians, members of the Presbyterian Church, which is the largest Protestant denomination in Korea. After attending village primary school Moon was sent to high school in the southern city of Seoul.

On Easter Sunday 1936, when he was 16, Moon had a vision. As he prayed on a mountainside, he relates, Jesus himself appeared and told him “to carry out my unfinished task.” Then a voice from heaven said, “You will be the completer of man’s salvation by being the second coming of Christ.”

The local ground was ready for such ideas. Already there were among some Pentecostal Christians in the underground church in Pyongyang predictions of a new messiah who would be a Korean. As Moon went about his engineering studies at [a Technical High School affiliated with] Waseda University in Tokyo, he pondered, remembering his vision. In 1944 he returned to North Korea and set about to develop among these Pentecostals a following of his own. In 1946 he founded the “Broad Sea Church.” His followers, it is said, were fanatical people.

Meanwhile, in South Korea a man named Kim Paik-Moon [or Kim Baek-moon], knowing the prophecy of a Korean messiah, had already taken the obvious next step. Kim considered himself a savior and said so. In Paju, north of Seoul, he had established a community called “Israel Soodo Won” (Israel Monastery), and Moon spent six months there learning what was to become the basis of his own theology, the “Divine Principle,” before returning to Pyongyang.

It was about this time that he changed his original name of Yong Myung Moon to Sun Myung Moon. To many people “Yong” means dragon. “Myung” means shining, and Moon and Sun are understood as in English. Therefore, since 1946 his name has meant Shining Sun and Moon. It savors of divinity and of the whole universe. A name is essential to an Oriental, as revealing one’s character.

Now the facts become uncertain. Between 1946 and 1950 Sun Myung Moon spent time in prison in North Korea. The reason? His anti-Communist activities, Moon testifies, reminding us of the rabid Communism of North Korea. Bigamy and adultery, others claim, noting that his real anti-Communist campaign did not take shape until 1962.

In any case, late in 1950 Moon was released and he trekked to South Korea as a refugee with two or three [it was two] disciples. Settling in Busan, he began to propagate his principles. In 1954 he founded his new church [in Seoul], calling it “The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity.”

Moon had gleaned his theological ideas from Kim [Baek-moon], and a follower, Yoo Hyo-won [Eu Hyo-won], wrote them down. By 1957 Divine Principle, which proclaims the theology of the Unification Church, was in print. It was first published in English in this country in 1966 and for a second time in 1973.

Divine Principle is concerned with the physical as well as the spiritual salvation of humankind, and the doctrine goes like this:

God intended that Adam and Eve should be perfect and that therefore their children also would be perfect. But Satan entered the Garden of Eden and seduced Eve. By this act she became impure, her blood forever tainted. This taint she passed on to Adam, through their union, and so he too—and their children and all humankind—became forever impure.

God wanted to redeem humanity from this impurity. Therefore, he sent to earth Jesus, the second Adam, and Jesus began the work of redemption. Spiritual salvation he achieved. But God’s will was once again thwarted by Satan. Jesus died on the cross before he could marry and father children. Thus, physical redemption was not accomplished. Our blood is still impure. Now it is time for the third Adam or “the Christ of the second advent.” It is time for the physical redemption of humanity and the reign of the New Israel, Korea.

How will all this come about? Quite simply: the third Adam sent by God to earth—to Korea—will marry a perfect woman, and their children will be the first of a new and perfect world. Eden will return to earth. Heaven will be here, not in some shadowy afterlife.

Does Moon consider himself the new messiah? In the early days of the movement, he admitted that he did. He no longer does so, and his followers are apt to smile when asked what they believe and say, “It is a personal matter.” In the national headquarters of the Unification Church in Washington, however, a votive candle burns beneath a portrait of Moon. Furthermore, in some materials of the Unification Church in Korea there are mythical tales relating that Moon was worshiped by Jesus. Jesus asked Moon to help him complete the saving of humankind and supposedly said, “I have done half, but you can do the other half.”

