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#sense starting with why would you use an english term to describe people from spanish speaking countries
hedgehog-moss · 1 year
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[1] `there are often translations available in other languages long before English ones` This is really interesting! I'm familiar with translation in games, where english is often a very early target (a small game might get 0-5 translations, depending on amount of text) because the size of the market is larger.
[2] Do you happen to know why this is different for books? Is it faster to come to a deal about publication rights for some other languages to get started on the translation? Is translation to english harder (at least from French) than to say, Spanish?
The literary translation situation has long been very dismal in the English-speaking world! I don’t know a lot about video games, but are localisations provided by the company that makes the game? Because if that's the case it makes sense that games would get translated into English as a priority. For literary translations which are imported rather than exported, other countries have to decide to translate a foreign author and anglo countries (US, UK and Canada at least) are not very interested in foreign literature. There's something known as the "3% rule" in translation—i.e. about 3% of all published books in the US in any given year are translations. Some recent sources say this figure is outdated and it’s now something like 5% (... god) but note that it encompasses all translations, and most of it is technical translation (instruction manuals, etc). The percentage of novels in translation published in the UK is 5-6% from what I’ve read and it’s lower in the US. In France it's 33%, and that’s not unusually high compared to other European countries.
I don't think it's only because of the global influence of English* and the higher proportion of English speakers in other countries than [insert language] speakers in the US, or poor language education in schools etc, because just consider how many people in the US speak Spanish—I just looked it up and native Spanish speakers in the US represent nearly 2/3rds of the population of France, and yet in 2014 (most recent solid stat I could find) the US published only 67 books translated from Spanish. France with a much smaller % of native Spanish speakers (and literary market) published ~370 translations from Spanish that same year. All languages combined, the total number of new translations published in France in 2014 was 11,859; in Spain it was 19,865; the same year the US published 618 new translations. France translated more books from German alone (754) than the US did from all languages combined, and German is only our 3rd most translated language (and a distant third at that!). The number of new translations I found in the US in 2018 was 632 so the 3% figure is probably still accurate enough.
* When I say it’s not just about the global influence of English—obviously that plays a huge role but I mean there’s also a factor of cultural isolationism at play. If you take English out of the equation there’s still a lot more cultural exchange (in terms of literature) between other countries. Take Olga Tokarczuk’s Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead; it was published in 2009, and (to give a few examples) translated in Swedish 1 year later, in Russian & German 2 years later, in French, Danish & Italian 3 years later, in English 10 years later—only after she won the Nobel. I’m reminded of the former secretary for the Nobel Prize who said Americans “don't really participate in the big dialogue of literature” because they don’t translate enough. I think it's a similar phenomenon as the one described in the "How US culture ate the world" article; the US is more interested in exporting its culture than in importing cultural products from the rest of the world. And sure, anglo culture is spread over most continents so there’s still a diversity of voices that write in English (from India, South Africa, etc etc) but that creates pressure for authors to adopt English as their literary language. The dearth of English translation doesn’t just mean that monolingual anglophones are cut off from a lot of great literature, but also that authors who write in minority languages are cut off from the global visibility an English translation could give them, as it could serve as a bridge to be translated in a lot more languages, and as a way to become eligible for major literary prizes including the Nobel.
Considering that women are less translated than men and represent a minority (about 1/3) of that already abysmally low 3% figure, I find the recent successes of English translations of women writers encouraging—Olga Tokarczuk, Banana Yoshimoto, Han Kang, Valeria Luiselli, Samanta Schweblin, Sayaka Murata, Leila Slimani, of course Elena Ferrante... Hopefully this is a trend that continues & increases! I remember this New Yorker article from years ago, “Do You Have to Win the Nobel Prize to Be Translated?”, in which a US small press owner said “there’s just no demand in this country” (for translated works); but the article acknowledged that it’s also a chicken-and-egg problem. Traditional publishers who have the budget to market them properly don’t release many translations as (among other things) they think US readers are reluctant to read translated foreign literature, and the indie presses who release the lion’s share of translated works (I read it was about 80%) don’t have the budget to promote them so people don’t buy them so the assumption that readers aren’t interested lives on. So maybe social media can slowly change the situation by showing that anglo readers are interested in translated books if they just get to find out about them...
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tinynebula · 3 years
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let's talk about colonizing language. let's talk about how we incorporate terms that exist to describe the sociological structure of the usa's society into our own language and ignore what our own scientist say. terms like poc, white culture, cultural appropriation, gentrification, among others, exist to describe groups of people and phenomena exclusive to the reality of the usa. not to describe latinamerica. not to describe any other country really. when did we allow usamericans to decide they're the authority on anthropological language? let's stop using their terms to describe our own realities and let's listen to our own scientists and analysts. it's already a hard enough job for latinamerican voices to get any sort of recognition anywhere, because they international consensus seems to be that we're lesser than the usa/europe. so why are contributing and reinforcing this idea?
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ebonykain · 3 years
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I think back to the time when I first started posting fanfic on the internet, back in the mid/late 90s. Heavy into Japanese anime, and kind of... teaching myself the language through unofficial subs, and reading other people's fanfic. In the fics, it was a sort of unwritten rule that some words would be kept in the original language, albeit using romanized letters. The thing about unwritten rules is that you never know what the official reasoning behind it was. We all just did it that way. As someone who grew up in a family where Yiddish and a Spanish/Portuguese pidgin were spoken along with English, I assumed that it was simply a matter of certain words and phrases not really being translatable in any satisfactory manner. What's the best part of the yellow rice grandma always made? The pegao. What's that mean? Frag if I know! It's the pegao! But then I took Spanish in middle school (and almost failed, and that's how I learned that what mom's side of the family spoke was not, in fact, just Spanish) and learned that pegar is "to stick". I still didn't make the connection. Until one day my aunt is telling me to be careful while we're walking in a mall and there's a wet floor sign and she uses the word "cuidao". And epiphany! Cuidao was cuidado. The pegao was pegar because it's the parts of the rice that stuck to the bottom of the pot and got all nice and crunchy. Could I say "my favourite part of the rice is the crunchy part"? Technically, well yes... except for the part where over-cooked or under-cooked rice that's crunchy is terrible. It's not the same at all. It's not just the crunchiness, it's... it's a specific thing that I can't explain. The pegao is the pegao. So if I'm going to write about cooking my grandma's rice, I'm going to talk about the pegao being the best part. So in writing fanfiction with a Japanese source material, it made perfect sense that while you could use the word "idiot" the way "baka" is most typically translated, using baka makes perfect sense because it's not exactly the same. And that goes for many insults, really. Insults and cuss words don't translate well, and most of the time (at least in English from what I've seen) the subtitles will use an English curse word based on how it can be used and how "bad" it is. In English there's a kind of hierarchy of swear words, with "damn" being pretty tame and mostly acceptable unless used by a small child, and "fuck" being the worst, while "shit" is somewhere in the middle. So sometimes exclamatory cussing will be translated as "shit", despite having no scatological connotation or denotation in the original language, and sometimes exclamatory cussing will be translated as "fuck" even though the source word has nothing to do with sex. They are not direct translations, but they get the feeling across. It goes the other way around too, in that the translations don't really equate directly. As a kid, if I said the word "shit" I got in big trouble. Grounded, or privileges taken away, etc. But if I said the word "drek"? No one cared. Because in Yiddish, although it's not a polite word it's not a cuss word. But it means shit. Shit is not akish, it's not tsuah, it's drek. But shit is a swear word and drek is not. They mean the same thing, but they don't. So again... when writing fanfiction, I often try to figure out how to appropriately use certain words and phrases that don't translate well. I watch the show and read the subtitles, and then I come online and find beautiful, gorgeously in-depth analysis of dialogue that shows me all the nuance I missed out on by not knowing the language. Like, watching the show with the official translation is great! Lots of fun and I'm loving the experience. But finding out everything I missed?? Fucking heaven. Just took that experience and brought me to a higher level of love, enjoyment and engagement. Now I'm seeing more, now I'm understanding more. And I want to be able to bring that into the fanfiction that I write. So I fall back into that pattern of some phrases and
words are not translated. And sometimes I know just enough to know "this doesn't translate directly" and I'll start hunting down what the appropriate word is. Sometimes I can find it in the source material, and it's easy. No problem. But sometimes I want to take a concept that I've been introduced to, and use a part of it that I know exists but that I haven't been exposed to the actual term I want to use. Current example: Through watching The Untamed I've been introduced to the Xianxia genre. I've been introduced to the concept of cultivation, and yao, and ghosts as they exist in Chinese media and folklore. I'm a novice. I know there's a LOT I don't know and understand. But I've got some basics. I get that there's yao, yaogui, gui, yaoguai, guai, yaomo, etc. These are translated... not so well, from what I've been seeing. Most often it seems like the preferred translation is "demon" or "devil". Which, in English, has some unfortunately Christian connotations. Doing a little research reveals there's a lot more to the words, in that—except for yaomo I think?—there is a lack of inherent good/bad associated with them. From my reading it seems that you can use all those words to describe these supernatural things and some are evil, and some are good, and some are neutral and as long as you don't bother them they won't bother you (except apparently yaomo are always evil).
