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minijenn · 6 years

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Universe Falls Timeline (updated)

Ahahahaha dammit I’ve spent all day makin this fancy ass new timeline for UF and UF2 and I feel like dying now because I sunk so much fucking time into this. Mind you this is based on what we know as of right now (7/3/18) which means a LOT of this is subject to change depending on what happens in the rest of SU as well as any further revelations we might get from extra-canon Gravity Falls material. When it comes to the UF2 stuff, pretty much all of that is up in the air until I actually sit down to start planning it in full. Hell even the latter parts of UF are up in the air at this point. Mind you I did retract a lot of stuff for the sake of spoilers but in my version of this timeline, all this stuff is there in full so believe me when I say I got this planned out. And now, without any further ado... here it is, the grand timeline of Universe Falls!

Ancient History

Pre-History • Bill Cipher and the Axolotl both come into existence • Bill destroys the second dimension and takes over the Nightmare Realm • The universe is born along with its countless lifeforms. (Humans and Gems included) Eons Ago • Under the Great Diamond Authority, the Gem race expands and cements their control over 43 planetary bodies and two star systems through colonization • Pink Diamond is created on Homeworld • Fluorite, Rhodonite, Padparadscha, and the Rutile Twins are considered "off color" by Homeworld standards and remain in hiding underground in an abandoned Kindergarten to avoid the Shattering Robonoids • At some point during the Jungle Moon's colonization, Pink Diamond demands her own colony from Yellow Diamond, but is rebuffed due to her inexperience • Pearl is given to Pink Diamond as her servant Over 6,000 years ago • Ruby, Sapphire, Bismuth, and Lapis Lazuli are created on the Gem Homeworld or one of its colonies • Gems arrive on Earth, their first scout ship crash landing in what would eventually become Gravity Falls, Oregon; the impact of their ship's landing forms a deep valley • Pink Diamond is granted access to colonize Earth; She and her Gems arrive there to begin a new colony • Centipeetle and her crew members travel to Earth in the Ancient Gem Colony Ship • Gems begin to emerge in the Prime Kindergarten; Structures such as the Lunar Sea Spire, Communication Hub, Sky Spire, Moon Base, and Sea Shrine are constructed; Amethyst is formed (but does not emerge) in the Alpha Kindergarten • Pink Diamond wishes to be at the Prime Kindergarten to play with the Amethysts. In order to not be scolded by Yellow and Blue Diamond, Pearl gives Pink the idea of shapeshifting into a Rose Quartz soldier to blend in • In her Rose Quartz disguise, Pink and Pearl arrive at the Kindergarten where Pink meets the Amethysts. In order to not draw unnecessary attention, Pink and Pearl traveled off and Pink became fascinated by the beauty of Earth. She soon realizes that completing her colony would destroy all of the life she grew fond of. • Pink contacts the other Diamonds to tell them that she does not wish to complete the colony and instead wants to preserve the life on Earth; in response, Blue Diamond creates a Human Zoo for her and she along with Yellow Diamond kidnap humans from their families and stored them inside the Zoo Over 5,750 Years Ago • Pink Diamond decides to use her Rose Quartz alter-ego to make a stand that her fellow Diamonds could not ignore. She originally intended to use Rose Quartz to scare away other Gems • Pink Diamond (as Rose Quartz) and Pearl defect from Homeworld and form the Crystal Gems • The cut of Rose Quartz is thereby recognized as a threat and every Rose Quartz is removed from service, specifically from Pink Diamond's entourage • Pearl learns the human concept of being a knight at the Ancient Sky Arena • Blue Diamond and members of her court arrive on Earth and oversees the removal of the then-forming Rebellion • Sapphire is sent to Earth along with three Ruby guards at the request of Blue Diamond; after Rose and Pearl launch a direct attack, Ruby and Sapphire accidentally form Garnet for the first time • Rose tells Pearl how fascinated she is that two completely different Gems fused. Pearl attempts to fuse with Rose but fails. Rose and Pearl run into Garnet where Rose tells her to never question who she is, recruiting her to the Crystal Gems • Pink Diamond tries one more time to persuade Yellow and Blue to end colonization, this time using Rose Quartz as an excuse. The other Diamonds continued to ignore her pleas Over 5,500 Years Ago • (Redacted due to spoilers) • The Gem War officially begins; Some of the first battles in the Rebellion take place at the Ancient Sky Arena • Bismuth is recruited to Rose's cause, who outfitted the Crystal Gems with weapons; she creates Rose's Sword • (Spoiler) Over 5,300 Years Ago • Lapis Lazuli arrives on Earth to visit for a short time and was caught mid-war and poofed by a Bismuth-type warrior Gem • Lapis Lazuli was then collected by a Homeworld soldier and was mistaken for a rebel. She was imprisoned in a mirror to be used as a source of information • (spoiler) Over 5,000 Years Ago • The Beta Kindergarten is established mid-way through the Rebellion in haste to create more troops; Jasper is created among these troops, and is rumored to have taken out 80 Crystal Gems on her first day • Bismuth presents Rose with the Breaking Point, a weapon designed to shatter Gems, specifically the Diamonds. Disagreeing, Rose poofed and bubbled Bismuth, later storing her in Lion's pocket dimension • Pink Diamond and Pearl plan a ruse to stage Pink Diamond's shattering. Pearl, shapeshifted into Rose Quartz, "shatters" Pink Diamond by poofing her after she has swallowed fake gem shards • From then on, Pink Diamond permanently identifies herself as Rose Quartz and continues leading the Crystal Gems in the Rebellion • In grief over Pink Diamond's 'shattering' the Diamond Authority (specifically Yellow Diamond) makes a deal with Bill Cipher to get revenge on the Crystal Gems and the Earth • Earth is deemed an unviable colony by Homeworld, commencing Forced Fusion experiments using the gemstone shards of fallen Crystal Gems; The Cluster is embedded in the Earth's core at some point as part of these experiments • Blue Diamond takes over Pink Diamond's Zoo in her absence • A battle occurs at the location which would later become the Strawberry Battlefield. Many Gem Warriors fall. Rose's scabbard is lost Over 4,500 Years Ago • Homeworld Gems are commanded to evacuate Earth • Lapis Lazuli's mirror is abandoned at the Galaxy Warp and her gemstone is trampled over and cracked during the evacuation. Many Homeworld Gems such as Centipeetle get left behind • A flash of light is set off by the Diamonds, corrupting all Gems caught in it; The only known Gems who were unaffected are Pink Diamond/Rose Quartz, Pearl, Garnet, Bismuth, and Lapis Lazuli • (Spoiler) • The Galaxy Warp becomes inactive Unknown • Era 2 of Gem production begins on Homeworld • Amethyst is found in the Prime Kindergarten and joins the Crystal Gems • Unnatural anomalies and strange creatures begin to congregate in the area that would become Gravity Falls • Peridot is formed and receives her limb enhancers on Homeworld • Pearl finds Lapis Lazuli's mirror at the Galaxy Warp and stores it in her Gem 1000 AD • Gravity Falls' native population evacuates the valley under fear of the land being cursed following contact with Bill Cipher, leaving pottery, blankets, and remnants of their language behind

19th Century

1837 • Quentin Trembley wins the 9th Presidential Election of the United States in a literal landslide. However, his many silly and embarrassing policies lead him to be forced out of office, and William Henry Harrison is declared the 9th president of the United States 1842 • 8½th United States President Quentin Trembley discovers the valley of Gravity Falls and subsequently founds the town 1843 • Drawn to the valley due to its odd properties, the Crystal Gems arrive in Gravity Falls and begin to investigate its anomalies (Welcome to Gravity Falls) • The Crystal Gems construct the Gem Temple near the Floating Cliffs 1859 • Pioneer William Dewey and the settlers accompanying him on the Oregon Trail to Gravity Falls are rescued from a gem monster by the Crystal Gems; however, Dewey is falsely hailed as the town hero due to a misunderstanding 1862 • In order to cover up the fact that President Trembley founded Gravity Falls (after he freezes himself in peanut brittle), Nathaniel Northwest deemed the founder of Gravity Falls and William Dewey is dubbed its first official mayor • Dipper, Mabel, and Steven accidently transport themselves back to pioneer times briefly (as seen in Lion and Waddles) • Nathaniel Northwest tricks the lumberjacks of Gravity Falls into building Northwest Manor of the false promise of allowing them into their annual party 1863 • The first Northwest Party takes place, however Nathaniel Northwest breaks his promise and locks the townsfolk out; the Crystal Gems attempt to intervene over this injustice but are ultimately too late; the lead lumberjack is killed in the ensuing Great Flood of 1863 and vows revenge against the Northwests in his final breath 1860s-1870s • Rose Quartz begins traversing the Desert with a pride of lions �� Buddy Buddwick leaves Captain Dewey's crew to begin his career as an explorer and author; he records his research of Gem locations in his book • One of Rose's lions dies and she resurrects him 1883 • To escape imprisonment, Blendin Blandin travels back in time to live as a 19th century pocket watch repairman, inadvertently instigating the Great Train Crash of '83 by distracting a passing train conductor with his time machine (journal 3)

Early 20th Century

1920s • Dipper goes back in time to recover Lion and accidently meets Rose Quartz in the process (as seen in Lion and Waddles)

Mid 20th Century

C.1953 • Identical twins Stanford and Stanley Pines are born in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey 1960s • Stan and Ford start rebuilding an old ship they found in a cave 1965 • Greg DeMayo (Universe) is born Late 1960s-Early 1970s • Stan dates Carla McCorkle 1972 • Stan is disowned after ruining Ford's science project, costing the family potential millions • After being rejected from West Cost Tech, Ford enrolls in Backupsmore University

Late 19th Century

1972-1982 • Stan, now a solo drifter, travels in and out of the United States as a salesman and impoverished conman; he goes to prison at least 3 times 1973 • Ford is accepted into the doctoral program 3 years ahead of schedule; he receives a research grant of $100000 for any field of his choice 1975 • Ford arrives in Gravity Falls and begins documenting his research of its anomalies in Journal 1 • Ford meets Rose Quartz and the Crystal Gems; realizing their similar goals, Rose and Ford become partners in researching Gravity Falls and its anomalies Before 1981 • With the Gems' help, Ford is able to document extensive notes on Gem fusion, culture, history, biology, and weaponry • Rose takes Ford to her hidden armory under Gravity Falls' cemetery • Rose also shows Ford the remains of the crashed Gem scout ship buried underneath Gravity Falls (which he dubs Crash Site Omega) • Rose entrusts one of laser light canons with Ford, who hides it underground near his home 1981 • Rose and Ford hit a wall in their research; at this point, Ford finds the cave drawings that depict Bill Cipher and summons him, hoping he will give him the answers to the mysteries of Gravity Falls. Ford and Bill become partners and start work together; Ford keeps their partnership a secret from Rose and the other Gems • Ford begins to write Journal 3, six years since beginning his research in Gravity Falls • Bill gives Ford plans for the Universe Portal; Ford and the Gems begin construction on the portal • Ford asks Fiddleford McGucket to visit him in Gravity Falls, to help him with building the portal • Ford, Fiddleford, Rose, and the Gems journey to Crash Site Omega to salvage a hyperdrive from the ship • Disturbed by his encounter with the Gremgoblin, Fiddleford constructs the Memory Gun, much to Ford and Rose's shared concern (Crash Site Omega) • To protect their research, Ford, Fiddleford, Rose, and the Gems begin constructing an underground bunker; Rose and Ford hatch the shapeshifter and raise it as a pet, only for it to turn on them and go rouge; they are forced to freeze it in a cryogenic tube 1982 • Ford allows Bill to possess him so he can complete calculations on the portal; Rose encounters Ford in this state and becomes increasingly concerned • Fiddleford implores Ford to give up on the portal and instead publish his already existing research, but Ford is adamant; at the same time, Rose confides in the other Gems that she has worries over the portal herself • McGucket is nearly sucked into the portal and quits the project; in order to erase his mind from the horrors he's seen, he founds the Society of the Blind Eye; his mind begins to deteriorate due to extensive use of the mind erasing gun • Rose and the Gems also break off from Ford after the portal accident, all of them horrified at the danger it could pose to the earth • Ford breaks off his deal with Bill after finding out that he had been deceived; as a result, he becomes increasingly paranoid and isolated • (spoiler) • Ford entrusts Journal 3 into Rose's care; she later hides it on the temple hill; Ford hides journal 2 near the local elementary school • Ford contacts Stan, who comes to Gravity Falls in response; Ford attempts to entrust Journal 1 to Stan, but is sucked into the universe portal and is lost in the multiverse for 30 years • Ford encounters Bill in the Nightmare Realm and makes a narrow escape along with a group of interdimensional Refugees (The Nightmare Realm) • Ford begins to travel across the various dimensions to learn all he can about Bill in the hopes of defeating him once and for all (The Nightmare Realm) • Rose resolves to make sure that the other two journals remain hidden to prevent Stan from reopening the portal, even if its for the sake of saving Ford • Stan begins running the Murder Hut, later renamed the Mystery Shack, in Ford's house • The government begins to take notice of odd readings in Gravity Falls due to the universe portal • Ford becomes an outlaw in a number of different dimensions (Adrift in the Cosmos) 1984 • Greg DeMayo drops out of community college and changes his last name to Universe to become a professional musician and tour the country under his manager Marty • Greg's family began moving away from each other leaving Andy DeMayo alone to explore the world in his plane 1986 • Greg holds a concert in Gravity Falls, and Rose Quartz is the only one who attends; Greg decides to stay in Gravity Falls with Rose and the two soon fall in love (Like a Comet) • Greg begins working at the Murder Hut under Stan • Greg learns about fusion from the Gems and unsuccessfully attempts to fuse with Rose (We Need to Talk) 1988 • (spoiler) (Chille Tid Part 2) • (spoiler) (Chille Tid Part 2) 1990 • Jesus "Soos" Ramirez is born • Stan and Amethyst form an unlikely friendship and begin to go on weekly "Revenge Trips" with each other; they continue this trend for 8 years 1990s • Ford encounters the Oracle, Jheselbraum the Unswerving in Dimension 52; the two corece over their shared desire to vanquish Bill Cipher once and for all; Jheselbraum installs a metal plate into Ford's skull to prevent Bill from interfering with his mind any further (Adrift in the Cosmos) 1996-1997 • Wendy Corduroy is born • Lars Barriga is born • Sadie Miller is born • Jenny and Kiki Pizza (twins) are born • Robbie Valentino is born 1997 • To earn extra money, Greg takes up a second job babysitting with Rose's help; after this falls through, Stan helps Greg out by giving him a loan to buy the car wash (Greg the Babysitter) 1998 • Stan and Amethyst finally get arrested on a Revenge Trip; Rose and the other Gems break them out of prison and Stan and Amethyst stop hanging out • Rose leaves her other laser light canon in Greg's storage unit • Rose writes a letter of farewell to Ford containing hints as to the location of the Gems' memories in the event of his return; she entrusts this letter with Greg • Rose leaves two tapes for her unborn child behind, one at the remains of Pink Diamond's ship and the other in Lion's mane; she also hides the Crystal Gems' lost memories there as well • Rose Quartz gives up her physical form to give birth to Steven Universe • Garnet, Amethyst, and Pearl kidnap Steven and steal Greg's Van temporarily to try to find out who or what Steven is. Greg and the Gems eventually agree to help Steven grow up together 1999 • Twins Mabel and Mason "Dipper" Pines are born • Connie Mahaswaran is born • Pacifica Northwest is born

Early 2000s

2002 • Gideon Gleeful is born • The Mystery Kids travel back in time to figure out why Soos dislikes his birthday; as a result of this time anomaly, 4-year-old Steven disappears and Greg frantically searches the town looking for him (Blendin’s Game) • Soos begins to work at the Mystery Shack Unknown • Steven moves in with the Gems after Greg completes the house in front of the temple • Gideon finds journal 2 in the schoolyard of Gravity Falls Elementary • Gideon somehow steals a telepathic Gem artifact from the Crystal Gems • Wendy starts working at the Mystery Shack • Sadie and Lars begin working at the Big Donut • Ford travels to a parallel dimension where he is given plans for a Quantum Destabilizer by a parallel version of Fiddleford (Adrift in the Cosmos)

2010s

2012 • Steven summons his shield for the first time • Steven and Connie meet and become friends • Pearl is damaged and poofed by her holographic counterpart and reforms two weeks later with a new design • Steven meets Lion, who follows him home and becomes his companion • Dipper and Mabel come to Gravity Falls for the summer to stay with their Grunkle Stan • Dipper and Mabel fend off the gnomes during their first day in Gravity Falls