The half assigned to Moon, of course, involves his fourth and present wife. In the early 1940s Moon was married, but in 1954 this first wife left him because, he said, “she did not understand my mission.” He also is said to have had two other wives before marrying in 1960 an 18-year-old [she was 17] high school graduate named Hak Ja Han. At the time of their union (which is called “the Marriage of the Lamb”), he told his followers that she had not yet achieved his own spiritual perfection, but he was confident that she would in time. Together they are the new Adam and the new Eve, the parents of the universe, and their children herald the coming perfection of humanity.

Here reference must be made to “pikareum,” or “blood separation,” which is referred to in Japanese and Korean sources. In this secret initiation rite, it is said that the inner-core members must have intercourse. In the early days of the Unification Church, this was with Moon who, through the act, made pure the initiate.

In 1955 in Seoul Moon was imprisoned briefly and several students and professors were expelled from their universities because of engaging in what were called “the scandalous rites of the Unification Church.” However, in the 14 years since Moon’s marriage to Hak Ja Han, it is not known whether in the secrecy of the initiation ceremony, the rite has become purely a symbolic one.

When asked about this matter of purification, a leader of the Unification Church in the United States replied that purification takes place at the marriage ceremony and that, with special prayers, God’s spiritual blessing and purification are conferred through Moon.

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To Moon, Communism is equivalent to Satan. Anti-Communism is the political backbone of his movement.

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Both the theology and what were understood as the practices of the Unification Church have been anathema to main-line Christians in Korea. Moon himself was excommunicated by the Presbyterian Church in Korea as long ago as 1948.

His church has not been accepted as a member of either the National Council of Churches or the National Association of Evangelicals in Korea, both of whom state unequivocally that the Unification Church is not Christian.

But Korea is used to offbeat religious movements. There are dozens of splinter sects and “new religions” there. The Unification Church, or Tong-il Kyo, is one of the largest of these with its claimed membership of 300,000 Koreans.

The Unification Church claims a world membership of about a half million. In the United States the number of followers is estimated at about 10,000 so far with between 2,000 and 3,000 core members.

[A more accurate assessment would be up to 20,000 in Korea and up to 200,000 as a worldwide total.]

The Unification Church may not be accepted by Korean Christians, but it is openly favored by the present government in Korea, and this sets it apart.

In November 1972 President Park Chung-hee promulgated a new constitution giving himself sweeping power. Christian leaders, among others, mounted effective opposition to it and called for a “democratic” constitution. On January 8, 1974, the president responded by decreeing anyone criticizing the constitution would be tried and, if guilty, imprisoned for up to 15 years.

On February 1, six ministers and evangelists (five Presbyterian and one Methodist) were sentenced to up to 15 years’ imprisonment for their criticism of the constitution. They were judged not by a jury of peers in a civil court, but by a special court-martial at the South Korean Defense Ministry.

Compare Moon, in this context of South Korean politics. Moon started and directs near Seoul a school to which the Korean government annually sends thousands of civilian officials and military personnel for training in techniques of anti-Communism.

In Moon’s view Communism is ideologically equivalent to Satan. Anti-Communism is therefore the political backbone of his movement. Thus he wins the support (which may be in part financial) of the government. At the same time Moon, as a “religious” leader, lends the administration the aura of respectability that all autocracies find useful when, for both home and overseas consumption, it is most needed.

Moon exports to 40 countries the main components of his religious-political movement: the Divine Principle theology with its Korean messiah coupled with vigorous anti-Communism. Chameleonic, the group changes its coloration depending on locale and circumstances.

Sponsors of the International Federation for Victory over Communism, they take on in the United States a quiet title: the Freedom Leadership Foundation. In Japan, however, where they have the support of right-wing groups, they are openly part of the World Anti-Communist League. Here in the United States they sponsor prayer and fasting “for the Watergate Crisis.” In Japan, at the time of Red China’s seating in the United Nations, it was prayer and fasting “for Victory over Communism.”

Everywhere, political involvement is a high priority. The Freedom Leadership Foundation, a Unification Church subsidiary, openly avows its goal of “ideological victory over Communism in the United States.” Gary Jarmin, the 24-year-old secretary-general of the FLF says that they are already spending $50,000 to $60,000 per year trying to influence senators and congressmen on national security issues.