So I'm like... okay cool, I want to have a couple of tigers that cultivated to be able to take on a human shape. They're both neutral on the alignment chart. What terminology do I use for these Tiger Yao things? Let's ask google translate!
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...Okay. That's, somewhat helpful So, okay, "tiger" is laohu. ...except it's also just "hu". And lao means old. So. Okay then. I don't know why the tiger is old but... Does the order matter a lot? Normally google translate will make sure it's in the correct grammer in the other language so I'm not surprised at getting two different translations for "Tiger Spirit" and "Spirit Tiger" because it makes sense that these can be translated as two different concepts. Okay. But then Tiger Demon and Demon Tiger, which are the same conceptually, also are completely interchangeable in terms or which word comes first? But then wait! None of these terms uses ANY of the terms that I've just learned about the supernatural creatures! So. Okay. Let's try assembling the characters with the ones from the wikipedia article about Yaoguai and see what they translate with and see if I get any closer....
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..... HUH??? So. Well. In conclusion, I just do not know enough at all to even begin. If google translate is to be believed, these are all technically correct terms. Though I'm looking at the leprechaun tiger and just... I know I'm missing something HUGE with that. Or google is. But in the end, I still don't have the faintest clue what term would be the best to use. Because "demon" implies evil in English, and "spirit" implies something ethereal—either not alive or not of this world, which doesn't work because a tiger IS of this world and is attempting to cultivate to eventually be not of this world... So if the tiger successfully cultivated immortality then calling it a Spirit Tiger would be work awesome. But these tigers aren't there yet. They've only just figured out the human-shape thing. So I don't like to use either demon or spirit, because they don't feel right. I've also seen the word "imp" used as a translation but that feels even more off... At least for this specific use. "Imp" paints a picture of something small and mischievous—something that plays pranks but is ultimately harmless. An "impish smile" is cute. A "demonic smile" is threatening. So I know just enough to know I don't like any of the common English translations. But I can't for the life of me figure out what the actual term I should use instead is. ;_;
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Ambiguous
There has been something I need to write about and shout into the void. It has been tearing me apart, and I don’t know how people will react elsewhere, so I figured this was the safest place. This will be the soft reveal before even speaking about it to my friends. Or maybe I will never speak about it ever again. Maybe I will feel fine after writing it this way.  For my entire life, people have mistaken me for being Indian, to the point where actual Indians walk up to me and start speaking in their dialect. My mile-long blank stare makes them realize that I am not Indian, and one of two things happen - they either apologize and explain they mistook me for Indian, or they exclaim, “You’re NOT Indian?”
I’m Cuban and Colombian. I grew up in New Jersey. I am an American citizen but it gets confusing when you take into account that my mother flew to Santiago, Chile to have me there because of a clinic that specialized in geriatric pregnancy at the time, so my “birthplace” reads Chile on my passport. That’s always a mouthful to have to explain and it further confuses people, so I end up saying, “I was born in New Jersey”.  My skin tone is best described as ambiguous. I could be many things. I’ve gotten Middle Eastern, Indian, and specifically “Egyptian”. I have no idea why “Egyptian” but. Whatever.  I have always lived in some liminal space where people ask the dreaded question, “What are you?” Now here’s the most frustrating thing of all - not everyone who has asked me that was white. Growing up, I thought that I could relate to someone who wasn’t white to understand how I feel. Black people have asked me that. Indian people have asked me that. Middle Eastern people have asked me that. Cubans and Colombians have asked me that.  Throughout my youth, I was paranoid that maybe I was adopted or something, given how people didn’t seem to connect me with my parents. I was told that my Cuban side hails from Spain, but my Colombian side is shrouded in mystery. My dad never liked to talk about my family. I never knew anyone past my grandparents. Well, I did meet my great-grandmother once when I was seven, but she had practically turned back into a baby at that point, banging on the table demanding food and needing to be spoon-fed. My own people don’t recognize me, and they often say things like, “You don’t LOOK Latino!” or “What? You’re LATINO?” and the best one yet “You don’t SOUND Spanish!” The worst offenders, however, would laugh and say, “¡Pareces Hindu!” which means “You look Hindu!” Hindu is the religion, dumbass. Anyone, and I mean anyone, can be racist and slip some “micro-aggression”. I am not fluent in Spanish, but I can write and understand every word in Spanish. I often inadvertently offend Spanish-speaking people when I reply to them in English when they thought they were being sneaky by talking in Spanish around me.  The reason I don’t speak Spanish as fast as my peers is because of two reasons:  1. My parents at the time when I grew up believed in the misconception and pseudoscientific belief that children will be “confused” if two or more languages are spoken in the house.  2. Central New Jersey, where I grew up, hadn’t yet seen many Hispanic people, so locals at the time often leered at people who spoke Spanish in public.  When my mother took me to our local Gymboree, I spotted a butterfly and shouted in Spanish, “¡Mariposa! ¡Mariposa!”. The other mothers kept staring at me, and then distanced themselves from us.  The weirdest thing ever was experiencing white people who studied the Spanish language better than me and making fun of me for actually being Spanish but being unable to speak it fluently. I had a crush on this girl whom I’ll call “Anjy” in freshman year of college. It took me until now to realize that I think she had a Latino fetish. Anjy only exclusively went out with Latino men, but never seemed to openly admit it. The only thing she did admit was that, “I can only be with a man who speaks Spanish. It’s so important to me.” So obviously I wasn’t a contender, despite being Latino. Anjy doesn’t have an ounce of Spanish in her. None. But she studied it since high school and fell in love with it and became Spanish’s #1 fan. I was so jealous of how fluent she was. She could roll her r’s and speak it beautifully. Since we became friends, I said to her, “Oh, I can finally practice my Spanish with someone!” We tried, but she laughed at me and said, “I’m sorry. I can’t do this anymore. You sound like a gringo.” It’s a very topsy-turvy world where some white girl uses a derogatory term on me, a derogatory term from my culture that describes an outsider, used to describe me. She went to Costa Rica after we graduated, lived there for a few years, and came back home with a husband.  (That’s when I fully realized just how much she fetishized us.) A few years ago, my now-fiancée gifted me a DNA test for my birthday. That came out of left field for me, and opened up a range of emotions that I wasn’t ready for. She said she remembered how I wondered aloud why I looked the way I looked and about my ancestry.  I sat on the DNA test for a while. 
I stared at it. 
I held the kit in my hands. 
