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bunny-wk-fanfic · 3 years

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Some News & Explanations

So, it's been a while, near a year I think, since I last posted anything really 'major' here or anywhere else. I did share a few pieces over on FF.net, but I wanted to explain the reason I was basically MIA for the past year.

2020 started off on a bad note for me and my family, which had nothing to do with the pandemic. Nearing the end of 2019, we noticed that my grandfather was not doing so well, and after learning that he had suffered a stroke and told no one, not even our family doctor, things quickly went south. Multiple tests were done, and each time he got worse and worse, until finally after New Years, he was finally diagnosed with ALS. Now those of you who don't know, it's a crippling disease. If you're young, you have a chance at a long life with treatment and medicine. If you're over 50, it's aggressive, quick, and painful. We literally watched my grandfather whither away for three months before he finally passed away in March.

March 2020 was shitty all around. My grandfather passed, his funeral was held a week later, although it had been delayed as Corona had just been declared as a pandemic so heavy lockdowns had been put into effect here in Germany. And to add insult to injury, some ass used a 'legal loophole' to swindle money out of me by claiming I was parked on private property. I did pay it, forgetting I did have insurance/coverage to help me for such situations, but when you're in mourning, thought process is pretty much nonexistent.

April 2020 was the first time I was affected by the pandemic as the company I was working with at the time had to close for two weeks since a few workers had tested positive as well as a lack of workers since some did come from France but were unable to cross the boarder due to the harsh lockdowns.

May 2020 things were looking a little on the bright side as I could officially move into my now apartment. Not only due to the fact that my sister finally found her own apartment close to where she was going to school and work, but because city hall was once again open and I could register to be a citizen of the city. Only to discover the apartment not only had water damage, but mold as well. Which was made worse since the landlord mentioned he did not have house insurance. Which is a big No-No here in Germany. Regardless if you live in the space or not, if you own it, you are required to have it insured in your name. Let's just say it made fixing it up and getting paid due to damages was made difficult because of his lack of insurance.

June 2020 I was once again living with my parents since the apartment needed to be cleaned and dehumidified. So, I was under stress since I was living out of their office and out of a duffle bag.

July 2020 I could finally move into the apartment and register with the city. Along with getting house insurance, since, as a tenant, I would need that, and it would help should any other issues crop up.

August 2020 I had to go through the process of quitting with the temp firm in order to be signed on officially with the company I was working with/for. It was a process as I was constantly asked for various forms of my resignation letters as well as various forms of sending it in.

September 2020 my car broke down. I could drive maybe for 15 minutes before the engine overheated. Which was enough time to get from work, to my parents, and from their place to our mechanic. He shared with me that the cooling system for the engine was basically leaking. It could be fixed for anywhere between 1000 - 2000 €, but with how old the car was, it wasn't worth it since he spotted other issues that would later cause problems that would either need to be fixed or replaced altogether. For an imported car from the US, it would be a timely and costly in the long run, so I needed to buy a new car.

October 2020 finally got a new (used) car which I'm happy with, still am to this day. Only to be laid off at the end of the month. The reason being was the low numbers of our product from the year; not just due to the pandemic, but also from a fire happening at a sister factory that slowed in us getting the supplies needed for us in production. All of which they had known since September, when they hired me on.

November 2020 went back to the temp company and immediately got a new job. Along with that, the restrictions that had been slightly lifted during the summer were once again in effect, along with a curfew.

December 2020 was actually calm, and I used this time to finally relax with my family.

January - March 2021 basically this is Germany's tax season, and I discovered that my temp company failed to give me my tax papers, so running around there. I was mostly quiet during this time, so I had planned on returning to both here and fanfic in general as I was comfortable with the company I was working with. Until they announced that they would be closing the location I was working at and moving their operation to a city that is literally in the middle of nowhere and would take me some 2 hours to travel to get there.

April 2020 was spent negotiating a new place to work with my temp company.

May - June 2020 a new job, a bit further away than I would have liked, but the work was alright and my coworkers were sociable. Until I was let go. And this was with the company lying to my temp firm, that I was caught playing on my phone during working hours. Which is impossible when you're working on a machine that needs to be watched, otherwise it was likely to jam. I learned the truth when I went in the next day to return my time-stamp chip that it was due to the reason that the next week there wouldn't be enough work to keep me. My temp firm said they might cross the company off their list of potential partners when I shared that bit of information, along with a few other details.

July - August 2020 so new job, closer to home, better pay, and with a few old coworkers from the company that wanted to close shop and move away. (I later learned they want to return back down to the area I live in, so, who knows what's going on with the higher ups). My family and I are also in the process of changing insurance brokers, as our old one was swindling us out of money, which we wouldn't have known if he had bothered to take the time to reply to our calls or messages or simply let us know that he wouldn't be in his office at certain times for whatever reason. Seriously, a simple 'I'm currently unavailable today, please contact me tomorrow' or 'I'll be out of office between XX to XX. Please wait until I return to ask any questions or address any issues' would have been better than waiting weeks to a month for a reply of any kind.

I'm sure I've explained this at least at some points during the past year, but then things just kept happening. Which then postponed and delayed my return more and more. I humbly apologize because of this and I ask for everyone's forgiveness. I do hope to return sooner rather than later, and if things continue to look as positive as they have these past two months, it looks like I'll finally be able to do so.

TM;DR 2020 sucked for more than just because of the pandemic, and hopefully I'll return sooner rather than later.

#news #announcements #chit chat

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popculty · 4 years

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Surviving the Coronapocalypse: A Masterpost

Living in the current coronavirus capital of the U.S., I’ve been thinking a lot about how woefully unprepared my city was, and how I can help other people who will likely be in the situation we’ve been in within the next few weeks or months. There have been a LOT of posts - from memes to crap advice to solid advice to a misspelled hashtag that somehow blew up without anyone noticing. It’s been all over the place and kind of overwhelming, honestly. So instead of reblogging a million individual posts, I wanted to consolidate some of the most useful information/resources I’ve come across into one handy, update-able reference post. And because this a pop culture blog, there’s gonna be plenty of that sprinkled in. This isn’t going to be an exhaustive list, by any means - that would be impossible, considering how many angles there are to this thing and how quickly it’s evolving. But feel free to use this as a starter, and add to it as you come across other resources worth sharing.

First, protect your health:

1. I can’t believe in the year 2020, 150 years after germs were discovered, that we have to even say this, but: Wash your hands, people. This seems obvious, and we hear it constantly, and yet I keep seeing people use hand sanitizer like it’s the same as hand-washing. Not-so-fun fact: IT ISN’T. Not even close (so double fuck this guy!). First of all, it’s only effective against some types of germs. Secondly, it does NOT kill or remove those germs, it just temporarily neutralizes them, allowing them to resurface later. Hand sanitizer should only be used when hand-washing is not an option. It’s better than nothing, but is not a long-term habit that will save you. If you are going to use hand sanitizer, it needs to contain at least 60% alcohol to be effective. Alcohol, however, dries the fuck out of your hands, and germs love dry skin because they can hide in the cracks. So it’s important to moisturize afterward. But I’ll say it louder for the people in the back (esp. men who still haven’t figured out how bathroom hygiene works and then wonder why they’re dying at much higher rates from this): JUST 👏 WASH 👏 YOUR 👏 DAMN 👏 HANDS! 👏 Scrub for 20-30 seconds, like Kristen Bell told you. There are a million memes for this. Find one that speaks to you, or make your own, and use it.

2. “Social distancing” - By now we’ve all heard of this, and it’s a good thing for everyone to start doing right about now, regardless of whether or not you are feeling symptoms, because as Idris Elba just reminded us (bless), many people do not show symptoms, for weeks or even ever. So: try to stay six feet away from other people as much as possible. If you can’t avoid getting close to people, just make it quick. The latest info is that it’s not airborne (thank god), but transmitted via droplets (i.e. from coughing), so it really doesn’t matter whether you’re inside or outdoors.

3. And now a word from my infectious disease specialist mom who is working on the front-lines of this: 📣 If you have symptoms (fever, cough, shortness of breath), stay home and take care of yourself like you would if you had the flu. Do not go out in public unless you absolutely have to, (i.e. you are literally dying and require medical attention) and if you do, WEAR A SURGICAL MASK. IF YOU ARE NOT EXPERIENCING SYMPTOMS, YOU DO NOT NEED TO WEAR A MASK – THEY SHOULD ONLY BE WORN BY PEOPLE WHO ARE SICK/COUGHING (to stop those droplets), AND BY HEALTH CARE WORKERS. DO NOT HOARD MASKS FOR PERSONAL USE - THEY ARE ESSENTIALLY USELESS TO YOU AND IT DIVERTS THEM FROM THE DOCTORS AND NURSES WHO ACTUALLY NEED THEM. 📣 Thank you.