As a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization, FLF is forbidden to lobby for specific legislation, but Jarmin and his seven colleagues in the work don’t hesitate to carry on “educational” programs for legislative aides. Furthermore, Jarmin says, there will soon be a totally separate, new organization that will engage in direct lobbying and openly support political candidates.*

* See John Marks, “From Korea with Love,” The Washington Monthly, February 1974, page 57

The World Freedom Institute is another branch of the FLF’s work, training young people in anti-Communist techniques from an ideological and “religious” point of view. Its International Leadership Seminars are rigorous.

Applicants must pass a preliminary interview. Alcohol and drugs are not permitted, smoking is allowed only at certain times and places, clothing must be clean and neat. All scheduled activities must be attended from 7 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. daily, especially the lectures on Divine Principle, Communism, and Unification thought as a harmony of the Judeo-Christian image of God and the Eastern principle of yin-yang.

For all this, it must be said that political action within the Unification Church is probably limited to a few at center. Moon’s young converts may not be aware of the political side of their movement at all except in the most general terms.

If they wave banners and rally for Nixon, they feel it is because he is ordained by God and given power to be President at this time. Essentially they want to change the moral and spiritual order. They are committed to that, and for them it is enough.

Wherever they go, the Unification Church works to enlist the young. According to those who know the movement in Korea, Japan, and the United States, they are largely the disenchanted young—those whose activism in the ’60s and early ’70s has seemed to bring scant results, those who are turned off by the institutionalized establishment, who are looking for commitment and community, who want not just something but someone to believe in, who want unequivocal answers within a framework of discipline.

There are thousands of young Americans who, in our current retreat from involvement into privatism, fit this description. Moon’s followers are among them. Here in the Unification Church they find instantly a place among their own kind. The hierarchy itself is composed of young people.

The members live in communes that have been set up in most major cities of the country. “It’s like a family,” said one girl who helped establish a new church in Texas. “The whole purpose of the center is based upon God. There’s no premarital sex or drugs or smoking or drinking.” Indeed, Moon thunders against “sexual immorality” as the deadliest of sins.

These are young people who are earnest, sincere, committed, and of high moral character. They are also neat, pleasant, and polite. They are convinced. And they are innocent.

They probably know nothing whatever of Moon’s questionable background or of his strong right-wing political stance. And probably they do not know Christianity well enough (though they study the Bible fervently) to question the theology of Divine Principle. But they have a staunch belief in basic moral values and the possibility and power of spiritual redemption.

If you have not already seen the members of the Unification Church in your town, you will. They have centers in all 50 states and they are busy soliciting both converts and money.

In New York they have reportedly purchased a large old house a few blocks from the Columbia University campus and are offering rooms there for a low rent. They have established an office on the campus under the name of “Collegiate Association for Research of Principles” or CARP (appropriating the traditional Christian symbol of the fish) and at the time of this writing are busy recruiting students for a one-week International Leadership Seminar scheduled for the March recess at the former seminary of the Christian Brothers in Barrytown, New York, which the Unification Church recently purchased.

Some of the Columbia CARP group seem to have had experience in the movement elsewhere. For instance, one young man, a Japanese graduate student, asked a professor at nearby Union Theological Seminary to give him a private crash course in Christianity—something he had not needed for the work in Japan.

To raise money Moon’s followers have so far been selling flowers, home-made candles, bottled arrangements of dried flowers and grasses, and ginseng tea, a herbal tea with medicinal properties.

Everything they earn—everything—goes back to the Unification Church. They claim that when it was necessary to raise $280,000 for a down payment on the Belvedere estate in Tarrytown, the core members across the country dropped everything for eight weeks and did nothing but sell their wares.

Flowers and candles? Yes—and they raised the down payment and more.

In our town on a recent Saturday morning, a young Japanese girl came into a drugstore carrying a small bucket with “Drug Abuse” painted on it in white letters. In her other hand she held bouquets of pink and white carnations wrapped in green wax paper.