I opened it and closed it.  What if I really was Indian? What if I found out something that made me feel so much worse? But how bad could it be? I was also wary about the company keeping my DNA for nefarious reasons. However, luckily enough, my fiancée had bought the kit from AncestryDNA - the one DNA company that has responded to people saying they would delete their DNA at their request. I bit the bullet and sent my sample.  When the test came back, I opened it up and everything made sense. It made so much sense that I laughed out loud. It’s so funny how nobody has guessed the only other possibility for my skin tone that is what I actually am.  I am pretty much half native to the Americas.  I’m not sure what that’s called. Native American seems to be associated exclusively to North America. So Native South American? Native to the Americas? Native American (et al)? The Colombian side can be traced through turmoil in South America, up through Mesoamerica, and into North America. So many spots lit up all over the Americas. And like the Cuban side said, I was indeed from Spain as well.  I was split right down the middle. 50/50. The native side and the European side were practically screaming at each other in my genes. I felt as though a great weight had been lifted from me that I didn’t even know was there. I knew for a fact that I was my parents’ son. I had an explanation for why I look the way I look, and it made sense and it was obvious. It didn’t end there though.  I didn’t feel Native American. I had no cultural connection to anything “native”. I tried thinking in terms of my personality though. I always had a strong belief in saving the land and respecting the dead. I did vandalize a construction site back in my high school days to preserve farmland. My family did like to decorate the house with Aztec and Mayan statues. Aside from that though, I had about as much personal connection to native culture as Olive Garden does to Italy. The thing about my parents being from Cuba and Colombia is that those were two very violent and turbulent places in the past century. After I tell people where my families hail from, they always asked me with wide-eyes, “Oh have you been there???” Well, I dunno man. If you have any inkling of what’s going on the world you would know the awkward relationship that the United States has had with Cuba, and what it means to be a fucking exile. And the fact that Colombia has seen gang wars for the entirety of my life. So no. I haven’t. When I was a little boy I asked my parents if we would ever visit Colombia or Cuba, but they told me we shouldn’t go back. Colombia was violent, and Cuba’s government watched everyone. My mother was afraid of what would happen if she tried going back. Maybe they wouldn’t let her, or us. Maybe they’d let us through but I wouldn’t even be allowed to return if they knew I was the son of an exile. Worse yet, they might detain my mother. You never know when your family had beef with the government and was told to leave.  And what really drives a knife in my heart is hearing people ask that really annoying question. “Have you visited???” As if they were hot and exotic touristy locales. No. Because my parents were forced to flee, because they needed a better life.  “Wouldn’t your mom love it if you got married in Cuba? She would get to visit her home!”  You don’t get the trauma she has. You don’t understand how much of a toll it would take on her to return home and see all the things she once knew and love gone or tarnished. She received word recently that the farmhouse she grew up in now became a restaurant. The house that my grandfather built by hand. Strangers now sit and eat there. Maybe tourists. The hotel that my great-grandfather used to own now doesn’t belong to us anymore - the government said it was theirs. There is nothing for her to go back to but loss.  I felt distraught when I saw a former college classmate who has become an Instagram influencer immediately visit Cuba once travel restrictions were eased. She posted all about it and acted as if she were an expert about it. She used to be a lawyer in Washington D.C. until she decided to “take hold of her life” and “follow her dream” and go to Bali and now lives everyday in tropical paradise. It seemed like some people were pointing out the hypocrisy in her posts about life given the lifestyle she leads, since she felt the need to say something about it. She made a video where she tried to relate to her followers. She said how “it’s still hard” for her, that she “has to work every day”, and meanwhile literally the next fucking day she posts a picture of her having lunch by a waterfall, or napping in her hammock by the beach. But when she visited Cuba, and took pictures and wrote a long post about the country, I just lost it. She met up with some other white Instagram influencer friend, and they took selfies at a café and lectured about the region and--- That’s supposed to be my country, my culture. I’m supposed to feel that way about my people, not you. I went to a wedding recently in July. This black man slapped me on the back after I cracked a joke and said, “Hey, where you from?”
“New Jersey.” He laughed. “No, but really though. Where are you from?” “New Jersey.” “I mean originally. Your background. What are you?” It was the first time I had been asked that question since I got back my DNA test results, and for some reason it hit me so much differently.
I really wanted to say, “I don’t know.” It’s ironic how knowing what I am made me feel more confused, more alone and more isolated than ever before. I am bad at speaking Spanish, and when I try to practice with other Spanish-speaking people they laugh at me and say, “You sound like a gringo” and say they can’t bear to practice with me. I don’t look Latino. I might look Indian or I might look Middle Eastern. With me, everyone assumes things about me, no matter what they are. Some people have the luxury of automatic and unspoken assumptions about their background. Then there’s me. Not quite tan, not quite white. I don’t raise enough suspicion at the airport to warrant a search but at the same time I have to jump over one extra hurdle when they ask me one extra question: “Where are you from?” or “How long are you staying here?” or “What are you here for?” It’s very subtle and deceptively innocent. Nobody else who is pasty white gets asked any questions. They just stamp their passport and wave them away. I’m just ambiguous enough to warrant that extra step - just in case, you know? I envy people so much who can have a clear culture and place to point and say, “I’ve been there. I’ve been where I come from.” I envy people who can recognize all the idiosyncrasies of their family’s region. I don’t belong to any country or culture or identity. There are only a few scant pieces of culture that my parents passed on to me. “Oh, on Christmas we do this” or “We say this once and a while. That was a common expression there.” I envy people with huge families who have not been estranged by government and bloodshed or lost to time. I envy people who can trace their families back to their grandfathers and great-grandfathers and great-great-grandmothers. As a kid I wish I was able to say something like, “My great-granddaddy fought Nazis in the war!” I will never know anyone beyond that one old great-grandmother who no longer recognized anyone’s face. Everyone else is a name on a tombstone, or a whisper in vague oral history. I envy people who can firmly say, “I am *insert nationality here*” Because I always mumble at that phrase.  I am. . .a. . . I am from. . . . uh I am. . .  I am. 
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Is Nicky the only one headcanoned by people as bad with languages or are Nile and Booker seen the same way too (Andy is of course excluded from that due to her age and Joe is universally depicted as skilled with languages) ? I would expect Nile to be seen as bad with languages due to the American education system but it doesn’t seem to be the case.
Hello! Post-response me would like to apologise once again for the length of this post :(
I have personally not found a single fic where either Booker or Nile were depicted bad with languages; at most I found fics where Nile cannot speak languages other than English yet and you have the rest of the Guard routinely teaching her this and that idiom.
So, no, in my experience the only one that I saw people actively headcanon as bad at languages is Nicolò. Even though exactly as you point our if we want to go by stereotypes the one that should have been hc’d as such should have been Nile precisely because the large majority of Anglos are monolingual and the way languages are taught in their educational systems is horrendous to say the least (I will never forget my experiences studying Arabic in a Canadian university).
As it stands, Nile is shown using a couple of words of Pashtu, and if I remember correctly it is mentioned that she speaks Spanish in her presentation card, but if it’s the average American knowledge of Spanish “mi casa es su casa” then I would not call that speaking it. But these are just suppositions :)
So canon doesn’t give us much, that we know. And this is where headcanons come in. Like I was saying, usually people would not write Nile as multilingual but as someone who is in the process of learning several languages.
No one is indicated that she is bad at it, although if you ask pratically anyone in the world they will tell you that Americans and Brits are the worst at both learning and speaking other languages, because in those cultures there is a deep imperialist bias engrained – whether they are aware or not – that everyone in the world speaks English, so they can spare the effort to try to pronounce properly another language, or, God forbid, learn it at all. Nothing indicates us that Nile butchers or not other languages, and no one ever takes it into account.
As for Booker, he is French so normally Anglos would have also made fun of his way of talking if it had not been for Matthias.
And now I reach my point. The main reason why Nicolò is consistently depicted as terrible at languages is because of Luca’s Italian accent, and the fact that you can see he is not as fluent in English as Marwan and Matthias are, who are like him not native speakers. This even though the man speaks five languages.
I am not going into the whole mess with interviews with native English speakers who treated him as if he were dumb just because he could not really understand their accent (I myself often have to slow down and ask for a repeat, because some accents are just not as immediately intelligible as Anglos think), given that it has been discussed at length.
The only thing I want to stress is how this headcanon is extremely imperialistic, condescending and plays once again into the harmful stereotype of the dumb, illiterate Southerner.
Linguistic discrimination is a thing, and it’s a thing everywhere. By linguistic discrimination I don’t just mean that against people who cannot speak a major language (or the “official” language of the country they are in), but it also affects accents.Accents have everything to do with geography and class: it is a marker of where you are from, and plays into prejudices linked to the social standing and the class usually associated to that accent. Now, languages are a natural process, in continuous evolution and adaptation, whereas standardised languages (including a standardised pronunciation) are artificial choices. Just think of British vs American English: they are both theoretically the same language, but they diverge in several instances in terms of both vocabulary and pronunciation.Whip this up to the max when it comes to speaking a language that is not your own. The sounds and grammar structures of your mother tongue have an impact on the way you process a different language. That’s why it’s difficult for Spanish-speakers to pronounce S + consonant at the beginning of a word, or why Slavic languages have a harder H sound (again at the beginning of a word). Even when you have the grammar and pronunciation down to a T and are virtually indistinguishable from a native speaker, it does not mean that people who lose their accents and speak like a BBC tv host are any better at languages than people whose accent is still noticeable, or whose speech flow may be slower.