4. If you can stay home, stay home. Simple as that. Sure, flights are cheap and we all love a deal but at what cost, Becky?? Just because you can fly (you’re young! you’re healthy! you’re feeling lucky! you *hair flip* just don’t give a fuck!), doesn’t mean you can’t show some goddamn personal restraint and concern for your fellow (elderly, at-risk) human beings. If you won’t listen to me, listen to Wonder Woman. Participate in the #stayhomechallenge and #dontbeaspreader.

5. Inform yourself. The news is doing a really good job of sowing general panic and not much else. And obviously, the situation is literally changing everyday, but here are the basics you should know, via handy infographics. To keep up with the latest, I recommend this interactive map and Science Vs., an investigative science podcast that is currently doing a series of episodes on the ever-changing COVID-19 situation. It does a really good job of painting a picture of how this virus actually spreads, who is at risk, and what a pandemic would actually look like. The “Pandemic” episode of Explained on Netflix is also proving incredibly prescient right now.

Be a decent human being:

The truth is, if you know the facts, coronavirus isn’t actually that scary. What is scary is uninformed people acting impulsively and selfishly. Like, there is no logical reason for the run on toilet paper (coronavirus doesn’t even make you shit!). The reason there is no toilet paper in your grocery store is because a handful of excitable people panicked and bought up all the Charmin they saw. Then other people panicked when they saw the empty shelf and thought, “I guess I should be stockpiling tp too ??” So they did. Then other people came to the grocery store, saw the empty shelves, and posted pictures of those empty shelves on social media. And now everyone in the entire world is freaking out about toilet paper, for no goddamn reason. This scarcity (of tp, of Purell, etc), is a human-created problem, not an outbreak-created problem. Whereas, if everyone had remained calm and bought only what they needed, we could have avoided this entire headache. But people are gonna people, I guess. (If you’re still freaking out about toilet paper though, you should really just invest in a bidet, which is far more sanitary and better for the environment anyway.)

All this is to say: Think before you act. Stop tweeting pictures of empty shelves - you’re only fueling the fire. And don’t use the climate of fear and uncertainty as an excuse to act like a shitty person. When things return to normal, your actions right now will be remembered by those around you. So:

1. Take a look at this graph. If you’re healthy and young (under 60), don’t be a dick. Before you snatch every last roll of toilet paper or bottle of cold remedy off the shelf, considering leaving some for the grandmother behind you who’s probably terrified and has only just now risked leaving her house for this one grocery run, only to find the shelves bare.

2. Moreover, instead of getting swept up into the panic-buying and selfish hoarding, consider buying/delivering groceries for the elderly and at-risk, who are unable to leave their homes. Find out what volunteer opportunities have sprung up in your community to specifically address outbreak-related needs.

3. Donate to food banks - People who have been furloughed from their jobs will have an even harder time putting food on the table, and kids that depend on free school meals will still need to eat if their school is closed.

4. Support local businesses. Big businesses will weather this just fine, but your mom-and-pop store down the street? Your local grocer? They’re hurting already and might not be able to survive weeks or months of low sales or even closing down for a period of time. So...

Buy from local stores rather than big chains as much as possible.

If you are eating/ordering out, choose local, and especially Asian restaurants, who are really hurting right now, and because again: YOU CANNOT GET CORONAVIRUS FROM FOOD. YOU’RE JUST BEING RACIST.

If you don’t want to eat out at all right now (probably advisable), buy gift cards to local restaurants for yourself or others – This will support struggling business now when they need it, and then you can cash in on them when things calm down a bit.

Likewise, if you have tickets to a play, show, etc that gets cancelled, consider not asking for a refund and instead making that a donation to your local stage company, independent cinema, arts center, etc.

If you live in a city where a large event with many local vendors gets cancelled, find out if there is an alternative pop-up event to support those vendors, or buy from them on Etsy. Many artists and craftspeople depend on one huge, annual event like a fair or Con for their entire year’s earnings, so having that event postponed or cancelled is a huge financial blow to them. For example, when Emerald City Comic-Con got pushed til August, this lovely Twitter thread popped up to support the artists.

Maintain your sanity:

The other big thing we are starting to realize is that this social distancing is going to cause a loneliness epidemic in countries that are already some of the loneliest in the world. We don’t know how long these measures will be in place, so we need to prepare ourselves, mentally/emotionally:

1. Take a breath - Even worst-case scenario, this isn’t the end of the world. Try to keep perspective. Apps like Happify, Calm, or any of these can help keep obtrusive thoughts at bay, provide guided mindfulness meditations and breathing exercises, and help center you when you feel like the world is spinning out of control. This is likely going to be a marathon, not a sprint, so pace yourself and be proactive about your mental health.

2. Stay connected – We have more ways to keep in touch virtually now than ever before.

FaceTime, Marco Polo, Discord – Use technology to check in with your friends and family.

Podcasts are a great way to feel connected to others right now. Death, Sex, and Money just did a listener call-in episode, which was a good reminder that this outbreak is affecting people differently across city, state, country, race, class, gender, and ability. Another one of my faves that is going to be applicable to more people than ever in these coming months is The Hilarious World of Depression, in which comedians like Rachel Bloom, Solomon Georgio, and Margaret Cho talk about mental illness and comedy. In one especially relevant episode, Mara Wilson talks about how people with anxiety tend to handle crisis much better than neurotypicals (which explains how I’m so zen right now...)

3. Keep busy - Not being able to go out and socialize like we are used to is likely to make a lot of us stir-crazy. But there are a ton of things you can do and see from the comfort of your own home.

Go on a virtual museum tour, or see the Palace of Versailles.

Take a soothing, 8-hour virtual drive through Iceland.

Watch operas at The Met.

Explore NASA’s stunning media library.

Tackle your book list.

Start writing that novel (or finish that fic!)

File your taxes (Get that return!)

Do your spring cleaning.

Plant a victory garden to reduce the strain on producers and avoid crowded stores.

Binge the shows your friends keep telling you about (follow this blog and podcast for recs!)

If you have kids, here’s a list of all the free educational courses being offered right now.

Libraries may be closed, but you can still get free ebooks, music, movies and TV shows on the Hoopla app, and movies on Kanopy for free if you have a library card or are a student or teacher.

Some upcoming theatrical releases have been postponed (No Time to Die, indeed), but others, like Emma and The Invisible Man, will hit streaming platforms immediately, so you can still get your new movie fix.

So many things to do! Try not to see it as being confined, but rather as an opportunity to do all the things you’ve been putting off. If getting shit done makes you feel good, do it! But hey - remember that you really don’t have to be productive right now just because capitalism tells you to. This is also a great time to be still and relish doing absolutely nothing.

4. Perspective - Remember that this is not the only thing happening in the world right now (psst, the U.S. government is using this distraction to fuck with our privacy, AGAIN.) Also, this is not the first pandemic humanity has endured and it will be nowhere near the worst, so soothe yourself by reading about past pandemics and how we got through them.

Alright. Back to covering pop culture for me (we’re gonna need escapism now more than ever). I’m not gonna even try to update this regularly, that’s just too daunting. But I encourage you to add to this and share as needed in the coming weeks/months.

Stay safe out there, and

#coronapocalypse #coronavirus #resources #advice #health #self care #orig

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nashvilletonihon · 6 years

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How Can A Week Feel Like A Month???

It’s Monday morning here and it’s already hot outside. A stifling, oppressive, humid heat. The kind of heat that saps every last ounce of strength from your body and makes you physically exhausted. I stayed indoors yesterday, barely running my AC because I have no idea how much my electric bill will cost. My only reprieve is the fan circulating hot air around my apartment. In actuality, it’s really not so bad. I’ve dealt with no AC before and while it sucks, it’s not the end of the world. There’s only another month or two of summer and after that I’m sure I’ll be begging for warmer weather again.

I have officially been in Japan for a week. One. Week. 7 days. That’s it. I feel like I’ve been here for a lifetime already. How have the days gone by so quickly and yet dragged on as if they would never end? This week has been rough. I left Tokyo Orientation on Wednesday and traveled to Kyoto City for, you guessed it, more orientation. Saying goodbye to the friends I had made in Tokyo was incredibly hard but I honestly didn’t have much time to think about it because a 2 1/2 新幹線 shinkansen (bullet train) ride later I was standing in my hotel room in Kyoto City wondering how I even got there in the first place. Thankfully the evening orientation meeting was only an hour long. Once we had changed back into our civilian clothing (I never want to wear another article of business attire ever again) we headed to an 居酒屋 izakaya (Japanese tavern) for dinner. There are 12 new Prefectural AET’s in total. 6 came in Group A and have already been teaching for a few weeks. The 6 of us in Group B arrived this past week and are still trying to wrap our heads around everything.

Here we all are with 2 current JETs (Jacob & Jonah who are across from me), our Prefectural Advisor Leah and Karino先生, who works with Leah at the Kyoto Board of Education making sure we have all of the information we need to succeed in our new roles as Assistant English Teachers.