“I am Takako,” said the girl. “I am selling these flowers for the One World Crusade. Would you buy some, please?” The high school girl behind the counter looked doubtful but asked, “What is the One World Crusade?”

“Have you heard of the Unification Church?” asked Takako. “We are working against drug abuse.” She held out a paper encased in plastic. At the top in large letters it read: “Immorality/Drug/Abuse/Delinquency/Family Conduct.” Then it introduced Takako and again mentioned the program against drug abuse.

A bystander, a man, asked, “What is this program against drug abuse? I am interested in that myself.”

Takako struggled with English. “You know the Bible?” she asked. “We have meeting and religious education, and we study the secrets of the Bible.”

“But your program against drugs?” the man persisted.

“We work against drugs from the heart,” said Takako. “It is a heart thing, a heart change.”

The man smiled and shook his head. The drugstore owner and a woman customer each bought a bouquet.

This young Japanese girl has left her natural family back in Japan and has come halfway around the world to be part of another family, the Unification Family. This supplants her mother and father, her brothers and sisters. According to Unification doctrine they are impure and imperfect.

She herself, as she is initiated into the Unification Church, will be made pure, and her real family from now on is the group of purified and to-be-purified members like herself. The sadness she has caused (and this sadness is widespread in the homes these young people have left) is of no consequence.

---

Flowers, candles, tea—where does the real money come from that supports the projects of Moon’s church?

---

The idea of family is central to Moon’s teaching. The family gives blessing. At the top is the vast human family, then the national family, finally the marital family. One must be in a family to be saved, for the family provides the basic structure for the new Eden.

Most of the young people who join the Unification Church are single. After a period of membership—usually at least three years—they may be married if they have achieved an acceptable spiritual level. Marriages are arranged—a vast improvement, Moon’s followers say, over the chaotic system of personal choice that has destroyed the American family.

The arrangements used to be made by Moon himself, who knew most individual members in the early days and had, it is said, an uncanny gift for sizing up those he did not know. Now, with the growth of the movement, the arrangement of marriages will surely have to be delegated to senior members of the Family.

In 1970 Moon gathered a great group together in Seoul and performed a mass marriage of 777 couples. For those whom he joins, his blessing is a cherished benediction. It carries the notion that Moon himself is the giver of offspring to those he blesses and it makes pure the tainted blood of those who are wed.

Where does the money come from that supports the Unification Church? No one seems able to find out.

The Unification Church owns estates, a conference center, and many town houses (such as the handsome one on East 71st Street in New York).

It supports its core members in their work of evangelism, teaching, and preaching at a cost for food, clothing, and shelter conservatively estimated at $5 million per year. It brings hundreds of young Germans, Austrians, Japanese, and Koreans to this country at its expense, not theirs.

It pays for full-page ads in big newspapers. It publishes a tabloid newspaper, books, leaflets. It rents large meeting halls and lecture facilities for its leader to speak in. It invites the country’s leaders to banquets at the best hotels.

Where does the money come from? Not primarily from selling flowers, candles, and ginseng tea, though this effort should not be downgraded or underestimated. The member-businesses (in San Francisco, a printing press; in Denver, a cleaning establishment; in Washington, a new tea house) may swell the coffers but not substantially.

Moon himself is reputed to be a millionaire, the head of a sizeable conglomerate in Korea that product marble vases, machine parts, ginseng tea, pharmaceuticals, titanium, air rifles and other items. The value of the empire is estimated at $10 to $15 million. Some followers claim that Moon plows the profits back into the Unification Church, but others insist the industries belong to Moon, who has become a very wealthy man.

What outside backing does Moon have? Substantial sums may come from right wing Japanese industrialists and groups that are eager to reestablish the economic power Japan once held over Korea and who consider Moon “their man.” Former Japanese Prime Minister Kishi, leader of the violently anti-Peking faction of the Liberal Democratic Party, is actively associated with Moon’s International Federation for Victory over Communism.