Having an accent does not qualify the level of fluency in a set language. Not speaking like a dictionary does not qualify the level of your intelligence (and I cannot believe I have to even say that).
And yet having an accent is politicised for classist and racist purposes. If someone does not blend in 100% with the majority, it means that something is lacking in them: usually it means they do not have the same level of education, which means they probably come from a lower class, or that they also are foreigners. So they are less than, just because their speech is deemed as not up to par with that of the majority.
@lucyclairedelune meant this when she brought up the example of Gloria from Modern Family, saying “you don’t know how intelligent I am in Spanish”. I want to make an example that is closer to my heart. Elena Ferrante in her wondrous Neapolitan Quartet described the life of a girl who was trying to escape from the material and psychological misery of the slums of Naples in the 60s. To do so she migrates North to study at one of Italy’s most prestigious university: here, however, she is bullied for her accent that clearly marks her origins and (prejudicially, since people of the South were in general poorer) status, class, and, finally, categorises her as less intelligent. Just because of her accent when speaking standard Italian. As a Southern Italian woman, I have often felt like I had to mask my own accent, both in Italy and abroad, to be taken seriously. This regardless of my academic qualifications or how many languages I speak. 
When people describe Nicolò as bad at languages simply because Luca has an accent and speaks English slower and less fluently than his co-stars, this is the context that this treatment plays in. Subconsciously (or consciously) it adds to the image that a big chunk of the fandom is painting of him as dumb and ignorant. No one else. And the fact that (luckily) no one ever uses Nile’s monolingualism as a marker for being less intelligent is also because being American is still taken as the standard, as well as the fact that unfortunately Nile (like Yusuf) is going through positive discrimination by which she cannot have any complexity or flaws (starting from hardly ever acknowledging the fact that she herself was part of an invader/occupying foreign force which has bombed and killed civilians in Afghanistan, and was in the midst of a military operation exactly in this sense). 
According to that specific discourse, Nicolò is being given every single possible flaw, in order to be opposite to Yusuf. Again, because this fandom, with its Anglocentrism and Puritan incapacity of overcoming black-and-white oppositions, cannot seem to accept that we have a beautiful interracial, interreligious same-sex couple of complex individuals, who can both be smart at the same time. I myself think that Yusuf historically is better at languages than Nicolò, as he was a merchant (and an artist), and I love this difference about them, but conflating intelligence with proficiency in one single language (because it’s only proficiency English that we have been discussing, let’s be honest, if the show had been shot in German we would not be talking about Luca’s issues with the language probably) is an utterly imperialistic, condescending and ridiculous thing to do.
I probably lost the train of my thought (and I had two beers in the meantime, so I am too tired to reread), but what I mainly wanted to highlight is that this mocking attitude towards Nicolò is rooted in both a  wider downgrading trend of his character, and on a general approach towards non-English speakers that Anglos have virtually everywhere.
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kemetic-dreams · 5 years
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                                          African not Black
                              Blackness Started in Slavery
We have to start this discussion in its most basic terms. Where do Black people originate from? Then if the answer is Africa, then what is the purpose of identifying with a color over our beautiful Motherland? We could end all discussions with just that simple sentence.
Black is a construction, which articulates a recent social-political reality of people of color (pigmented people). Black is not a racial family, an ethnic group or a super-ethnic group. Political blackness is thus not an identity but moreover a social-political consequence of a world which after colonialism and slavery existed in those color terms.
“white” depends for its stability on its negation, “black.” Neither exists without the other, and both come into being at the moment of imperial conquest– Fanon
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The Invention of the White Race is a groundbreaking analysis of the birth of racism in America. When the first Africans arrived in Virginia in 1619, there were no “white” people, nor, according to colonial records, would there be for another sixty years. In his seminal two-volume work, Theodore W. Allen details the creation of the “white race” by the ruling class as a method of social control in response to labor unrest precipitated by Bacon’s Rebellion. By distinguishing European Americans from African Americans within the laboring class, white privileges enforced the myth of the white race through the years and has been central to maintaining ruling-class domination over the entire working class.
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In our modern era old identities split apart and reform along more self-determined line to recover what was lost after the impact of conquest and domination. We see The Gypsies are now to be called “Roma,” and the reindeer-herding Lapps of Northern Scandinavia are the “Saami.” Similarly, some now claim the Iroquois Indians should be called the “Haudenosaunee” and the Cherokee the “Tsalagi” 
Africans have gone from Negro (Spanish for Black) to Black (English for Negro) what has changed? Only the language.  An identity is generally geographical and ties the people to their native environment or their core doctrine (Jews of Judaism, Muslims of Islam, Chinese of China).
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Very few Africans are actually Black in color, so where is the foundation of a Black people or black people coming from? It is how Africans were seen relative to the European people. So relative to the pales skin of Europeans and White Arabs the most dominant thing about African was relative skin color. Hence the exonym Black in the eyes of the “other.” It was not the land, not the African hair, but the relative color of a diverse skin pigment – that is rarely black in color. For Indians it is their land, for Chinese it is their land, for Jews it is their faith and a notion of Israel. Yet Condolezza Rice feels the best thing that describes her in American is blackness. And to some extent she is right, because there is nothing in her cultural, ethical, aesthetic, outlook that resembles the continent her ancestors came from. She has replaced Africa with America, and finally Africaness with dreams of the White ideal.
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African and black are not interchangeable just as Dark continent and Africa are not. Self-determination allows a people to re-examine definitions and sculpt them to their reality. Black, like Negro is facing linguistic extinction, especially in academic circles, due to its poor foundation in speaking about the oldest and most diverse people on the planet. Notice today only two races go by color labels; The race with the most oppression and the ones inflicting that oppression. “I am black and proud” is a song, nothing else. It is the rhetoric necessary at the time to lift an oppressed people who only knew of themselves through the eyes of their oppressor. It has run its course and has expired.
Some have argued that African people chose “black” as an acceptable identity. The evidence is in all the books African-Americans write where the word “black” (lowercase) is used without care. But self-determination has a condition – full knowledge of self. And this is why we see the new Nig*er identity which by the same mass consensus process seems to be a valid new identity. And just like “black” it is again almost exclusively the world view of a minority African population living in America.
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In Mauritania, the Haratin account for as much as 40% of the Mauritanian population. They are sometimes referred to as “Black Moors“, in contrast to Beidane. The Haratin are Arabic-speakers, and generally claim a Berber or Arab origin, which is contrasted against other African peoples in southern Mauritania (such as the Wolof and Fula people who have populations in Mauritania). The Haratine, consider themselves part of the Moorish community. But where it becomes problematic is because they are “darker” in color, they are assumed to be slaves brought from “black Africa.” So powerful is the theory of “two” Africa’s that reality is twisted to accommodate its validity. Every study is looking at Africa through the lens of “Black and White”, “slave and master.” It is therefore never considered that these “black” populations, like the Kanuri, who migrated South from North Africa, are native to the region. In a struggle to sustain colonial linguistics all forms of pseudo -anthropology is imposed on the African reality posing itself as mainstream studies.
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Ethiopia never had a history of “Black” identity
Brief History : During the displacement of the African Holocaust people were disconnected from culture, language and identity, they went from Fulani, Hausa, Igbo to a relative color, aptly describing their status in European society– Black. Now stuck with this name, and with no agency, no conscious of self outside of the chains of the Holocaust, being black became a source of reactionary pride. (especially in the 60’s). This happened also because the involuntary Diaspora had a deep self-hatred for their African connection, and would prefer to be a empty color than connected to their Motherland–that was the dept of the self hatred. And this produced reactionary love because they had to be something, and they could not be European, so in the psyche reaffirming a negative name was in some sense a statement of ownership–a statement of being. In reality it was a statement of displacement and self-hatred.