Dinner was wonderful. The food was fantastic and the drinks were flowing. Four 梅酒 umeshu (Japanese plum wine) drinks later and I was actually feeling pretty good about things. For just a moment, I forgot about my stress and anxiety and focused on genuinely enjoying myself. It was...nice. So nice I even considered going out for karaoke afterward but the looming knowledge that I had to give my speech to the Board of Education AND meet my new supervisor/co-workers the next day quickly put an end to that. (Don’t worry, it all went well.)

The next few days sped by faster than the scenery outside of a 新幹線 window. I met 水口先生 (Mizuguchi-sensei), my supervisor who is so incredibly warm and kind hearted. She was there to receive me at my apartment when I rolled up after being in a car for 3 hours, sweaty, smelly, with my make-up melting off and completely exhausted. She showed me around my apartment, helped me to put some things away (they were all in the living room per the cleaning crew), took me to the store to buy some food and personal items and let me follow her around like the lost puppy that I am while I stupidly asked her “What does this mean?”, “Do you like this?”, “What do you use?” She even went back to her house to gather some towels for me to shower with since I didn’t have any.

AND THIS WAS ALL JUST THURSDAY NIGHT.

Friday was even worse. 水口先生 picked me precisely at 9 AM to begin a day full of important errands. The first stop was Kyotango City Hall where I had to change my address.

I should mention that I currently do not have my residency card. Due to a glitch in the matrix there are about 2,000 of us JETs who do not have this incredibly important piece of paper that is vital to setting up a new life in a foreign country. So, you know, there’s that.

Holding our collective breath, 水口先生 and I walked into City Hall hoping against hope that they take the stupid little stamp marked “Residency Card will be issued at a later date.” in my passport as the real thing. With 水口先生 explaining in Japanese and me standing there, passport clutched in my hands and a pleading look on my face, I heard some of the few words in Japanese that I actually know... “大丈夫です.” Daijōbudesu. (It’s ok.) I had to stop myself from sinking to the floor in gratitude. It’s ok. It’s ok.

45 minutes later and I now had a Residency Certificate from City Hall. (Not the be confused with my Residency Card which I still don’t have and still desperately need.) Feeling elated and unstoppable, we headed to the Kyoto Bank to set up an account. An 1 1/2 later, boom, bank account open and bank book in my hand with my card scheduled to arrive in 2 weeks. We even set up automatic withdrawal so I don’t have to worry about taking care of rent and car payments separately.

After the bank, we stopped for lunch. I think 水口先生 could tell that I was struggling. I had spent the entire morning intently listening to every conversation she had with others to try and pick up on any kind of Japanese I knew. (Spoiler alert, it was ZERO.) She pulled into a quaint little parking lot next to a restaurant called Ma Maison. Upon walking into the establishment I almost started bawling like a baby. It was decorated just like my Grandma Keether’s kitchen. Old school farm equipment, plates, mason jars and herbs hung from the walls and ceiling. Vinyl tablecloths and old wooden chairs decorated the seating area. For a moment, it felt like I was home.

After lunch, we jetted over to Komori Auto Shop where I picked out a car. (Don’t get too excited guys, just wait until you see a picture of this thing.) 2 hours of discussing insurance, filling out paperwork and setting a date to pick the car up (August 22nd at 8:30 AM) and that was that. I will soon be able to drive in Tango like a regular citizen. Lord help me. And them.

The entire day was going so well. We were on a role. Unfortunately it came to a screeching halt at Y! Mobile, the phone company store where I was hoping to purchase a Japanese SIM card and internet. As of right now I only have internet in my apartment. (THANK GOD FOR THAT.) However, once I step foot outside, I’m on my own. I have no way of looking up directions, getting in contact with people or vice versa. It’s awful. I’ve only been walking around the area that I know, too scared of getting lost to venture any farther. Of all the places I didn’t think my passport stamp wouldn’t work, the cell phone store was not one of them. Who knew they would be so strict when it came to purchasing a phone plan? So now I have to just sit here and wait until my RC comes in the mail. Whenever that is.

Throughout this entire process so far, I’ve been trying to focus on the positives. They are few and far between but I know that it’s only because everything is so new and overwhelming. I’ve started making a list to keep track because if I don’t, the negatives will weasel their way to the forefront. Here are a few of the positives I’ve experienced in the past week:

I remembered the word for vegetables when ordering lunch in the Tokyo train station. (It’s 野菜, yasai, in case you were wondering.)

I have been complemented on how natural my Japanese sounds. (Although I’m pretty sure they’re just being nice.)

I used the self checkout at the grocery store and didn’t mess up or require assistance.

I’ve made a once cluttered and jumbled apartment into my temporary home. (It’s quite nice actually.)

I haven’t cried in 4 days.

That last one may seem unimportant, or trivial even, but it’s huge. Especially since I’m on the verge literally every minute of every day. An accurate representation of me would be something along the lines of this...

It’s a process. I just have to keep reminding myself of that. I know that once I get busy with school, (which will be next week after お盆祭り, Bon Festival. https://www.jrailpass.com/blog/obon-festival-2018-in-japan) the time will fly by and I’ll be getting ready to leave for the States again before I know it. I’ve got a mantra I keep repeating: “Take everything in stride. Feel your feels.” I won’t downplay my homesickness or my loneliness. To do that would be to deny myself the very real fact that they are there. Instead, I will make peace with it and remind myself that this isn’t forever. A year will fly by and the memories I make here are going to be worth it. The stories I share with my friends, family and boyfriend back home are mine alone to tell. I can’t let them down. I won’t let them down.

That being said, I think this post has gone on long enough. I’ll close it out with some photos I’ve taken over the past week. Check out the captions below the pictures for explanations.

A traditional Japanese breakfast at our Kyoto City hotel.

Myself, Kelly Bell and Lizzie (UK) at the Tokyo Train Station. (It’s the largest and busiest station in the Japan.)

My all time favorite snack in Japan. おにぎり. Onigiri. (Rice ball.) These delicious little guys can be eaten by themselves, or be filled with any kind of savory treat. My two are ボニと bonito (dried fish skin) and 鰻 unagi (eel).

When people ask me why I won’t be eating fruit in Japan. (These grapes are $8.00!!!)

Thanks for sticking with me through this crazy long post. Hopefully it wasn’t as much of a downer as the last one was. Again, there will be more posts and more positives. Until then...

じゃあまた (See you!)

- レイチェル (Rachel)