The big question is: Does the Korean government back Moon? In the article in The Washington Monthly referred to above, John Marks, a student of the CIA in the U.S. and other countries, tackles this question. The Korean CIA, Marks points out, has on occasion secretly subsidized “private” organizations like the Unification Church if they will improve Korea’s image. It would certainly be interested, he says, in a “burgeoning religious-political movement run by a Korean who supports virtually all of the goals and who is in a position to work and lobby for its government’s position on the American political scene.”

Whatever the sources of its money, the Unification Church is in excellent shape financially, and that is very important to it. In Moon’s thinking, money is power and power indicates the blessing of God. God is on the side of power and wealth.

Moon and his followers have come a long way down the road from the mountainside where an earlier messiah, who had nowhere to lay his head, taught his disciples: “Blessed are the poor. Blessed are the meek. They shall inherit the earth.” A.D.

Jane Mook is a freelance writer and an occasional contributor to A.D. In addition to mission articles, she has compiled our portfolios of religious art at Christmas and Easter. Her home is in Tenafly, New Jersey.

A few of Sun Myung Moon’s Front Groups

The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity

The Unification Church

Project Unity

One World Crusade

International Cultural Foundation (ICF)

International Federation for Victory over Communism (IFVOC)

Collegiate Association for the Research of Principles (CARP)

Freedom Leadership Foundation (FLF)

World Freedom Institute

American Youth for a Just Peace

The Little Angels of Korea

Professors’ World Peace Academy (PWPA)

Committee for Responsible Dialogue

Tong-Il Industry Company

Il-Hwa Pharmaceutical Company

Il-Shin Stoneworks Company

Tong Wha Titanium Company

Tae Han Rutile Company [rutile = titanium dioxide]

Where Moon got his theology from

Moon’s theology for his pikareum sex rituals with all the 36 wives

The FFWPU is unequivocally not Christian

Sun Myung Moon: The Emperor of the Universe

United States Congressional investigation of Moon’s organization

#Unification Church #Sun Myung Moon

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ohmyglamstam · 5 years

Text

BASIC INFORMATION

Full name: Delcan Monroe Wellington

Pronunciation: Dell-kin Mon-row Well-ing-tin

Nickname(s) or Alias: D, Dell, Curly-Sue

Gender: Female

Species: Human

Age: 20

Birthday: 07/05

Sexuality: questioning

Nationality: American

Religion: Agnostic

City or town of birth: Buffalo, NY

Currently lives: Downtown Buffalo, NY

Languages spoken: French (fluently) , English

Native language: English

Relationship Status: Single

PHYSICAL APPEARANCE

Height: 5’3

Weight: 145 lbs

Figure/build: not muscular, average build, slightly toned, hourglass figure

Hair colour: dark brown

Hairstyle: curly, short, bangs, naturally curly

Eye colour: hazel

Skin colour: mocha toned, darker with a tan

Tattoos: N/A

Piercings: ear lobes are pierced, wears colored studs, silver locket necklace

Scars/distinguishing marks: a scar over her right eyebrow, pink flesh tone, only ½ of an inch in length

Preferred style of clothing: {see reference at the end}

Frequently worn jewellery/accessories: necklace, small earrings.

HEALTH

Smoker? N/A

Drinker? Recreationally

Recreational Drug User? Which? N/A

Allergies: seasonal allergies, cats

Any physical ailments/illnesses/disabilities: N/A

Any medication regularly taken: N/A

PERSONALITY

Personality: curious, observant/analytical, defensive, hot headed, driven, stubborn

Likes: antiques, records, tea, milkshakes, reading, people watching, dogs, rain, spaghetti, pancakes

Dislikes: excessive heat, liars, coffee, cats, people who speak ill of her grandmother, rap

Fears/phobias: being in large crowds, public speaking

Favourite colour: lavender, purple

Hobbies: reading, writing, antique collecting, record collecting

Taste in music: classic rock, blues, rock, jazz

SKILLS

Talents/skills: talented writer, avid reader, analytical & observant, intelligence in most areas of historical knowledge & common knowledge.