The word “Black” has no historical or cultural association, it was a name born when Africans were broken down in to transferable labor units and transported as chattel to the Americas. The re-labeling of the Mandika, Fulani, Igbo, Asante, into one bland color label- black, was part of the greater process of absolute removal of African identity; a color epithet that Europe believed to be the lowest color on Earth, thus reflecting the social designation of African people in European psyche. When Africans, out of their own agency refer to themselves they do so with internal paradigms and self-affirmation. No where in Africa did Africans see the obvious, the natural skin color they had, as the most distinctive characteristic in defining them:
Zulu – People of the sky Khoi Khoi – King of men Numunuu (Native Americans) – The people Mediterranean — ” Our Sea” Senegal – “Our land” Navajo -“Diné” meaning “The People” Han-in (Korean: 한인; Hanja: 韓人; literally “great people”) Bantu – “human” {note}
In this history of Swahili the people called themselves “people” no color attached. Attaching color is only done to refer to “the other.” In Zulu Kingdom again we see no record of a self-reference to a “Black people” they called themselves “People of the Sky” until White people showed up and called them blacks. It is true the term Ethiopia in ancient times meant “burnt face” but the modern name Ethiopia is a name not a Greek word. And the critical thing is name verses descriptive terms. The same is true for Sudan.
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ODD ETHNIC GROUP Sesame Street use to play a game called Which one is the odd one out. Can you spot which of all of these so-called Ethnic names is the odd one out:
East Asian (a place) Southeast Asian (a place) South Asian (a place) Black (a color) Hispanic/Latino (a language group tied to a place) Caucasian (a place) Middle Eastern (a place) Native American/First Nations (a place) Pacific Islander (a place) Arab (a place)
Linguistic evolution? COLORED – NEGRO – BLACK – AFRICAN-AMERICAN – NIG*ER
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BLACK HISTORY
Black history is the history of enslavement; African history is the history of humanity. If there are no White people, could there be Black people? For over 100,000 years there were only native people of Africa on the planet, and since there were no “White” people there could not have been Black people, since everyone would have been “Black.” This is even more profound when you realize African people are the only truly native people of the place they inhabit—everyone else is at some point a settler.
Every ethnic group in this country has a reference to some land base, some historical cultural base. African-Americans have hit that level of cultural maturity… To be called African-American has cultural integrity– Jesse Jackson
And if all the “White people” vanished from the Earth, would the remaining “Black” people still be Black? So the older group must define itself relative to the European newcomers? Would it not make far more logical, historically, linguistically, and social to describe people by their land of origin. Negro = Negroid = Colored = Nigger = Black (all associated with color none are connected to a continent). Now compare this to Asiatic, Caucasoid, and Mongoloid (all are tied to land, all can be located on a map— but not so Negroid/Black). Black and White are therefore debunked as regressive incomplete terms for describing people.
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For all of recorded history we see in every conflict a central theme — that of “land.” So critical as humans need land to grow crops on, to source water from (see Golan Heights), they need a place to build cities and a place to harvest mineral wealth from. So attaching your identity to land makes sense: Attaching your identity to an abstract color, does not. Black and African are not interchangeable in any logical sense. African people claim an African origin and Africa as their Motherland. There is nothing in “blackness” that logically implies any claim to anything of value, except into bondage. All it tells the world is relative to the dominant race class these group of people are “black.” And in Africa it is even worse, because language wise no majority defines themselves against a minority. i.e. Sudan (Northern Sudan) is still Sudan, but Southern Sudan has to insert “South” for clarity. Holocaust, on its own, is assigned to the Jews, who do not insert “Jews” before Holocaust, since they are the first to use the term in its modern context. How can the majority in South Africa need to identify themselves as “black” relative to a “white” when they are a overwhelming majority and hence “the norm”?
And what is even more revealing is that Dutch settlers in South Africa branded themselves as Afrikaners laying claim to the land they conquered. Signifying in that naming process they were the native European tribe of of Africa (per Zuma). And yet Natives in South Africa still refer to themselves, with glee, as blacks.
It is amazing in our modern era that an entire nation of people, who are free to think and free to reflect– the oldest nation on the planet, the parents to every other people are confined by a name that reflects only their supposed skin color — and nothing else. Being “black people” is still today indelible fixed in Western lexicon (both African American and White), despite all the evidence contradictory such color-based terminologies and the profound work of Malcolm X and especially Richard B. Moore to favor African over Black, which would give a humanist representation of marginalized people. And the perplexing thing is general contentment and seeming inability to see the obvious menace in the term. Only two groups remain on Earth adhering to color labels; the most exploited people in the history of humanity (Black people), and their apex oppressors (White people).
True freedom is not only the right to vote, but the right to self-define and the right to interrogate definitions imposed and formulate new ones, which favor the African in any given political climate
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If linguistically we reject the term.Sub-Saharan Africa then therefore there is no Sub-Saharan history or people; as distinct from North Africa. We then only have Africanpeople and a history of Africa
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We must realize these are still colonial classifications like Middle East which have nothing to do with historical Africa. We cannot discuss a history of Africa in these colonial boxes which only served to humiliate and take away from the continent. The terms create paradigms which limit, rather than expand, reality. If there are a black or Black people then where do “black” people come form? Since Asians come from Asia, Indians from India (all makes perfect logically sense).
So where do Black people come from? Blackia, Negroland or Blackistan, following the obvious naming convention. What is the capital city of the Black home world? Black City or Blackatropolis? So if Africans do not come from these fictitious places and we find that so-called Black people come from Africa (at some time in our recent history) then why not just call them Africans? At best the term is redundant. So what is the purpose of Blackness? Especially in a world where identity and land are exclusively interlinked for every other people: Jews of Israeli, Palestinians of Palestine, Indians of India, Zulu of Zululand, Masai of the Masai Mara
Twenty-two million African-Americans – that’s what we are – Africans who are in America– Malcolm X
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Blackness, is largely a Western or American exonym, in which all so-called Black cultures around the world are forced to fit into. As Americanism expanded so to did this notion of blackness, which is attached to the civil rights struggle and today to the urban cultures of the inner cities. However, It cannot be transplanted into ancient history to describe a people such as Ancient Ethiopia who had no cultural similarities to the modern African-Americans communities. Neither can “Blackness” be put in history to say the Ancient Egyptians were not Black because they did not share characteristics with a group of Africans Europeans chose to label as the archetypal Black population (black skin, thick lips and kinky hair). To do so creates connections and disconnections where there are none. So “Black culture” or “Blackness” cannot be imposed anywhere beyond the modern era. But we can say Cultures of Africa, in which Egypt and Ethiopia were part of that African world. Being African doesn’t mean we all dance to the same music and worship the same tree. So outside of the suggestiveness of “black” and “negro” words are necessary in creating new paradigms or we will always get stuck hearing “Well the Egyptians were not Black” because of a language issue or some other technicality. Far less objections could be raised if we just stuck to “The Egyptians were Africans“. Especially if we claim African as oppose to let it float.
The political question of contributions of modern day African people must be addressed and in this respect Ancient Egypt, Ancient Ethiopia were African civilizations, the same way Greece was an Ancient European civilization (it was located in modern Europe). But this argument is a political because we live in a racialized world which discredits a people’s worth by notions of racial origin and assumes black skin is too inferior to construct civilization.
There is an academic debate that the Ancient Egyptians called themselves Black based upon KMT (Kemet) which in some circles is translated as “Black people.” Now at the end of the word KMT is an ideogram which can only mean physical place
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The ideogram indicates the context in which the word applies. An ideogram for humans would always be used to represent a word that applied to people. However Kemet can only mean Black Land since the ideogram indicates it is describing a built or non-human environment. They called themselves “remetch en Kemet”, which means the “People of the Black Land.” Where rmt means simple without any adjectives “the people,” the same way the Numunuu means “the people.”(the authentic people) And likewise Zulu means people of heaven.