Universe Falls

Arc 1 • Dipper and Mabel meet Steven and Connie; the four become fast friends (First Meeting) • Dipper discovers Journal 3 on the temple hill (The Journal) • The Crystal Gems defend the Mystery Shack from Centepeedles and meet the twins; Steven summons his shield once more (Gem Glow) • Pearl and Amethyst fuse into Opal to rescue Steven from a robotic lake monster (Legend of the Giant Woman) • Wax Stan and the Wax Gems are decapitated by the Gem-shard powered wax figurines; they are defeated by Steven, Dipper, Mabel, and Connie (Headhunters) • Amethyst and Garnet form Sugilite to break down the Gem communication hub (Strong in the Real Way) • A Homeworld vessel appears on Earth for the first time in 4,000 years in the form of the Red Eye (Magic and Mystery) • Steven, Dipper, and Mabel help the Crystal Gems defend Gravity Falls against the Red Eye by utilizing Rose's laser light canon (Magic and Mystery) • Bill Cipher and Yellow Diamond begin planning their final stages of their deal (Magic and Mystery) Arc 2 • Gideon develops a crush on Mabel and attempts to get rid of Dipper and Steven in order to be with her; he is subsequently defeated by Mabel; the kids return the Gem artifact Gideon stole to the Gems (Lil' Gideon) • Using a time device, Steven recruits copies of himself to form a band to preform at the Mystery Shack party; at the same time, Dipper uses a coping machine to make copies of himself in order to dance with Wendy; both of these plans backfire (Copies and Clones) • Mabel wins Waddles at the Mystery Fair (Lion and Waddles) • Steven, Connie, Dipper and Mabel encounter time traveler Blendin Blandin and use his time traveling device to accidentally cause several anomalies throughout time; Wendy and Robbie start dating (Lion and Waddles) • Steven discovers he has healing spit after Amethyst is nearly fatally cracked; he also accidentally cures Connie's eyesight (An Indirect Kiss) • Steven discovers he has the power to create sentient watermelon look alikes; Gideon nearly takes the Mystery Shack by shrinking Steven, Dipper, and Mabel, but he is ultimately thwarted; Steven sends the Watermelon Stevens off (Measure Up) • Steven uses his Gem to access Rose's Room for the first time; the Gems discover Journal 3, and though they are bewildered by its contents and information concerning them, they allow Dipper to keep it (Gems and Journals) • Steven, Dipper, and Mabel free Lapis Lazuli from the mirror; she subsequently steals all of the water in Lake Gravity Falls in a desperate attempt to return to Homeworld (Mirror Gem) • Lapis's cracked Gem is healed by Steven and she returns to Homeworld; the lake is restored (Waterfall Gem) Arc 3 • Pioneer Day is Celebrated in Gravity Falls; Dipper, Mabel, Steven, and Connie unfreeze President Quintin Trembley from his frozen state; the Northwest coverup is revealed and the kids discover Rose's secret armory (Irrational Treasure) • Pearl, Steven, the twins, Stan, and Greg attempt to build a space ship (Space Race) • Mabel, with Dipper and Steven's aid, helps Mermando return to the ocean (The Deep End) • Garnet reveals her future vision ability and Dipper uses her intel to break Wendy and Robbie Up (Future Vision) • Amethyst takes Steven and Dipper to the Kindergarten she was made in (On the Run) • Steven befriends Centipeedle, who is ultimately poofed trying to save him; the Gems and the Pines discover a labyrinth of frozen dinosaurs beneath Gravity Falls (Land Before Swine) • Steven discovers the tape Rose left behind for him in Lion's mane (Straight to Video) • Stan and Amethyst go on a revenge trip to get even with Gideon, narrowly avoiding arrest (Revenge Trip) • Gideon summons Bill Cipher to invade Stan's mind to acquire the code to the Mystery Shack safe; Bill is defeated by Dipper, Mabel, Steven, and Soos (Dreamscapers) • Gideon takes over the Mystery Shack by force and the Pines temporarily move into the temple; the Crystal Gems fuse into Alexandrite to save Steven and the twins from Gideon's robot; Gideon exposed as a fraud by Stan and is subsequently jailed (Gideon Rises) • Ford ends up on Homeworld, where he is quickly captured by Yellow Diamond's forces (Home Away From Homeworld) Arc 4 • Government Agents Powers and Trigger come to Gravity Falls to investigate strange readings coming from the town; The Pines fend off zombies with the help of the Crystal Gems (Scary-Oke) • Peridot arrives at the Galaxy Warp on a scouting mission; the kids later confront Peridot at the Prime Kindergarten (Marble Madness) • Dipper, Mabel, Steven, Amethyst, Garnet, Soos, and Wendy investigate the author's underground bunker and refreeze the shape shifter and recover the laptop; Amethyst is poofed three times and regenerates into a new form (Into the Bunker) • Lapis arrives back on Homeworld but is soon apprehended and interrogated by Peridot; she is subsequently imprisoned and meets Ford; the two plan an escape, but they are ultimately thwarted; Lapis flees back to Earth while Ford remains a prisoner of Yellow Diamond (Home Away from Homeworld/Dipper and Lapis) • Steven and Connie fuse into Stevonnie for the first time (Alone Together) • Steven and Mabel fuse into Maven for the first time (Together Forever) • Steven and Dipper fuse into Stepper for the first time; he fends off Peridot's attack robinoids (Forever Alone) • Lion retrieves Rose's Scabbard from the Strawberry Battlefield (Rose's Scabbard) • Steven, Dipper, and Mabel attempt to throw Soos a surprise party but are apprehended by the Time Paradox Avoidance Enforcement Squardron and are defeat Blendin Blandin in Globnar (Blendin's Game) • Dipper discovers that Lapis has returned to Earth and is taking refuge in the waterfall cave; the two form a close friendship; Lapis warns the Crystal Gems that Peridot is returning with reinforcements (Dipper and Lapis) • Gravity Falls is evacuated; Stan stays behind and Dipper and Mabel return to help Steven and the Gems; Peridot and Jasper arrive on Earth and take Steven and the Crystal Gems captive; Dipper and Mabel stow away on their ship to rescue them (The Return) • Ruby and Sapphire refuse into Garnet; Garnet defeats Jasper; Peridot flees from the Crystal Gems; Lapis and Jasper fuse into Malachite; Malachite is trapped at the bottom of Lake Gravity Falls (Jailbreak) Arc 5 • The citizens of Gravity Falls begin repairing damage caused by the Gem Warship (Full Disclosure) • Steven, Dipper, Mabel, and the Cool Kids discover Peridot's escape pod, which is then apprehended by the Crystal Gems; Robbie and Tambry start dating (Joy Ride) • Mabel prepares for her sock puppet opera to impress Gabe Bensen with Steven's help; in trying to find out the password to the laptop to rescue Lapis, Dipper makes a deal with Bill Cipher and is possessed by him; Bill's plans to destroy Journal 3 are thwarted thanks to Mabel, Steven, and Connie (Sock Opera) • Dipper and Connie begin taking sword training lessons from Pearl (Do It For Them) • Ford escapes from Yellow Diamond and befriends the Off Colors; eventually, he manages to find a way off Homeworld altogether (Home Away from Homeworld) • Soos and Melody begin dating (Soos and the Real Girl) • Pearl entrusts Dipper with the Ancient Sea Blade; the Crystal Gems discover Peridot's location. After she escapes, the group happens upon a nest of forced fusions created from pieces of shattered gems (Keeping it Together) • The Mystery Kids, the Gems, Soos, and Wendy discover the Society of the Blind Eye and help McGucket recover his memories from them (Society of the Blind Eye) • The Northwests hold their annual party; Dipper and Pacifica work together to break the curse on the manor; Steven and Connie defeat a group of Gem mutants (Northwest Mansion Nightmare) • Ford goes to face Bill himself in the Nightmare Realm once more (Home Away From Homeworld) • Stan is arrested by the government agents; Dipper, Mabel, Steven, Soos and the Crystal Gems discover his shadowy past as well as the universe portal; The portal opens and Ford returns after 30 years, though he is unable to defeat Bill before he does (Not What He Seems) • Ford reunites with the Crystal Gems, who have no apparent recollection of him (A Tale of Two Stans) Arc 6 • Ford receives the letter Rose wrote to him; Steven discovers the memories that Rose took from the Crystal Gems and returns them (Lost and Found) • Garnet and Pearl fuse to form Sardonyx to destroy the Homeworld Communication Hub after Peridot rebuilds it. Amethyst and the kids learn that Pearl has been lying to Garnet about subsequent repairs to the Communication Hub, presumably done by Peridot, to keep fusing with her (Cry For Help) • Ford dismantles the universe portal, however doing so creates a rift in space and time, which Ford manages to contain • Stan, Mabel, and Steven rescue Dipper, Ford, and Pearl from Probabilitor the Wizard; Pearl and Ford rekindle their former friendship; Ford creates the Sword of Seasons for Dipper and confides in him about the Rift (Dungeons, Dungeons, and More Dungeons) • Garnet unfuses into Ruby and Sapphire after a falling out between the two of them over Pearl's deception; the two eventually re-fuse (Evergreen Inn) • Stan runs for Mayor of Gravity Falls against Bud Gleeful and wins; however, due to Stan's extensive criminal record, Mayor Dewey ends up resuming his mayoral position (The Stanchurian Candidate) • Garnet and Pearl forgive each other and the Gems repair their friendship with Ford while trying to capture Peridot (Friend Ship) • Steven discovers his ability to venture into the dreams of others and uses this to communicate with Lapis; (spoilers); The kids and the Gems detail their respective histories with Bill to each other (Chille Tid) • Mabel, Candy, Grenda, Wendy, and Pearl collect unicorn hair to protect the shack and the temple from Bill Cipher; Dipper and Steven discover Ford's history with Bill (The Last Mabelcorn) • Peridot wanders the wilds of Gravity Falls where she (spoiler) (Peridot in the Wild) • (spoiler) (Pyrite) • Steven and Mabel free Peridot, who escapes again and takes refuge in the shack's bathroom (Catch and Release) Arc 7 • Steven, Connie, Stan, Ford, Soos, and Wendy go camping; Garnet and the twins track down an escaped Peridot while also dealing with a substantial threat from an escaped Gideon (Camping Adventure) • Peridot reveals to the kids that a massive cluster composed of millions of shattered gems is incubating below the earth and is due to form and destroy the planet (To Con a Clod) • The Crystal Gems and the Pines use Greg's family barn as a base to build a machine that can stop the cluster; Ford and McGucket reunite and reconcile (Bot Battle) • Stepper is formed again to aid in Ford's research; Stepper fuses with Mabel to form Dipevebel for the first time; Steven discovers his floating abilities (Three's a Crowd) • Steven turns 14 (Steven's Birthday) • Pacifica assists Dipper and Peridot in collecting Titan's Ore for the construction of the drill; Peridot discovers her abilities to manipulate metal; Steven, Connie, and Mabel form Mabonnven for the first time (Peridot and Pacifica) • The Crystal Gems travel to a Homeworld base on the moon where Peridot reveals the Homeworld's original plans to colonize and drain the earth of its natural resources; Peridot confronts Yellow Diamond and defects from Homeworld, becoming an official member of the Crystal Gems; the Crystal Gems and the Pines learn of Yellow Diamond's alliance with Bill Cipher (Message Received) • Dipper tags along with the Gems to confront Malachite and Rescue Lapis Lazuli; the Sword of Seasons is lost (Out Too Far) • Steven, Mabel, Peridot, and Ford use the drill to travel to the cluster, where Steven is able to contain the geoweapon (In Too Deep) Arc 8 • Steven and Dipper help Lapis adjust to life on Earth. Lapis reluctantly moves into the Barn with Peridot, but eventually warms up to her (Same Old World) • A squad of Rubies arrive on Earth to retrieve Jasper, but are tricked into leaving following a baseball game with the Crystal Gems and the Pines (Hit the Diamond) • Dipper and Pacifica start dating (Mismatched Making) • Greg becomes a millionaire and finally settles his differences with Pearl over Rose (Mr. Greg) • Steven further develops his mental powers by accidentally taking over an unwitting Stan (The New Stan) • Stevonnie, Maven, and Stepper take Kevin and his friends on in a street race (Gravity Falls Drift) • (spoiler), causing its inhabitants to undergo monstrous transformations; Steven learns more about the Gem War and reunites Centipeedle with her own kind (Monster Falls) • Jasper returns and nearly forces Lapis to fuse with her once more before being thwarted (Alone on the Lake) • Small interdimensional gaps begin forming around Gravity Falls • Steven and Dipper end up getting trapped in the Nightmare Realm and form Stepper to take on Bill; (spoiler); (spoiler) (Rifts) • (spoiler); (spoiler); (spoiler); Ford tells the Gems about the Rift (Memories) • The Pines and the Gems face Bill in the Nightmare Realm; (spoiler); (spoiler); (spoiler) ends up tearing wider holes in the dimensional fabric that possibly lead to other parallel dimensions (Dimensions) Arc 9 • Ford details his grand unified theory of weirdness to Dipper; Steven, Mabel, and Connie discover that Jasper is amassing an army of corrupted Gems (Theories of Weirdness) • The Mystery Kids discover a dimension where Steven is Yellow Diamond's son and the twins have used magic to practically take over the town (Played in Reverse) • The Pines and the Gems travel to a dimension where the kids are adults and the adults are children (Its All Relativity) • Amethyst is poofed by Jasper, who is defeated when Steven, Dipper, and Connie fuse to form Convenper for the first time; Lapis and Peridot adopt a kitten, which they name Dippurr (Crack the Whip) • Stan and Amethyst recruit the kids and the other Gems in helping them with their most ambitious revenge scheme yet (Revenge Trap) • Steven accidentally releases Bismuth from her bubble inside Lion's mane. Bismuth reconnects with the surviving Crystal Gems and provides upgrades for their weapons. The kids learns the reason for Bismuth's imprisonment and is forced to bubble her again. Afterward, they explains her imprisonment to the Gems (Bismuth) • The kids happen into a dimension where their personality traits seem to be completely switched around and where Lapis, Peridot, and Jasper are the Crystal Gems (Opposites Attract) • Steven and Connie officially become a couple; Dipper and Pacifica nearly break up but reconcile their conflicting emotions (Double Date) • The kids, Stan, Amethyst, and Peridot track Jasper to the Beta Kindergarten. They discover Jasper's origins along with what has happened to the Corrupted Gems; Amethyst and Steven form Smoky Quartz for the first time while fighting Jasper. Jasper becomes corrupted after attempting to fuse with a Gem Monster and is subsequently defeated by Peridot (Earthlings) • The Rubies return to Earth. Amethyst (disguised as Jasper) convinces them to take herself and the other Crystal Gems and the Pines to the Moon Base. Upon arrival, Eyeball, as a firsthand witness, confirms that Rose Quartz shattered Pink Diamond. Eventually, Amethyst's deception is discovered and the Rubies attack. Sardonyx knocks the Rubies (and Steven and Mabel, by accident) into space (Back to the Moon) • Steven, Mabel, and the Rubies become stranded in deep space. Steven and Mabel fuse into Maven to survive; they find Eyeball and rescue her, eventually revealing Rose's gemstone. Believing Maven/Steven is Rose Quartz, Eyeball attempts to shatter them, forcing them to eject Eyeball back into space. After some time, Maven is saved by the Crystal Gems and the other Pines, having hijacked the Rubies' Roaming Eye ship. On the ride back to Earth, the Crystal Gems confirm and justify Rose's actions toward Pink Diamond (Bubbled) Arc 9 • Jheselbraum the Unswerving arrives in Gravity Falls and reveals to Ford an ancient prophecy that might contain the power needed to finally defeat Bill once and for all (Jheselbraum the Unswerving) • Steven, Dipper, Mabel, and Connie fuse to form Stonipbel for the first time (Mindful Education) • The kids find a largely peaceful dimension where they themselves are teenagers (The Mystery Teens) • Pearl meets Mystery Girl (Last One Out of Gravity Falls) • The Pines and the Gems find a dimension where Steven is a normal human and the twins are both half Gems (A Swap of Fate) • Steven creates Pumpkin as a pet for Lapis and Peridot; Andy DeMayo reconnects with his estranged cousin Greg over a family dinner with Steven, the Gems, and the Pines (Gem Harvest) • Steven and the twins accidentally travel both back in time and (spoiler) to an alternate dimension to right before Ford was sucked into the portal; Bill possesses Blendin Blandin (Time Tangled) • Steven attempts to "connect" with his mother inside of her room; meanwhile, Dipper and Mabel start to grow further and further apart (Storm in the Room) • Dipper, Ford, Steven, and Peridot investigate Crash Site Omega to find a sealant that can repair the cracked Rift; Mabel recruits the Gems in helping her plan for her and Dipper's upcoming birthday party (Vs. the Future Part 1) • Dipper and Mabel have an immense falling out after Dipper agrees to be Ford's apprentice and stay in Gravity Falls; Mabel unknowingly hands the rift over to a Bill-possessed Blendin; Bill breaks the Rift and Weirdmageddon commences (Vs. the Future Part 2) Arc 11 • Weirdmageddon begins as Bill easily takes over Gravity Falls; Yellow Diamond and her forces arrive to make good on the deal between the two; (spoiler) ; the journals are destroyed, Ford is turned to gold and captured by Bill; Mabel is captured by Bill and kept in a dream-inducing bubble; the Crystal Gems are scattered; (spoiler) ; (spoiler) ; (spoiler) (Welcome to Weirdmageddon) • Dipper wanders the apocalyptic Gravity Falls alone for three days before being found by Lapis; (spoiler) ; Garnet and Connie team up to (spoiler) (Alone At the End) • Amethyst and a group of other survivors take refuge in the bunker where they encounter both McGucket and the shapeshifter; Dipper and Lapis run into Wendy, Soos, and Pearl and face off against Gideon and his cronies in an attempt to rescue Mabel (Out of the Bunker) • Dipper convinces Mabel to leave her self-created fantasy world behind; (spoiler); Bill and Yellow Diamond realize that they are both confined to Gravity Falls thanks to a weirdness barrier/gem destabilizer trap (spoiler) ; Amethyst and her group make it to the Mystery Shack, where Stan has been hiding out on his own (Escape from Reality) • Dipper, Mabel, Pearl, Lapis, Soos, and Wendy reunite with Garnet, Connie, and Peridot, who have (spoiler); (spoiler); the collective group arrives at the Mystery Shack and takes up refuge there; (spoiler); (Love Like You) • The survivors at the shack rally themselves to face Bill and Yellow Diamond and save the town and begin constructing a massive robot out of the shack in order to do so; Bill attempts to coerce Ford into revealing the secret behind the weirdness barrier so he can take over the entire world, (spoiler) (Rise of the Resistance) • The resistance takes both the Henchmaniacs and Yellow's forces head on in a massive assault; a small group manages to sneak into the Fearamid in order to rescue Ford; the statuefied townsfolk are freed and (spoiler) (Take Back the Falls) • In an attempt to defeat Bill, the members of the prophesied zodiac wheel gather together; their attempt is ultimately discovered by Bill, who apprehends all of its members save for the Pines and the Gems; the Mystery Kids narrowly manage to escape however, but are eventually captured by Bill and handed over to Yellow Diamond (Wheel of Destiny) • (spoiler); the Gems and the Pines free their captured friends and allies, but are unable to reform the wheel as they are all separated once again (Of Diamonds and Demons) • (spoiler) ; Stan tricks Bill into entering his mind, where he is ultimately defeated when Ford erases his mind; Weirdmageddon ends and Yellow Diamonds' forces retreat (The Universe Falls) • The statued remains of Bill Cipher are lost in the forest of Gravity Falls; the town begins to recover from Weirdmageddon; (spoiler); The Mystery Shack gets reconstructed. Stan recovers his memories with the help of Mabel's scrapbook and old home movies of Ford and Stan's childhood. Soos finds the Journals in the woods unharmed; McGucket becomes wealthy and buys the now-ousted Northwest Mansion and (spoiler); (spoiler) ;en route back to Homeworld, Yellow Diamond begins planning a new bioweapon initiative involving humans (Everything Stays) • Dipper and Mabel celebrate their 13th birthday with all of the townsfolk at the Mystery Shack, Stan Pines retires and gives ownership of the Mystery Shack to Soos. The family decides to throw the journals into the Bottomless Pit; (spoiler); Dipper and Mabel leave Gravity Falls to return home to Piedmont; (spoiler); the Mystery Kids promise to meet up again in Gravity Falls the following year

Between Stories

• (spoiler) • Stan and Ford set sail to hunt down anomalies all over the world together • Dipper and Mabel return to school but largely keep the details of their summer in Gravity Falls to themselves • Yellow Diamond's human-bioweapon initiative kicks off, with humans from Pink Diamond's zoo being utilized as subjects; all of these subjects end up failing however, due to the severity of the process • Yellow Diamond commissions the creation of an Amber to oversee the biological status of humans utilized in her project; she also appoints Hessonite to serve as the supervising commander • (spoiler) • Pacifica forms a friendship with Candy and Grenda while the twins are away; due to her family recently falling out of money, she takes up a job at Greasy's Diner to pick up the slack • Soos hires Melody on at the Mystery Shack; he eventually purposes to her and the two are engaged • Steven, Connie, and the Gems visit Dipper and Mabel in Piedmont around the holidays; the Mystery Kids spend their Christmas together • (spoiler)

Universe Falls 2 (as far as I know right now)

Arc 1 • Dipper and Mabel return to Gravity Falls for the summer; (spoiler) and the Mystery Kids reunite; Stan and Ford are the last to return and a celebration is held to kick off the beginning of summer • (spoiler) • (spoiler) Arc 2 (SU events) • Steven investigates a strange dream he is having, despite frequent warnings from Garnet. After Blue Diamond abducts Greg and Stan in Korea, Steven, the twins, Ford and the Crystal Gems travel to Pink Diamond's Zoo to rescue them. Lapis, Peridot, and Connie are charged with protecting Earth in their stead • Despite issues with the Roaming Eye's gravity drive, the group arrives at Pink Diamond's Zoo. While Holly Blue Agate gives Sapphire, Ruby, and Pearl a tour of the facility, Steven and the twins are inserted into the Human Zoo and reunites with Greg and Stan; meanwhile, Ford goes off on his own to attempt a solo rescue • Despite a comfortable existence inside the Zoo, Greg and Stan ultimately reject the "choosening" ceremony of the other humans. Steven, the twins, Greg, and Stan are subsequently captured by the intervening Amethyst guards • Brought to the guard quarters, the group is surprised that Amethyst has quickly befriended her sisters, both for their common heritage and mutual dislike of Holly Blue Agate; not long after Ford barges in and reunites with Stan • While Holly Blue browbeats the guards into preparing for Blue Diamond's surprise return, Steven, Greg, and the Pines take refuge in a large room full of bubbled Rose Quartzes, hiding when Blue Diamond arrives to pay her respects. Yellow Diamond enters immediately after, attempting to convince Blue to move on. • The Universes and the Pines sneak back out while Sapphire stalls Holly and the Diamonds for time. Upon entering the hangar, Holly catches the humans attempting to escape. She tries to stop them, but is thwarted by Garnet and the others. The group successfully escape the Zoo Arc 3 (SU events only (mostly) • While the Gems and the Pines are away, Connie, Lapis, and Peridot protect Gravity Falls with help from Pacifica, McGucket, Soos, and Wendy, only to lead to disastrous results • The Gems and the Pines return to Earth • Navy crash-lands on Earth. Posing as a defector, she eventually steals back the Roaming Eye and escapes into space • The Mystery Kids do a stakeout with Mr. Maheswaran, though the culprit is not who they suspect • The Mystery Kids and the Gems investigate several mysterious disappearances, including Stan and Ford's; the kids encounter Aquamarine and Topaz for the first time, and Connie and Mabel are captured in the process • Stepper and the Crystal Gems confront Aquamarine and Topaz, with the former explaining their reason for visiting Earth. In order to save his friends, Steven reveals his mother's gemstone and turns himself in (spoiler) and the other Mystery Kids reveal their role in defeating Yellow Diamond last summer; though Steven manages to push Connie off the ship, he is unable to do the same for Dipper and Mabel and the trio is whisked off to Homeworld • The kids discover that Lars is still on the ship. Nevertheless, Aquamarine and Topaz escort them to Homeworld. Topaz tries to help the kids and Lars escape, but to no avail • Put on trial for Rose Quartz's crime of shattering Pink Diamond, Steven (represented by a blue defending Zircon) goes up against the Diamonds (represented by a yellow prosecuting Zircon). Steven learns that his mother may not be responsible for the shattering. Both Zircons are poofed by Yellow Diamond • Steven, Mabel, and Lars escape the Diamonds using Blue's palanquin, but Dipper is seperated from them in his attempt to keep Yellow Diamond from catching them • Steven, Mabel, and Lars meet a group of rogue "off color" Gems (Padparadscha, the Rutile Twins, Rhodonite, and Fluorite). Lars is killed by an explosion while protecting the group from a pack of Robonoids • Steven revives Lars with his tears, causing him to turn pink and gain powers similar to Lion. Steven and Mabel use Lars' pocket dimension to return to Earth, while Lars and the Off Colors stay behind to search for an alternate way home while also promising to try and find Dipper Arc 4 (SU events (partially) • Connie gets mad at Steven for not working together to save their friends and Steven giving himself up in the fight against Aquamarine and Topaz and leaves, upset; distraught over what happened to Dipper, the Pines frantically began planning out a way to rescue him; Lion goes missing; Mayor Dewey resigns from his post, allowing Tyler Cutebiker to take his place • Despite her promise to Blue to safely deposit him at the zoo, Yellow Diamond interrogates Dipper on his knowledge of Rose Quartz and has her Peridots cut his arm off, initiating him in the "process" • Dipper is placed in the care of Amber and is subjected to physical and mental torture over the course of several weeks in order to transform him into Yellow Diamond's personal assassin • To try and comfort Steven and Mabel, the Gems and the Pines take them on a brief vacation (while all the while stressing about Dipper's unknown fate) • Kevin returns and invites the Mystery Kids to his party; Mabel reunites with Gabe Bensen and harshly refutes his advances on her; Connie and Steven make amends and leave on Lion as their relationship is finally recovered • During this time, Lars and the Off Colors escape from Homeworld and become a rebel cell against the Homeworld Gems; despite searching as much of Homeworld as they could, they are ultimately unable to find and rescue Dipper • With Amber's assistance, Dipper records a farewell message for his friends and family back on Earth • Unable to resist any longer, Dipper succumbs to the brainwashing forced upon him by Yellow Diamond and becomes "Stonemason"; he is outfitted with a shapeshifting metallic arm and is sent to hunt down "Rose Quartz" and shatter her • Steven, Connie, and Mabel visit Lars and the Off Colors, only to be shot down by an Emerald while protecting Lars' new ship • The kids get stranded on an alien planet; Stevonnie learns more about Pink Diamond's past while Mabel encounters the mysterious Stonemason, who forces her to take him to "Rose Quartz"; after a brief skirmish with Stonemason, the Mystery Kids escape thanks to Lars • Stonemason arrives on earth and begins perusing Steven and the Crystal Gems • Mabonnven fights Stonemason and ends up unmasking him, revealing his true identity as Dipper; the Pines and the Gems begin plotting out how to free Dipper from Yellow Diamond's control Arc 5 (mostly original) • Yellow Diamond commands Stonemason to attack Gravity Falls in order to lure "Rose" out; he does so, damaging much of the town and harming several civilians • The Pines and the Gems receive Dipper's supposedly final message to them and are inspired to continue looking for a way to save him • Thanks to continued interactions with his friends and family, Dipper starts to break through his Stonemason conditioning and fight back against Yellow Diamond's control • After several skirmishes and fights, the Gems apprehend Stonemason; (spoiler) Dipper beats Stonemason's presence in his mind back, allowing him to resume control once more • As a result of Yellow's conditioning, however, Dipper is still left in a servantile state of quiet obedience until Pearl helps him break free of it; the other Mystery Kids assist Dipper in his mental recovery Arc 6 • Steven introduces Garnet and Dipper to the Off Colors; Garnet tells Lars and the Off Colors the origins of Rose Quartz and the Rebellion • Lapis Lazuli leaves Earth once again and takes the Barn, not wanting to get caught in the middle of another war with the Diamonds; (spoiler) • Peridot, the twins, Steven, Amethyst, and Ford return to the Kindergarten to turn it into an actual garden in order to cheer Peridot up, but instead encounter a Flower Monster. Peridot gets over the fact that Lapis left her. • Garnet adopts a one-eyed stray kitten and names it "Cat Steven" • Dipper is met with resistance and anger when trying to reintegrate himself into Gravity Falls as a result of the destruction Stonemason caused; Pacifica intervenes and quells the townsfolks' anger • (spoiler) Arc 7 • The kids discover that Lapis has taken up refuge on the moon; they find her there and (continue when ideas are fully flashed out) • Steven goes inside Pearl to find her phone and discovers that Rose Quartz is Pink Diamond, which shocks Garnet and Amethyst, and the Pines • Garnet unfuses and Sapphire becomes mad at Ruby, saying that Rose Quartz lied to them and leaves, upset; Dipper also leaves, outraged that all of the torture he was put through was essentially for nothing; Steven, Pearl, Stan, and Ford check on Sapphire and Pearl tells Steven and Sapphire the story of how Pink Diamond became Rose Quartz; (spoiler) she also reveals the original deal Rose/Pink made with Bill, which outrages Ford; eventually, everyone returns home, only to find that Ruby and Amethyst are not here • Upset by the uselessness of their shared suffering, Dipper and Stonemason reach an agreement that they will work in conjunction with one another towards the eventual goal of shattering Yellow Diamond as revenge

#aaaaaaand that's all i got #whew i am exhusted after all that planning #now to fuckin enjoy tonights ep and probably add onto this garbage fire later on #i gave ya'll some free stuff in there so enjoy it #i swear to go d i probably spoiled something in here #augh #jen writes #universe falls #uf timeline #uf ref

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plotbunnyshipper · 6 years

Text

Visitation - [Draft/WIP/Missing middle and very end]

So I started writing two short fics at the end of Season 6, just little one offs, then a massive case of writer’s block and real life stress hit, so I haven’t worked on any of my in progress works.

But then the trailer came out and kicked me in the “get this one written before you see anything that makes you feel the need to change it so it fits with what is out there” nerve. Thankfully what I saw already fits with what I’ve got. I need to finish up the middle and very end of this, but by posting what I have I’m less likely to change things.

There is no clock, only shift changes, meals, and what little sunlight that comes in through the window to track the time. Every other day, when not in lockdown, I get a scant hour of the ability to walk around the small fenced in area they generously call the yard, followed by an optional shower for a few minutes. The monotony makes the days blur and time feel like it’s slowing. Only the tally of soap marked on the wall gives me a record of the days passing.

It’s not safe, I know it’s not safe, to get visitors, or at least the visitors I want. A couple lawyers wrote, wanting to file an appeal for me. They were not added to my approved list. I had a flood of mail for the first month, as many letters from fans of The Arrow as haters. The guards comment on the ones that are deemed not conductive to my rehabilitation and don’t make their way in, especially the rather explicit pictures of the fans. I only read the fan and hate mail to make sure they’re not coded, letters I wait for, hope for, the ones that don’t come. Eventually a single one does. It holds a photo of Felicity and William from home, and a short line of text stating that they’re safe, written and sent by John.