Ability to drive a car? Operate any other vehicles? Can drive car

EATING HABITS

Omnivore/Carnivore/Herbivore (Vegetarian): Omnivore

Favourite food(s): pizza, spaghetti, salads

Favourite drink(s): milkshake, loganberry soda

Disliked food(s): fish, sugar cookies, protein bars

Disliked drink(s): seltzer water, any diet soda

HOUSE AND HOME

Describe the character's house/home:

they share their home with anyone? Who?

Delcan used to share the apartment with her grandmother. Unfortunately, she has since passed.

Significant/special belongings:

floral rug, typewriter

CAREER

Level of education:

highschool education, in her last year of college for business

Qualification: qualified with a business license & communications in sales.

Current job title and description:

waitress part time, shop owner, full time

Name of employer:

Nana’s family diner (local family owned diner)

COMBAT

Peaceful or aggressive attitude? Aggressive at first, after time the aggressive mannerisms subside due to advancements in trust.

FAMILY, FRIENDS AND FOES

Parents names: ( Mother ) Eline R. Wellington. ( Father ) unknown

Are parents alive or dead?

mother is deceased, father is unknown

Is the character still in contact with their parents? No

Siblings? Relationship with siblings?

N/A

Other Important Relatives:

Grandmother

Acquaintances:

neighbors, customers at the diner & antique shop

BACKSTORY

Describe their childhood (newborn - age 10):

Describe their teenage years to adult (11 - 20):

Style References:

Face claim: Tashi Rodriguez

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life-observed · 5 years

Text

To speak is to blunder

Choosing to renounce a mother tongue.

By Yiyun Li

Illustration by Jun Cen

In my dream, I asked for the phone. Two women came out of a front office. I recognized them: in real life, they are both gone. No, they said; the service is no longer offered, because everyone has a cell phone these days. There was nothing extraordinary about the dream—a melancholy visit to the past in this manner is beyond one’s control—but for the fact that the women spoke to me in English.

Years ago, when I started writing in English, my husband asked if I understood the implication of the decision. What he meant was not the practical concerns, though there were plenty: the nebulous hope of getting published; the lack of a career path as had been laid out in science, my first field of postgraduate study in America; the harsher immigration regulation I would face as a fiction writer. Many of my college classmates from China, as scientists, acquired their green cards under a National Interest Waiver. An artist is not of much importance to any nation’s interest.

My husband, who writes computer programs, was asking about language. Did I understand what it meant to renounce my mother tongue?

Nabokov once answered a question he must have been tired of being asked: “My private tragedy, which cannot, indeed should not, be anybody’s concern, is that I had to abandon my natural language, my natural idiom.” That something is called a tragedy, however, means it is no longer personal. One weeps out of private pain, but only when the audience swarms in and claims understanding and empathy do people call it a tragedy. One’s grief belongs to oneself; one’s tragedy, to others.

VIDEO FROM THE NEW YORKER

How to Write a New Yorker Cartoon Caption: Will Ferrell & John C. Reilly Edition

I often feel a tinge of guilt when I imagine Nabokov’s woe. Like all intimacies, the intimacy between one and one’s mother tongue can be comforting and irreplaceable, yet it can also demand more than what one is willing to give, or more than one is capable of giving. If I allow myself to be honest, my private salvation, which cannot and should not be anybody’s concern, is that I disowned my native language.

In the summer and autumn of 2012, I was hospitalized in California and in New York for suicide attempts, the first time for a few days, and the second time for three weeks. During those months, my dreams often took me back to Beijing. I would be standing on top of a building—one of those gray, Soviet-style apartment complexes—or I would be lost on a bus travelling through an unfamiliar neighborhood. Waking up, I would list in my journal images that did not appear in my dreams: a swallow’s nest underneath a balcony, the barbed wires at the rooftop, the garden where old people sat and exchanged gossip, the mailboxes at street corners—round, green, covered by dust, with handwritten collection times behind a square window of half-opaque plastic.

Yet I have never dreamed of Iowa City, where I first landed in America, in 1996, at the age of twenty-three. When asked about my initial impression of the place, I cannot excavate anything from memory to form a meaningful answer. During a recent trip there from my home in California, I visited a neighborhood that I used to walk through every day. The one-story houses, which were painted in pleasantly muted colors, with gardens in the front enclosed by white picket fences, had not changed. I realized that I had never described them to others or to myself in Chinese, and when English was established as my language they had become everyday mundanities. What happened during my transition from one language to another did not become memory.