Ancient Egypt is commonly referred to as ‘km.t’ , with the theorized reference to the black Nile Delta earth. The determinative O49 is used to designate the term for ‘country, inhabited/cultivated land’, called the niw.t (a political designate). It is a circle with a cross which represents a street, ‘town intersection”(Gardiner 2005 (1957): 498)
But none of this discredits the founders of Kemet as being African people, just like the Fulani or the Amhara. “Black” in the North American context. The “social “construction of race in America does not rely on skin color. “African Americans,” as even Asante notes, ” constitute the most heterogeneous group in the United States biologically, but perhaps one of the most homogeneous socially.”
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BLACK AND THE 60’s
Indians are from India , Chinese from China . There is no country called Blackia or Blackistan and a people must respectful be tied to geography as skin color is not the primary definitive identifier.. Hence, the ancestry-nationality model is more respectful and accurate: African-American, African-British, African-Arabian, African-Brazilian, and African-Caribbean. And if Black people has some validity as a political term it can not be limited in its application to people of African decent. Nostalgia is not an accurate place for African linguistic self-determination, and blackness is blatantly a cultural inheritance of oppressed people. The pattern of acceptance of a black identity globally walks hand in hand with European cultural oppression.
Black pride is reactionary pride, necessary then, Irrelevant now. As we blossom into a greater historical and cultural awareness of a Motherland a detachment with fictional attachments to slave names must be challenged, and we must end the romance with things that are a disservice to our identity today.
It is worth noting parts of African that are culturally intact such as in Ethiopia, Mali, Somalia, Nigeria and Niger have absolutely no fondness or linguistic presence of a “black identity.”
New York Times | The term African-American has crept steadily into the nation’s vocabulary since 1988, when the Rev. Jesse Jackson held a news conference to urge Americans to use it to refer to blacks. ”It puts us in our proper historical context,” Mr. Jackson said then, adding in a recent interview that he still favored the term. ”Every ethnic group in this country has a reference to some land base, some historical cultural base. African-Americans have hit that level of cultural maturity.” Since 1989, the number of blacks using the term has steadily increased, polls show. In a survey that year conducted by ABC and The Washington Post, 66 percent said they preferred the term black, 22 preferred African-American, 10 percent liked both terms and 2 percent had no opinion. In 2000, the Census Bureau for the first time allowed respondents to check a box that carried the heading African-American next to the term black. In 2003, a poll by the same news organizations found that 48 percent of blacks preferred the term African-American, 35 percent favored black and 17 percent liked both terms.
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BLACK-AFRICA IS A RACIST TERM
Nobody on this planet puts a adjective on their identity, especially when they are a majority, except African people. Black Africa, Dark Continent, Heart of Darkness all articulate the colonial contempt for a continent and its people. But how does one arrive at the term “black Africans,” are there green Africans? Would you speak of “yellow Chinese,” or “brown Indians”? Even terms like “White Russian” are unused, despite Russia being a multi-ethnic nation. Because 80% white means the majority have no need for adding White to their Russian to qualify against a minority of “other” Russians. [3] Globally the term ” Red Indian” is rejected as deeply pejorative yet “black African” is still used even in South Africa which is used to define the majority of the population against the minority so-called white-Africans. Black African is as ridiculous as “rock stone”, rocks are stones so why double up two realities which are often the same?
There is an infinite an inexhaustible list of examples which show that no one with power wears and adjective on their identity, especially when equal or a majority. The peninsula of Korea is called Chosŏn Pando (조선반도; 朝鮮半島) in North Korea and Han Bando (한반도; 韓半島) in South Korea based on the respective names of the two countries. (wikipedia)They both use “Korea” as part of their official English names. In other words North Korea does not say they are North Korean, as far as they are concerned they are the KOREA. The South does not waste time defining itself as South Korea, again, as far as their national pride is concerned they are just Korea. Both countries have equal political and cultural agency. So how is it possible for a continent whose overwhelming demographic, political, cultural majority is African, need to refer to themselves as black + African? And with the split of N. Sudan and S. Sudan it would be shocking to see if N. Sudan adds the term “North” to its national rhetoric, to clarify itself from its new southern neighbor.
There is only one reason the term Black African exists and that is to deny nobility from African people. To explain away how Egypt could be nested in Africa but at the same time divorced from the majority of the African people. Therefore the argument “yes it is in Africa, but it is not Black African.” It is almost like saying Greece was a European civilization, but not a White European civilization.
If 95% of Africans are “Black” (capital B, if it must be used) then the minority should bear the adjective–not the majority. It is disrespectful to describe Africans with a label based solely on a color, especially when it does not accurately reflect the physical appearance of most Africans. This is made even more offensive when the etymological root of that label (black) is derived from the word Negro, and is used in place of the word African as a racial or cultural identity. In reality we must ask ourselves what is the difference between “Negro” and “Black” save historical association, the words mean the same thing, so we have moved from being Black in Spanish (negro) to Black in English (black). It is strange that despite all the genetic research and advance human anthropology we are still clinging to primitive 18th century post-Darwin model of race, which sole aim was/is to segregate and de-culturalize and enslave.
The concept of a “black Africa ” is a Eurocentric term based upon their ignorant primitive regressive deductions. It is true Arabs and Greeks referred to Africans as “black” but this was not a racial label, and moreover Africans themselves did not self-apply these external labels. Like the Phoenician who were called the “red people,” but no Phoenician would have referred to themselves in this way.
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CHILDREN DIS-IDENTIFY WITH BLACK
In a recent survey conducted by the African Holocaust society it was noted that young African children (approx 4-5 years old, the age of race consciousness) when told they were members of the “black race” reacted with great confusion because they were also being taught the names of colors. Most of them objected to being called black and said they were not black but rather brown. A repeated survey found that when they were told they were African they did not object to the logic (they were African because their ancestors were from the continent called Africa). Blackness is illogical and only exist by force conditioning of children. This case study is profound because it shows how logic and identify form before social concepts are enforced.
WHITE AFRICANS
It would be very strange if a European, after 200 years in China or India, could be so powerful to alter the definition of Chinese just to be accommodated. Linguistic accommodation is only possible in Africa because of the prevailing injustice of a post-colonial dominance of European settlers. It is clear some European funded African politicians backed it, but where did it originate from? It is interesting to note Europeans (including white Arabs) constitute around 10 million people verses the 800 million plus Africans. Now this negligible minority by way of social influence has caused the majority to need to refer to themselves with the adjective of “black” to separate themselves from a serious minority group who want to be “white Africans.”Minorities of Europeans live in China, in India and in Arabia yet only in Africa has linguistic accommodation been given. Africans now must make room for those settlers who want to identify with the continent for capitalist reasons. Because once you identify with a continent then you have a legitimate claim to its resources. Thus the saying and the philosophy of Garvey “Africa for the Africans” becomes usurped. In South Africa the new trend of “Black Economic Empowerment” has seen the broadening, opening up of the borders of blackness so to speak. Indians are economically classified as ‘black’, and recently Chinese have been included in this definition. So again we see the relationship between linguistics and economic profit.In the scramble for linguistic real estate, why would these descendants of European colonialist who devastated and exploited the continent want to be called African? And in terms of self-determination who introduced these concepts?Despite claiming “African” in name they are very conscious of Whiteness when propagating the White dominant image on the broadcast mediums they control. Being White is clearly obvious when it comes to the dilemma of ownership which is still tipped in their favor. When all of these White South Africans rush home to Europe (when Africa gets a little sticky) do they encounter job discrimination experienced by fellow African South Africans or even 3rd and 4th generation African-British? They integrate seamlessly into the social environment created by White privilege. Seems like with the Indian “Africans”, African is a jacket worn to suit an economic or political opportunity.Race was not only defined in the 18th century, in Aksum and Kemet African peoples have always identified with degrees of racial inclusion and exclusion. The arrogance of Whiteness is to assume they are responsible for every single point of view that has ever existed on this planet. All the while South Africa remains White dominant and unchallenged by people who are the most vocal White Africans. Interestingly if you examine their lifestyle, you will find them to be the most racial conservative personalities. They date and marry women of their specific race, they socialize in White circles, they engage a distinctive non-African culture. And if they do have a few token “Black” friends they are often culturally compromised aberrations the continent can produce. The injustices of White dominance and the legacy of that dominance are smooth over by fictional fantasies of non-returning colonial tourist who still impose their reality as the norm for everyone else. Moreover, in dealing with these issues they always select broad base arguments and never deal with the core issue of African self-determination and agency.