Drinking a handful of tepid water from the bare sink I mentally catalog the contents and space of the dark cell as my eyes linger on that one picture.

I don’t really know what I expected when making this deal, other than the fact that I was sacrificing my privacy, right of choice, and freedom to protect everyone I cared about when I couldn’t do it myself. I had been imprisoned before, but the boredom that leaves me dwelling in my thoughts is the worst of it. Nearly the worst. Not knowing how they were doing, replaying those last few days, every missed or foiled opportunity to end things and try for the life we wanted. Over and over they play out, while I sleep, while I read, while I pace and push myself to exhaustion using my own bodyweight to strengthen muscle.

No stranger to lack of privacy, I kept to myself at first, trying to block out the sights and sounds of the inmate across from my cell as he made baited comments and jerked off during lights out while the guards made their rounds...a few weeks went by before it really got under my skin and made my self control itch for a better outlet than my workouts.

The first fight was anticlimactic. One idiot, dangerous to be sure, but he thought he could take me on and win? By himself? I had him on the ground, incapacitated while I walked away before the guards could even notice a disruption.

That didn’t go over well with the pecking order of those who thought they deserved a bit of revenge for my putting them here. It also didn’t help that as I started getting more frustrated, more bored, more angry, I started baiting them and picking fights, especially the ones who thought they were untouchable. The pain felt better than worrying for a few minutes, aggression a razor focused distraction, even if I lost privileges for it, even if they sent me to solitary a few times when my restraint was gone. No one died, but the challenges grew fewer, further between, and with a larger ratio of them verses me.

It’d been over a week since I got a real shower, stuck in my cell after leaving someone unconscious after John’s visit. He couldn’t tell me much, he didn’t know where Felicity and William were, but Lyla said they were still checking in weekly and were “doing fine” in their faked identities. No word from my sister, the threat of Richard Dragon still looming over Star City, and just the other day apparently someone in a costume that looked like mine decided to make themselves known, which would explain why I got the extra attention from the guards between standard counts. I had instigated the next fight, pressed a few harder than they could let drop and just broke someone’s face through a tiled divider when a trio of guards entered the showers.

The only reason I didn’t end up in solitary was due to the fact that it had the appearance of an ambush. After all, it’s hard to look like the guilty party rather than self defense when the others were fully dressed and had a few well made shivs while I didn’t have so much as my towel within reach. I still ended up with two weeks loss of privileges and by my count I was slightly over halfway through. But a cage is a cage, losing a couple minutes of sunshine wasn’t going to break me, and damp towel scrub downs at my sink to keep the grime and stink of sweat away to make up for the lack of antiperspirant.

I stare out into the dark, too bored to sleep, which is the only reason I see it, the emergency lights flicker to life once as an alarm somewhere starts to blare. I am on my feet as a different red glow enters my cell. Instinct has me starting to twist the thing that grabs me into a throw before my mind catches up and I recognize the voice from right beside it.

“No! Oliver wait!” That voice that is a dream and nightmare at once and the strong familiar scent of her perfume has me stopping myself from the instinctive urge to stop anyone from touching me in here as the glowing blur lifts from the floor.

My voice is barely a whisper, “Felicity?”

Barry wheezes out, “Choking me-,“ before my hand drops and I take a step back. He slows enough to come into focus and lose the glow of speed.

The bright colors are glaring in contrast to the dull monotony of beige and gray, even in the shadows. “Get out!” I don’t know why the alarms haven’t continued, why the raucous attention of the other inmates hasn’t started, but they need to get far away from here before they’re caught. Barry doesn’t let go of his grip on my wrist and there isn’t enough room in the cell to get out of range. “You can’t be here, it’s trespassing, they’ll-“

Felicity ignores the warning, reaching towards my face, “Oh god, Oliver, what happened to you? John’s message said you were looking rough but your face…”

Shame or embarrassment, something I haven’t felt in nearly half a year, burns under my skin as I duck away ever so slightly out of her reach despite the urge to lean into that attempted contact. The thought is quiet but slips out as I think it, “You should see the other guys.”

Barry’s grip is tight on both of us, but if I let her touch me…I haven’t seen her other than the single picture since that news conference, and even in the near dark I try to reassure my mental image of her is still correct. It’s too dangerous for her to be here, for her, for me. I can’t let her work through the protective mask I’ve put around myself, “Flash, get her out of here, get yourself out.”

She has no such qualms, launching herself at me. I fight with myself, free arm wrapping around her, taking a deep breath as my chin bumps the top of her head.

Her voice is muffled against my chest, “I cashed in all my favors when I heard about the new perk of his powers, this shared ‘Flash Time’ that he didn’t bother to tell me about himself!”

“You’re in the middle of nowhere!”

“I had to read about it in the future time-traveling-daughter’s, who use you also didn’t bother to tell me about, notes!”

“Possible, future daughter, you know how the timelines are. And don’t say time-traveling like you’ve forgotten about the Legends.”

“They need a ship to do it.”

The scolding banter is something I didn’t realize I missed, “You both need to leave before you’re caught.”

My wife scoffs, “We can’t exactly move you out of here if you’re not coming permanently. Their security factors in metas like Vibe, and magic, but they haven’t figured out how to factor in for him.” She nods over at Barry. “Not even a fraction of a second has passed for anyone else, it’s Flash Time, and if you think I’m just leaving without clearing a few things off my chest then you sir have taken too many hits to the head in your stupid prison brawling!”

I spare a glance at Barry, he nods, “Yeah, as long as I’m touching someone I can push the speed force to manipulate time around them, it sticks for a little bit. The best we were able to practice at earlier was getting a relative half hour in a single second by repeated contact, though it hit her hard as soon as she dropped out. It’s not much for uninterrupted conversations, but as long as I recharge the focus every, again relative, few minutes I don’t need to be touching you constantly.

“That’s-“

There is a snap, and Felicity points at him then the door, “Your cue to leave speedster.” She laser focuses on me, ignoring that fact he hasn’t left yet, pulling out a phone and angrily pressing buttons. “I’m so angry with you right now! Not only did you make a decision that dramatically altered our whole family’s lives without any hint of consultation, now I find out you’re apparently picking fights, because there’s no way all this is from some accidental altercation!”

It’s not a question, I nod as the streak of red lets go with the glow of lightening, and vanishes from the cell.

I can hear the ringing, but she doesn’t stop talking, voice is tight, pained, “For you to get like this…I’ve seen what you can do one-on-one, one-on-five, one-on-a small army of professionally trained killers, No one would be stupid enough to keep going after you, why would you-?”

“I could have stopped Dragon. I could have, I should have killed him, ended this. I didn’t.”

An automated recording states to leave a message and she curses under her breath about having wasted time dropping the signal blockers on the way in if the mountains are just going to keep it from going through. “You’re not a killer, we’ve-“

“I’m not taking that risk, I’m putting the fear of me into these guys so they and theirs won’t go after any of you while I’m in here.”

“I’m so angry with you!”

“I know.”

“I hate that you always go it alone and sacrifice yourself, always, instead of letting us figure out…”

“I know.”

“I had to break ties with the company. You outing yourself as the Green Arrow meant investors either think I’m stupid, or the more familiar comments were along the lines of, ‘Your husband’s plea deal may keep you from being prosecuted for lying under oath, but that is not an investment risk we’re willing to take.’ The threats, the bounties Dragon put out on all of us…He’s still fucking livid. Then we can’t even visit, can’t even call because they keep reminding us it would make us easy targets, traceable, vulnerable.” The bitterness is not hidden from her voice. “Even at super speed I hacked into the system not to report faults, he’s obscured the cameras, we took down every sensor that could be taken down from outside the prison and will get everything back to ‘normal’ before we leave.”

Her fingers skim over my head, “Now, explain what your thoughts behind this hair so short I can’t get a grip and growing out this hipster beard at the same time?” She pulls me down into a kiss and my hands instinctively cup her face. It hurts, I’ve missed her so much, wanted to know she was safe, how they’re doing, everything and to have it, here, it’s like heartbreak. The feeling doubles down when I feel the tears sliding down her cheeks to hit my thumbs.

She shakes her head, not breaking the kiss as I try to swipe a tear away. Dragging my hand down, a startled noise escapes me as the fabric of her leggings parts and my fingers meet slick heat. “You’re not forgiven! I’m pissed at you, but I’m not stupid enough to waste these few minutes.”

I can feel the surprise showing on my face, “What- what are-?”

“It’s called easy access.” She rubs herself against my palm, “I may be furious with you but I’m not stupid and not in a patient mood. You know how hard it is to get yourself off when you're sharing a room in a crowded safe house?“ I look at her and the realization dims the frustration in her eyes. Replacing it with sorrow. She steels herself. “I was trying in the shower and apparently one of the guards...at least she knocked, but I was being as quiet as I could and still…

We spent about 6 hours in one place, then had to move to a different one, but company was waiting, so we tried one more option, then William and I split off to the ass end of nowhere so they couldn’t find us in yet another ARGUS locale. They haven’t found us since, but that meant losing the support, so now it’s the two of us in a one bedroom apartment, he gets the bedroom and I get even less privacy.”

[The middle stuff that isn’t revised enough to post, so mental image a couple small arguments and sexytime to be included later, and awkwardness on Barry’s part]

Felicity sighs, snuggling as tight as she can under the cover, “How bad is it here?”

There are a lot of questions insinuated with that, but she doesn’t need to know the answers to most of them, “Not as bad as the prisons in-“

That earns me a frown, “I’m serious!”

I play with the ring on the chain around her neck. “So am I, it’s not the worst, being away from my family, not being able to talk to William about his day, or hold you while you ramble about whatever runs across your mind.”

She rubs her head on my pillow and I give her a questioning look. “I know you noticed the perfume. I went heavy, I’m trying to get it embedded in here so can smell it and have good dreams.”

“How’s where you are?”

“Well if you like slower than dial up from the early Aught-y Naught-ies, cell coverage in exactly half the town, muggy stifling heat with mosquitoes the size of your fist, than it’s great!” The false enthusiasm fades from her voice, “But…I guess it’s better than in here. Oh! I should try him again!” She reaches for the phone on the ground and hits redial. “Five months, and I couldn’t even get a job at something like Tech Village because they were certain I’d be too easy to trace. The first week I went through three positions. Menial, repetitive, boring, and crappy hours. I didn’t even make it an hour making drinks at a the only club in driving distance before…walking out.” The ringing goes to voicemail again and she huffs out a frustrated noise. “William is doing self study at home in the evenings because he has to do the standard level classes because of the tracking concerns….he’s having nightmares.”

I close my eyes. There’s nothing I can do about that. Nothing I can do to help. “How bad?”

“Most nights. I’m not the mom he wants when he wakes up not knowing what’s real and not. Some nights he doesn’t sleep at all. Went through a bad stretch where he swiped a couple of my Ambien and tried daytime functioning with them. He ended up having a pretty intense hallucination and a blackout.”

My Ambien? “You’re having nightmares.”

“Don’t act like that’s new!” Half teasing, half morose, she continues quietly, “I just don’t have you as a security blanket, swooping in with snuggles because of your uncanny ability to notice when my breathing changes...What about yours? The usual?”

Nodding I try to shrug it off like she did. Her arms clench me tighter and I mimic the action.

“But maybe this little rendezvous will help us both for a few nights, right?”

“Hopefully.”

Felicity presses her lips quickly against mine, “Everything’s…everything will be fine. It’s just a rough patch.” Our foreheads lean against each other. “I just really needed your lips to be the last ones that kissed mine, and now th-” Stopping mid-word, she cringes as her mind catches up to what she was saying.

“You…kissed someone?”

“No, someone kissed me.”

The discomfort in her features…her insinuation earlier…I ask as gently as I can, forcing the words out as I both dread and need to know the answer, ”Did someone hurt you?”

Her hand touches over my heart as she quickly shakes her head, “No, but I chipped her tooth after I reacted with one of the moves John had taught me, and dropped her aggressively drunk self to the floor. I told you, I didn’t even finish the shift as a bartender.”

Logically I should not feel the level of pride I do that she took the instinct to protect herself and applied the training without hesitation, but she’s watching my face and I can’t hide it from her.

“Did you just give me your ghost smile?”

“Does that sound like something I’d do?”

Her hand leaves my chest to fingerbrush through the hair that’s fallen from her ponytail, a few strands tug away. “Yes, husband, that sounds exactly like something you’d do.” She kisses my palm, then circles my ring finger with the hair just tight enough that it won’t slip off. Tying a small knot with the ends, she laces her fingers with mine, “There, that’s better.”

It’s nearly invisible but I can feel it, like a promise, a reassurance, and it soothes a raw part of me. “Thank you.”

“Yeah, well if they wouldn’t let you keep wearing yours on your finger, they definitely wouldn’t let you wear it on a necklace like mine. Whole new identity has me playing as William’s aunt, and with it being such a small town if I wore it wear they could see it they’d never stop asking about who gave it to me. Meth has taken enough parents that they don’t ask much about family taking care of relatives, but they’re still gossipy into the rest of people’s business.

[Again, not tightened up end will be finished later]

#Arrow #Olicity #MyFic #WIP #Partial

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findingschmomo · 7 years

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Summary of my first experience with Magischola, playing a Cryptozoology professor at Magischola Prep Summer Camp.

First day of class, Professor Skugg revealed she had not been feeding her gremlins, accidentally let loose a Memmic on campus and cursed a Loup Garou Counselor to obey her so she could use her in class. She also spent most of the class not teaching, but rather, ranting about her conspiracy board about the existence of a Reverse Mermaid in the woods. When the Registrar visited her last class to monitor what was happening, she lied through her teeth and the class covered for her.

The next day, the Registrar ordered the Board of Tutelage to begin their investigation on Professor Skugg based on these allegations. Professor Skugg took the advice of some of the students and changed her name to Professor Norm Al, claiming to be Skugg’s cousin and her substitute teacher. Wren Bradford, director of the camp, and Skugg’s best friend was very unamused by this plan and may have started panicking about the camp being shut down. This is also about the time when Professor Skugg started telling the campers not to talk to any of the men in suits who were clearly conspiring against her. Chants of “Professor Skugg did nothing wrong” started to spread throughout the camp.

That evening, Professor Skugg led a cryptid tracking session in which campers stumbled upon a Chupacabra, which they then trapped and tested for sapience. One camper than killed the chupacabra to fulfill a fae deal much to the horror of the other campers. (Professor Skugg may have laughed as the cryptid died, but that was mostly from the excitement of having fresh chupacabra jerky at the bonfire. It definitely did not warrant a student shouting at her “You don’t need a freezing spell, you’re cold hearted enough.” Minus two points from Morton)

At the bonfire many students started screaming about a ghost joining them. Professor Skugg, enjoying her chupacabra jerky, found this to be very stupid. There was definitely no ghost. She spent the evening chatting with Wren Bradford about how the students had been inhaling too much smoke.

For Thursday’s class, Professor Skugg was barred from using her classroom because of the ongoing investigation. Despite making an anonymous announcement of “Dear Board of Tutelage, everything is fine. You can leave now. Thanks,” the investigation continued. Her first two classes consisted of a game of camouflage and a rare visit from a wandering Sasquatch. Highlight of the class was an initiate attempting to heal the injured Sasquatch, stating “You keep drawing the healing rune, I’ll feed him my Rice Krispie.”

After her second class, the Sasquatch stumbled into the main courtyard, suffering from heat exhaustion because he was meant for colder climates. The students tried to help but failed. Professor Skugg lead the injured beast away and swiftly took care of the problem. (Humanely, despite the agonizing wail from the Sasquatch himself.) She then skinned the beast and left the rug in the Bradford common room, as one does with luxury items.

Unfortunately, for her last class of the day, a Marshal sat in to monitor her. Even more unfortunately, a Jiwa Setan interrupted class and attacked one of the counselors, sucking his positivity out of him. The students handled the situation quickly, easily getting rid of the beast, while Professor Skugg (still masquerading as Norm Al) definitely did not panic. The Marshal proceeded to lay into Skugg, telling her this is a warrant for an arrest, and that this Norm Al nonsense ended now. Once the Marshal left, Professor Skugg tried to calm the angry students down by assuring them their counselor would be fine and it was more important to come up with a cover story for what had happened and to make sure the Registrar did not find out. “Remember class, what happens in Cryptozoology, stays in Cryptozoology.”

The Marshal distributed class evaluations during dinner, asking students if Skugg should remain on faculty despite her crimes. Professor Skugg spent most of dinner bribing students with house points for positive evaluations and attempting to calm Wren Bradford down, continuously stating that everything was fine.

In a sudden twist of fate, a poetic announcement was made in which the Registrar asked Professor Skugg to be their date to the ball to which Professor Skugg readily agreed. Realizing that the Registrar’s monitoring was not meant to get her in trouble, but rather because of their crush on her, her spirits were completely lifted. She spent the evening helping Wren Bradford commentate the Court Tournament, sharing stories of their own camp days (specifically humorous stories at the expense of their mutual friend, Von Cailler (healing prof)) before the incident that closed the camp down a decade ago.

Professor Skugg kept a low profile for most of Friday morning, but slipped in an announcement during lunch as a response to the Registrar’s message:

“Dearest Registrar

I have kept my distance from afar

I always thought your careful eyes

Were meant to terrorize

But now I see that these are lies

Yes I will accompany you too the dance

Thank you for giving me this chance

To prove that I truly do belong,

and that Professor Skugg did nothing wrong.”

Most interestingly, some students started asking Skugg to participate in their show case ritual. They claimed Skugg was suffering memory altering magic and was involved in the camp closing incident. Which is preposterous, but Skugg was used to people never believing her about the Reverse Mermaid she saw, so she agreed to help out with the ritual anyway.

During the showcase, Professor Skugg almost panicked to death when Morton Court decided to use the Sasquatch skin as part of their ritual in front of the Board of Tutelage. Luckily, the students never mentioned her by name and she remained clear of the crime. Wren Bradford sent her many panicked glares.

During the Williams ritual, Skugg, Wren, Von Cailler and Toni were led into the circle to be given their memories back. As the students chanted it suddenly all became very clear. The constant fog within Skugg’s mind, the headaches, the inability to plan for the future, the constant running from consequences, were all side effects of terrible mind altering.

10 years ago at camp, Skuggs friend was bitten by a lycan and turned into one. Desperate to save their friend, she and her other friends tried a ritual to save him which went awry, killing him in the process. The lasting image was burned into Skugg’s mind: a person, half wolf, half human. Von Cailler, panicked and scared, casted a powerful memory altering spell on the rest of his friends. For Skugg, it meant forgetting the incident, forgetting the friend, and having their mind in a permanent fog with no ability to future plan or comprehend that her actions have consequences.

The burden of her memories spiraled her into a panic attack, further exacerbated by the ghost of her friend speaking to her. Von Cailler continued to be unrepentant, and the ghost friend gave a speech that left all the campers in tears, “There will always be people like him, people who hate you for who you are. But every day you wake up happy and smiling, is a day they lose and you win.”

The students shared in the mental burden with Skuggs. On the way back to the dorm two students confronted her, showing her her Reverse Mermaid board and telling her they still believed in her, and that her passion was not pointless but rather inspiring. Spirits slightly lifted, Skuggs put on her giant ballgown dress and headed to the dance with the Registrar.

While dancing with them, the Registrar suddenly grabbed her, calling for the Marshals and cutting the music. Her arrest was announced, and Skuggs begged to speak to the camp. She apologized for all her wrong doings, told the world that her mind was finally free and that she mustn’t run away any longer. She’ll go to jail, she’ll do her time, and she was so very sorry for everything. As she fell to her knees, the Marshals turned to the campers, “Do you believe Skuggs should remain?” And the campers shouted back near unanimously, “Yes!” which warmed Skuggs heart and brought her to tears. She was put on probation instead and asked to return to teach at next year’s camp.

In all seriousness, this past week has been absolutely magically. All of the kids were fantastic, emotionally mature empathetic human beings who changed my life and created a beautiful story. Bless them all. The staff was so welcoming and wonderful and we created such a safe and accepting environment. My heart is full of warmth and my faith in humanity slightly rebuilt.

#ignore me #primaschola camp #a memoir

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annasdesignblog-blog · 5 years

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Week 9 - Self-Employment

The lecture on 26th of March was all about self-employment, with guest speakers Laura Williams, a commercial business services manager, and two University of Derby self-employed graduates; Pandora Johnson and Jodie Powell.

The lecture started off with defining what self-employment meant: a person is self-employed if they run their business for themselves and take responsibility for its success or failure (https://www.gov.uk/employment-status/selfemployed-contractor). Self-employment is very popular in the UK; in fact, it’s on the rise, and the number of self-employment increased from 3.3 million people (12.0% of the labour force) in 2001 to 4.8 million (15.1% of the labour force) in 2017 according to the statistics from the European Union (https://www.nwes.org.uk/blog/how-self-employment-is-changing-and-the-statistics-you-need-to-know/). The popular and best areas to be self-employed in include Graphic Design, Photography, Writing, Social Media Specialist and Make-Up and Beauty (https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/finding-a-job/best-self-employed-jobs). The creative sector is most popular for self-employment.

The lecture then moved on and focused on the support University of Derby gives to its students who are interested in self-employment and have an idea for their own business. Laura Williams was the first guest speaker, who explained all about the Be The Boss programme, the key element of that part of the lecture. The programme is described on the University of Derby website as “An award winning programme of enterprise support aimed at students and graduates of the University of Derby who want to become self-employed. Through a combination of action planning, one-to-one support provided by experienced business advisers, a series of workshops and other activities, you’ll be able to develop the skills you need to confidently set up and run your own new business”. As a summary, it’s a way to get help with starting up your own business as there is a lot of knowledge needed for doing this, such as knowing how to promote yourself and money management. I haven’t heard of Be The Boss previously, and wasn’t aware that the university gave this much support to anyone wanting to start their own business. However, I don’t think this is anything I will be participating in, as I don’t think I would be able to manage my own business and it simply doesn’t appeal to me. Williams then made us aware of Banks Mill Studios. As described on its website, “Banks Mill Studios is an innovation space for creative and digital industries, located in a landmark building within the heart of Derby City Centre. Comprising of 38 clean and dirty studios and a ground floor gallery, Banks Mill offers stepped rent over a period of six years along with vital business support services and a connected community of peers to ensure success at all levels of enterprise growth. We have a diverse range of creative industry disciplines within Banks Mill – from jewellery makers to printmakers, computer games to fine artists. Our residents and members are both University of Derby students and graduates, and creative entrepreneurs not connected with the University”. (https://www.banksmill.co.uk/)

Banks Mill Studios, own photography

Banks Mill does not only offer studio space for a certain amount of money per month, they also offer support, from helping artists come up with business plans, to promotion through social media, and a chance for their work to be seen and potentially bought by hundreds of people who attend the exhibitions and open days that happen regularly. I found the information received about Banks Mill really useful as I have heard of it and walked past it many times, but didn’t think anything of it - I assumed it was only studio spaces for artists, and I wasn’t aware the support given and that the support can only be bought as a membership only too without the studio space.

Williams then introduced Pandora Johnson and Jodie Powell who are two designers based in Banks Mill Studios. Pandora Johnson is a website designer and developer, illustrator and a co-founder of Green Door Printmaking Studio, set up with the ethos that printmaking should be accessible to anyone who is interested in exploring and developing their own creative practise with print (https://www.greendoor-printmaking.co.uk/).

Some of Johnson’s work, taken from her Instagram page, including a self-portrait in the middle.

Johnson has always had a keen interest in printmaking, and said she set up her own printmaking studio as she realised that the printing studios at University of Derby’s Britannia Mill weren’t accessible after she would graduate. This resulted in her creating Green Door Printmaking Studio - Derby’s only open access printmaking studio. However, the studio isn’t only used for open access - there are courses and classes that can be used to learn different printmakng techniques, and the opportunity to work alongside Johnson, an experienced printmaker.

People working at Green Door Printmaking Studios, taken from Studios’ Instagram page.