People often ask about my decision to write in English. The switch from one language to another feels natural to me, I reply, though that does not say much, just as one can hardly give a convincing explanation as to why someone’s hair turns gray on one day but not on another. But this is an inane analogy, I realize, because I do not want to touch the heart of the matter. Yes, there is something unnatural, which I have refused to accept. Not the fact of writing in a second language—there are always Nabokov and Conrad as references, and many of my contemporaries as well—or that I impulsively gave up a reliable career for writing. It’s the absoluteness of my abandonment of Chinese, undertaken with such determination that it is a kind of suicide.

The tragedy of Nabokov’s loss is that his misfortune was easily explained by public history. His story—of being driven by a revolution into permanent exile—became the possession of other people. My decision to write in English has also been explained as a flight from my country’s history. But unlike Nabokov, who had been a published Russian writer, I never wrote in Chinese. Still, one cannot avoid the fact that a private decision, once seen through a public prism, becomes a metaphor. Once, a poet of Eastern European origin and I—we both have lived in America for years, and we both write in English—were asked to read our work in our native languages at a gala. But I don’t write in Chinese, I explained, and the organizer apologized for her misunderstanding. I offered to read Li Po or Du Fu or any of the ancient poets I had grown up memorizing, but instead it was arranged for me to read poetry by a political prisoner.

A metaphor’s desire to transcend diminishes any human story; its ambition to illuminate blinds those who create metaphors. In my distrust of metaphors I feel a kinship with George Eliot: “We all of us, grave or light, get our thoughts entangled in metaphors, and act fatally on the strength of them.” My abandonment of my first language is personal, so deeply personal that I resist any interpretation—political or historical or ethnographical. This, I know, is what my husband was questioning years ago: was I prepared to be turned into a symbol by well-intentioned or hostile minds?

Chinese immigrants of my generation in America criticize my English for not being native enough. A compatriot, after reading my work, pointed out, in an e-mail, how my language is neither lavish nor lyrical, as a real writer’s language should be: you write only simple things in simple English, you should be ashamed of yourself, he wrote in a fury. A professor—an American writer—in graduate school told me that I should stop writing, as English would remain a foreign language to me. Their concerns about ownership of a language, rather than making me as impatient as Nabokov, allow me secret laughter. English is to me as random a choice as any other language. What one goes toward is less definitive than that from which one turns away.

Before I left China, I destroyed the journal that I had kept for years and most of the letters written to me, those same letters I had once watched out for, lest my mother discover them. What I could not bring myself to destroy I sealed up and brought with me to America, though I will never open them again. My letters to others I would have destroyed, too, had I had them. These records, of the days I had lived time and time over, became intolerable now that my time in China was over. But this violent desire to erase a life in a native language is only wishful thinking. One’s relationship with the native language is similar to that with the past. Rarely does a story start where we wish it had, or end where we wish it would.

One crosses the border to become a new person. One finishes a manuscript and cuts off the characters. One adopts a language. These are false and forced frameworks, providing illusory freedom, as time provides illusory leniency when we, in anguish, let it pass monotonously. “To kill time,” an English phrase that still chills me: time can be killed but only by frivolous matters and purposeless activities. No one thinks of suicide as a courageous endeavor to kill time.

During my second hospital stay, in New York, a group of nursing students came to play bingo one Friday night. A young woman, another patient, asked if I would join her. Bingo, I said, I’ve never in my life played that. She pondered for a moment, and said that she had played bingo only in the hospital. It was her eighth hospitalization when I met her; she had taken middle-school courses for a while in the hospital, when she was younger, and, once, she pointed out a small patch of fenced-in green where she and other children had been let out for exercise. Her father often visited her in the afternoon, and I would watch them sitting together playing a game, not attempting a conversation. By then, all words must have been inadequate, language doing little to help a mind survive time.