Africa, unlike “black,” is a name, not a adjective. You can get on a plane and visit it, you can find it on a Sat Nav, it has boundaries, governments, you can grow crops on it, and build a house on it. But some say, Africa was a foreign name given to us, if this is true, it was given to us by our contemporaries not our conquerors. However, the word has Berber Tunisian origins meaning ” A sunny place” – Ifriqiya .Romans appropriated this word from which it is believed the modern word Africa came about the describe the entire continent. In addition, Africa is a unique name of a place and Africans are simply people who are native to that place. And over the course of history different names such as Habesha and Takruri were used to refer to African people of various regions, Ethiopia and West Africa respectively. Also the word Moor has been used across the centuries but as critics have established, the term “Moor” was used interchangeably with such other ambiguous terms such as “Ethiopian,” “Negro,” and even “Indian” to designate a figure from different parts or the whole of Africa (or beyond) who was either black or Muslim, neither, or both. 
Massey, in 1881, stated that Africa is derived from the Egyptian af-rui-ka, meaning "to turn toward the opening of the Ka." The Ka is the energetic double of every person and the "opening of the Ka" refers to a womb or birthplace. Africa would be, for the Egyptians, "the birthplace.
Human skin color ranges in variety from the darkest brown to the lightest hues. An individual's skin pigmentation is the result of genetics, being the product of both of the individual's biological parents' genetic makeup, and exposure to sun. In evolution, skin pigmentation in human beings evolved by a process of natural selection primarily to regulate the amount of ultraviolet radiation penetrating the skin, controlling its biochemical effects https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_skin_color
“You can’t hate the roots of the tree without ending up hating the tree. You can’t hate your origin without ending up hating yourself. You can’t hate the land, your motherland, the place that you come from, and we can’t hate Africa without ending up hating ourselves - Malcolm X
While in Ghana, Dr. King Jr. told then U.S. Vice President, Richard Nixon, who was also in attendance at the event’s festivities: “I want you to come visit us down in Alabama where we are seeking the same kind of freedom the Gold Coast is celebrating”.Dr. King Jr. also returned from his trip deeply inspired about the Pan-African movement and penned a sermon called “Birth of a New Nation”. In it, he educated others, especially African Americans in the Civil Rights Movement, about Africa, then largely known as the “Dark Continent”. He highlighted various countries across the continent, including Egypt, Ethiopia, South Africa, Uganda, Nigeria, Liberia, Kenya, and Ghana and their plight. He used Ghana’s story to remind his brethren of the cost of freedom:“Ghana reminds us that freedom never comes on a silver platter. It’s never easy…Ghana reminds us of that. You better get ready to go to prison. When I looked out and saw the prime minister there with his prison cap on that night, that reminded me of that fact, that freedom never comes easy. It comes through hard labor and it comes through toil. It comes through hours of despair and disappointment.”2. In previously unreleased documents, it was discovered that Dr. King Jr. traveled to West Africa in 1960, this time, to attend the Inauguration of Nigeria’s Nnamdi Azikiwe in Lagos. He said the following about his trip to Nigeria:“I just returned from Africa a little more than a month ago and I had the opportunity to talk to most of the major leaders of the new independent countries of Africa and also leaders of countries that are moving toward independence. They are familiar with it and they are saying in no uncertain terms that racism and colonialism must go for they see the two are as based on the same principle, a sort of contempt for life, and a contempt for human personality.”
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lovemesomesurveys · 3 years
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“I’ve got my fuzzy socks on and I’m ready for summer”
You arrive in New York at 10 AM. What's the first thing you do? Find a nice, cute cafe to get a coffee and pastry from and chill at for a bit while sorting out my plans for the day. You go by your locker & your bf/gf is cheating on you. What comes to mind? I’m not in school anymore, but hypothetically I’m sure I would feel a lot of emotions--angry, hurt, upset, confused... like wtf?? And damn, right in front of everyone, too? That would be humiliating. 
You have to take out the trash & clean your room. Your reaction? I’m 31 years old, you gotta do that kinda stuff when you’re adult. I don’t personally take out the trash because it would be really difficult for me to do in a wheelchair, but I have other stuff I have to do. I don’t particularly enjoy it, it just is what it is.
How many siblings do you have? I have two brothers.
Have you ever made fun of a homeless/ mentally challenged person? No. What a shitty thing to.
Make up a funny word with your first name in it. I don’t know.
Do you like campfires? Yes. I love the smell, it makes me think of fall. And just the coziness of it.
What's your favorite color to write with? Black.
Do you write poetry? No.
When's your 20th birthday? [Day & Month is fine. Year if you want.] I turned 20 back in July 2009.
Do you spit in public? Ew, no. I don’t spit at all except for when rinsing my mouth after brushing my teeth. It makes me gag seeing people spit. I also have to watch out for that when wheeling around outside because I would DIE if it got on my wheels and then me. akjkslfjldsfjkldsfjkl. I’m going to throw up just thinking about it.
Are you in high school/middle school/college? I’m done with school.
How many push ups can you do? Zero.
How would you react if your cat/dog died? I’ve been through that twice before with my doggos, it’s absolutely heartbreaking and devastating. My dogs are my family. It’s no different than losing any loved one; they’re a loved one, too. I had a really hard time when my dog, Brandie, passed. It was so sudden and unexpected. 
Are you trustworthy? Yes.
“when I make it shine...”
Do you play video games often? I’ve been playing Animal Crossing just about everyday since earlier this year. Prior to that, I’ve played a few other games in their entirety since having my Nintendo Switch that I got over a year ago. 
Do you like life, love, funny or boy quotes the best? I like # relatable quotes. 
Have you ever been cheated on? No.
Have you ever had fruit pizza? No.
Would you like to learn karate? No.
Do you think it would have been cool to live in the 80s? Maybe.
Do you think we'll have robots in the future? They’re already a thing, they’re just not like easily, readily available to everyone like a Rosie from The Jetsons or something.
Was the sun out today? Not yet cause it’s 5:54AM and it’s still pitch black, but it will be.
Do you know what 143 stands for? “I love you.”
Does it get up to 100 degrees where you live? Ugh, yes. And higher. D:
When you play video games, do you like the sound on or off? I generally have it low or off.
When's the last time you saw fireworks? Fourth of July.
Do you like Dr. Pepper? Yeah.
Will you be seeing the new Transformer movie? I never saw any of them. Not my thing. 
What made this week, one to never forget? Election 2020 will be talked about forever. This year in its entirety will be, but this election was a huge one.
“Tell me why you’re leaving me”
Did you wear shorts today? I don’t wear shorts.
Do you own a fur hat? No.
Do you still use the old time mail? I still receive mail, yes. I pretty much never send anything, though.
Have you ever played flag football? Yeah.
What color is your laptop? It’s silver.
Do you like Paris Hilton? I don’t have anything against her.
Did you smile at all today? Not so far, but it’s only 6AM. 
Do you have an Xbox? My brother does and I’ve used it.
When you were little did you have a magic 8 ball? Yeah.
Have you ever ate grass or birdseed? Eww, no. I wasn’t the kid that stuck everything in their mouth or ate weird stuff. 
Do you and your friends have secret codes? I don’t have any friends.
Have you ever seen the Lincoln Memorial? Not in person.
What's your profile picture on Facebook of? Me with my It/Pennywise mask on. It’s his mouth.
Do you own a yo-yo? No.
What celebrity is your fashion icon? I don’t have a fashion icon.
“How do you love someone without getting hurt?”
Do you hope you live to be the age 70 or older? I don’t want to think about dying.
Did you go to preschool? Yep.
Do you usually wear your hair up when it's hot out? Yeah. I wear my hair up all the time cause I don’t have the energy or motivation to do anything else with it.
Where were you when 9/11 happened? I was bedridden at home because I had spinal surgery a couple weeks prior.
Which would you rather play: guitar or drums? Guitar.
Have you ever gotten detention? No.
When you were little, did you used to watch Franklin? Yeah. Aww, he’s adorable.
What's the most exciting thing that's happened during your lifetime? 9/11 and this pandemic are definitely the most memorable, but I wouldn’t use the term “exciting” to describe them. A few of our blizzards, perhaps. <<< Yeah, definitely not exciting, but certainly major, life changing, go-down-in-history events. 