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terftouch · 6 years

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My About. My name’s Tia. I’m 24 this August past as of 2017. I’m trans and I’m in transition. I’ve been officially doing so since I was 19. I’m pansexual. I’m in a relationship for three years now with Jonelle. She’s 25. She’s a cis-lesbian, not bi, not str8. And I will defend her and others like her saying that forever. So yes these relationships do work and do exist. And she started it. And she pretty much saved me from slowly dying of a life in utter loneliness and lonership. And I love her. I’m not into clothes, not into make-up. I’m mostly a sweat and tees and hoodies girl and own a few of the stereotypical things but I’m not into all the cutesy things. Short haired, heavy set, food safe semi-vegan (I’m not but totes respect the choices and food needs.) Ex-short order cook under the table, ex-server, berry picker, almond, olive and mushroom harvester and fish plant worker and about a hundred other things to make living cash to survive including sex work a few times. Currently a student starting my 3rd year of Women’s and Gender Studies with a minor in Sociology and I am looking to get into working with kids like me as from personal experience there’s just not enough people to do any of the work that we desperately need in the community. I’m working part time as a bartender in two places and I am a casual Ward aide worker at the hospital. Ex-drug user though never really went any heavier than weed, oil, acid and molly mushrooms and the few odd times. I’m a dyed in the wool Liberal/3rd Wave intersectional Feminist and a stanch supporter of Trans People and of The Equal Rights Movement. The LGBTQAIPD+ community means a lot to me. Anti-Terf, heavily Anti-Terf and for that matter most of the practices of Radfems and 2nd wavers. More on why later. I’m from rural Nova Scotia, Canada. And I mean that in the most redneck and coming out of racism and bigoted ways. I left home from abuse from being trans when I was 14 and it came from all sides of my family except my older brother who was largely not there in reality because of his one issues and them pushing him to cope with self-medication that became addiction. My hometown wasn’t much better. Really small and mixed religious but strongly religious. I took what things I could carry and went to my cousin’s place three miles away and soul him a lot of my things that he wanted and took the first train out and away to Toronto. I didn’t have a damned thing really just a few clothes and lived off of couch surfing from a few trans friendly folks but those places could only be temporary and after a pretty bad first year there including being homeless, assaulted a few times and an attempted rape to getting a sort of a share place in a really crappy sort of share house close to Brampton I left with two friends after someone in the share house didn’t take no for an answer and raped me. We took off in an old ford escort and headed for Vancouver. Actually that working and living sort of road trip was one of the best times in my life. Scary there’s a lot of things a lot of folks will try to pull of three girls but we made out okay actually. I learned some things though…. The prairies are as flat as a lot of people make them out to be. Regina is a nice city. Saskatoon berries are NOT blueberries. Flapper pie is only good when you’re either stoned or are chasing it with strong black tea or coffee. Churchill Falls has really nice people. Winnipeg is really hard to live in without a ride. I like and know how to make really good pierogi and there’s a silent h behind the r when you say it out west. Get groceries when you’re passing through anywhere out west. Wages are good even under the table and rent’s crazy high but there are things that are wicked cheaper like hamburger or cheese and milk sometimes than in Toronto or they were home. I like the mountains… We stayed in Bamf for three days taking a break and The Rockies were the first mountains that I’d ever seen. I lived in B.C. for two years mostly in and around Richmond and Vancouver except for an extended stint down unto the states with other friends and that was fine even though it was a sort of working thing under the table. I left B.C. because we lost our place because the landlord sold our building and we were plain and simply given the choice of a next to impossible lease or leave. Jen one of my best friends and I left and we made our way to her Aunt’s in Saguenay and stayed there a couple of months until we both got jobs in Montreal through other friends. And that’s when I ended up meeting Nat. My Ex. The Ex….Like that big one we all end up having. The literal worst thing that had ever happened to my life since leaving home. She was smart and she was really smart taking law and she was a feminist but not like I knew and I really knew damned little back then. And I fell hard….and I was so into her that I went full dive into radfem theory. I bought the whole thing hook line and sinker really. Privilege, socialization, GNC stuff and I was more than willing to take all of it and was even spouting all of it with her and her friends in her social circles both IRL as her “GNC Boyfriend” and that she was “showing me how to be free of the patriarchy.” And online with the groups we were both a part of, My friends list was her friends list and I argued gender abolition with the rest of them against trans folks that just didn’t “Get it.” And it was a good long while before I got it. And that was because of this person call Michelle like the French Michelle and they were a non-binary person and we were at a party held but some mutual folks and they argued tooth and nail about TERF ideology and gaslighting and all the things that I was doing, that Nat was doing. Which got me thinking, which had me friending Michelle on FB and us talking. And Nat finding out and demanding I unfriend her. Slapping me when I questioned why and went off on a rant about it being her place and her rules and my privilege. And I unfriended Michelle. And it really was too late at that point. Because I knew it…she had hit me because of having someone that she didn’t like on my phone, on my friends list. Oh yeah she went through my phone…al lot. Threw mason jars at me one night when I had changed my password. Yeah and it just went on from there. Until the night of our biggest fight that was again over nothing but her paranoia and her accusing me of using her. The trans hate just poured out of her that night with every glass of wine that she had and I went from drowning in her constant abuse to shouting back and standing up for myself and a screaming match, me getting hit twice, slapped once as I was trying to get out of our apartment and she raked my arm with her nails as she tried to pull me back inside I literally ran away from her. And with my phone and everything I was literally getting hate message after hate message from her and ALL of “Our friends.” Until the battery died on my phone. By the time the sun rolled around I was more than done…I hit that wall of just a short drop off an over pass that I hadn’t felt as bad in years and I took off and hitched to Toronto where I at least had people I knew. I was her make herself feel good project, her showing me off to her friends project. I was in that relationship and in the TERF community for way too fucking long and I know a boatload of them and seen all the shit that they pull. This is why I’m so strongly Anti-TERF. I didn’t stay too in Toronto, it’s a nice place if you want to visit and some folks are actually really great but me and that city well I really never could get a grip there. So after a while I moved to North Bay. And actually met my Uncle Robert. He’s actually my dad’s cousin but he sort of became a decent bit of stability for me and he knew folks down here in Sackville that’d help me and put me up as long as I helped out at their place. He was the one that got me thinking about getting myself on my feet. Because while not me and way older he did the same thing only in his day it was leaving school to work and leaving home to not get stuck in a crappy job you’ll die doing in a one horse little town. And now I’m here in New Brunswick, having gotten my GED and taking all the other classes I needed to get into actual college, I have an apartment in my name and I’m making the bills work and I have an address and a bed and things…just things and now black garbage bags full of what I could carry. I have an amazing girlfriend and a good community here with a great mix of international folks and I’m in one of the most queer friendly campuses in Canada. I’m lucky…and I know it, I was lucky enough to work for all of it, to have the chances, to get out of the abuse. And that’s why I’m blogging, that’s why I’m not letting TERF’s, TWERF’s, RADFEM’s and really all of those folks go unchallenged. I’m not attacking them I’m challenging their bullshit, I’m saying that there are people that don’t say the things they say and that there’s folks that won’t be quiet and let them. There’s a mix of other things in here too but yeah…it’s because people deserve to hear voices challenging people like TERF’s and other extremists.

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fallopian-toob · 7 years

Text

Tygerofaera

A Liberal Trans woman's opinions & interests.My About. My name’s Tia. I’m 23 this August past as of 2016. I’m trans and I’m in transition. I’ve been officially doing so since I was 19. I’m pansexual. I’m in a relationship for three years now with Jonelle. She’s 25. She’s a cis-lesbian, not bi, not str8. And I will defend her and others like her saying that forever. So yes these relationships do work and do exist. And she started it. And she pretty much saved me from slowly dying of a life in utter loneliness and lonership. And I love her. I’m not into clothes, not into make-up. I’m mostly a sweat and tees and hoodies girl and own a few of the stereotypical things but I’m not into all the cutesy things. Short haired, heavy set, food safe semi-vegan (I’m not but totes respect the choices and food needs.) Ex-short order cook under the table, ex-server, berry picker, almond, olive and mushroom harvester and fish plant worker and about a hundred other things to make living cash to survive including sex work a few times. Currently a student starting my 3rd year of Women’s and Gender Studies with a minor in Sociology and I am looking to get into working with kids like me as from personal experience there’s just not enough people to do any of the work that we desperately need in the community. I’m working part time as a bartender in two places and I am a casual Ward aide worker at the hospital. Ex-drug user though never really went any heavier than weed, oil, acid and molly mushrooms and the few odd times. I’m a dyed in the wool Liberal/3rd Wave intersectional Feminist and a stanch supporter of Trans People and of The Equal Rights Movement. The LGBTQAIPD+ community means a lot to me. Anti-Terf, heavily Anti-Terf and for that matter most of the practices of Radfems and 2nd wavers. More on why later. I’m from rural Nova Scotia, Canada. And I mean that in the most redneck and coming out of racism and bigoted ways. I left home from abuse from being trans when I was 14 and it came from all sides of my family except my older brother who was largely not there in reality because of his one issues and them pushing him to cope with self-medication that became addiction. My hometown wasn’t much better. Really small and mixed religious but strongly religious. I took what things I could carry and went to my cousin’s place three miles away and soul him a lot of my things that he wanted and took the first train out and away to Toronto. I didn’t have a damned thing really just a few clothes and lived off of couch surfing from a few trans friendly folks but those places could only be temporary and after a pretty bad first year there including being homeless, assaulted a few times and an attempted rape to getting a sort of a share place in a really crappy sort of share house close to Brampton I left with two friends after someone in the share house didn’t take no for an answer and raped me. We took off in an old ford escort and headed for Vancouver. Actually that working and living sort of road trip was one of the best times in my life. Scary there’s a lot of things a lot of folks will try to pull of three girls but we made out okay actually. I learned some things though…. The prairies are as flat as a lot of people make them out to be. Regina is a nice city. Saskatoon berries are NOT blueberries. Flapper pie is only good when you’re either stoned or are chasing it with strong black tea or coffee. Churchill Falls has really nice people. Winnipeg is really hard to live in without a ride. I like and know how to make really good pierogi and there’s a silent h behind the r when you say it out west. Get groceries when you’re passing through anywhere out west. Wages are good even under the table and rent’s crazy high but there are things that are wicked cheaper like hamburger or cheese and milk sometimes than in Toronto or they were home. I like the mountains… We stayed in Bamf for three days taking a break and The Rockies were the first mountains that I’d ever seen. I lived in B.C. for two years mostly in and around Richmond and Vancouver except for an extended stint down unto the states with other friends and that was fine even though it was a sort of working thing under the table. I left B.C. because we lost our place because the landlord sold our building and we were plain and simply given the choice of a next to impossible lease or leave. Jen one of my best friends and I left and we made our way to her Aunt’s in Saguenay and stayed there a couple of months until we both got jobs in Montreal through other friends. And that’s when I ended up meeting Nat. My Ex. The Ex….Like that big one we all end up having. The literal worst thing that had ever happened to my life since leaving home. She was smart and she was really smart taking law and she was a feminist but not like I knew and I really knew damned little back then. And I fell hard….and I was so into her that I went full dive into radfem theory. I bought the whole thing hook line and sinker really. Privilege, socialization, GNC stuff and I was more than willing to take all of it and was even spouting all of it with her and her friends in her social circles both IRL as her “GNC Boyfriend” and that she was “showing me how to be free of the patriarchy.” And online with the groups we were both a part of, My friends list was her friends list and I argued gender abolition with the rest of them against trans folks that just didn’t “Get it.” And it was a good long while before I got it. And that was because of this person call Michelle like the French Michelle and they were a non-binary person and we were at a party held but some mutual folks and they argued tooth and nail about TERF ideology and gaslighting and all the things that I was doing, that Nat was doing. Which got me thinking, which had me friending Michelle on FB and us talking. And Nat finding out and demanding I unfriend her. Slapping me when I questioned why and went off on a rant about it being her place and her rules and my privilege. And I unfriended Michelle. And it really was too late at that point. Because I knew it…she had hit me because of having someone that she didn’t like on my phone, on my friends list. Oh yeah she went through my phone…al lot. Threw mason jars at me one night when I had changed my password. Yeah and it just went on from there. Until the night of our biggest fight that was again over nothing but her paranoia and her accusing me of using her. The trans hate just poured out of her that night with every glass of wine that she had and I went from drowning in her constant abuse to shouting back and standing up for myself and a screaming match, me getting hit twice, slapped once as I was trying to get out of our apartment and she raked my arm with her nails as she tried to pull me back inside I literally ran away from her. And with my phone and everything I was literally getting hate message after hate message from her and ALL of “Our friends.” Until the battery died on my phone. By the time the sun rolled around I was more than done…I hit that wall of just a short drop off an over pass that I hadn’t felt as bad in years and I took off and hitched to Toronto where I at least had people I knew. I was her make herself feel good project, her showing me off to her friends project. I was in that relationship and in the TERF community for way too fucking long and I know a boatload of them and seen all the shit that they pull. This is why I’m so strongly Anti-TERF. I didn’t stay too in Toronto, it’s a nice place if you want to visit and some folks are actually really great but me and that city well I really never could get a grip there. So after a while I moved to North Bay. And actually met my Uncle Robert. He’s actually my dad’s cousin but he sort of became a decent bit of stability for me and he knew folks down here in Sackville that’d help me and put me up as long as I helped out at their place. He was the one that got me thinking about getting myself on my feet. Because while not me and way older he did the same thing only in his day it was leaving school to work and leaving home to not get stuck in a crappy job you’ll die doing in a one horse little town. And now I’m here in New Brunswick, having gotten my GED and taking all the other classes I needed to get into actual college, I have an apartment in my name and I’m making the bills work and I have an address and a bed and things…just things and now black garbage bags full of what I could carry. I have an amazing girlfriend and a good community here with a great mix of international folks and I’m in one of the most queer friendly campuses in Canada. I’m lucky…and I know it, I was lucky enough to work for all of it, to have the chances, to get out of the abuse. And that’s why I’m blogging, that’s why I’m not letting TERF’s, TWERF’s, RADFEM’s and really all of those folks go unchallenged. I’m not attacking them I’m challenging their bullshit, I’m saying that there are people that don’t say the things they say and that there’s folks that won’t be quiet and let them. There’s a mix of other things in here too but yeah…it’s because people deserve to hear voices challenging people like TERF’s and other extremists.