Johnson is primarily the screen printing tutor a the studio, as well as taking care of the general day-to-day managerial duties of the studio environment. During the lecture, Johnson talked about her journey to getting to the point she’s at today; she’s always done creative, freelance jobs so has no experience of what it’s like working for someone. I found that interesting as it meant she clearly always knew she wanted to be in control of herself and her work. On the other hand, Jodie Powell’s journey was slightly different as she mentioned that to get herself through university and life after graduating she worked a retail job that wasn’t relevant to what she wanted to do.

Powell is a tattoo artist and graphic designer, and has her own tattoo studio at Banks Mill - Jodie Bambi Tattoo (https://en-gb.facebook.com/jodiebambitattoo/). During the final year of her Masters degree in Graphic Design and Visual Communication, Powell took on the role of a tattoo apprentice where she learnt about the equipment and health and safety aspects of this profession. Once she completed that, she started taking commissions and eventually got a lot of clients and business, meaning she could open up her own studio and quit her second retail job.

Some of Powell’s work, including a photo of herself, taken from her Instagram page and Banks Mill website.

Powell specialises in dot work and blackwork styles amongst other styles of tattooing, including semi permanent eyebrow tattooing. She enjoys ornamental, floral and geometric styles. She said she spends most of her time - about 70% - creating designs and actually tattooing, whilst the other time - about 30% - is spent replying to emails and admin tasks. She said that she finds her freedom important and doesn’t like to be controlled and told what to wear, how to act, etc, which is why being a freelance designer suits her perfectly.

The lecture ended with a Q&A between the guest speakers with questions from the audience such as how does being a freelance designer works, how many hours do you work, what to do when you don’t have steady business, etc. I found the talk insightful because the guest speakers were University of Derby graduates, so it’s interesting to see what life after graduation looks like, especially when choosing the self-employed path. Despite finding the lecture insightful and useful, I don’t think self-employment is something that’s right for me as I always imagined myself working in a studio with others - perhaps after experiencing this, maybe it’s something I will consider - really far in the future though.

Action Plan - Review from Week 3:

I stated a couple of week’s ago that I think I would benefit from having an appointment with the Careers and Employment, to discuss what the next steps for me are in order to achieve the career I want. I had this appointment on the 26th of March with Marian Derbyshire.

During the visit, I got asked to think about I see my career looking like, and how to get there. First, Marian asked me about why I’m at university in the first place, which I replied to that in order to be a successful graphic designer I need a degree as most jobs in that field require it, and it will help me have the necessary knowledge and practice. We then looked at what would my ideal job would be – this really helped me think about what I really want out of a job and the type of conditions I want to work in. I stated that my ideal job would be 60% individual work and 40% team work but I don’t mind if it’s 50/50 between each. I also want a friendly environment, a routine so coming in at the same time, working in the same studio etc but working on different projects so there’s variety, creating designs I can use in my portfolio later, and working on marketing and branding projects. Now Marian knew this, we have discussed the job market, and how about 30% of it is what is advertised online, in papers and such and the rest is through networking and contacts. I then told Marian that I have done some networking so far – talked to designers online, met up with one in person and visited a studio to which she complemented me on and said I was going along the right lines, and just need to find a way to make those contacts last.

The next part involved me getting my CV checked – specifically for this meeting, I have written a fresh CV that’s Graphic Design based as I only had a general one which was used to apply for retail and customer service jobs; the field my part-time job is in currently. I received advice on how to improve that CV and that I should alter it to each specific job I apply for as each job demands different skills, experience etc. We then visited the Careers and Employment website and the ‘Live Jobs’ section, where current jobs are advertised. Marian suggested as a way to get experience, I should apply for the internships I think I’m suitable for, which I also think is a good idea as the experience would really benefit me in the future when I am applying for graduate jobs – it’s something that will make me stand out.

The meeting ended with Marian reflecting on what we discussed, and emphasising that I’m very determined to get professional experience and are always thinking about how my current projects can benefit me - portfolio wise, or experience wise such as working in a team. Following Marian’s advice, I will go back to the ‘Live Jobs’ section of Careers and Employment website and apply for some internships at some point during the next 2 weeks or so.

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placetobenation · 4 years

Link

Meet the Robinsons

Release Date: March 23rd, 2007

Inspiration: “A Day with Wilbur Robinson” by William Joyce

Budget: $150 million

Domestic Gross: $97.8 million

Worldwide Gross: $169.3 million

Rotten Tomatoes Score: 67%

IMDB Score: 6.8/10

Storyline (per IMDB): Lewis an orphan wants to see what his mother looked like. So he invents a machine that looks through your brain so you can see your memories. But this weird kid says he’s from the future and warns him about a guy in a bowler hat. The bowler hat guy messes with his invention and it fails. He decides that he’s a failure and no one wants him. But the kid that warned him about the guy is here on a mission to find the bowler hat guy that wants to destroy Lewis. To prove he’s from the future he takes Lewis to the future. But the time machine breaks and he’s stuck in the future until he fixes it. In the meantime he spends quality time with the family. But the bowler hat guy is about to alter time and it’s up to Lewis to save the future.

Pre-Watching Thoughts: We continue on through the 2000s with our next film and this is a big one because in March of 2007 when this film was released, that was when I began my tenure with Regal Entertainment Group. So for the next 11 years, I would see Disney’s films in the theaters and I would see how successful or potentially how badly they would be, though in all honesty this is one I do not remember that much because I was just getting my feet wet working at the movie theater. After the last few films have been very disappointing and dismal, I am hoping that this film finally turns things around though again my hopes are not that high.

Voice Cast: We continue with the trend of having a brand new cast for each film though we did have a few actors return as well, and in addition we had a few actors pull multiple duty as they voiced multiple characters in the film. But as mentioned, we do have a few returning actors as Adam West returns to voice Uncle Art and also we have the return of Laurie Metcalf who voices Lucille Krunklehorn. We now move onto the newcomers as we have Jordan Fry who voices Lewis in one of the biggest roles of his career, and we should mention that Lewis was originally voiced by Daniel Hansen with Fry being brought in to do re-dubs of lines. We then have the legendary Tom Selleck who voices Lewis as an adult as he was starting to wind down his career, and then we have Wesley Singerman who voices Wilbur Robinson in what would be the last role of his short film career. Next, we have Steven Anderson who voices Bowler Hat guy along with Grandpa Bud and cousin Tallulah in multiple roles, and we should also mention Matthew Josten who voices Michael Yagoobian as a child. We then have Harland Williams who voices Carl as he was in the peak of his career by this point, and then we have Nicole Sullivan who voices Franny with Jessie Flower voicing Franny as a child. Next, we have Angela Bassett who voices Mildred as she was also hitting the peak of her career at this point, and then we have Ethan Sandler who voices multiple roles including DOR-15, Uncle Fritz and Aunt Petunia, the twins Spike and Dmitri, Cousin Laszlo, and the CEO of InventCo. We then have Don Hall who voices Uncle Gaston and the Gym Coach in dual roles as he also wrote the screenplay for the film, and then we have Tom Kenny who voices Mr. Willerstein though he will forever be remembered as Spongebob Squarepants. Next, we have Kelly Hoover who voices Aunt Billie in a minor role and then we have Tracey Miller-Zarneke who voices Lizzy in a minor role, and we have Joe Mateo who voices the T-Rex and then we have Aurian Redson who voices Frankie the frog with Jamie Cullum providing the singing voice. We then have Paul Butcher who voices Stanley in a minor role and we have Dara McGarry who voices the receptionist and Mrs. Harrington in a dual role, and then we have John H.H. Ford who voices Mr. Harrington and finally we have Nathan Greno who voices Lefty as he also had a hand in the screenplay. This was something that I haven’t mentioned in previous reviews of members of the creative team also providing voices, and this honestly might be one of the most low-key casts in Disney history as there was a significant lack of star power for the film.

Hero/Prince: We have had a string of fairly substandard heroes to this point which is sad since we were on such a good run early on in the run, and we will see if that trend continues here as we have the young man known as Lewis. He is left at an orphanage when he is a baby and he grows up loving science though he is frustrated that no one adopts him, and he decides to try and find his mother by inventing a device that could read his memory though it is sabotaged at the science fair. He starts to lose faith in his abilities until Wilbur arrives and takes him to the future though they inadvertently destroy the time machine, and Lewis agrees to fix the machine if Wilbur takes him back in time to see his mother which Wilbur agrees. Lewis meets Wilbur’s family and they become close until they learn Lewis is from the past, and after Wilbur admits he lied Lewis runs away and is coerced by the Bowler Hat guy to fix the Memory scanner. Lewis learns the truth that he is Wilbur’s future father and after Bowler Hat guy changes the future, Lewis fixes the machine and goes back in time where he manages to restore the timeline. Wilbur decides to take Lewis back to the moment where his mother left him at the orphanage though he chooses to let the events play out, and Lewis showcases the Memory scanner and wins the science fair as he is adopted and the timeline continues on as planned. Lewis is a pretty typical kid in that he has a specific love which is science though he does have a desire to be loved and feels his mother abandoned him, and after several failures he is ready to give up though upon learning what the future holds he is encouraged to continue on and fix things. He ends up getting everything he wanted as he has a family and he becomes a major success with his numerous inventions, and while he is not a typical hero he is pretty special for this film though he will probably not rank high amongst the other heroes.

Princess: N/A

Villain: For the first time since Treasure Planet, we have a pair of villains for this film though one is a true villain while the other is not so much a reluctant villain, but a misguided villain and we start with him as it is Michael “Goob” Yagoobian or Bowler Hat guy. He is a roommate with Lewis and is obsessed with baseball as he wants to be the one to win the championship for his team, but the day of the championship he is kept awake by Lewis and he falls asleep during the game which causes his team to lose. He is beat up by the team and kicked off the team as he becomes resentful to Lewis and is never adopted, and as he grows up he remains at the orphanage and vows revenge on Lewis when he meets the true villain of the movie which is the hat known as DOR-15 or “Doris”. DOR-15 was created by an adult Lewis to serve as a helper hat but malfunctioned and was left abandoned, and it would escape and meet with Goob who came up with the plan to sabotage Lewis during the science fair before stealing his Memory scanner and passing it off as their own. After some failed attempts, they manage to coerce Lewis into showing them how it works before revealing the plan, and they succeed in taking the credit and the future is changed though it is shown that DOR-15 betrayed Goob and enslaved humanity. Lewis goes back in time and stops them by saying he would never created DOR-15 which causes it to disappear permanently, and Goob sees the error of his ways though leaves out of guilt. After Lewis returns to his time, he makes sure that Goob is awake to win the championship game and he is hailed a hero, and Goob is later adopted by a family which changes his future and maintains Lewis’. DOR-15 is a typical example of a robot meant for good that turns bad and wants to rule the world though it is stopped fairly easily which makes it a weak villain, and Goob is a classic example of a troubled soul that goes down the wrong path though he ultimately is redeemed. As a result, both of these characters are not very memorable villains and will rank near the bottom of the list.

Other Characters: This is an interesting film in that the majority of the other characters in the film are all part of an extended family, but there were a few other characters in the film as well that are fairly important to the story. We start off with the family Robinson which includes Lucille Krunklehorn who is one of the judges of the science fair, and she ends up adopting Lewis along with her husband Bud which Lewis finds out when he goes to the future. We then have Franny who is one of the classmates of Lewis and she is fond of frogs, and she would go onto be Lewis’ wife and would train her frogs to sing and play instruments in the future. We then have Wilbur Robinson who returns to the past under the guise of a cop as he tries to keep Lewis on the right path, and he takes Lewis to the future and promises to take him to see his mother if Lewis fixes the time machine as Lewis learns that Wilbur is his future son. At one point, Wilbur disappears when Bowler Hat guy and DOR-15 change the timeline only for Lewis to fix everything and restore Wilbur, and Wilbur takes Lewis to see his mother as promised before returning him to his original time. We then have the other members of the family including Franny’s brothers Art and Gaston, Uncle Joe, Aunt Billie, Uncle Fritz and “Aunt Petunia” who is a puppet on his hand, cousin Tallulah and Laszlo, the twins Spike and Dmitri, Lefty the butler, and Buster the dog. We also have Carl the robot who is invented by Lewis in the future and he helps Wilbur in his plan, and Carl helps Lewis and Wilbur out until DOR-15 destroys him though he is revived by Lewis. We then have Mildred who owns the orphanage and tries her best to help Lewis and Goob get adopted, and then we have the other minor characters like the family that interviews to adopt Lewis, the other kids in the school, Lewis’ science teacher and the gym coach, and the board of directors of InventCo. While most of the focus was on the Robinson family which makes sense given its in the name of the film, the other characters in the film played some sort of purpose to the film.

Songs: This is another film that I never thought had any songs in it, but sure enough it did have a few though again they felt more like background noise as opposed to being a critical part of the film like in the past. The first song to talk about is the song “Another Believer” which is sung as Lewis begins building his Memory Scanner, and it is a fine song to serve as a transition into one of the main points of the film. The next song in the film is the brief song “The Future Has Arrived” which is first heard as a theme song when Lewis arrives in the future and is heard again during the credits performed by the All-American Rejects, and again it is a basic song in the film as it is more showcased in the end. The next song is “Where is Your Heart At?” sung by Frankie the frog as it is quick and easy and fairly forgettable, and then we have “Little Wonders” which is performed during the closing credits by Rob Thomas and it is again fairly forgettable. We do get one more song during the credits which is “The Motion Waltz (Emotion Commotion)” and it is mainly there to close out the film. Even though these last few films have had more songs than I ever remembered, it is clear that the songs are no longer the focus of these films which is sad since that seemed to be a staple of the earlier films and we will see if this trend continues.

Plot: This is another film that I was not aware was based off a book and given how short the book is, you knew that they were going to take some liberties in coming up with a plot though they did try to keep some faithfulness to the book. In the film, Lewis is an orphan who tries to create numerous inventions which typically fail and cost him chances at being adopted, and he decides to create an invention that can scan memories so he can find his real mother. However, the invention is sabotaged by Bowler Hat man and DOR-15 despite Wilbur’s warnings and Lewis becomes discouraged, and Wilbur takes Lewis to the future in a time machine which gets destroyed and Lewis agrees to fix it if Wilbur takes him back in time to see his mother. Lewis meets Wilbur’s family and becomes close with them until they learn he is from the past and Lewis learns that he is Wilbur’s future father, and Wilbur admits he lied to Lewis who runs away and comes across Bowler Hat guy who steals the Memory Scanner. He reveals that he is Lewis’ old roommate Goob who holds a grudge against Lewis due to being the reason his baseball team lost the championship, and he partnered together with DOR-15 who was an invention cast aside by Lewis and they take credit for the Scanner which changes the future. Lewis fixes the time machine and prevents the plan from going down as DOR-15 disintegrates and the timeline is restored, and Wilbur takes Lewis to the past to meet his mother though Lewis ends up putting it behind him. Lewis returns to his time and his fixed Scanner wins the science fair as he is also adopted which sets the timeline into motion. Again, they had to take some liberty with the plot given how short the book is though they do call back to the book in the film for those that are loyal to the book, and considering the plot was in essence original it was a fine plot for a film based off a basic children’s book.

Random Watching Thoughts: I believe this is the first film to feature the Walt Disney Animation Studios logo; Lewis’ mother must’ve been in real dire straits if she felt that she had to give up Lewis to an orphanage; She could afford to have a blanket for baby Lewis, yet she had to leave him in a cardboard box; Goob is going on and on while Lewis is clearly too focused on his work to pay attention to his ramblings; Goob tries to use the airhorn to get Lewis’ attention only to blow it in his own face; The Harringtons quickly realize that they are in over their head with Lewis just reading his notebook; How is that toaster not weighing down on Lewis’ head and causing him to lose his balance?; I wonder who Sarah and Jack are; You know there’s trouble when Lewis has kept exact count of all the times he’s been rejected; That is a big stretch for Lewis to think that his mother would want him now when she gave him up as a baby; He gets the idea for the Memory Scanner from a “Brain Scanners from Mars” billboard; “Boring”; Goob is clearly over being Lewis’ assistant; Everyone is used to Lewis’ inventions going bad that they have their own protection; I don’t think Mildred should be giving Goob coffee when he’s so young; “You have to get out of the past and look to the future”, something that will come into play later in the film; Lucille was right when she said that she doesn’t get out of the lab very often; How has Lucille not died from a caffeine overdose?; Are they really that short of teachers that the gym teacher is a judge for the science fair?; Of course the goth girl would have fire ants; Time Continuum Task Force; All DOR-15 had to do to sabotage the Scanner is loosen a few screws; If he is entering the date like I think he is, he was left behind at the orphanage on January 23rd, 2011; The gym coach tries hard to resist the fire ants, but ends up running around crying like a girl; This was the one invention that didn’t explode, but it still caused an insane amount of damage; I get future Goob was supposed to be a villain, but they made him way too stereotypical; Of all the things Wilbur could’ve used for a fake badge, he had to use a $15 coupon for a tanning salon; It’s a good thing Wilbur knew where his time machine was when he threw Lewis off the roof because that could’ve been really bad; Insta-Building; Obviously, they took some inspiration from Tomorrowland in the Disney parks to the point that the city was called “Todayland”; Instead of cars, people get around in bubbles; Lewis thinks he’s older than Wilbur because he was born in the past and technically, he is right in that; Goob thinks the receptionist is listening to him when she is actually on the phone; If only the real Mary Johnson came in and realized that someone stole her appointment spot; The CEO has seen a lot of pitches to the point that he times them to a specific point; Lewis went to the point that he had to make the headphones comfortable to wear; That is a strong cord to be able to pull the CEO across the table that easily; Goob actually censors himself when writing on his checklist; Of all the things to put on Lewis’ head to disguise him, he would use a fruit hat; How come we never actually learn why Spike and Dmitri are in those plants asking people to ring their doorbells?; Carl rants to Wilbur about the dangers they face yet also makes mention about his stolen bike; Yeah that sounds bad, but there is a .000001% chance Wilbur will live; Is it just me or does Bud look a lot like Geri from the Pixar short “Geri’s Game”?; Gaston would’ve beaten the train if he didn’t blast himself into the pillar; He painted a masterpiece in mere seconds; Fritz has a puppet on his hand that believes it’s alive and everyone treats it like it’s normal; The dog has insurance?; Only in the future can an octopus be a butler; Apparently, Franny was a fan of the Rat Pack because her frogs are pretty much carbon copies of them; Lewis learned about the family tree pretty quickly; They actually superimposed a real picture of Tom Selleck; They have no icepacks nearby so Goob has to use a piece of meat on his black eye; Adult Goob acting like the Emperor from “Star Wars” telling child Goob to embrace the hate; “Keep Moving Forward”; You have to be really dedicated if you fail well over 900 times yet keep working towards your goal; Lewis messes up one time on something he’s never dealt with before and he’s ready to give up completely again; Goob needs some work with his coordination skills in driving the mini DOR-15; Call me crazy, but gravy doesn’t work on spaghetti and meatballs; So the USA conquered Canada at some point and renamed it North Montana; The screen goes dark right before the fight and they even ape the classic Japanese samurai films complete with the overdubbed dialogue; So the first course was spaghetti and meatballs which is the appetizer to peanut butter and jelly sandwiches; Clearly, Frankie still has some of his wits if he claims that Goob’s plan isn’t the best; I’ve never seen people celebrate failure so much; Goob probably should’ve thought more about going back in time and getting a dinosaur to do his bidding; These are some very unorthodox ways to fight off a T-Rex; Lewis would end up in the one area where the T-Rex couldn’t reach him; Even the T-Rex has his own language; Looks like mini DOR-15 is sleeping with the fishes; Wilbur really doesn’t want to reveal the truth to the family, but they left him no choice; They have to show Goob crossing his fingers behind his back; All of those futuristic buildings yet the orphanage looks like it hasn’t been touched in years; He kept his old baseball uniform on all these years; Goob thinks that everyone hated him yet it looks like they wanted to be friends with him; He is a typical example of not taking responsibility for your own actions and instead want to blame someone else; If only Wilbur had made sure the door was shut completely to set the alarm; Lewis realizes that Mildred was right all along about letting go of the past and moving to the future; We go from Goob just wanting to ruin Lewis’ life to DOR-15 creating a bunch of clones and taking over the world; I’m surprised that in their scheming that Goob and DOR-15 never thought to kill Lewis and change the future that way; That has to be the most anticlimactic ending to a villain in any Disney film; It’s funny how past Lewis dictates to Wilbur like he does knowing that he’s his father; So obviously this universe is set up that if your past self meets your future self, it doesn’t cause any disturbances in the space-time continuum; Of course Carl would try and ask Lewis to change his design while he’s there; Lucille clearly establishing she’s the dominant one in the relationship; We come full circle as we see the opening scene play out again and we learn that it was Lewis that distracted his mom briefly and also knocked on the door; Wilbur seems like the kind of person that would go back in time repeatedly to make sure Lewis stayed on the right path; Lewis had enough sense to make sure that Goob would win the game for his team and change his future as well; Everyone builds a barricade and prepares for the worst; So since Lewis met their future selves, do their past selves now have knowledge about this?; Lewis remembers that Franny is always right and gets on her good side; So their home was once an observatory; We see the early model of Carl on the ground; “Around here, however, we don’t look backwards for very long. We keep moving forward, opening up new doors and doing new things, because we’re curious…and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths.” – Walt Disney.

Overall Thoughts: Overall, this was a fairly decent film and easily better than the last two films I watched, but this was still not that great and was on par with a few of the other films from this decade. It is really sad that the quality of these films have severely declined over the last decade because I have really wanted to like these films having never watched them before, but while these films were not expected to live up to the expectations of the previous films they have not even lived up to my most basic expectations. The 2000s have been a tough time for Disney as they were growing in other aspects, but the animation studio was in a real slump and hopefully they would be able to pull out of it at the end of the decade. As for this film, it is a fairly average film that falls in line with the rest of the films from this decade.