Yet language is capable of sinking a mind. One’s thoughts are slavishly bound to language. I used to think that an abyss is a moment of despair becoming interminable; but any moment, even the direst, is bound to end. What’s abysmal is that one’s erratic language closes in on one like quicksand: “You are nothing. You must do anything you can to get rid of this nothingness.” We can kill time, but language kills us.

“Patient reports feeling . . . like she is a burden to her loved ones”—much later, I read the notes from the emergency room. I did not have any recollection of the conversation. A burden to her loved ones: this language must have been provided to me. I would never use the phrase in my thinking or my writing. But my resistance has little to do with avoiding a platitude. To say “a burden” is to grant oneself weight in other people’s lives; to call them “loved ones” is to fake one’s ability to love. One does not always want to be subject to self-interrogation imposed by a cliché.

When Katherine Mansfield was still a teen-ager, she wrote in her journal about a man next door playing “Swanee River” on a cornet, for what seemed like weeks. “I wake up with the ‘Swannee River,’ eat it with every meal I take, and go to bed eventually with ‘all de world am sad and weary’ as a lullaby.” I read Mansfield’s notebooks and Marianne Moore’s letters around the same time, when I returned home from New York. In a letter, Moore described a night of fund-raising at Bryn Mawr. Maidens in bathing suits and green bathing tails on a raft: “It was Really most realistic . . . way down upon the Swanee River.”

January 2, 2017

Illustration by Marco Goran Romano

Shouts & Murmurs

After Watching “Sully” and “Star Trek Beyond”

By Ian Frazier

Photograph by Laura El-Tantawy for The New Yorker

Fiction

“Most Die Young”

By Camille Bordas

Briefly Noted

Books

Briefly Noted Book Reviews

Illustration by Tom Bachtell

Recycling Re

“How do you feel about staying in power?”

I marked the entries because they reminded me of a moment I had forgotten. I was nine, and my sister thirteen. On a Saturday afternoon, I was in our apartment and she was on the balcony. My sister had joined the middle-school choir that year, and in the autumn sunshine she sang in a voice that was beginning to leave girlhood. “Way down upon the Swanee River. Far, far away. That’s where my heart is turning ever; That’s where the old folks stay.”

The lyrics were translated into Chinese. The memory, too, should be in Chinese. But I cannot see our tiny garden with the grapevine, which our father cultivated and which was later uprooted by our wrathful mother, or the bamboo fence dotted with morning glories, or the junk that occupied half the balcony—years of accumulations piled high by our hoarder father—if I do not name these things to myself in English. I cannot see my sister, but I can hear her sing the lyrics in English. I can seek to understand my mother’s vulnerability and cruelty, but language is the barrier I have chosen. “Do you know, the moment I die your father will marry someone else?” my mother used to whisper to me when I was little. “Do you know that I cannot die, because I don’t want you to live under a stepmother?” Or else, taken over by inexplicable rage, she would say that I, the only person she had loved, deserved the ugliest death because I did not display enough gratitude. But I have given these moments—what’s possible to be put into English—to my characters. Memories, left untranslated, can be disowned; memories untranslatable can become someone else’s story.

Over the years, my brain has banished Chinese. I dream in English. I talk to myself in English. And memories—not only those about America but also those about China; not only those carried with me but also those archived with the wish to forget—are sorted in English. To be orphaned from my native language felt, and still feels, like a crucial decision.

When we enter a world—a new country, a new school, a party, a family or a class reunion, an army camp, a hospital—we speak the language it requires. The wisdom to adapt is the wisdom to have two languages: the one spoken to others, and the one spoken to oneself. One learns to master the public language not much differently from the way that one acquires a second language: assess the situations, construct sentences with the right words and the correct syntax, catch a mistake if one can avoid it, or else apologize and learn the lesson after a blunder. Fluency in the public language, like fluency in a second language, can be achieved with enough practice.

Perhaps the line between the two is, and should be, fluid; it is never so for me. I often forget, when I write, that English is also used by others. English is my private language. Every word has to be pondered before it becomes a word. I have no doubt—can this be an illusion?—that the conversation I have with myself, however linguistically flawed, is the conversation that I have always wanted, in the exact way I want it to be.

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