#a classique #tyg #save for the memories

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gordonwilliamsweb · 4 years

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Must-Reads Of The Week From Brianna Labuskes

The Friday Breeze

Newsletter editor Brianna Labuskes, who reads everything on health care to compile our daily Morning Briefing, offers the best and most provocative stories for the weekend.

Hello! It is once again Friday, which means I’m going to attempt to do my very best to give you a snapshot of some (read: a fraction) of the best stories from the week amid a flood of them.

But first! Take yourself on this journey about how the most well-known coronavirus image (that gray blob with stone-like texture and red crowns and colored flecks) was made. Sometimes when the government is creating informational illustrations it focuses on the vector or the symptoms, but for this coronavirus the CDC’s Alissa Eckert and Dan Higgins went with what’s called a “beauty shot.” It’s a very cool read!

All right, here we go:

The confirmed number of confirmed cases globally ticked past a million this week in a grim milestone that experts still say represents only a percentage of the actual cases out there. The U.S. had recorded over 250,000 cases as of press time, with more than 6,500 deaths.

President Donald Trump invoked his wartime powers to help manufacturers secure supplies needed to make ventilators and protective face masks, but is it too little, too late? New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose state has become the epicenter of the nation’s outbreak, said on Thursday it will use up all available ventilators in less than a week. Meanwhile, FEMA said that most of the ventilators Trump promised to obtain won’t be ready until June.

Governors are distraught over their inability to obtain the needed supplies, likening the process of requesting the equipment to eBay auctions. “You now literally will have a company call you up and say, ‘Well, California just outbid you,’” Cuomo said.

Another roadblock is that 2,000 of the ventilators in the national stockpile are unusable because of a lapse in a contract that left a monthslong gap, during which the machines weren’t being properly maintained.

In the meantime, General Motors has shrugged off Trump’s attacks on the company (he said GM and its chief executive were dragging their feet on the project) and are moving full-throttle ahead at producing the needed equipment. “Every ventilator is a life,” said one GM exec.

With so much focus on ventilators, doctors are being advised on how to ration care and being told that they’ll be supported in their decisions not to perform futile intubations.

One quick note on that front: New York lawmakers are moving on legislation that would grant sweeping civil- and criminal-liability protections to hospitals and health care workers dealing with coronavirus patients.

And even though there’s a ton of attention on ventilators, the survival rate of any patient who requires one is only 20% — meaning that even without a shortage, they can only help a fraction of patients.

In other important news on the preparedness front:

The Washington Post: Inside America’s Mask Crunch: A Slow Government Reaction and an Industry Wary of Liability

The New York Times: Essential Drug Supplies for Virus Patients Are Running Low

The New York Times: The U.S. Tried to Build a New Fleet of Ventilators. The Mission Failed

The Friday Breeze

Want a roundup of the must-read stories this week chosen by KHN Newsletter Editor Brianna Labuskes? Sign up for The Friday Breeze today.

Please confirm your email address below:

Trump warned Americans this week that “hard days” lie ahead and that people should be braced for a “bad two weeks,” with the White House projecting that the death toll could be somewhere between 100,000 to 240,000. For what it’s worth, disease forecasters were mystified over where the task force got those numbers, mostly because we don’t yet know enough about the virus.

(What helped change Trump’s mind, considering he’d previously mused that the country could return to normal in time to fill the pews on Easter? Polling numbers.)

To help states deal with the crisis, CMS relaxed safety rules for hospitals, giving them unprecedented flexibility. The changes include what counts as a hospital bed, how closely certain medical professionals need to be supervised and what kinds of health care can be delivered at home.

The administration decided not to follow suit after a handful of states reopened their exchanges, though Trump seemed to hint that the possibility was still on the table “as a matter of fairness.” Also, to note, if people have lost their insurance because of their jobs, that counts as a qualifying event and they have 60 days to enroll in the federal exchanges, regardless of what Trump does with a special session.

And although Drs. Anthony Fauci and Deborah Birx, along with Vice President Mike Pence, have emerged as the leading voices of the administration’s pandemic response, Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner has taken charge behind the scenes. Critics say its adding confusion to an already chaotic situation.

And reports continue to emerge that the Trump administration was cutting pandemic detection positions in China just months before the outbreak.

In other news on the administration:

Politico: FEMA Braces for a Multi-Front War As Hurricane Season Looms

Politico: Inside The National Security Council, a Rising Sense of Dread

The New York Times: C.I.A. Hunts for Authentic Virus Totals in China, Dismissing Government Tallies

The New York Times: Trump Administration Officials Weigh How Far to Go on Recommending Masks

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will be creating a special committee to oversee the implementation of the $2.2 trillion stimulus package and any other coronavirus legislation coming down the pike. “Where there’s money there’s also frequently mischief,” Pelosi said, in perhaps one of my favorite quotes of the week. Meanwhile, House Democrats may be raring to get started on a fourth stimulus package, but Republicans are pumping the brakes. At the very least, they say, they want to see how the current stimulus package plays out.

The news came the same day as it was reported that 6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits. That eye-popping number blows past all previous records. And experts say it represents only a sliver of the economic devastation the virus is wreaking on the country. There are many affected Americans who remain uncounted — some have lost jobs or income and did not initially qualify for benefits, and others, encountering state unemployment offices that were overwhelmed by the deluge of claimants, were unsuccessful in filing.

In other news about Congress and the economic damage from the outbreak:

NBC News: U.S. Economy Lost a Total of 701,000 Jobs in March

NBC News: Record Number of Unemployed Americans Will Stress State Medicaid Programs

The New York Times: Loeffler’s Wealth Becomes a Risk As Rivals Charge She Profited on the Coronavirus

The New York Times: ‘Never Thought I Would Need It’: Americans Put Pride Aside to Seek Aid

The New York Times: Why the Global Recession Could Last a Long Time

The Democratic National Convention, expected to draw as many as 50,000 visitors, was postponed from July to August in one of the largest disruptions to the 2020 elections so far. On the other hand, Wisconsin is going ahead with its primary on Tuesday, which is causing mixed reactions … including apoplectic rage.