Final Grade: 4.5/10

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Roots Quotes

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(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push(); • A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots. – Marcus Garvey • A person with faith does not question its roots, for he knows that if he subjected it to the critical examination of his intellect, he would end up without faith. The same thing can be said of any feeling. You can analyze any feeling to death, but when you do that, you end up without feeling and without a meaninful life. – Alexander Lowen • A real foolproof way to do it is play your stuff by hook or by crook and build up a grass roots following – Duncan Sheik • A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees.- Amelia Earhart • A singular fact about modern war is that it takes charge. Once begun it has to be carried to its conclusion, and carrying it there sets in motion events that may be beyond men’s control. Doing what has to be done to win, men perform acts that alter the very soil in which society’s roots are nourished. – Bruce Catton • A society which abandons children and the elderly severs its roots and darkens its future. – Pope Francis • A tree is a self: it is ‘unseen shaping’ more than it is leaves or bark, roots or cellulose or fruit … What this means is that we must address trees as we must address all things, confronting them in the awareness that we are in the presence of numinous mystery. – Brian Swimme • A tree is alive, and thus it is always more than you can see. Roots to leaves, yes-those you can, in part, see. But it is more-it is the lichens and moss and ferns that grow on its bark, the life too small to see that lives among its roots, a community we know of, but do not think on. It is every fly and bee and beetle that uses it for shelter or food, every bird that nests in its branches. Every one an individual, and yet every one part of the tree, and the tree part of every one. – Elizabeth Moon • A tree nowhere offers a straight line or a regular curve, but who doubts that root, trunk, boughs, and leaves embody geometry? – George Iles • A tree root won’t get into your sewer line unless there’s something already wrong with your sewer line. I know most people don’t want to hear that, but it’s true – Thomas J. Hylton • A tree with strong roots can withstand the most violent storm, but the tree can’t grow roots just as the storm appears on the horizon.- Dalai Lama • A tree without roots is just a piece of wood. – Marco Pierre White • Amid all change, we desire something permanent; amid all variety, something stable; amid all progress, some central unity of life; something which deepens as we ascend; which roots itself as we advance; which grows more and more tenacious of the old, while becoming more and more open to the new. – James Freeman Clarke • Among the great struggles of man-good/evil, reason/unreason, etc.-there is also this mighty conflict between the fantasy of Home and the fantasy of Away, the dream of roots and the mirage of the journey. – Salman Rushdie • An illuminating read for every classical scholar engaged with the current quest for the subject’s roots, and the excavation of the way that it has evolved over the past century and a half. – Edith Hall • Anti-Semitism is nothing but the antagonistic attitude produced in the non-Jew by the Jewish group. This is a normal social reaction. The Jewish group has thrived on oppression and on the antagonism it has forever met in the world… the root cause is their use of enemies they create in order to keep solidarity. – Albert Einstein • Are you becoming more sweet-spirited, more like Jesus? Are you looking soberly in the mirror each day and praying, ‘Lord, I want to conform to Your image in every area of my life’? Or has your bitterness taken root, turning into rebellion and hardness of heart? Have you learned to shield yourself from the convicting voice of God’s Spirit? – David Wilkerson • Art need not be intended. It comes inevitably as the tree from the root, the branch from the trunk, the blossom from the twig. None of these forget the present in looking backward or forward. They are occupied wholly with the fulfillment of their own existence. – Robert Henri • As a tree, even though it has been cut down, is firm so long as its root is safe, and grows again, thus, unless the feeders of thirst are destroyed, the pain (of life) will return again and again. – Max Muller • At root, a pearl is a ‘disturbance’ a beauty caused by something that isn’t supposed to be there, about which something needs to be done. It is the interruption of equilibrium that creates beauty. Beauty is a response to provocation, to intrusion. … The pearl’s beauty is made as a result of insult. – Julia Cameron • At the root of all the varied manifestations of dancing, lies the common impulse to resort to movement to externalize emotional states which we cannot extemalize by rational means. – Jamake Highwater • Audrey Auld is a great singer songwriter. She holds a unique place in contemporary Americana/Roots music. I believe that this uniqueness is largely due to the fact that she is Australian. This affords her a totally different attitude as an artist than traditional American contributors to this genre. Audrey is one of the most honest original artists I know. – Fred Eaglesmith

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'roots', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '68', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_roots').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_roots img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); ); • Becoming rich isn’t as much about getting rich financially as about whom you become, in character and mind, to get rich. I want to share a secret with you that few people know: the fastest way to get rich and stay rich is to work on developing you! The idea is to grow yourself into a successful person. Again, your outer world is merely a reflection of your inner world. You are the root; your results are the fruits. – T. Harv Eker • Belief is like plastic flowers, which look like flowers from far away. Trust is real rose. It has roots, and roots go deep into your heart and into your being. – Rajneesh • Beloved, gaze in thine own heart, The holy tree is growing there; From joy the holy branches start, And all the trembling flowers they bear. The changing colours of its fruit Have dowered the stars with metry light; The surety of its hidden root Has planted quiet in the night; The shaking of its leafy head Has given the waves their melody, And made my lips and music wed, Murmuring a wizard song for thee. – William Butler Yeats • But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish desires and schemes that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For love of money is the root of all of evil and some having pursued its power, fall from faith and end in sorrow. – Saint Timothy • But we need to pray daily for humility and honesty to see these sinful attitudes for that they really are, and then for grace and discipline to root them out of our minds and replace them with thoughts pleasing to God. – Jerry Bridges • Cal says that humans are made from the nuclear ash of dead stars. He says that when I die, I’ll return to dust, glitter,rain. If thats true, I want to be buried right here under this tree. Its roots will reach into the soft mess of my body and suck me dry. I’ll be re-formed as apple blossom. I’ll drift down in the spring like confetti and cling to my family’s shoes. They’ll carry me in their pockets to help them sleep. What dreams will they have then? – Jenny Downham • Change your opinions, keep to your principles; change your leaves, keep intact your roots. – Victor Hugo • Charity is the form, mover, mother and root of all the virtues. – Thomas Aquinas • Choices are at the root of every one of your results. – Darren Hardy • Christianity, Judaism, and Islam all stem from the same Abrahamic roots. All three reject terrorism. – H. John Poole • Civilization has its roots in the soil. – Charles Kellogg • Courage lies in being oneself, in showing complete independence, in loving what one loves, in discovering the deep roots of one’s feelings. – Fernand Pouillon • Covetousness like jealousy, when it has taken root, never leaves a person, but with their life. Cowardice is the dread of what will happen. – Epictetus • Creativity belongs to the artist in each of us. To create means to relate. The root meaning of the word art is ‘to fit together’ and we all do this every day.- Corita Kent • Criticism, like rain, should be gentle enough to nourish a man’s growth without destroying his roots. – Frank A. Clark • Deep in their roots, all flowers keep the light. – Theodore Roethke • dive for dreams or a slogan may topple you (trees are their roots and wind is wind) trust your heart if the seas catch fire (and live by love though the stars walk backward) honour the past but welcome the future (and dance your death away at this wedding) never mind a world with its villains or heroes (for god likes girls and tomorrow and the earth) – e. e. cummings • Do you know that the words meditation and medicine come from the same root? Meditation is a kind of medicine; its use is only for the time being. Once you have learned the quality, then you need not do any particular meditation, then the meditation has to spread all over your life. Only when you are meditative twenty-four hours a day then can you attain, then you have attained. Even sleeping is meditation. – Rajneesh • Do you know, that is the root of the whole trouble – has been one of the roots at any rate – is people hearing things and then imagining some more and magnifying it and multiplying it.- John Harvey Kellogg • Don’t over-analyze your marriage; it’s like yanking up a fragile indoor plant every 20 minutes to see how its roots are growing. – Ogden Nash • Don’t put down too many roots in terms of a domicile. I have lived in four countries and I think my life as a writer and our family’s life have been enriched by this. I think a writer has to experience new environments. There is that adage: No man can really succeed if he doesn’t move away from where he was born. I believe it is particularly true for the writer. – Arthur Hailey • Drawing is the root of everything. – Vincent Van Gogh • Duality is the real root of our suffering and of all our conflicts. All our concepts and beliefs, no matter how profound they may seem, are like nets which trap us in dualism. When we discover our limits we have to try to overcome them, untying ourselves from whatever type of religious, political, or social conviction may contain us. We have to abandon such concepts as ‘enlightenment’, ‘the nature of the mind’, and so on, until we no longer neglect to integrate our knowledge with our actual existence. – Namkhai Norbu • Every forest branch moves differently in the breeze, but as they sway they connect at the roots. – Rumi • Every man who has reached even his intellectual teens begins to suspect that life is no farce; that it is not genteel comedy even; that it flowers and fructifies on the contrary out of the profoundest tragic depths of the essential dearth in which its subject’s roots are plunged. The natural inheritance of everyone who is capable of spiritual life is an unsubdued forest where the wolf howls and the obscene bird of night chatters. – Henry James, Sr. • Farewell, a long farewell to all my greatness! This is the state of man: today he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, tomorrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honours thick upon him: The third day comes a frost, a killing frost, And – when he thinks, good easy man, full surely His greatness is a-ripening – nips his root, And then he falls, as I do. – William Shakespeare • Fear is the root of all courage. – Vivian Stanshall • Fear of something is at the root of hate for others, and hate within will eventually destroy the hater. – George Washington Carver • For a tree to become tall it must grow tough roots among the rocks. – Friedrich Nietzsche • For our personal advancement in virtue and truth one quality is sufficient, namely, love; to advance humanity there must be two, love and intelligence; to accomplish the Great Work there must be three love, intelligence, and activity. And yet love is ever the root and the source. – Louis Claude de Saint-Martin • For this purpose was I born, let all virtuous people understand. I was born to advance righteousness, to emancipate the good, and to destroy all evil-doers root and branch. – Guru Gobind Singh • Forgiveness of sin strikes the root of all pain. – T. B. Joshua • Free expression is the base of human rights, the root of human nature and the mother of truth. To kill free speech is to insult human rights, to stifle human nature and to suppress truth. – Liu Xiaobo • From a family tree that has healthy roots, there emerge hearty leaves and most beautiful fruits. – Wes Fesler • General principles… are to the facts as the root and sap of a tree to its leaves. – Samuel Taylor Coleridge • Give the ones you love wings to fly, roots to come back and reasons to stay. – Dalai Lama • Good parents give their children Roots and Wings. Roots to know where home is, wings to fly away and exercise what’s been taught them. – Jonas Salk • How deep congenital sex-inversion roots may be gathered from the fact that the pleasure-dream of the male Urning has to do with male persons, and of the female with females. – Richard von Krafft-Ebing • How does the Meadow flower its bloom unfold? Because the lovely little flower is free down to its root, and in that freedom bold. – William Wordsworth • Human hopes and human creeds; have their root in human needs. – Eugene Fitch Ware • Humility, the place of entire dependence on God, is the first duty and the highest virtue of the creature, and the root of every virtue. And so pride, or the loss of this humility, is the root of every sin and evil. – Andrew Murray • I am proud of my black roots and of the black blood that runs in my veins. – Ryan Giggs • I am sometimes asked, ‘Why do you spend so much of your time and money talking about kindness to animals when there is so much cruelty to men?’ I answer: ‘I am working at the roots.’ – George Thorndike Angell • I believe it is important for the university to always remember its roots. – Michael N. Castle • I believe the root of all happiness on this earth to lie in the realization of a spiritual life with a consciousness of something wider than materialism; in the capacity to live in a world that makes you unselfish because you are not overanxious about your own comic fallibilities; that gives you tranquility without complacency because you believe in something so much larger than yourself. – Hugh Walpole • I believe we are a species with amnesia, I think we have forgotten our roots and our origins. I think we are quite lost in many ways. And we live in a society that invests huge amounts of money and vast quantities of energy in ensuring that we all stay lost. A society that invests in creating unconsciousness, which invests in keeping people asleep so that we are just passive consumers or products and not really asking any of the questions.- Graham Hancock • I came into the world charged with the duty to uphold the right in every place, to destroy sin and evil… the only reason I took birth was to see that righteousness may flourish, that good may live, and tyrants be torn out by their roots. – Guru Gobind Singh • I can say-not as a patriotic bromide, but with full knowledge of the necessary metaphysical, epistemological , ethical, political and esthetic roots-that the United States of America is the greatest, the noblest and, in its original founding principles, the only moral country in the history of the world.- Ayn Rand • I can’t multiply myself out of a paper bag. But when it comes to roots, I’m your man. – Jerry Newport • I don’t claim to know an over-arching ‘Meaning of Life,’ but I do operate under the understanding that life should not be lived under the pretense that it is simply a test propagated by an invisible, intangible, Creator-God. And it should not be spent identifying with religious traditions and organized groups that, historically, have been at the root of a tremendous amount of oppression and violence. – David G. McAfee • I feel like I’m a fighter. I’ve fought my whole life to get to where I’m at. I like fight movies. When someone gets knocked down, I like to root for him to succeed. – Ricky Schroder • I hunt everywhere for a life worth living and a knowledge worth knowing. Having roots nowhere, I have everywhere to go. – Elif Safak • I know now that he who hopes to be universal in his art must plant in his own soil. Great art is like a tree, which grows in a particular place and has a trunk, leaves, blossoms, boughs, fruit, and roots of its own. The more native art is, the more it belongs to the entire world, because taste is rooted in nature. When art is true, it is one with nature. This is the secret of primitive art and also of the art of the mastersMichelangelo, Czanne, Seurat, and Renoir. The secret of my best work is that it is Mexican. – Diego Rivera • I never saw a discontented tree. They grip the ground as though they liked it, and though fast rooted they travel about as far as we do. – John Muir • I root for hurricanes. When, courtesy of the Weather Channel, I see one forming in the ocean off the coast of Africa, I find myself longing for it to become big and strong–Mother Nature’s fist of fury, Gaia’s stern rebuke. Considering the havoc mankind has wreaked upon nature with deforesting, stripmining, and the destruction of animal habitat, it only seems fair that nature get some of its own back and teach us that there are forces greater than our own. – James Wolcott • I think it is important to maintain your personality, your roots, very important. – Paz Vega • I think that everything I do tends to root for the underdog. – Judd Apatow • I view Witchcraft as a religion that has evolved over the centuries. I do not consider Witchcraft to be a modern invention. Instead I deal with it in my writings as a Mystery Tradition with long roots to the past. It has always been my position that we don’t need an ancient tradition in order to be validated. We just happen to have one. – Raven Grimassi • I will use whatever position I have in order to root out hypocrisy. Democrats have strong moral values. Frankly, my moral values are offended by some of the things I hear on programs like “Rush Limbaugh,” and we don’t have to put up with that. – Howard Dean • If art is to nourish the roots of our culture, society must set the artist free to follow his vision wherever it takes him. – John F. Kennedy • If busyness can become a kind of violence, we do not have to stretch our perception very far to see that Sabbath time – effortless, nourishing rest – can invite a healing of this violence. When we consecrate a time to listen to the still, small voices, we remember the root of inner wisdom that makes work fruitful. We remember from where we are most deeply nourished, and see more clearly the shape and texture of the people and things before us. – Wayne Muller • If church prelates, past or present, had even an inkling of physiology they’d realize that what they term this inner ugliness creates and nourishes the hearing ear, the seeing eye, the active mind, and energetic body of man and woman, in the same way that dirt and dung at the roots give the plant its delicate leaves and the full-blown rose. – Sean O’Casey • If there is to be an ecologically sound society, it will have to come the grass roots up, not from the top down. – Paul Hawken • Ignorance, the root and the stem of every evil. – Plato • I’ll never forget where I’m from, never forget my roots. It doesn’t matter where I live. I’m English, simple as that. – David Beckham • I’m convinced that FEAR is at the root, of all bad writing – Stephen King • Imagination is a tree. It has the integrative virtues of a tree. It is root and boughs. It lives between earth and sky. It lives in the earth and the wind. The imagined tree imperceptibly becomes a cosmological tree, the tree which epitomises a universe, which makes a universe. – Gaston Bachelard • In almost every musical ever written, there’s a place that’s usually about the third song of the evening – sometimes it’s the second, sometimes it’s the fourth, but it’s quite early – and the leading lady usually sits down on something; sometimes it’s a tree stump in Brigadoon, sometimes it’s under the pillars of Covent Garden in My Fair Lady, or it’s a trash can in Little Shop of Horrors… but the leading lady sits down on something and sings about what she wants in life. And the audience falls in love with her and then roots for her to get it for the rest of the night. – Howard Ashman • In an old song the Mother sings: ‘My sleeping is my dreaming, my dreaming is my thinking, my thinking is my wisdom.’ She is the bed we are born in, in which we sleep and dream, where we are healed, love and die. In her wisdom we remember day’s broken images and carry them down into dreams where their motions roll into shadows and root, growing into stories. – Meinrad Craighead • In essence, there is only one thing God asks of us – that we be men and women of prayer, people for whom God is everything and for whom God is enough. That is the root of peace. We have that peace when the gracious God is all we seek. When we start seeking something besides Him, we lose it. – Brennan Manning • In every forest, on every farm, in every orchard on earth, it’s what’s under the ground that creates what’s above the ground. That’s why placing your attention on the fruits that you have already grown is futile. You cannot change the fruits that are already hanging on the tree. You can, however, change tomorrow’s fruits. But to do so, you will have to dig below the ground and strengthen the roots. – T. Harv Eker • In spite of my great admiration for individual splendid talents I do not accept the star system. Collective creative effort is the root of our kind of art. That requires ensemble acting and whoever mars that ensemble is committing a crime not only against his comrades but also against the very art of which he is the servant. – Constantin Stanislavski • In the NFL game today, there are a lot of better athletes than I am, and quarterbacks these days are faster than the quarterbacks have always been, they’re running like crazy. But I kind of stick to my roots of the disciplined quarterback. You know, I’m doing the same routine every week, studying tapes and working hard, getting ready to play and making good decisions on Sundays. – Peyton Manning • In the Old Testament…God is the owner of the vineyard. Here He is the Keeper, the Farmer, the One who takes care of the vineyard. Jesus is the genuine Vine, and the Father takes care of Him…In the Old Testament it is prophesied that the Lord Jesus would grow up before Him as a tender plant and as a root out of the dry ground. Think how often the Father intervened to save Jesus from the devil who wished to slay Him. The Father is the One who cared for the Vine, and He will care for the branches, too. – J. Vernon McGee • In this era of the global village, the tide of democracy is running. And it will not cease, not in China, not in South Africa, not in any corner of this earth, where the simple idea of democracy and freedom has taken root. – Paul Tsongas • Incorrect assumptions lie at the root of every failure. Have the courage to test your assumptions. – Brian Tracy • Indeed, she often wondered if she were dead, or dying from the inside out, and that was the root of her calm, the reason she could surrender her character. – Gregory Maguire • Industry is the root of all ugliness.- Oscar Wilde • Is where you’re from the place you’re leaving or where you have roots? – Sara Gruen • It is necessary not only to relieve the gravest needs but to go to their roots, proposing measures that will give social, political and economic structures a more equitable and solidaristic configuration. – Pope Benedict XVI • It isn’t a coincidence that governments everywhere want to educate children. Government education, in turn, is supposed to be evidence of the state’s goodness and its concern for our well-being. The real explanation is less flattering. If the government’s propaganda can take root as children grow up, those kids will be no threat to the state apparatus. They’ll fasten the chains to their own ankles. H.L. Mencken once said that the state doesn’t just want to make you obey. It tries to make you want to obey. And that’s one thing the government schools do very well. – Llewellyn Rockwell • I’ve also gotten to play in front of a million people in Central Park when there was a grass roots movement calling for nuclear disarmament – it was about 1982 – they called it Peace Sunday. – Jackson Browne • I’ve grown certain that the root of all fear is that we’ve been forced to deny who we are. – Frances Moore Lappé • Just as a tree, though cut down, can grow again and again if its roots are undamaged and strong, in the same way if the roots of craving are not wholly uprooted sorrows will come again and again – Gautama Buddha • Just as a tree, though cut down, sprouts up again if its roots remain uncut and firm, even so, until the craving that lies dormant is rooted out, suffering springs up again and again. – Gautama Buddha • kindnesses have wings and roots … wings that never droop, and roots that never die. – Mary Louisa Molesworth • Land is a nation’s basis for existence. The nation has its roots like those of a tree deep in the country’s soil whence it derives its nourishment and life. There is no people that can live without land, as there is no tree which can live hanging in air. – Corneliu Zelea Codreanu • Lessons, however, that enter the soul against its will never grow roots and will never be preserved inside it. – Plato • Let no man pretend to fear sin that does not fear temptation also! These two are too closely united to be separated. He does not truly hate the fruit who delights in the root. – John Owen • Let the gentle bush dig its root deep and spread upward to split the boulder. – Carl Sandburg • Let us not be surprised when we have to face difficulties. When the wind blows hard on a tree, the roots stretch and grow the stronger, Let it be so with us. Let us not be weaklings, yielding to every wind that blows, but strong in spirit to resist. – Amy Carmichael • Life is like a tree and its root is consciousness. Therefore, once we tend the root, the tree as a whole will be healthy. – Deepak Chopra • Life is uncertain. Eternity is not. Unforgiveness cannot be allowed to last another day. Are you holding a grudge? You will never be more like God than when you forgive. Let it go. Kill the root of bitterness. Let the hurt go and set yourself free. – Craig Groeschel • Like roots finding water, we always wind up moving towards what sustains us. – Mark Nepo • Love is like a tree, it grows of its own accord, it puts down deep roots into our whole being. – Victor Hugo • Many of those who are driven to this life are desperately searching for those pockets of silence where we can root and grow. – Mark Rothko • Metaphor is our mental root of imagination and language. Arnold Kozak offers fertile metaphors for growing your knowledge of the Buddhadharma. If you contemplate these brief stories, your emotional intelligence and mindfulness will develop effortlessly from the insights they provide. – Polly Young-Eisendrath • Modern societies accepted the treasures and the power offered them by science. But they have not accepted – they have scarcely even heard – its profounder message: the defining of a new and unique source of truth, and the demand for a thorough revision of ethical premises, for a complete break with the animist tradition, the definitive abandonment of the ‘old covenant’, the necessity of forging a new one. Armed with all the powers, enjoying all the riches they owe to science, our societies are still trying to live by and to teach systems of values already blasted at the root by science itself. – Jacques Monod • My entire delight was in observing without being myself noticed,- if I could have been invisible, all the better. . . to be in the midst of it, and rejoice and wonder at it, and help it if I could, – happier if it needed no help of mine, – this was the essential love of Nature in me, this the root of all that I have usefully become, and the light of all that I have rightly learned. – John Ruskin • My music had roots which I’d dug up from my own childhood, musical roots buried in the darkest soil. – Ray Charles • My roots and Victor’s are jazz, basically, but these two young fellows that we have with us come out of rock bands. And they’re tremendously exciting players. – Chico Hamilton • Nature does have manure and she does have roots as well as blossoms, and you can’t hate the manure and blame the roots for not being blossoms. – R. Buckminster Fuller • No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind action leads to another. Good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves. – Amelia Earhart • No one comes from the earth like grass. We come like trees. We all have roots. – Maya Angelou • No tree, it is said, can grow to heaven unless its roots reach down to hell. – Carl Jung • O, You who are ever giving life to all life, moving all creatures, root of all things, washing them clean, wiping out their mistakes, healing their wounds, You are our true life, luminous, wonderful, awakening the heart from its ancient sleep. – Hildegard of Bingen • Once the seed of faith takes root, it cannot be blown away, even by the strongest wind – Now that’s a blessing. – Rumi • Or did you say it’s the love of money that’s the root of all evil? To love a thing is to know its nature. To love money is to known and love the fact that money is the creation of the best power within you, and your passkey to trade your effort for the effort of the best among men. It’s the person who would sell his soul for a nickel, who is loudest in proclaiming his hatred of money – and he has good reason to hate it. The lovers of money are willing to work for it. They know they are able to deserve it. – Ayn Rand • Our life depends on others so much that at the root of our existence is a fundamental need for love. That is why it is good to cultivate an authentic sense of responsibility and concern for the welfare of others. – Dalai Lama • Our lives are like islands in the sea, or like trees in the forest. The maple and the pine may whisper to each other with their leaves … But the trees also commingle their roots in the darkness underground, and the islands also hang together through the ocean’s bottom. – William James • Our world, so we see and hear on all sides, is drowning in materialism, commercialism, consumerism. But the problem is not really there. What we ordinarily speak of as materialism is a result, not a cause. The root of materialism is a poverty of ideas about the inner and the outer world. Less and less does our contemporary culture have, or even seek, commerce with great ideas, and it is that lack that is weakening the human spirit. This is the essence of materialism. Materialism is a disease of the mind starved for ideas. – Jacob Needleman • Paul spoke about the root of faith (Eph 2:8). James spoke about the fruit of faith (Jm 2:17-18). – Adrian Rogers • Perhaps this is the root of all evil, that gardeners are not put in charge of our schools. – Helen DeWitt • Refusal to accept the flow of the world is the root of all misery. – Devdutt Pattanaik • Remember, the political idea being expressed a year ago was that because the GOP interpreted its 1994 mandate as a call to budget-balancing austerity, the electorate would never give the White House to the GOP if its nominee was also a root-canal austerian. – Jude Wanniski • Remember, we without our roots and branches cannot be saved. – Quentin L. CookReturn to the root and you will find the meaning. – Sengcan • Roots are nice, but a tree can’t run. – Andrew Vachss • Roots are not in landscape or a country, or a people, they are inside you. – Isabel Allende • Selfishness is the most constant of human motives. Patriotism, humanity, or the love of God may lead to sporadic outbursts sweep away the heaped-up wrongs of centuries; but they languish at times, while the love of self works on ceaselessly, unwearyingly,burrowing always at the very root of life, and heaping up fresh wrongs for other centuries to sweep away. – Charles W. Chesnutt • Shallow breathing is the root of all evil but conscious deep breathing restores and secures our souls. – Desmond Green • Since being a Jew not only means that I bear within me a catastrophe that occurred yesterday and cannot be ruled out for tomorrow, it is-beyond being a duty-also fear. Every morning when I get up I can read the Auschwitz number on my forearm, something that touches the deepest and most closely intertwined roots of my existence; indeed I am not even sure if this is not my entire existence. Then I feel approximately as I did back then when I got a taste of the first blow from a policeman’s fist. Every day anew I lose my trust in the world. – Jean Amery • Slavery has become so engrafted into the policy of the Southern States, that it cannot be eradicated without tearing up by the roots their happiness, tranquillity, and prosperity. – William Loughton Smith • So our human life but dies down to its root, and still puts forth its green blade to eternity. – Henry David Thoreau • So we took out those 3 root canals when she had 3-6 months to live. And that was 6 years ago, and she is still alive today, and MRI can’t find the tumour anymore. It went away. – Hal Huggins • Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires. – John Steinbeck • Some of the roots of role-playing games (RPGs) are grounded in clinical and academic role assumption and role-playing exercises. – Gary Gygax • Sorrow prepares you for joy. It violently sweeps everything out of your house, so that new joy can find space to enter. It shakes the yellow leaves from the bough of your heart, so that fresh, green leaves can grow in their place. It pulls up the rotten roots, so that new roots hidden beneath have room to grow. Whatever sorrow shakes from your heart, far better things will take their place. – Rumi • States that rise quickly, just as all the other things of nature that are born and grow rapidly, cannot have roots and ramifications; the first bad weather kills them – Niccolo Machiavelli • Storms make the oak grow deeper roots. – George Herbert • Storms make trees take deeper roots. – Dolly Parton • Stressing the practice of living purposefully as essential to fully realized self-esteem is not equivalent to measuring an individual’s worth by his or her external achievements. We admire achievements-in ourselves and others-and it is natural and appropriate for us to do so. But that is not the same thing as saying that our achievements are the measure or grounds of our self-esteem. The root of our self-esteem is not our achievements but those internally generated practices that, among other things, make it possible for us to achieve. – Nathaniel Branden • Temperance is a tree which as for its root very little contentment, and for its fruit calm and peace. – Gautama Buddha • The average man can’t prove most of the things that he chooses to speak of, and still won’t research and find out the root of the truth that you seek of – Damian Marley • The blues are the roots and the other musics are the fruits. It’s better keeping the roots alive, because it means better fruits from now on. The blues are the roots of all American music. As long as American music survives, so will the blues. – Willie Dixon • The Death of Money is an engrossing account of the massive stresses accumulating in the global financial system, especially since the 2008 financial crisis. Jim Rickards is a natural teacher. Any serious student of financial crises and their root causes needs to read this book. – John H. Makin • The deep root of failure in our lives is to think, ‘Oh how useless and powerless I am.’ It is essential to think strongly and forcefully, ‘I can do it,’ without boasting or fretting. – Dalai Lama • The faculty of voluntarily bringing back a wandering attention, over and over again, is the very root of judgment, character, and will… An education which should improve this faculty would be the education par excellence. – William James • The first duty of a Christian, of a disciple and follower of Jesus Christ, is to deny himself. To deny oneself means to give up one’s bad habits, to root out of the heart all that ties us to the world; not to cherish bad desires and thoughts; to quench and suppress bad thoughts; to avoid occasions of sin; not to do or desire anything from self-love but to do everything out of love for God. To deny oneself means, according to the Apostle Paul, to be dead to sin and the world, but alive to God. – Innocent of Alaska • The greatest gifts you can give your children are the roots of responsibility and the wings of independence. – Denis Waitley • The growth of all the plants of the garden from seeds and roots keep us mindful, in accordance with of the Parable of the Sower, of the need for our loving, mortified reception and cultivation in our hearts and souls of the seeds and roots of the supernatural gifts and virtues necessary for progress in the ascetical/mystical ascent of our souls toward union with God and with the divine will for Creation and Kingdom – John Stokes • The hidden so-called scholars of old did not hide themselves and refuse to be seen. They did not close the door on their words and refuse to let them out. They did not shut away their wisdom and refuse to share it. But those times were all haywire. If it had been possible for them to act, they could have done great things, bringing all to Oneness without any sign of doing so. However, the times were not favorable and it was not possible, so they put down deep roots, remained still and waited. this was the Tao by which they survived. – Zhuangzi • The idea that some lives matter less is the root of all that is wrong with the world. – Paul Farmer • The lack of money is the root of all evil. – Mark Twain • The mind is the root from which all things grow. If you can understand the mind, everything else is included. – Bodhidharma • The moment God put a dream in your heart, the moment the promise took root, God not only started it, but He set a completion date. – Joel Osteen • The noble must make humility his root. – Laozi • The organizer of industry who thinks he has ‘made’ himself and his business has found a whole social system ready to his hand in skilled workers, machinery, a market, peace and order – a vast apparatus and a pervasive atmosphere, the joint creation of millions of men and scores of generations. Take away the whole social factor, and we have not Robinson Crusoe with his salvage from the wreck and his acquired knowledge, but the native savage living on roots, berries and vermin. – Leonard Trelawny Hobhouse • The pain that comes from deep love makes your love more fruitful. It is like a plow that breaks the ground to allow the seed to take root. – Henri Nouwen • The pleasure of rooting for Goliath is that you can expect to win. The pleasure of rooting for David is that, while you don’t know what to expect, you stand at least a chance of being inspired. – Michael Lewis • The problem is that many bitter people don’t know they are bitter. since they are so convinced that they are right, they can’t see their own wrong in the mirror. And the longer the root of bitterness grows, the more difficult it is to remove. – Craig Groeschel • The revolt of the poet is invariably conservative at its roots. … Not politically conservative, but imaginatively conservative, with a profound regard for what is given, as earth or air, sun or moon or stars, or the dreams of man. – Cid Corman • The root of all desires is the one desire: to come home, to be at peace. – Jean Klein • The root of all sin is the suspicion that God is not good. – Oswald Chambers • The root of compassion, is compassion for oneself. – Pema Chodron • The root of humanly caused evil is not man’s animal nature, not territorial aggression, or innate selfishness, but our need to gain self-esteem, deny our mortality, and achieve a heroic self-image. Our desire for the best is the cause of the worst. – Sam Keen • The root of suffering is attachment – Gautama Buddha • The root of the word education is e-ducere, literally, to lead forth, or to bring out something which is potentially present. – Erich Fromm • The roots of all goodness lie in the soil of appreciation for goodness. – Dalai Lama • The roots of education are bitter, but the fruit is sweet. – Aristotle • The roots of great innovation are never just in the technology itself. They are always in the wider historical context. They require new ways of seeing. As Einstein put it, ‘The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.’ – David Brooks • The root-trouble of the present distress is that the Church has more faith in the world and the flesh than in the Holy Ghost. – Samuel Chadwick • The silence of the forest is my bride and the sweet dark warmth of the whole world is my love, and out of the heart of that dark warmth comes the secret that is heard only in silence, but it is the root of all the secrets that are whispered by all the lovers in their beds all over the world. – Thomas Merton • The Singing of Swans is a remarkable narrative calling–even compelling–us to connect with our own ancestral roots, to seek our own inner wisdom, and to reclaim our own inner voices! – Margaret Starbird • The ten thousand things flourish and then each returns to the root from which it came. Returning to the root is stillness. Through stillness each fulfils its destiny. – Laozi • The therapist does not treat patients by simply giving them another set of beliefs. He or she tries to help them see which kinds of ideas and beliefs have led to their suffering. Many patients want to get rid of their painful feelings, but they do not want to get rid of their beliefs, the viewpoints that are the very roots of their feelings. – Nhat Hanh • The tree of love its roots hath spread Deep in my heart, and rears its head; Rich are its fruits: they joy dispense; Transport the heart, and ravish sense. In love’s sweet swoon to thee I cleave, Bless’d source of love. – Francis of Assisi • The true penance comes when God takes away the soul’s health and strength for doing penance. Even though I have mentioned elsewhere the great pain this lack causes, the pain is much more intense here. All these things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted. – Teresa of Avila • The word relationship is beautiful. The original meaning of the root from which the word to relate comes is exactly the same as to respond. Relationship comes from that word respond. If you have any image of your wife or husband, you cannot respond, and hence relate, to the truth of the person. And we all go on carrying images. – Rajneesh • The word ‘vegetable’ has no precise botanical meaning in reference to food plants, and we find that almost all parts of plants have been employed as vegetables – roots (carrot and beet), stems (Irish potato and asparagus), leaves (spinach and lettuce), leaf stalk (celery and Swiss chard), bracts (globe artichoke), flower stalks and buds (broccoli and cauliflower), fruits (tomato and squash), seeds (beans), and even the petals (Yucca and pumpkin). – Charles Heiser • The world is part of our own self and we are a part of its suffering wholeness. Until we go to the root of our image of separateness, there can be no healing … Only when our feet learn once again how to walk in a sacred manner, and our hearts hear the real music of creation, can we bring the world back into balance. – Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee • There are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our children. One of these is roots, the other, wings. – Johann Wolfgang von Goethe • There are three kinds of violence: one, through our deeds; two, through our words; and three, through our thoughts. …The root of all violence is in the world of thoughts, and that is why training the mind is so important. – Eknath Easwaran • There are two great systems in the body of man: the tree of life, which is the arterial with its roots in the heart; and, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, i.e. the nervous system, which has its roots in the brain. These two “trees” are physical manifestations of a complicated network of branching energy currents in the aura or superphysical bodies. – Manly Hall • There is a principle which is pure, placed in the human mind, which in different places and ages hath had different names. It is, however, pure and proceeds from God. It is deep and inward, confined to no forms of religion nor excluded from any, where the heart stands in perfect sincerity. In whomsoever this takes root and grows, of what nation soever, they become brethren in the best sense of the expression. – John Woolman • There is no abstract Evil; you have to understand that! Its roots are here, all around us, in this herd that goes on chewing and having a good time only an hour after a murder! That’s what you have to fight for. For people. Evil is a hydra with many heads, and the more of them you cut off, the more it grows! Hydras have to be starved to death, do you understand that? Kill a hundred Dark Ones, and a thousand more will take their place. – Sergei Lukyanenko • They read their sports pages, know their statistics and either root like hell or boo our butts off. I love it. Give me vocal fans, pro or con, over the tourist types who show up in Houston or Montreal and just sit there. – Mike Schmidt • Think of the Father as a spring of life begetting the Son like a river and the Holy Ghost like a sea, for the spring and the river and sea are all one nature. Think of the Father as a root, and of the Son as a branch, and the Spirit as a fruit, for the substance in these three is one. The Father is a sun with the Son as rays and the Holy Ghost as heat. – John of Damascus • Though leaves are many, the root is one; Through all the lying days of my youth I swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun Now I may wither into the truth. – William Butler Yeats • To be without trees would, in the most literal way, to be without our roots. – Richard Mabey • To kill the grass you must also remove the root – Pol Pot • To the great tree-loving fraternity we belong. We love trees with universal and unfeigned love, and all things that do grow under them or around them – the whole leaf and root tribe. Not alone when they are in their glory, but in whatever state they are – in leaf, or rimed with frost, or powdered with snow, or crystal-sheathed in ice, or in severe outline stripped and bare against a November sky – we love them. – Henry Ward Beecher • To the great tree-loving fraternity we belong. We love trees with universal and unfeigned love, and all things that do grow under them or around them – the whole leaf and root tribe. – Henry Ward Beecher • To write or speak is to communicate. To communicate is to share meanings, make them ‘common’ to all participants in the discourse. (The etymological root of communication means ‘common.’) – Robin Lakoff • Tofu is the root of all evil, and there’s only one thing that can change a man’s mind, and that’s a modified Uzi with an extra-long clip. – Robert Downey, Jr. • Too many times we pray for ease, but that’s a prayer seldom met. What we need to do is pray for roots that reach deep into the Eternal, so when the rains fall and the winds blow, we won’t be swept asunder. – Philip Gulley • Truth will never come into our minds so long as there will remain the faintest shadow of Ahamkâra (egotism). All of you should try to root out this devil from your heart. Complete self-surrender is the only way to spiritual illumination. – Swami Vivekananda • Unfortunately, you’ve grown up hearing voices that incessantly warn of government as nothing more than some separate, sinister entity that’s at the root of all our problems. Some of these same voices also do their best to gum up the works. They’ll warn that tyranny is always lurking just around the corner. You should reject these voices. – Barack Obama • Wakening from the dreaming forest there, the hazel-sprig sang under my tongue, its drifting fragrance climbed up through my conscious mind as if suddenly the roots I had left behind cried out to me, the land I had lost with my childhood – and I stopped, wounded by the wandering scent. – Pablo Neruda • War is behavior with roots in the single cell of the primeval seas. Eat whatever you touch or it will eat you. – Frank Herbert • We also have a tendency to root for the fugitive. We’re always on the side of the animal being chased. – Norman Jewison • We are all born as animals and live the life that animals live: we sleep, eat, reproduce, and fight. There is, however, another order of living, which the animals do not know, that of awe before the mystery of being … that can be the root and branch of the spiritual sense of one’s days. That is the birth – the Virgin Birth – in the heart of a properly human, spiritual life. – Joseph Campbell • We are often indifferent to our brethren who are distressed or upset, on the grounds that they are in this state through no fault of ours. The Doctor of souls, however, wishing to root out the soul’s excuses from the heart, tells us to leave our gift and to be reconciled not only if we happen to be upset by our brother, but also if he is upset by us, whether justly or unjustly; only when we have healed the breach through our apology should we offer our gift. – John Cassian • We cannot afford the still-birth of new ideas that lack the life force that comes from the depths. We are called to return to the root of our being where the sacred is born. Then, standing in both the inner and outer worlds, we will find our self to be part of the momentous synchronicity of life giving birth to itself. – Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee • We have our roots in country, and that’s our foundation, but we pull from a lot. – Dave Haywood • We know that silence equals consent when atrocities are committed against innocent men, women and children. We know that indifference equals complicity when bigotry, hatred and intolerance are allowed to take root. And we know that education and hope are the most effective ways to combat ignorance and despair. – Gabrielle Giffords • We must alert and organise the world’s people to pressure world leaders to take specific steps to solve the two root causes of our environmental crises – exploding population growth and wasteful consumption of irreplaceable resources. Overconsumption and overpopulation underlie every environmental problem we face today. – Jacques Yves Cousteau • We must win the common people in every corner. This will be obtained chiefly by means of the schools, and by open, hearty behavior, show, condescension, popularity, and toleration of their prejudices, which we shall at leisure root out and dispel. – Adam Weishaupt • We need to discover the root causes of success rather than the root causes of failure. – David Cooperrider • We should embrace our immigrant roots and recognize that newcomers to our land are not part of the problem, they are part of the solution. – Roger Mahony • We should forget about small efficiencies, say about 97% of the time: premature optimization is the root of all evil. – Donald Knuth • What I’ve found is that country doesn’t refer to where you grew up as much as where your heart grows down, where it takes root. Country is a state of mind. I believe what ultimately defines being country is simple: a loving heart, a helping hand, an open mind, poor in spirit. – Clay Walker • What makes the strength of the soldier isn’t the energy he uses trying to intimidate the other guy by sending him a whole lot of signals, it’s the strength he’s able to concentrate within himself, by staying centered. That Maori player was like a tree, a great indestructible oak with deep roots and a powerful radiance- everyone could feel it. And yet you also got the impression that the great oak could fly, that it would be as quick as the wind, despite, or perhaps because of, its deep roots. – Muriel Barbery • Whatever you have to say, leave The roots on, let them Dangle And the dirt Just to make clear Where they come from. – Charles Olson • When the doubters tell you it can’t be done and all kind of tragedies will come your way, I say nonsense. If you can get to the very root of who you are and make something happen from it, my sense tells me you are going to surprise yourself. – Vidal Sassoon • When the sun shouts and people abound One thinks there were the ages of stone and the age of bronze And the iron age; iron the unstable metal; Steel made of iron, unstable as his mother; the tow-ered-up cities Will be stains of rust on mounds of plaster. Roots will not pierce the heaps for a time, kind rains will cure them, Then nothing will remain of the iron age And all these people but a thigh-bone or so, a poem Stuck in the world’s thought, splinters of glass In the rubbish dumps, a concrete dam far off in the mountain. – Robinson Jeffers • When you are up against a wall, put down roots like a tree, until clarity comes from deeper sources to see over that wall and grow. – Carl Jung • When you open up to the ultimate, immediately it pours into you. You are no longer an ordinary human being – you have transcended. Your insight has become the insight of the whole existence. Now you are no longer separate – you have found your roots. – Rajneesh • Where there is no fruit, there may be no root. – Sam Storms • Whether rich or poor, a home is not a home unless the roots of love are ever striking deeper through the crust of the earthly and the conventional, into the very realities of being, not consciously always; seldom, perhaps; the simplicity of loving grows by living simply near nature and God. – Lucy Larcom • Whoever touches the life of the child touches the most sensitive point of a whole which has roots in the most distant past and climbs toward the infinite future. – Maria Montessori • Without ambition no conquests are made, and no business created. Ambition is the root of all achievement. – James A. Champy • Woman is the root of all evil. – St. Jerome • Wonderful songwriting, beautiful production, and deeply rooted in what makes American Roots Music great: Deep Southern Pain. It’s the hurt that brings the songs, and it’s the songs that heal the hurt. Jonathan’s songs bring us there, and back. Check this record out, it’s a good ‘un. – Mary Gauthier • You are the root of heaven, the morning star, the bright moon, the house of endless Love – Rumi • You can’t have the fruits without the roots. – Stephen Covey • You don’t need to condemn. Just observe, That is sin. That is insanity. That is unconsciousness. Above all, don’t forget to observe your own mind. Seek out the root of the insanity there. – Eckhart Tolle • You have first an instinct, then an opinion, then a knowledge, as the plant has root, bud, and fruit. – Ralph Waldo Emerson • You have to know what’s happening in the locker rooms, you have to know what’s happening at the grass-roots level. That’s the best way to work. – Jacques Rogge • You shall be my roots and I will be your shade, though the sun burns my leaves. You shall quench my thirst and I will feed you fruit, though time takes my seed. And when I’m lost and can tell nothing of this earth you will give me hope. And my voice you will always hear. And my hand you will always have. For I will shelter you. And I will comfort you. And even when we are nothing left, not even in death, I will remember you. – Mark Z. Danielewski • You thought I was that type: that you could forget me, and that I’d plead and weep and throw myself under the hooves of a bay mare, or that I’d ask the sorcerers for some magic potion made from roots and send you a terrible gift: my precious perfumed handkerchief. Damn you! I will not grant your cursed soul vicarious tears or a single glance. And I swear to you by the garden of the angels, I swear by the miracle-working ikon, and by the fire and smoke of our nights: I will never come back to you. – Anna Akhmatova