More stories on elections:

Coronavirus Puts Governors Back in Presidential Pipeline

Politico: Pandemic Threatens Monster Turnout in November

On a side note, the Food and Drug Administration on Sunday issued an emergency-use authorization for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine, despite scant evidence that they work against COVID-19.

So, onto some of the stories I find most fascinating … aka the science behind all of this.

The New York Times: Covid-19 Changed How the World Does Science, Together

Politico: Why America Is Scared and Confused: Even the Experts Are Getting It Wrong

The Wall Street Journal: Coronavirus Seems To Be Infecting And Killing More Men Than Women

The Washington Post: Chronic Health Conditions in Coronavirus Patients: New CDC Data

Stat: What Explains Covid-19’s Lethality for the Elderly?

The Washington Post: Three Months Into the Pandemic, Here’s How Likely the Coronavirus Is to Infect People

Please have a safe and restful weekend, if possible!

from Updates By Dina https://khn.org/news/friday-breeze-must-reads-of-the-week-from-brianna-labuskes-april-3-2020/

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newyorktheater · 6 years

Text

Ben Platt accepting his award as Best Actor in a musical, in a speech that seemed to reintroduce the concept of 78 rpm

Sam Shepard at La Mama in 1971

It was a year of shocks. In 2017, we got Hurricane Harvey and Harvey Weinstein, indecency in the White House and terror in Times Square. Meryl Streep began the year speaking out against Donald Trump’s bullying and ended the year accused of remaining silent about Harvey Weinstein’s bullying. To many in America, to borrow half of Charles Dickens’ famous phrase, 2017 was the worst of times, an age of foolishness, an epoch of incredulity. And the theater community was far from immune. But it was also far from passive. This was also a year of standing up and speaking out, resisting and persisting. Below are some of the top New York theater news stories of 2017, presented chronologically month by month, including prominent theater people who died. As you’ll see, in many of the months, a different new (or newly renovated) theater building had its ribbon cutting ceremony. Nearly every month, resisters held a protest or a spoof of the White House went viral

JANUARY

The Anti-Inauguration

The story of Inauguration Day becomes almost as much about culture as politics. The list of performers who decline an invitation to perform at official Inauguration ceremonies certainly exceeds the list of those who accept – and several, including Tony winner Jennifer Holliday and Springsteen tribute musicians the B Street Band, first accepted and then, after getting flak for their decision, reverse themselves and withdraw. The theater community in New York and across the country held events signaling resistance but also hope. The Ghostlight Project saw people gather outside theaters in all 50 states – including 50 in New York City, plus Times Square – to shine light, literally, against what many fear is the coming darkness. Other projects include the Concert for America, the Inaugural Ball at HERE, and The Resister Project. Trump imposes a visa ban against citizens of six Muslim-majority nations that complicates international artist exchanges. The order sets off court challenges, and revised orders, throughout the rest of the year; the matter as of this writing is still not fully resolved.

Meryl Streep’s speech at the Golden Globes, January 8, 2017: nd this instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kinda gives permission for other people to do the same thing. Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose.

In accepting the Cecil B. Demille Award at the Golden Globes, Meryl Streep attacks Donald Trump for having made fun of a disabled reporter — “disrespect invites disrespect” — and addresses Trump’s characterization of foreigners as dangerous. “Hollywood is crawling with outsiders and foreigners. And if we kick ’em all out, you’ll have nothing to watch but football and mixed martial arts, which are not the arts.” Saturday Night Live used a parody of the musical Chicago to spoof Trump aide Kellyanne Conway’s ambition https://youtu.be/sb9ybImGwkU The non-profit Alliance for Resident Theaters opens a new theater, A.R.T./New York with two performance venues, offering a home — and rental subsidies — to some long-time nomadic companies. Jitney, the first play that August Wilson wrote in his 10-play America Cycle – one for each decade of the 20th century – is the last of his plays to open on Broadway.

August Wilson

Jenny Schlenzka, current curator of performance MoMA PS1, is appointed the artistic director of PS 122, only the third person in the post since the East Village cultural center began in 1980; the first woman.

RIP

British actor John Hurt, 77 Mary Tyler Moore, 80, beloved TV actress, Broadway producer and Tony-winning performer, co-founder of Broadway Barks Photographer Martha Swope, 88, ballet and Broadway chronicler for 40 years.

Articles I wrote that were published in January

Staged Resistance Bridging Cultures at China Shanghai International Arts Festivala

FEBRUARY

Barry Jenkins, left, and Tarell Alvin McCraney accept the award for best adapted screenplay for “Moonlight”

At the Academy Awards, a distracted accountant handed the wrong envelope to Warren Beatty, who announced that the winner of the Best Picture was La-La Land. The actual winner, Moonlight, was based on the play, Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue, by Tarell Alvin McCraney (playwright of Head of Passes, the Brother/Sister Plays, etc.), who also won for adapted screenplay. Another playwright, Kenneth Lonergan (This is Our Youth), won in the original screenwriting category, for Manchester by the Sea. Pasek and Paul, the songwriting team behind Dear Evan Hansen on Broadway, won an Oscar as lyricists for the best song, from La La Land. “This is dedicated to all the kids who sing in the rain,” Benj Pasek said, holding his trophy, “and all their moms who let them” Jack Viertel, the producer of the Encores concert production of Big River, wrote to the Times theater editors calling the newspaper’s review of the show by Laura Collins-Hughes a “ significant humiliation for the paper, a stunningly amateurish piece of work.” Critics of his action suggest that it is sexist. He wrote no letter to the editors at New York Magazine, though Jesse Green’s review offered much the same critique. Hamilton’s original Schuyler Sisters reunite to sing at the Super Bowl

#Hamilton‘s Schuyler Sisters (Phillipa Soo, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jasmine Cephas Jones) slay “America The Beautiful” #SuperBowl pic.twitter.com/I4BtzUrvQw

— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) February 5, 2017

The 2017 Grammy for best musical theater album was given to The Color Purple Dear Evan Hansen cast recording makes it to the Billboard Top 10, only the fourth cast recording since 1965 to have done so.

Charles Isherwood

The New York Times fires its long-time second string theater critic Charles Isherwood, never publicly explaining why Several shows he championed Off-Broadway in the Times, transfer to Broadway in large part on the strength of his review. The Time gives them lukewarm reviews, and they close after just a few months. After a scandalous confirmation of Betsy DeVos as Secretary of Education, here is my review of Scandalous, the Broadway flop she produced. The Hudson Theater opens as the 41st Broadway house, with “Sunday in the Park With George.” Although built in 1903, it had not been used to present a Broadway show since 1968, when it became a nightclub, then a hotel conference center. The 115th Street branch of the New York Public Library is being renamed for Harry Belafonte, as the singer, actor, activist and Tony Award winner nears 90th birthday on March 1.

Anna Deavere Smith

Theater artist Anna Deavere Smith won the George Polk Career Award, which is a top award in journalism. A 24-Decade History of Popular Music by Taylor Mac and Matt Ray won the 2017 Edward Kennedy Prize for Drama Inspired by American History,

RIP

Harvey Lichtenstein, 87, executive producer for 32 years of the Brooklyn Academy of Music, transforming it from a moribund institution to “a dynamic showcase for cutting-edge performing arts.”

Arthur and Barbara Gelb

Barbara Gelb, 91, playwright and journalist who, with her husband, Arthur Gelb, produced the first full-scale biography of the playwright Eugene O’Neill Professor Irwin Corey, 102, “world’s foremost authority.”

My articles in February

The N-Word on Stage China on Stage

MARCH

New York theatergoers look to the government for support of the arts – the government of Canada, when Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau attends “Come From Away” on Broadway, accompanied by some 600 friends and allies, mostly Canadian, but also a number of UN ambassadors, and Ivanka Trump. Her father was invited as well, but according to an article in the Washington Post, he said “Absolutely not,” and flew to Nashville instead to visit the gravesite of Andrew Jackson. That same day, the Ides of March, comes news of Trump’s budget plan, which calls for “the elimination of of four independent cultural agencies” – the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. The Late Late Show with James Corden presented Donald the Musical, with Tim Minchin on a swing singing “When I grow up, I will be president and build big walls, ban Muslims, play with Putin’s (bleep)”? https://youtu.be/WZWNHCRCpNM

Jesse Green

Right before the busiest month in New York theater, theater critics are getting new assignments (a polite way of putting it.) Jesse Green, the current critic at New York Magazine, has been named “co-chief theater critic” of the New York Times. Bryan Doerries, the founder of Theater of War, is named New York City’s Public Artist in Residence, (PAIR.) Theater of War uses the dramas of Ancient Greek and other classic tragedies to help with the healing process. Initially, this was with military veterans, but it has spread. The Actor’s Fund’s Friedman Health Center for the Performing Arts opens in the theater district https://youtu.be/7hNkQu0fKYU

RIP

Miriam Colón a well-known movie actress who took roles opposite Brando and Pacino (most famously as his mother in Scarface) and many others, has died at age 80. She was the founder of the Puerto Rican Traveling Theater in 1967, to bring free bilingual theater to venues throughout New York City

Derek Walcott

Derek Walcott, 87, Nobel Laureate, poet, and playwright of more than 20 plays,

My articles in March

Cooling Down: How Actors Unwind After Taxing Performances Scenes from the original productions of the 11 Broadway plays and musicals that are being revived, for the second, fifth, or 16th time, this season on Broadway.

APRIL

Andy Karl is injured three days before the opening of Groundhog Day, forcing him to miss some performances and wear a knee brace when he returns. In a cheeky bit of improvisation in what was supposed to scene of seduction, he proudly stuck a glass of Scotch on outstretched knee brace. Sweat wins the 2017 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It closes two months later

Lynn Nottage

This is Lynn Nottage’s second Pulitzer – she is one of 15 women playwrights ever to win it. The New Yorker’s Hilton Als won the Pulitzer in criticism, just the second theater critic to do so. Fourteen shows open on Broadway in April, exactly one third of the entire season. Mine of them open in the last ten days of the month — as usual “Rebecca” will never open on Broadway, according to the attorney for its producers, who admits during the trial against the show’s former publicist that the producers have lost the rights to it.

Donald Trump reviews his first 100 days in office. Watch an all-new episode of #TheSimpsons this Sunday at 8/7c on FOX. pic.twitter.com/rDtvNgusFs

— The Simpsons (@TheSimpsons) April 26, 2017

RIP

Linda Hopkins, 92, show-stopping Tony-winning singer, actress and writer Tim Pigott-Smith, 70, who made a splash on Broadway as the title character in King Charles III

My article in April

History of Infamous Broadway Injuries

MAY

The Broadway League releases statistics for the 2016-17 Broadway season just ended. Revenue made a big jump, even though attendance has dipped slightly. The reason is primarily increased ticket prices. Shows that opened during season: 45 (eight of them not eligible for Tony Awards) Attendance at all shows: 13,270,343 visitors (down about .3 percent from 2015-16) Revenue: $1,449,321,564.64 (up 5.5 percent from 2015-16) Richard Rojas crashes his car in Times Square, killing one person and injuring 20. Police iscovered he had taken phencyclidine before the crash. He told them he wanted to die in a “suicide by cop” and that he had been hearing voices. Alyssa Elsman, 18, a recent high school graduate, was visiting New York from Portage, Michigan. Richard Basciano dies at the age of 92, making it likely that the pornography establishment he owned would close, thus leaving only three porn shops in the theater district, which was once the porn capital of the United States. With reports of as many as four theatergoers in a single night fainting, some vomiting, in reaction to the torture scene on “1984,” the producers announced that nobody under 13 years of age (“born after 2004″) would be admitted to the show. Olivia Wilde, one of the stars, Tweeted that “this is not your grandfather’s 1984.” Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney attacks a grant given to the 2014 climate change show by The Civilians, The Great Immensity, to justify slashing the budget of the National Science Foundation

(l-r) Katrina Lenk and Tony Shalhoub

Although it closed at the Atlantic Theater Off-Broadway in January, The Band’s Visit sweeps most theater awards during this month of theater awards. (It will transfer to Broadway in the Fall.) “Rebecca” producers were awarded $90,000 from publicist Marc Thibedeau, far short of $10.6 million they sought.Both sides claim victory

Glenn Close in Sunset Boulevard

Quote of the Month: “I’m sorry. Stop the show. Someone there is taking photos. You must know how distracting and disrespectful that is. Now, we can have a show or we can have a photoshoot.” – Glenn Close

RIP

Dina Merrill, 93, actress and philanthropist William Brohn, 84, one of musical theater’s top orchestrators

My article in May

Power Struggle on Broadway: Escapist vs. Socially Conscious Shows in the 2016–17 Season

JUNE

Gregg Henry (center) and the company in The Public Theater’s Free Shakespeare in the Park production of Julius Caesar

The Public Theater’s production of Julius Caesar depicted a Trump-like figure in the title role, which prompted many protests, and led to some corporations canceling their funding. Shakespeare companies across the country that had no connection to the Public’s production were also the target of angry protests. “Dear Evan Hansen” won best musical and five other awards at the 71st annual Tony Awards, the most of any show. “Oslo” won best play, “Jitney” best play revival, “Hello, Dolly!” best musical revival. Among the highlights of the ceremony was Ben Platt’s Tony acceptance speech: “Don’t waste any time being anyone but yourself because the things that make you strange are the things that make you powerful.” The 2017 Tony Awards broadcast attracts just six million viewers, a sharp decrease from the 8.7 million who watched in 2016. (To be fair, that Hamilton-soaked show had the highest ratings for the Tony broadcast in 15 years.) The Pearl Theatre Co. files for bankruptcy, and is closing after 33 years. https://youtu.be/PQ04sTZ79HQ

RIP

A.R. Gurney, 86, playwright My 2014 profile of Gurney

My article in June

Politics, Propaganda, and Aesthetics: Sorting through Building the Wall

JULY

NYC’s first ever “cultural plan” will link funding of arts groups to the diversity of their staff and board. 180-page Create NYC plan

Diversity Concerns Prompt ‘Great Comet’ Casting Shakeup

After a social media storm over the musical’s plan to replace Okieriete Onaodowan, Mandy Patinkin declined to assume the lead male role. But Oak has announced he’s still leaving August 13.

It’s a month for immigrants and other foreigners. The Canadian theater company Soulpepper is wrapping up its month-long residence at Signature. The first annual Immigrant Arts in America Summit concluded with a rousing concert and resulted in the formation of an Immigrant Arts Coalition. More than 60 artists, including playwright Annie Baker and director Sam Gold, signed a protest letter to Lincoln Center, trying unsuccessfully to get the cultural institution to cancel a production of the Israeli play “To The End of The Land” as part of the Lincoln Center Festival. They objected to some funding that Israel’s Office of Cultural Affairs in North America gave to this play, an adaptation by two Israeli theater companies of a novel by Israeli novelist David Grossman.

Sara Holdren, new critic at New York

Sara Holdren, a recent graduate of the Yale School of Drama who identifies as a theater director, is hired to be New York Magazine’s new theater critic in July, to replace Jesse Green, who was hired at the New York Times to replace Charles Isherwood. She had written just one professionally published review before she was hired. Lawyers for the actor James Franco sent a cease and desist letter to shut down a two-character play entitled “James Franco and Me” scheduled to run at People’s Improv Theater. Initially, playwright Kevin Broccoli promised to rename the play “_____ and Me” and eliminate all mentions of Franco’s name, but otherwise perform it as is.

RIP

John Heard,71,”Home Alone” Dad, “Sopranos” corrupt cop, four-time Broadway veteran

My article in July

John Leguizamo on his life, career, being a theater nerd, and the coming power of Latinos

AUGUST

All 17 members of The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, including theater director George C. Wolfe and actor John Lloyd Young, resigned in August to protest President Trump’s comments on the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville. True or false, the first letter of each paragraph in their resignation letter spelled out the word RESIST. Michael Moore debuts on Broadway in “Terms of My Surrender,” opening in August. After one performance, he takes the audience on buses to an anti-Trump demonstration at Trump Tower. The Fringe makes news by not happening – after 20 years, the company went on “hiatus.” Artistic diretor Elena K. Holy says It WILL return next year, but half the size and preferably in one location.

The new Flea theater

The Flea opens its new $18 million Off-Off Broadway theater with “Inanimate” a play about a woman who has fallen in love with an inanimate object. Lin-Manuel Miranda holds a month long #Ham4all fundraising challenge to raise money for the Immigrants: We Get the Job Done Coalition. Josh Groban’s contribution:

Many challenges accepted! @Lin_Manuel requested Burn! I challenge @thatgracemclean & @brittainashford! #HamForAll https://t.co/3Po3AYhmrS pic.twitter.com/sU1VhtVaiH

— josh groban (@joshgroban) June 29, 2017

Quote of the Month

.@NoahEGalvin interview June,2016. I guess he let NY know: In @DearEvanHansen in Nov https://t.co/thDXj0XIv9 pic.twitter.com/jkbjteT1PD

— New York Theater (@NewYorkTheater) August 23, 2017

June,2016. Interview with Noah Galvin, who announces in August, 2017 he will take over the role of Dear Evan Hansen

RIP

Barbara Cook, 89, singer Sam Shepard, 73, playwright, actor Thomas Meehan, 88, librettist Bernard Pomerance, 76 playwright (The Elephant Man) Jerry Lewis, 91, comedian, director, veteran of two Broadway shows. Stuart Thompson,62, producer

My article in August

Antigone in Ferguson: Dramatizing the Divide between Law Enforcement and Community

SEPTEMBER

The Atlantic hurricane storm season hits hard, with 17 named storms, Harvey causing extensive damage to Texas (wreaking havoc in the Houston theater district), Irma to Florida, and Maria to Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico has still not recovered.