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'a', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_a').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_a img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'e', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_e').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_e img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

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jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'o', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_o').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_o img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'u', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_u').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_u img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

jQuery(document).ready(function($) var data = action: 'polyxgo_products_search', type: 'Product', keywords: 'y', orderby: 'rand', order: 'DESC', template: '1', limit: '4', columns: '4', viewall:'Shop All', ; jQuery.post(spyr_params.ajaxurl,data, function(response) var obj = jQuery.parseJSON(response); jQuery('#thelovesof_y').html(obj); jQuery('#thelovesof_y img.swiper-lazy:not(.swiper-lazy-loaded)' ).each(function () var img = jQuery(this); img.attr("src",img.data('src')); img.addClass( 'swiper-lazy-loaded' ); img.removeAttr('data-src'); ); ); );

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equitiesstocks · 4 years

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Roots Quotes

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topworldhistory · 5 years

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Loved ones could be sold away at any time. Here's how married couples coped.

For enslaved African Americans, the ideal of marriage as an enduring lifelong bond was rarely an option. When couples stood before clergy or other officiants, they couldn’t share the traditional, age-old promises of permanent fidelity because their vows had a built-in asterisk: “Do you take this woman or this man to be your spouse—until death or distance do you part?”

Understanding those altered words, couples married with trepidation, fully aware of the turmoil that might result from trying to maintain and nurture their ties while enslaved. Still, they continually took leaps of faith, driven by burning passions to form families of their choosing—and create fundamental human bonds that could help soften the harsh conditions of human bondage.

These leaps were necessary because, for nearly 250 years, the vast majority of African Americans were considered chattel property. Within this system, white slaveholders made all the decisions: They determined whether and when enslaved people could wed. They split them apart when finances dictated. They sometimes chose who would marry who. Or brazenly violated enslaved couples’ marriages by forcing the women to serve as their own concubines. And those in political power set laws that made it exceedingly difficult for freed black people to reside for long near their still-enslaved families without being sucked back into the harrowing state of bondage themselves.

Since marriage was both a civil right and a religious rite afforded only to those with legal standing, enslaved people, who had no recognizable standing in society, could not make contracts of any kind. Their marriages were neither legally binding, nor sanctified by the Christian church, which routinely allowed one of its holiest rites to be tarnished by power, money and whim. Property owners were its leading constituents, and their rights prevailed over human rights. So enslaved people were forced to settle for conditional unions that could be torn asunder at any time.

The chronicle of African American marriage under slavery is one of twists and turns—of intimate bonds being formed, sustained, broken and repeatedly re-created under the strains of an oppressive system. Below are three stories of how enslaved people were affected by, and coped with, the challenges of following their heart.

READ MORE: The Last Slave Ship Survivor Gave an Interview in 1930. It Just Surfaced

A dramatic escape inspired by family loss

Henry Brown, popularly known as Henry "Box" Brown, who escaped slavery by having himself shipped in dry goods crate from Richmond to Philadelphia.

Henry “Box” Brown is not a household name. But he is remembered to history as the enslaved man who mailed himself to freedom. In 1849, he fled Richmond, Virginia, via a custom-made dry goods box that was only big enough to hold his six-foot, 200-pound frame curled up into a fetal position. He arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, met by abolitionists awaiting his delivery, 27 harrowing hours later.

But less widely known is why he fled: His family bonds had been ripped to shreds.

Even though Brown’s mother had warned him of the inevitability of family separation when he was a young boy, nothing could prepare him for the trauma of the actual experience. First, his siblings were split among the heirs of their deceased enslaver. Then he was forced to leave his parents behind to work in a tobacco factory.

He must have thought about these incidents when he began to ponder starting a family of his own. But he put rationality aside when he met Nancy, fell in love and they decided to marry. Their nuptial harmony ended abruptly within a year’s time, however. As Brown later recounted in his memoir, The Narrative of the Life of Henry Box Brown, his enslaver’s “conscientious scruples vanished,” and he sold Nancy to “an exceedingly cruel man” and to a “still more cruel” woman.

They were sold several more times before ending up in the hands of a prospective buyer who offered Brown a deal: If he would pay a portion of Nancy’s sale price, the man would keep her nearby and sell her back to Brown once he had saved enough money. This was a dicey, but tantalizing offer he couldn’t refuse if he had any hope of having a domestic life with his wife and, by then, three children. The new purchaser took advantage of his vulnerability by escalating demands for more money like a hostage taker—and then sold his family anyway.

READ MORE: The Shocking Photo of 'Whipped Peter' That Made Slavery's Brutality Impossible to Deny

The departure of Brown’s family marked the most excruciating days of his life. His wife and young children were caged overnight in a local jail before being auctioned off and marched out of town in ropes and chains. He could do nothing but stand by, watch and listen to their agonizing cries. He chronicled these last moments in his narrative:

I looked for the approach of another gang in which my wife was also loaded with chains. My eye soon caught her precious face, but, gracious heavens! that glance of agony may God spare me from ever again enduring!... I seized hold of her hand while my mind felt unutterable things... I went with her for about four miles hand in hand, but both our hearts were so overpowered with feeling that we could say nothing, and when at last we were obliged to part, the look of mutual love which we exchanged was all the token which we could give each other that we should yet meet in heaven.

After the devastating loss of his family, Brown entertained suicide. Instead, the experience inspired his remarkable escape. Desperate to flee bondage and tell the world about the sufferings of his fellow slaves, he risked bodily injury and death by mailing himself to freedom in the North.

READ MORE: How Sally Hemings and Other Enslaved People Secured Precious Pockets of Freedom

The entangled intimacies of involuntary couples

Slave family on the plantation of Dr. William F. Gaines in Hanover County, Virginia, circa 1862.

Not all enslaved people were allowed to make their own decisions about who to mate with and marry, as Henry and Nancy did. Men and women could be forced to live as husband and wife against their wills, which provoked a range of emotions. Some involuntary couples complied, others fought back and many defied their enslavers by secretly pursuing relationships of their own choosing.

Ellen and Charley Carter and Walker and Alice Wade, who were enslaved in Kentucky, offer a revealing example of the messiness created by unfulfilled love. As we know from Ellen’s Civil War widow’s pension file, Ellen and Charley were thrust together without their consent. Ellen had her eyes set on Walker Wade, but her enslaver, and possibly his, objected to their marriage. Walker had also gotten another woman, Alice, pregnant, and “as he had gotten her into this fix, he married her to save her.” Alice felt the pressure of her slaveholder, who threatened to sell her for having a baby out of wedlock. The reluctant twosome obliged and built a family together.

When the Civil War broke out in 1861, it opened up new opportunities. Walker ran away to join the army, but when he later returned home to Alice, their relationship began to fall apart. Alice “was a drinking woman,” Walker complained. He said that he “stood it as long as he could.”

Meanwhile, the other reluctant couple, Ellen and Charley, also had children. When Charley left to join the army, they had one child; when he returned to Ellen at the end of his service, they had another. But the two would soon part. Ellen had never forgotten Walker Wade. She said, “Walker waited on me when we were young & my owners made me take up with Charley Carter, but I never loved Charley & I did love Walker Wade as a girl & on up to today & I never cared for any other man.”

Walker and Ellen did manage to hook up on the side. Alice wanted to legalize her marriage to Walker, which became possible after slavery ended in 1865. She said Walker refused her because of his relationship with Ellen—and that’s what drove her to drink.

Alice and Walker finally split, but not before they had another child together years after the war. Ellen and Walker reunited and legally married soon after. Alice tried to prevent the nuptials but was told there was nothing she could do. She wasn’t Walker’s legal wife, as the terms of freedom newly defined.

This story dramatizes the dilemma of enslaved people who chose to pursue their true love that had been denied to them through no fault of either party. It also illustrates the turmoil that resulted when they were forced to form involuntary unions—and the determination they often felt to follow their hearts, when they were able to do so once freedom came.

READ MORE: Meet Elizabeth Freeman, the First Enslaved Woman to Sue for Her Freedom—and Win

A Faustian bargain: family or freedom

Five generations of slaves on Smith’s Plantation in Beaufort, S.C., circa 1862.

Imagine a free person re-entering slavery—and all its horrors—for the sake of love. It sometimes happened because the families of enslaved people were often tethered to free African Americans in marriages of mixed-status couples. And these unusual arrangements compromised the status of the free person, sometimes posing unique dilemmas that put their families’ safety and security in opposition to their liberty.

In the antebellum South, lawmakers showed naked contempt for free black people, reflected in a tidal wave of legal restrictions designed to box them in or force them to leave the region. In the 1850s, many laws were passed to expel free blacks and to encourage them to submit to so-called voluntary slavery, in which freed people petitioned states to be re-enslaved to avoid expulsion or other dire circumstances.

These maneuvers most often affected mixed-status families, who were put in the position of having to choose between staying together or having one or more members submit to re-enslavement. Some of them had already tried and failed to get legislators to exempt them from laws that forced them to leave their home states. Submission to legal slavery was the last resort. Their families were already constrained by the lower status of their enslaved kin since they were likely to live and work alongside them on the same plantations under the same rules. The privileges that free people in this context experienced were more often abstract than real.

It’s hard to underestimate the gravity of their sacrifices. The willingness to submit to so-called “voluntary” slavery signified that some free blacks were prepared to prioritize their marital and family ties at any costs. Even families already separated by manumission often reconsidered the relative costs of being free. One man left the state of Virginia and moved to Ohio after being freed—forced out by law—but grew to regret it more and more. He returned to Virginia because he said he “would prefer returning to slavery to losing the society of his wife.”

READ MORE: How Slavery Became the Economic Engine of the South

This amplifies how free African Americans did not experience freedom as an absolute condition or right they could take for granted. The increasingly harsh tactics used by Southern states pushed more free people to weigh the costs of being forced apart from family members or remaining intact, even if meant returning to bondage.

Still, despite the reign of terror that slavery spawned and no matter how much it altered and disfigured black marriages, it did not and could not annihilate them—or the love that sustained them. African Americans proved relentlessly creative and resourceful in building marriages and kinship ties that functioned for their survival. We should never lose sight of the depth of feelings and affection that undergirded these relationships and the sacrifices they were willing to make for the sake of preserving them.

Tera W. Hunter is professor of history and African American studies at Princeton University and the author of Bound in Slavery and To Joy My Freedom, among other books. Follow her on Twitter: @TeraWHunter.

History Reads features the work of prominent authors and historians.

from Stories - HISTORY https://ift.tt/2V6TkCk September 21, 2019 at 01:43AM

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flauntpage · 6 years

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The Outlet Pass: Charlotte's Tailspin, Cavs Trade Targets, and NBA What-Ifs

1. Can Charlotte Turn Things Around?

The Charlotte Hornets are stuck in an injury-induced tailspin. They’ve dropped eight of their last 10 games, including two straight at home against the Los Angeles Lakers and Chicago Bulls. Their head coach is out with a health issue (get well soon, Steve Clifford) and they’re four games back of a playoff spot, with four teams—the Orlando Magic, New York Knicks, Miami Heat, and Brooklyn Nets—standing in their way.

At one point last week they went to their bench and I literally didn’t know the first names of two players on the court. Michael Carter-Williams is making Marcus Smart look like Glen Rice and Malik Monk is barely in the rotation while Donovan Mitchell (the next guard selected) is averaging 27.2 points per game in December.

Charlotte's starting five is fine when everybody’s healthy but they've only played Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum, Marvin Williams, Dwight Howard, and Jeremy Lamb together for seven minutes all season. Normally, they are stuck with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist on the floor, dragging the offense down. Just look at how disrespectful the Thunder are to MKG in the play below.

Kidd-Gilchrist isn’t fooling anyone from deep, but he’s now a modestly-reliable safety valve from 15 feet and in. The Hornets are rushing to execute a 2-for-1 on this particular sequence, but it’s still jarring to see an NBA starter find himself SO open and not come close to touching the ball.

Their primary Batum + Bench unit was doing pretty well before Cody Zeller had knee surgery, though, partially because Lamb was in it. When Dwayne Bacon replaces Kidd-Gilchrist in the starting lineup they destroy people.

Ultimately, it all comes down to the Hornets just not being very good when Walker isn’t in the game. According to Cleaning the Glass, Charlotte is 22.1 points per 100 possessions better with Walker on the floor. Even if Batum is the de-facto primary ball-handler, their offense is stagnant and averages less than one point per possession. That’s so bad, but everything goes to hell when they’re both out. (The starting five is okay, but not crushing opponents enough to justify heavy minutes together while the bench can’t fend for itself.)

In what almost felt like season-saving victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday night, interim head coach Stephen Silas stretched Walker and Lamb’s playing time into a 15.5-minute stint to open the second half. In his eyes, Charlotte’s bench was a Rob Zombie-directed blood bath. Slaughter would commence the second he switched up his backcourt.

Silas knew Charlotte needed that game. For extending his starters, he was rewarded with ridiculous, completely unsustainable shot making against a defense that sorely missed Andre Roberson (I think Alex Abrines just fouled another three-point shooter). But a win is a win is a win.

With their upcoming schedule providing zero seconds to exhale, the Hornets will either get healthy, tinker with the rotation and stop their ship from sinking, or face some difficult questions before the trade deadline. (‘Does anyone want the $76 million left on Batum’s contract? How about the $29 million owed to Marvin Williams?’ or, ‘Can we please for the love of God find a backup point guard?’)

Barring a significant transaction, next year’s roster will look about the same as this one, plus whoever they get in the draft. But whether or not this team views itself as a buyer or a seller is another relevant discussion. The Hornets have enough talent to make the playoffs and even win a few games once they get in (or even an entire series if they can somehow grab the sixth seed).

Rebuilding won’t be easy with this cap sheet, and Walker is smack dab in the middle of his prime. If Monk doesn’t make rapid progress from here on out, do they think about dealing him and/or their first-round pick in the 2018 draft for immediate help? Injuries stink and so does bad luck, but the Hornets aren’t as rudderless as they currently feel. We’ll know even more about the direction they should head as the next couple months unfold.

2. This Year’s NBA What-Ifs Are Pretty Great

This season has been filled with a handful of shocking developments. After a possible career-altering injury to their best all-around player, the Boston Celtics are very good. With their entire roster 100 percent healthy (relatively speaking), the Oklahoma City Thunder are not very good. The Indiana Pacers are good. The Miami Heat are bad. The Portland Trail Blazers are Stranger Things Season 3.

Based on reports and rumors from various points throughout the offseason, here’s a semi-educated look at how things might look today had a few key moves gone down a bit differently.

A. Carmelo Anthony is traded to the Portland Trail Blazers

For the sake of argument, let’s just say Portland gave up Evan Turner, Mo Harkless, and a future first-round pick. So, in all likelihood, the Blazers would start Melo at the three, Al-Farouq Aminu at the four, and Jusif Nurkic at center. That starting five looks offensively unstoppable on paper, but, like, so does Oklahoma City's. Make this trade and what happens to Portland's top-five defense? Are they still rebounding this well? Do they score at will or does Anthony further impede what’s been an unusually static offense?

Photo by Joseph Weiser-USA TODAY Sports

In addition to transforming into a gigantic whoopee cushion whenever he's around the basket—Melo’s days of getting to the free-throw line are, at 33 years old, understandably dunzo—his assist to usage ratio ranks in the ninth percentile at his position. Even though the percentage of his shots that are unassisted hasn’t been this low since he was with the Denver Nuggets (which feels 7,000 years ago), he still loves long twos and there are defiant insecurities related to how he’s approached the seasons' first couple months. His stubbornness has contributed to the league’s most glaring disappointment, and he’s shooting 37.6 percent from the floor over the Thunder's last 10 games.

Would things be different in Portland? Would Anthony play better off C.J. McCollum and Damian Lillard, next to role players who won’t clog the floor and know how to pass? The stakes would be pretty low; Portland would remain unable to circumvent its own flaws and triumphantly battle through a ruthless playoff bracket. But they might be incrementally better than they are now, guaranteed a spot in the postseason, with pleasant vibes carrying them forward.

The other key side effect, assuming every other move happens as it has, is that Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott would still be on the Thunder instead of enjoying Westbrook-free serenity in midtown Manhattan. How would Anthony being in Portland affect Paul George in Oklahoma? Besides more shot opportunities, it’s hard to say. Assuming Billy Donovan chose to stagger his two best players, George would have more time on units that’d call for him to be one of the dozen best players in the world. The team's defense might be even better than it already is.

Westbrook could also spend more time going Full Westbrook, even though Full Westbrook as we knew it last year might be a permanent thing of the past.

B. Gordon Hayward signs with the Miami Heat

Would Kyrie Irving express interest in re-signing with the Boston Celtics if Hayward chose a different team, or were Al Horford’s harmonious style, stable ownership, and Brad Stevens' genius already enough? If not, the Celtics would likely be in the middle of the Eastern Conference with Marcus Smart starting at point guard and Terry Rozier playing 30 minutes a night. They'd disintegrate when Horford hit the bench, and any long-term injury that'd keep him out would be fatal. Also, Jae Crowder would still be around, likely clogging a pipeline that's seen Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown flourish.

If Hayward is healthy, what does Miami’s roster look like? (WHERE IS KELLY OLYNYK?!?) Is Miami better than it is right now or would Hayward struggle within the cramped confines of a Hassan Whiteside-Justise Winslow frontcourt? Even if they didn’t want to re-sign James Johnson or Dion Waiters with Hayward in tow, the Heat might still turn to decreasingly unconventional means, perhaps permanently plopping the one-time All-Star at the four, and having guards like Goran Dragic and Wayne Ellington set ball screens for him 35 feet from the basket.

C. Paul George is traded to the Boston Celtics

Things have so far worked out fine in Boston, but let me crawl out on a limb and declare that this team would be really freaking good if they somehow had Paul George, healthy Hayward, Irving, and Horford on the same team. Sub George for Tatum right now and they’re (maybe but not definitely) a better regular-season team. Their ceiling elevates on both ends in the postseason.

The more important ripple effect here is with Westbrook and the Thunder. Does he sign his extension or demand a trade? What does professional basketball in Oklahoma City even look like? And where are the Indiana Pacers? They don’t have Victor Oladipo (a hipster’s MVP candidate if there ever was one) or Domantas Sabonis. Their optimism would instead spout from Tatum’s magical touch and any other assets Kevin Pritchard could pry from Danny Ainge.

Even though this exercise is purely hypothetical, I’m far too lazy to trace imaginary steps and figure out what Boston’s roster would actually look like, but if the Celtics’ starting five somehow had four All-Stars and Jaylen Brown, um, that team would probably go to the Finals.

3. So, Who Isn’t Shooting Threes?

The highly scientific requirements to answer this question are such: A) a player has to launch no more than one three per game, B) he must average at least 12 minutes, and C) he needs to have appeared in at least 20 games. Here are the 49 players who qualify.

If you hold those benchmarks up against last season (and raise the minimum number of games to 55) that number rises by 12 players. Five years ago that same list had 99 players on it. For those counting at home, with my admittedly arbitrary qualifiers, that means the number of players (who actually play) who don’t use the three-point line is about half what it was during LeBron James’ third season in Miami—hard evidence of a revolution that’s been identified in real time.

Photo by Shanna Lockwood - USA TODAY Sports

Let’s go back to this year’s group, which reads like an endangered species list. How many players on there are useful despite their inability/unwillingness to shoot threes? If we first look at total minutes played, Ben Simmons unsurprisingly ranks first and is a revelatory prospect who's simultaneously defying convention while meeting his expectations. From there we’re infested by a crap ton of traditional big men who impact the game in other areas. They rebound, protect the rim, and set screens. Some space the floor by diving through the paint. Some are still dangerous at the elbow, and can engineer decent offense with their vision and a mid-range jump shot. A very small handful do damage with their back to the basket.

The non-bigs here are exactly who you’d expect: T.J. McConnell, Kyle Anderson, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Shaun Livingston, Tony Allen, Ish Smith, Kidd-Gilchrist, Dejounte Murray, etc. Omri Casspi is on there for some reason, too, somehow posting the highest True Shooting percentage of his career and the lowest three-point rate (The. Warriors. Are. Not. Fair.)

Over a third of everyone listed is at least 29 years old; five years from now this register will probably be half as long as it is today. This is foreseeable and a little depressing. The three-point shot is a game-changing roller-coaster, and when a collection of great shooters help frame the court in a way that broadens driving and passing lanes, the aesthetics can be breathtaking. (The. Warriors. Are. Not. Fair.)

I also just enjoy watching guys like Kidd-Gilchrist and Hollis-Jefferson—those who stand out with idiosyncratic limitations—but if you’re trying to win a championship right now it’s hard to justify their presence in your rotation. None of this is new, but stopping to think about what it means for basketball’s future every so often is necessary. I don’t want every team to play like the Rockets even though no team in the world is more entertaining.

4. Houston’s Angles are Ridiculous

Speaking of the Rockets, I’ve thought about this pass almost every day since it happened:

Like, what the hell? I have so many questions, starting with: In the moment: when did Chris Paul first believe that flinging a one-handed cross-court pass—directly parallel with the baseline—would actually work? Was it born from frustration or design?

As the shot clock ticks on, Tarik Black appears unsure of what he’s supposed to do. Paul directs him to set a down screen for Trevor Ariza, but Ariza instead jogs away in an attempt to drag his man to the weakside corner. Black then runs up to set a ball screen for Paul. There’s six freaking seconds on the clock and not even two dribbles into his assault Paul rifles the ball at an impossibly difficult and rare angle to create a wide-open three on the other side of the floor.

As the pick-and-roll unfolds, Thabo Sefolosha points for Royce O’Neale to stay in the paint and help defend what, in all likelihood, will either be a shot from Paul or Black. Does Paul see this and know it means Sefolosha is about to drop half a step toward the baseline to worry about Ariza in the corner? How is he so smart?!?

Paul and James Harden combine to average 19 assists per game. They’re second and third in the league in that category, respectively. But the Rockets only rank 12th in assist percentage and 29th in passes per game. They’re 28th in secondary assists and 13th in potential assists. That’s partly due to the fact that no team isolates more frequently than Houston. They maximize the space provided by their collection of human catapults and take advantage of the virtuous one-on-one skills possessed by their dual MVP candidates. (Not only do they isolate more than anybody else, no team is more efficient when attacking that way. This team is absurd.)

But Houston’s offense doesn’t peak when the ball is dribbled. Jaw-dropping, spontaneous passes made at angles very few players can even dream about allow the Rockets to generate efficient shots that catch defenses off balance. The surgical precision seen above is not attainable for most guards around the league, but it's basically second nature for Paul and Harden. Quick sidebar: Harden is probably going to win his first MVP this season, but not enough words can be written about Paul, who’s re-asserted himself as the second-best floor general in basketball and an automatic All-NBA member. Passes like that one help explain why.

5. J.J. Redick’s Game Isn’t Supposed to Expand, but it Has

At 33 years old, Redick is playing 33.5 minutes a night for a team that’s averaging 103.2 possessions per 48 minutes when he’s on the floor. Redick has never played this fast and his minutes have never been this high. As everyone fawns over Paul distancing himself from the formulaic style he enjoyed in L.A.,, Redick is experiencing the exact same thing in a role that doesn’t allow him to step on the gas whenever he wants.

Instead of seeing his responsibilities narrow, Redick’s doing more stuff in different ways. According to Synergy Sports, the percentage of all his jumpers that were off the dribble last season was 39 percent. Right now, that number is 47 percent, somewhat-expected uptick that's lowered his accuracy and can partially be attributed to greener teammates.

But heading into the season, without Paul for the first time in half a decade, I wasn’t sure Redick could do much beyond space the floor while Simmons ran high pick-and-rolls or Joel Embiid corralled entry passes on the block. Glue him to the corner and run him off a bunch of pindowns and Philly couldn’t be criticized for misunderstanding their marquee free agent acquisition. Instead, they’ve expanded his responsibilities in some very smart ways.

The ball feels like it’s in his hands far more than it was in Los Angeles. Instead of running through an endless maze of bodies, Redick's slicing defenses open with direct hand-offs and a bit more pick-and-roll action, all ultimately designed to turn the defense’s brain into toast.

Knowing the Lakers want to switch everything, Philly has Redick’s DHO turn into a staggered screen-and-roll. But Kentavious Caldwell-Pope doesn’t stop his pursuit—because Redick is that scary—momentarily putting two on the ball and allowing Redick to find Robert Covington wide open on the opposite wing. Kyle Kuzma switches off Amir Johnson in time to run Covington off the three-point line, but his off-balanced helps introduce the ball to the basket.

Whenever he sets a ball screen, two defenders are forced to communicate in an instant. Should they switch or fight through? Sometimes that question goes unanswered and both follow Redick. And sometimes the split-second hesitation is all a monster like Simmons needs to spark a match and pour gasoline all over the court.

Philadelphia is not good when Simmons and Embiid aren’t on the floor, but Redick stabilizes things as best he can, preventing bad from becoming apocalyptic. His assist rate in those minutes soars up to 25.8 (with a dependable 5.67 assist-to-turnover ratio) and his True Shooting is an uncanny 68.2. Covington is the only Sixer with a higher usage percentage.

All this is a pleasant surprise. I, personally, thought Redick was entering a different phase of his career after Joe Ingles crushed him in the playoffs. But in a new environment, as an elder statesman, Redick has shown that he's far more than a shooter, in a league that should be able to make good use of his talent for years to come.

6. C.J. Miles and The Babies

Since O.G. Anunonby cracked Toronto's starting lineup and Delon Wright dislocated his right shoulder (two events that basically happened at the same time, about a week before Thanksgiving), Raptors head coach Dwane Casey decided to hitch 30-year-old C.J. Miles to a bunch of children. Norm Powell (24 years old), Jakob Poeltl (22 and in need of a better nickname than "Austrian Hammer"), Fred VanVleet (23), and Pascal Siakam (23).

This is Toronto's second-most common five-man group over the past month, and they've been absolutely dreadful on both ends. But guess what? I don't care! Stubborn Casey is good sometimes. Yes, the Raptors should go back to a Lowry + Bench unit that makes opposing second units weep—swap Lowry in for Miles and that exact same supporting cast crushes everybody—but this makes me feel like Miles is a lovable babysitter that you can't, in good conscience, stay mad at.

Playing Miles at the three as opposed to the four doesn't make a ton of sense, but using him to space the floor for an inexperienced collection of players Toronto will need in the playoffs is fine enough for now.

7. Austin Rivers is an Isolation Genius...or Something

Thanks to a slew of notable injuries that have quickly transformed the perennial playoff-contending Los Angeles Clippers into the Los Angeles Clippers, Austin Rivers has been thrust into a role far greater than his ability can handle. But despite being an inefficient, borderline first-option with shaky shot selection, Rivers is also one of the league’s top one-on-one players.

Photo by Kim Klement - USA TODAY Sports

According to Synergy Sports, Rivers averaged 0.94 points per possession in isolation situations last year, a figure that placed him in the 73rd percentile. That’s not bad, even though it was likely boosted an unquantifiable degree thanks to Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Jamal Crawford, J.J. Redick, Marreese Speights and even Ray Felton occupying the opposition's attention in various ways.

This year, surrounded by G-League talent more nights than not, Rivers’ isolation numbers are even better. He’s averaging 1.05 points per possession (74th percentile) and is actually more efficient than established All-Stars like Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and DeMar DeRozan.

Some of this is because the career 35.5 percent three-point shooter has canned 40.7 percent of his outside attempts—including 42.7 percent of his 3.0 pull ups per game. And some of it’s because he never ever ever turns it over. But few players symbolize the “million dollar move, 10 cent finish” expression better than Rivers, who’s a master at breaking his man down off the dribble, entering a crowd of rim protectors, and lofting a prayer towards the basket.

Given that this is such an uncertain time for the Clippers, swapping Rivers out for a second-round pick and expiring money (he has a $12.6 million player option for next year) should be an objective for their front office. Maybe there's a general manager out there who sees these numbers (particularly that impressive shooting) and wonders if Rivers can help his playoff team in a seven-game series.

8. Cleveland’s Juiciest Asset Is Not Really That Juicy

The Brooklyn Nets are, officially, no longer atrocious. Heading into Wednesday night’s action, they had a higher winning percentage than 10 teams despite not having their opening night backcourt starters for most of the season. They’re below average on both sides of the ball, but only three teams launch threes more frequently and only one owns a faster pace.

Brooklyn’s starting five—DeMarre Carroll, Spencer Dinwiddie, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Tyler Zeller, and Allen Crabbe—has obliterated opponents by 25.3 points per 100 possessions since Kenny Atkinson turned to it right before Thanksgiving, and adding Jahlil Okafor, Nik Stauskas, and healthy D’Angelo Russell to the mix will only improve their depth and diversify their offensive options.

When teams start to really tank in March and April, the Nets will be busting their ass to win games and get better at everything they do. All this is bad news for the Cleveland Cavaliers. What was once their crown jewel for Kyrie Irving might now be Zach Collins (who's actually playing pretty well, but that's beside the point).

Does this mean Koby Altman should aggressively shop his best asset around the league? It’s probably still a little too early for that, considering their current rhythm and fact that they’ve yet to see what Isaiah Thomas looks like in their rotation. But the odds of that pick staying in Cleveland feel a lot lower today than they were a couple months ago.