Lin-Manuel Miranda has been a visible supporter of the recovery efforts in the island of his ancestors, writing an article pleading for Puerto Rican aid, promoting fundraising, organizing a song a la “We Are The World” entitled Almost Like Praying (an allusion to the Maria from “West Side Story”)

When the president attacks San Juan mayor Yulín Cruz for her “poor leadership,” and suggesting that the island’s residents are are not doing enough to help themselves, Miranda goes ballistic, tweeting: “You’re going straight to Hell. No long lines for you. Someone will say, ‘Right this way, sir.’ They’ll clear a path….You’re a congenital liar.”

Miranda then took the logical next step when he visited Puerto Rico in November to deliver care packages: He announced his return to his starring role in Hamilton, in a production in Puerto Rico, scheduled to run from January 8 to 27, 2019 at the University of Puerto Rico’s Teatro UPR

The Great Comet closes, a disappointment to its fans, who ask: Could it have been saved? When Josh Groban left the role of Pierre, the producers hired Okieriete “Oak” Onaodowan to replace him. Sales did not improve, so they hired Mandy Patinkin, who was to return to Broadway after 17 years to star. Some protested, starting online, accusing the producers of insensitivity and worse, for cutting Oak’s tenure short, and replacing a black actor with a white actor. Patinkin withdrew. Low box office receipts convinced the products to pull the plug. There is a lesson here, but different people argue over what it is. Barry Diller kills Pier 55, his $250 million planned futuristic performing arts center near The Highline. The following month, with help from the governor, Diller changes his mind, the project continues. In solidarity with the NFL players who have been “taking knee” during the playing of the National Anthem before football games to protest racism, the cast of “Miss Saigon” kneel during curtain call Audra McDonald enters Theatre Hall of Fame, along with Matthew Broderick, The Public’s Oskar Eustis + 5 In her new memoir, Hillary Clinton writes about the healing power of Broadway: “There’s nothing like a play to make you forget your troubles for a few hours,” they wrote. “In my experience, even a mediocre play can transport you. And show tunes are the best soundtrack for tough times. You think you’re sad? Let’s hear what Fantine from Les Misérables has to say about that!”

Iain Armitage

The first theater critic to become a TV star? (surely the first who’s 8) Iain Armitage, who became one of the best known theater critics in the country when he began at age 5 to post his reviews on YouTube, stars in a TV series that’s a prequel to the Big Bang Theory, entitled “Young Sheldon.”

J.K. Rowling

Quote of the Month: After seven books and eight movies, J.K. Rowling thought she was done with Harry Potter. “I genuinely, I didn’t want Harry to go onstage,” Rowling said in the video below. “I felt that I was done.”

RIP

Michael Friedman, 1975 – 2017

Composer Michael Friedman 41 Director Sir Peter Hall, 86 Playwright Albert Innaurato, 70

My article in September

Dramatizing Dystopia

OCTOBER

The New York Times and the New Yorker write articles alleging that movie producer Harvey Weinstein sexually harassed and assaulted young actress for years with impunity. In the two months since then, the list of women accusing Weinstein has grown to more than 80 — and counting. On October 15, actress Alyssa Milano Tweets: “If all the women who have been sexually harassed or assaulted wrote ‘Me too’ as a status, we might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem.” In the two months since, almost 50 high-profile men have been fired, resigned or experienced similar professional fallout as a result of accusations of sexual misconduct.

Accused of sexual misconduct: top row, left to right, actor Kevin Spacey, producer Brett Ratner, comedian Louis C.K., actor Dustin Hoffman, and bottom row from left, former Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., former “Today” morning co-host Matt Lauer and former “CBS This Morning” co-host Charlie Rose,

It takes two weeks into the #MeToo movement for it to bring down the first prominent figure in the theater industry. In 1986, while they were both in shows on Broadway, Kevin Spacey, then 26, tried to seduce Anthony Rapp, who was then 14 years old, Rapp tells Buzzfeed. Spacey issues a statement that is a non-apology apology, and comes out as a gay man. Ninety-seven theaters in the United Kingdom issue a joint statement on sexual harassment “It is the responsibility of the industry to create and nurture a culture where unacceptable behaviour is swiftly challenged and addressed. …there is no room for sexual harassment or abuse of power in the theatre. Everyone deserves to enjoy a happy, healthy and safe working environment. We will support you to speak out, and we will hear you when you do.” Trump as Lying Theater Critic

While not at all presidential I must point out that the Sloppy Michael Moore Show on Broadway was a TOTAL BOMB and was forced to close. Sad!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 28, 2017

1) You must have my smash hit of a Broadway show confused with your presidency– which IS a total bomb and WILL indeed close early. NOT SAD https://t.co/URgXgzWWVk

— Michael Moore (@MMFlint) October 29, 2017

Broadway producer Roland Scahill who admitted scamming friends and others into investing hundreds of thousands of dollars into a nonexistent play about opera star Kathleen Battle has been sentenced to six months in jail. First Hamilton and now Hello, Dolly have broken $1,000 barrier for box office ticket prices

Springsteen in Springsteen on Broadway

Springsteen on Broadway opens

Annie Baker, 2017 MacArthur Fellow, Brooklyn, New York,

Taylor Mac, 2017 MacArthur Fellow,

Playwright Annie Baker and multidimensional theater artist Taylor Mac are among the 24 winners of the 2017 Macarthur Foundation “Genius” Grants. Ellen’s Stardust offers 31 fired union employees their jobs back thanks to settlement with the union Stardust Family and the National Labor Relations Board.

RIP

Robert Guillaume, 89, actor. best known for TV’s Benson, seven-time Broadway veteran

My articles in October

How do you Theatricalize Oppression? Belarus Free Theatre’s Burning Doors What’s It Like Being on the Autism Spectrum? Andrew Duff in Uncommon Sense

NOVEMBER

Telsey & Co. has fired senior casting director Justin Huff, who has cast six Broadway shows (Kinky Boots, Newsies ) amid internal reports of sexual misconduct. Nine women accuse Playwright Israel Horovitz of sexual misconduct Old Vic releases statement about investigation of Kevin Spacey The investigation resulted in 20 personal testimonies shared of alleged inappropriate behaviour carried out by Kevin Spacey during his time as Artistic Director. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the repeal of the hated 91-year old Cabaret Law, which made dancing illegal in bars/eateries without a cabaret license. (Only 104 out of 20,000 + had one) “New Yorkers looking to let loose will no longer have to fear the dance police” – Councilmember Rafael Espinal Jr. Lincoln Center is killing its Lincoln Center Festival, which for 21 summers has presented theater (and dance and music) from around the world. At the Broadway Accessibility Summit, organizers explained that soon, every Broadway theater will have “on-demand” captions for hearing impaired through an app, #GalaPro

The Tony Awards nominating committee has ruled “1984” ineligible for Tony Awards because the production refused to allow the journalist Jose Antonio Vargas, who is a member of the nominating committee, to see the play.

RIP

David Cassidy

David Cassidy, 67, teen heartthrob best known for his starring role in The Partridge Family musical TV series, the son and stepson of two Broadway musical theater stars, and himself a Broadway veteran.

My articles

Will Future Storytelling Include Live Theatre? When the Playwright Has an Agenda

DECEMBER

Suspect Akayed Ullah, 27, sets off bomb in Port Authority bus terminal in Times Square. Four injured. “This was an attempted terrorist attack” – NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio

The Town Hall on sexual harassment in the theater community at the Public Theater

Town Hall on sexual harassment in the theater is held at the Public Theater In an article in the Hollywood Reporter, Anna Graham Hunter accuses Dustin Hoffman of sexually harassing her when she was 17, interning as a production assistant on the set of 1985 TV film ‘Death of a Salesman,’ Five weeks later, Kathryn Rossetter writes in the Hollywood Reporter that Dustin Hoffman sexually harassed her daily while they both were in the cast of the 1984 Broadway revival of Death of A Salesman Hollywood executives announce the creation of the Commission on Sexual Harassment and Advancing Equality in the Workplace. Chair: Anita Hill After 47 years as avant-garde nomads, Mabou Mines gets his own theater, in the renovated PS 122 building in the East Village, launching The Mabou Mines Theater with Glass Guignol.. A Christmas Story Live, the seventh live TV musical since the trend began in 2013 with The Sound of Music Live, got the worst rating and among the worst reviews. More popular: Fatwa The Musical: https://youtu.be/pDx3vnvSbm8

Top New York Theater Stories of 2017: Reeling, Resisting and Persisting oc It was a year of shocks. In 2017, we got Hurricane Harvey and Harvey Weinstein, indecency in the White House and terror in Times Square.

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