The pick’s dropping value also changes what it’s worth. That means strapping a top-three protection to it and checking on Aaron Gordon’s availability is far more likely than getting someone like Paul George or DeMarcus Cousins. Realistic targets are now closer to the Harrison Barnes, Batum, or Rodney Hood mold (a lottery pick for any of those three is still a dramatic overpay, even though they’d help the Cavs match up better against the Golden State Warriors or Houston Rockets in the Finals).

A couple weeks ago, before the Memphis Grizzlies fired David Fizdale, I wrote that Cleveland should give up the Nets pick for Marc Gasol. I didn’t believe they ever would, but now it’s not so crazy! When you have LeBron James doing UNBELIEVABLE LeBron James things every night, holding back as a front office feels criminal.

What’s the worst that could happen? They lose in the Finals, he leaves, and they don’t have the 10th pick in the draft? How much better off would Cleveland be if they hold onto that pick, lose in the Finals and watch him leave? They were arguably the worst franchise in the league during the four seasons he spent in Miami. Dark days lie ahead no matter what. The best thing they can do is go all-in and capitalize on a historic season from an all-time icon. Trade the pick, Cleveland! Convince him to stay! You're screwed if he leaves even if you have it!

9. David Nwaba is a Good NBA Player

Every time I watch Nwaba he makes three to five effort-intensive plays that makes Chicago feel like a competitive team. He’s just so damn physical, a tenacious rebounder who defends, draws fouls, finishes around the rim, and never turns it over.The Bulls (yes, the Bulls) are outscoring opponents by 4.5 points per 100 possessions with Nwaba on the floor, performing like a 53-win team. He’s awesome, and aside from the fact that he doesn’t shoot threes and there won't be a ton of money to go around this summer, one of the league’s 30 teams would be smart to offer present the restricted free agent with an offer sheet.

10. Finding Hope in Memphis

Almost exactly one year ago, Deyonta Davis tore the plantar fascia in his left foot, a devastating injury for any human being but particularly savage for someone who plays professional basketball and weighs 240 pounds. It essentially ended his rookie season.

In year two, as Marc Gasol’s primary backup thanks to Brandan Wright’s nagging groin injury, Davis is averaging 3.9 points and 3.2 rebounds per game. But in limited time he’s shown decent mobility on the defensive end and a feathery touch around the basket.

As someone who isn't fast enough to scamper around the perimeter, Memphis has him drop defending almost every pick-and-roll. Here he is stepping up to force Abrines to pass to Jerami Grant, then sliding back and forcing a turnover.

Now, against an actual playmaker who knew how to string his dribble out a bit longer, this sequence would probably not have the same result. Davis struggles against bigs who can shoot, too, forcing the Grizzlies to late switch or surrender open threes.

But according to Cleaning the Glass, whenever he's on the floor Memphis allows a ridiculous 11.3 fewer points per 100 possessions. (Opponents are also barely hitting threes when Davis is in the game, so, yeah, that's kind of meaningful and has nothing to do with his defense.)

On the other end, he's shooting 79 percent at the rim. That's really good! And aside from the natural hiccup as he learns to read the floor, taking shots as a roller when he should hit the open man, there are examples of him identifying what he needs to do and executing immediately.

Before he even catches Ben McLemore's pass out of Washington's trap, Davis' eyes are set on the opposite wing, initiating a sequence that leads to an open three and one of the most beautiful possessions Memphis has experienced all season.

He's still a project, but one who only played 600 minutes in college and hardly saw the floor last season. Davis is shooting 72.7 percent whenever he rolls to the basket; the day Gasol leaves Memphis will be dark, but Davis is beginning to flash the talent of someone who deserves a chance to *attempt* to fill those humongous shoes.

The Outlet Pass: Charlotte's Tailspin, Cavs Trade Targets, and NBA What-Ifs published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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amtushinfosolutionspage · 6 years

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The Outlet Pass: Charlotte’s Tailspin, Cavs Trade Targets, and NBA What-Ifs

1. Can Charlotte Turn Things Around?

Charlotte’s starting five is fine when everybody’s healthy but they’ve only played Kemba Walker, Nicolas Batum, Marvin Williams, Dwight Howard, and Jeremy Lamb together for seven minutes all season. Normally, they are stuck with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist on the floor, dragging the offense down. Just look at how disrespectful the Thunder are to MKG in the play below.

2. This Year’s NBA What-Ifs Are Pretty Great

Based on reports and rumors from various points throughout the offseason, here’s a semi-educated look at how things might look today had a few key moves gone down a bit differently.

A. Carmelo Anthony is traded to the Portland Trail Blazers

For the sake of argument, let’s just say Portland gave up Evan Turner, Mo Harkless, and a future first-round pick. So, in all likelihood, the Blazers would start Melo at the three, Al-Farouq Aminu at the four, and Jusif Nurkic at center. That starting five looks offensively unstoppable on paper, but, like, so does Oklahoma City’s. Make this trade and what happens to Portland’s top-five defense? Are they still rebounding this well? Do they score at will or does Anthony further impede what’s been an unusually static offense?

Photo by Joseph Weiser-USA TODAY Sports

In addition to transforming into a gigantic whoopee cushion whenever he’s around the basket—Melo’s days of getting to the free-throw line are, at 33 years old, understandably dunzo—his assist to usage ratio ranks in the ninth percentile at his position. Even though the percentage of his shots that are unassisted hasn’t been this low since he was with the Denver Nuggets (which feels 7,000 years ago), he still loves long twos and there are defiant insecurities related to how he’s approached the seasons’ first couple months. His stubbornness has contributed to the league’s most glaring disappointment, and he’s shooting 37.6 percent from the floor over the Thunder’s last 10 games.

The other key side effect, assuming every other move happens as it has, is that Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott would still be on the Thunder instead of enjoying Westbrook-free serenity in midtown Manhattan. How would Anthony being in Portland affect Paul George in Oklahoma? Besides more shot opportunities, it’s hard to say. Assuming Billy Donovan chose to stagger his two best players, George would have more time on units that’d call for him to be one of the dozen best players in the world. The team’s defense might be even better than it already is.

Westbrook could also spend more time going Full Westbrook, even though Full Westbrook as we knew it last year might be a permanent thing of the past.

B. Gordon Hayward signs with the Miami Heat

Would Kyrie Irving express interest in re-signing with the Boston Celtics if Hayward chose a different team, or were Al Horford’s harmonious style, stable ownership, and Brad Stevens’ genius already enough? If not, the Celtics would likely be in the middle of the Eastern Conference with Marcus Smart starting at point guard and Terry Rozier playing 30 minutes a night. They’d disintegrate when Horford hit the bench, and any long-term injury that’d keep him out would be fatal. Also, Jae Crowder would still be around, likely clogging a pipeline that’s seen Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown flourish.

C. Paul George is traded to the Boston Celtics

3. So, Who Isn’t Shooting Threes?

Photo by Shanna Lockwood – USA TODAY Sports

Let’s go back to this year’s group, which reads like an endangered species list. How many players on there are useful despite their inability/unwillingness to shoot threes? If we first look at total minutes played, Ben Simmons unsurprisingly ranks first and is a revelatory prospect who’s simultaneously defying convention while meeting his expectations. From there we’re infested by a crap ton of traditional big men who impact the game in other areas. They rebound, protect the rim, and set screens. Some space the floor by diving through the paint. Some are still dangerous at the elbow, and can engineer decent offense with their vision and a mid-range jump shot. A very small handful do damage with their back to the basket.

4. Houston’s Angles are Ridiculous

Speaking of the Rockets, I’ve thought about this pass almost every day since it happened:

But Houston’s offense doesn’t peak when the ball is dribbled. Jaw-dropping, spontaneous passes made at angles very few players can even dream about allow the Rockets to generate efficient shots that catch defenses off balance. The surgical precision seen above is not attainable for most guards around the league, but it’s basically second nature for Paul and Harden. Quick sidebar: Harden is probably going to win his first MVP this season, but not enough words can be written about Paul, who’s re-asserted himself as the second-best floor general in basketball and an automatic All-NBA member. Passes like that one help explain why.

5. J.J. Redick’s Game Isn’t Supposed to Expand, but it Has

Instead of seeing his responsibilities narrow, Redick’s doing more stuff in different ways. According to Synergy Sports, the percentage of all his jumpers that were off the dribble last season was 39 percent. Right now, that number is 47 percent, somewhat-expected uptick that’s lowered his accuracy and can partially be attributed to greener teammates.

The ball feels like it’s in his hands far more than it was in Los Angeles. Instead of running through an endless maze of bodies, Redick’s slicing defenses open with direct hand-offs and a bit more pick-and-roll action, all ultimately designed to turn the defense’s brain into toast.

All this is a pleasant surprise. I, personally, thought Redick was entering a different phase of his career after Joe Ingles crushed him in the playoffs. But in a new environment, as an elder statesman, Redick has shown that he’s far more than a shooter, in a league that should be able to make good use of his talent for years to come.

6. C.J. Miles and The Babies

Since O.G. Anunonby cracked Toronto’s starting lineup and Delon Wright dislocated his right shoulder (two events that basically happened at the same time, about a week before Thanksgiving), Raptors head coach Dwane Casey decided to hitch 30-year-old C.J. Miles to a bunch of children. Norm Powell (24 years old), Jakob Poeltl (22 and in need of a better nickname than “Austrian Hammer”), Fred VanVleet (23), and Pascal Siakam (23).

This is Toronto’s second-most common five-man group over the past month, and they’ve been absolutely dreadful on both ends. But guess what? I don’t care! Stubborn Casey is good sometimes. Yes, the Raptors should go back to a Lowry + Bench unit that makes opposing second units weep—swap Lowry in for Miles and that exact same supporting cast crushes everybody—but this makes me feel like Miles is a lovable babysitter that you can’t, in good conscience, stay mad at.

Playing Miles at the three as opposed to the four doesn’t make a ton of sense, but using him to space the floor for an inexperienced collection of players Toronto will need in the playoffs is fine enough for now.

7. Austin Rivers is an Isolation Genius…or Something

Photo by Kim Klement – USA TODAY Sports

Given that this is such an uncertain time for the Clippers, swapping Rivers out for a second-round pick and expiring money (he has a $12.6 million player option for next year) should be an objective for their front office. Maybe there’s a general manager out there who sees these numbers (particularly that impressive shooting) and wonders if Rivers can help his playoff team in a seven-game series.

8. Cleveland’s Juiciest Asset Is Not Really That Juicy

When teams start to really tank in March and April, the Nets will be busting their ass to win games and get better at everything they do. All this is bad news for the Cleveland Cavaliers. What was once their crown jewel for Kyrie Irving might now be Zach Collins (who’s actually playing pretty well, but that’s beside the point).

http://ift.tt/2o4xAdF

9. David Nwaba is a Good NBA Player

Every time I watch Nwaba he makes three to five effort-intensive plays that makes Chicago feel like a competitive team. He’s just so damn physical, a tenacious rebounder who defends, draws fouls, finishes around the rim, and never turns it over.The Bulls (yes, the Bulls) are outscoring opponents by 4.5 points per 100 possessions with Nwaba on the floor, performing like a 53-win team. He’s awesome, and aside from the fact that he doesn’t shoot threes and there won’t be a ton of money to go around this summer, one of the league’s 30 teams would be smart to offer present the restricted free agent with an offer sheet.

10. Finding Hope in Memphis

As someone who isn’t fast enough to scamper around the perimeter, Memphis has him drop defending almost every pick-and-roll. Here he is stepping up to force Abrines to pass to Jerami Grant, then sliding back and forcing a turnover.

But according to Cleaning the Glass, whenever he’s on the floor Memphis allows a ridiculous 11.3 fewer points per 100 possessions. (Opponents are also barely hitting threes when Davis is in the game, so, yeah, that’s kind of meaningful and has nothing to do with his defense.)

On the other end, he’s shooting 79 percent at the rim. That’s really good! And aside from the natural hiccup as he learns to read the floor, taking shots as a roller when he should hit the open man, there are examples of him identifying what he needs to do and executing immediately.

Before he even catches Ben McLemore’s pass out of Washington’s trap, Davis’ eyes are set on the opposite wing, initiating a sequence that leads to an open three and one of the most beautiful possessions Memphis has experienced all season.

He’s still a project, but one who only played 600 minutes in college and hardly saw the floor last season. Davis is shooting 72.7 percent whenever he rolls to the basket; the day Gasol leaves Memphis will be dark, but Davis is beginning to flash the talent of someone who deserves a chance to *attempt* to fill those humongous shoes.

The Outlet Pass: Charlotte’s Tailspin, Cavs Trade Targets, and NBA What-Ifs syndicated from http://ift.tt/2ug2Ns6

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epistolizer · 7 years

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Headline Potpourri #96

According to thespian Emma Thompson, way back in 1998, Donald Trump called her offering accommodations and suggested they could have dinner sometime. If we are to abide by the axiom that what happens between consenting adults is their own business and that he did not unduly threaten her after she declined, does this even rise to the level of a story? After all, Trump was apparently extending his potential conquests courtesies Bill Clinton wasn't at nearly the same time. Just ask Juanita Broderick.

A Virginia man dressed as the Joker and carrying a sword was arrested in part for wearing a mask in public. You think the sword wielding would have been the more obvious charge. Technically, this acolyte of the Crown Prince of Crime was wearing makeup and not a mask. Shouldn't this same law also apply to infidel sows adorned in burqas?

In a lecture titled “Can The Religious Right Be Saved?”, Russell Moore condemned the pastors of his youth that articulated a variety of outlandish statements found nowhere in the Bible. What, sort of like the ones Moore spews forth now?

Outrage has erupted that Trump announced his regime's intentions to enforce immigration law as originally promulgated. But aren't we obligated to obey the law because it is the law? After all, that is what businesses are told faced with choice between providing services for gay weddings or financial ruination.

An HBO producer has plead guilty as an accessory after the fact in the drug death of a 38 year old doctor and mother of three. For the dumping of the body in a hallway, the U.S. attorney said in an issued statement, “Marc Henry Johnson's immediate response to seeing a dying overdose victim should have been to summon help.” That is probably the right response. However, isn't it a bit much to extend the sympathies of victim status? For not only did this woman prefer dope and booze over her children, but as a doctor shouldn't she have known of the impact that results in the overindulgence of these vices? Seems she is responsible in part for her own unfortunate demise.

So if we are supposed to collectively get jacked out of shape over comments made by Bill O'Reilly about a Congresswoman's suspected wig, will society call as vigorously for the condemnation of those mocking balding and graying men? Wonder if those vociferous in their condemnation of Bill O'Reilly's comments ill be as outspoken in their condemnation of the knockout game or when deadbeats pillage after unpopular jury verdicts in order to loot wigs and assorted haircare products.

Jeb Bush has admonished President Trump to stop saying things that are not true. Wonder if the failed candidate was as bold in the criticism of his father's and his brother's respective regimes.

In a Ted Talk, Canadian broadcaster Coleen Christie warned that citizens must be cautious about getting their information from social media because that would mean your neighbor with a thing for cats becomes your news director. By that, she no doubt meant the important task of informing the public cannot be left to amateurs. William F. Buckley once remarked that he'd rather a chance being governed by the names in the opening pages of the phone book rather than the faculty of Harvard University. Along those lines, often these professionals are only groomed for their roles largely because they look good in a short skirt and a blouse with a plunging neckline or because of what secret society they have likely pledged unwavering allegiance to under threat of disembowelment.

In criticism of the so-called “Benedict Option” where it is suggested Christians withdrawal into a quasi-monastic seclusion in order to avoid cultural decay and doctrinal contamination, in SermonAudio remarks Pastor Sean Harris also articulated harsh words about those that retired to the beach or even Christian retirement communities. The pastor counseled that time in these sorts of places needs to be limited because they supposedly keep one away from the body of Christ. What he really must mean is that such alteration to one's life circumstances would end up directing funds away from his particular congregation. For are there not churches in beach communities if one is there that often and not congregations affiliated with or minister to Christians in active adult communities?

Yahoo News is celebrating a child with Down Syndrome as the changing face of beauty. Mind you, these are probably the same pro-abortion ghouls that in any other instance would have pressured parents to eliminate a defective child. Let's see if the public still flocks to support the child when the child is not so cute anymore and he's about a 200 pound middle aged individual still needing to be looked after in a manner similar to a toddler.

There is no winning with some shrill banshee feminists. President Trump is condemned for wallowing in the sins of the flesh over the course of his public life. However, a Washington Post harpy now condemns Vice President Mike Pence for living by a standard where he never dines alone with a woman other than his wife and does not attend functions where alcohol is present without his wife there with him.

Franklin Graham film insists that doctors surviving ebola was a miracle. On Fox News, Graham said this was a story of God saving the lives of these missionaries. If one is going to say that, isn't it conversely the story of God not saving the lives of the thousands He allowed to succumb to this epidemic? Don't like that observation? Why not just say those not weakened by living in squalor and filth might have a bit more of a chance of battling the disease? Perhaps Christian filmmakers ought to give a bit more consideration the implications of what they are saying.

Activist busybodies are now calling for the end of public applause because the gesture is offensive to the deaf. Instead,the emotion once conveyed with this gesture is to be expressed through jazz hands. But doesn't that exclude the blind unable to notice waving hands? But then again, most blind people --- unlike a significant number of deaf --- haven't organized themselves into borderline terrorist groups threatening violence against those pursuing cures to this affliction.

The State of Mississippi considered a proposal where parents would be graded regarding the extent of their involvement in the education of their children. Like it or not, report cards are part of a permanent academic record used to either reward or punish students in terms of future opportunities or the lack thereof. As such, what is to prevent such an assessment from being used against parents in terms of the child protection racket?

Wonder if those so jacked out of shape at a Canadian license plate roughly reading “Assimilate” in reference to the Borg battle cry from Star Trek but not because of any opposition to cybernetic varieties of Transhumanism but out of a desire of minorities to retain the lifestyles of their native lands still demand handouts from the Western societies that they despise so vociferously but can't seemed to renounce the creature comforts of.

The latest buzz surrounding Cinco de Mayo is lamentation regarding cultural misappropriation. In other words, even when they abandon the celebratory commemorations of their own culture in favor of those of a preferred demographic, White people are apparently still obligated to sit around glum-faced in reflective self-loathing.

New York Magazine insists that the Second Amendment makes America vulnerable to ISIS attack. Does the magazine plan to publish a similar article regarding potential terrorism resulting from lax immigration enforcement and swarms of refugees pouring over the border?

On Facebook, I stumbled across a church with a recycling ministry where used items such as furniture and other related things are being collected for international students matriculating at a nearby university. Theoretically, why would the offspring of Alibaba founder Jack Ma or even Prince Harry himself be more worthy of such eleemosynary than the progeny of a Appalachian coal miner or a laid off factory worker? In the vast majority of cases, foreigners coming to study at American universities aren't Kalahari bushmen. Rather they are going to have a significant degree of wealth to begin with if they are coming here just to study. As such, isn't it just as wrong to limit one's charity to those of this particular origin as it would be to limit one's charity to White's only? Furthermore, if these items are no longer good enough for you, isn't it racist to assume that these cast offs are good enough for foreigners? Isn't it about time Christians end this underlying contempt of their own countrymen?

Fox News talking heads applauding Trump's Libery University commencement oration insisting critics are never successful. But doesn't the network's ratings success contradict that message?

In his Liberty University commencement oration, President Trump insisted critics never really accomplish anything. But didn't Trump ride a continual drumbeat of incessant criticism to electoral victory? There is nothing wrong with that. He just shouldn't now attempt to market himself as perennial positivity.

These pharmaceutical commercials make it sound if you aren't in the doctor's office constantly that you aren't blessed but rather missing out on life. Most of the folks on these medicines aren't out riding horseback or climbing mountains. Their trips to the doctor's office are about the only place they go at all, that a struggle, and takes it out of them to the point that they never recover.

Interviewee on Fox News insists that a good parent ought to find and nurture a child's talent. As Donald Trump's unofficial propaganda office, would they endorse that message if the child's greatest skill was criticism?

German Chancellor Angela Merkel announced that Germany is destined to become an Islamic state and that is something that the native population is just going to have to come to terms with as a demographic and political reality. At least there is the consolation that they can hope she will be forced to put a bag over her head as well in compliance with Sharia law.

Bill O'Reilly will appear weekly on Glenn Beck's radio program. But according to Glenn Beck, Trump's carnal proclivities will lead to the acceleration of America's cultural decline but it is apparently. Yet it is apparently acceptable for Beck to finance O'Reilly because it's doubtful someone as full of themselves as O'Reilly is going to pontificate for free.

Maybe if Microsoft just sent out security updates and not attempt to download entire new copies of Window's onto customer's computers, people would be more diligent in updating their devices.

Outrage has erupted over a group of “White nationalists” that organized a protest in response to the removal of a number of Confederate memorials. Do these same mainstream media outlets emphasize the radical proclivities and ideological backgrounds of the activists behind Black Lives Matter demonstrations or the shrill banshee rallies where the psychotics on weekend release from the looney bin parade around the nation's capital in vulgar costumes? Likewise, in reference to President Trump's commencement oration, WTOP referred to Liberty University with the modifer “ultra conservative”. Are the network's listeners similarly systematically informed of the political correctness endemic to the Ivy League each time one of those expensive indoctrination centers is referenced?

It was remarked from a pulpit that someone cannot be prayed for unless the need is communicated. Isn't this essentially saying that, if God has to be told the juicy details of a specific need by the hired help, He is not quite as omniscient as assorted sermons make Him out to be.

So does the sermon claiming that it is acceptable to outwardly display our depression and to tell these feelings to God now repudiate past sermons that if you are depressed it was probably because you were in a state of sin to begin with?

In a podcast, Russell Moore claimed that the current church does not mobilize WOMMMENNN to the same extent as in the past. This actually translates as ecclesiastical functionaries jacked out of shape that the pool of free labor has about dried up.

In a message on family, a pastor suggested if young people his puberty at between 10 to 14 years of age, they should be allowed to get married. And who is supposed to provide for this couple? The pastor lamented that, in some countries, 15 year olds fight wars and, in America, 30 year olds play video games. But so long as the 30 year old has some sort of gainful employment, doesn't that comparison actually summarize the superiority of American system and way of life? Because in most instances these child soldiers are actually taken from their families against their will.

A congressional aide was condemned in the media for criticizing the deportment and behavior of the Obama children. It is claimed the condemnation was justified on the grounds that to mention the families of politicians violates an “unwritten rule”. There is nothing really wrong in violating an unwritten rule. Such a standard has not been implemented through the established procedural channels nor necessarily agreed to be binding upon those not willing to abide by it. If a subjugated population is forbidden from criticizing the progeny of their rulers and thus by proxy the the rulers themselves, shouldn't the spouses of those holding elected office also refrain from criticizing how Americans raise their own children as well as refrain from imposing their own dietary peculiarities upon public institutions over which they exercise no legitimate authority?

An episode of Generation's Radio was titled “Filmmaker Chastises Christians For Watching Films: Film Has Usurped Church”. In the discussion, a Christian filmmaker provided a summary of his upcoming projects. In the synopsis, he namedropped that one film featured actor Harry Anderson. The producer reminded that, before his decline to has-been status, Anderson starred as the judge on the sitcom “Night Court”. So if the sanctified believer is to refrain from these sorts of worldly entertainments, how is anyone in the listening audience even supposed to know what “Night Court” is? Admittedly, I saw a few episodes of “Night Court” in my youth. It must be pointed out that a significant percentage of the comedy on the series derived its humor from double entendres. I will admit that at times I enjoy that sort of borderline risque humor more than I really ought. But neither do I host a podcast where it was once insinuated that your daughter might turn out to be a lesbian if she is fascinated with The Little House On The Prairie books.

Trump's Ramadan remarks have been condemned for largely being aimed at terrorism. If terrorism is what comes to the mind of the average person when they hear terms associated with Islam, isn't that largely the fault of the violent Muslims? Buddhism seldom suffers from similar bad press. How is Trump's hijacking Ramadan as a pretext to discuss terrorism any worse than the litany of leftwing politicians co-opting Christmas in order to guilt-trip voters into supporting calls for increased social welfare budgets?

By Frederick Meekins

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