How high can you count in a foreign language? I could go on and on in Spanish like I could English, but let’s be real I’d stop at 100 haha.
What's the best thing to do on a hot day? Stay indoors with the AC or go to the beach.
Would you like to go to Rome? Sure.
Do you use Febreeze? Sometimes. I prefer my Bath & Body Works room sprays, though.
Have you ever been to a rainforest? No.
How many days of school are left for you? I’m done with school.
How do you usually get tan? That only happens when I go to the beach. Sadly, I didn’t get to go this year. 
“Last name ever, first name greatest”
Snickers or Twix? I like both. 
Have you ever tried to sleep on an airplane? I tried, but couldn’t.
When you were little, did you like Dr. Suess books? Yes. Those are classics.
Are you more afraid of snakes or death? Both are scary to me, but death is just a little more serious...
Would you like to go to Australia? Sure.
Do you like Drake? Yeah, I like a lot of his songs.
What color are your headphones? Black.
Do you live in the past? Yes. :/
When it's spring, do you plant flowers? No. I don’t do any gardening.
Have you ever laughed for 10 minutes? I don’t think I ever have for that long.
Do you help your friends every time they need help? I tried to as much as I could.
Ever seen a Koala Bear up close? No.
Would you rather be blind or deaf? I’d obviously rather not be either one...
Once your done, are you done for good? Really depends on what I’m attempting to be done with.
Does it annoy you when girls wear a lot of make up? No? I don’t why I would care.
“Blow the world a kiss”
Do you live by a river? No.
Do you like being outside when it's storming? I like enjoying it from inside.
Ever thought about becoming a cop? No. A cop in a wheelchair... that’d be interesting.
Have you ever tried sushi? Ew, it’s disgusting.
When you were little, did you use to roll down hills? No.
Do you like store bought cakes or homemade ones better? I’d enjoy either one.
Do you think your a good kisser? No. Now I’m really out of practice.
Do you like long or short sleeves better? I like my sleeves to be like halfway from my elbow if that makes sense. Not a quarter sleeve, but a bit above that. Unless it’s cold, then I like long sleeves. I love when the sleeves are long enough to be able to pull down over my hands, but it’s hard to get the perfect fit when you have long arms like I do.
Do you like the name Jacob for a boy? Sure.
Could you live without electricity? Like, for how long? It would be a struggle, no denying that. I’ve never experienced going more than a few hours without it. I know people have to experience long periods without it sometimes or not have it at all, so I’m definitely fortunate. 
Have you ever ate/drank something that was blue? Blue Gatorade, Pepsi Blue, the blue Mountain Dew, Kool-Aid, blue candies and cakes.
When is your last day of summer this year? I’m not in school, so no summer break anymore. However, summer is over and it has just recently started to feel like fall, so I’m quite happy about that.
Would you rather hang out with people who are loud or quiet? Quiet.
Have you ever had a pet turtle? No.
Do you want an iPad? Nah.
“You look like you want to party”
Are you double jointed? My thumbs are.
Have you ever done karaoke? Definitely not publicly, but at home.
What's your middle name? I’m not sharing that.
Do you wish on stars? No. I did when I was a kid.
Do you recycle? We recycle plastic bottles and cans.
Do you believe in love at first sight? No.
What's something you'll do when your older, but not now? I don’t know. Are you currently drinking anything? I’m finishing a Starbucks Doubleshot energy drink.
What color is your shirt? Black. 
Have you ever played laser tag? Nope.
Does your best friend live within 5 minutes from you? My mom and I live together.
If you got dared to dye your hair purple, would you? No. I dye my hair red and I want to keep it that way. It would be a big, annoying process to do another color and then to go back if I wanted, so nah.
How many contacts do you have in your cell phone? Not many.
Do you own earmuffs? No. It doesn’t get cold enough for them here.
Nothing worse than being sunburnt, don’t you agree? I’ve experienced much worse, but they are awful.
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kaelen · 4 years
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10 question tag
thanks to @soulful-studyblr for tagging me in this! (and sorry that it took me forever to do)
the rules: answer the questions the individual who tagged you asked, then make up your own and tag as many others as you please :)
questions from @soulful-studyblr:
Favorite color- that prize has got to go to green. moss, frogs, sunlight coming through trees, what’s not to love?
Why do you like language- ‘cause it’s cool. no, but seriously, there’s no way to explain it without sounding like a colossal idiot, but that’s how people communicate, and live their lives, and that’s just indescribably cool to me. it all makes sense to them, and i want to be a part of that. even with english, there’s always so much more to learn, and the more exposed to the language you are, the more you get to know about the people who speak it, and that’s just. it’s pretty awesome. makes my internal organs clench up. in a good way. 
Why are you learning your 2nd languages- my second language is spanish, and i think i’m partially learning it out of practicality, but also because i like it :) there are a lot of other languages that i like too, of course, but i started learning this one first. it’s easily accessible, and there’s a whole wealth of cultures to learn about in the meanwhile. that wasn’t a super cogent answer, i guess, but i think i sort of got my point across.
Least favorite taste- hm. i mean my own bile has got to be up there, but i bet someone else’s bile would be worse. i’ve has the merciful good luck of not having to find out though, so in terms of things i’ve actually tasted, i would cautiously say that my least favorite is (my own bile, seconded by) shirataki noodles. you can say that i’ve never had them prepared properly, and you’re probably right, but the way that i’ve had them, the smell, the texture... they don’t actually taste like much but that somehow makes it worse. i have no clue how people eat those. 
dogs or cats- well, i have a dog, and she’s quite lovely, so i’ll say dogs, but really i love them both. i used to be a diehard dog person, but my first boyfriend loved cats, so i became, if not converted, very sympathetic to the cat person cause. i think my first pet out of college will be a cat, but i love them both!
Would you rather- i think i would rather, yes.
Have you always liked learning?- 100% yes, but academia-type subjects in particular (literature, languages, anything you’d find on a medblr) have always been my favorite. i’m willing to pick up welding, but i doubt i’d like learning it as much.
2nd favorite book- what a delightfully random question! i forgot the name of it, but it’s this book i read in maybe 2017. i might give kind of a spoiler trying to describe it oops. so it’s a historical fiction set in maybe france around the 1300s (a total guess), and it starts with this traveler sitting down in a pub, and he can’t afford a beer, so the owner offers him food and drink in exchange for a story. so then he starts to tell the story that’s the main plot of the book. it’s about this magical young girl, and her dog who came back from the dead, and two boys (there are some things that make them special too but i forgot what. i think one of them is an orphan and jewish. and one is black maybe) gallivanting around the country together trying to accomplish an objective that i’ve forgotten. along the way they wreak a fair amount of havoc, and the king sets out to kill them because they caused him some trouble. and as all this is happening, the traveler is describing events getting closer and closer to the present, until, as the book ends, the kids enter the pub where the story is being told. there’s no way i’m doing it justice here, but it was just great. an amazingly well-written book, so pretty to read (had that old book aesthetic), and the story was just so well-researched and ghfshgjka. i loved it. i wish i remembered the name. something illuminating??? OKAY I GOT IT MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE JUST LOOKED UP 50 SEARCH TERMS TO START OUT WITH. IT’S THE INQUISITOR’S TALE BY ADAM GIDWITZ AND IT’S ABSOLUTELY GOBSMASHINGLY FANTASTIC. 
Favorite time period for fashion- i think that the last 50 years or so have been pretty good fashion-wise for the middle class in america, with lots of more affordable, low-maintenance clothing options, but that’s not a fun answer. now, i had to do reasearch for this. if i get to be obscenely wealthy and exist in any location i so choose, i think that Italy from 1500-1510 would be my favorite for fashion. i prefer the more open necklines, especially square ones, embroidery, dramatic sleeves, and cinched silhouettes to earlier ones, though i’m not a huge fan of the layers and boning, even that’s not as bad when you get into southern Italy. (even though i would still love to be rich in the present day and circle through 60 or so teuta matoshi dresses. and long peacoats. i love peacoats.)
One good thing that happend to you today- hm. well, i’ve been really stressed out lately trying to figure out how to get into/pay for college. (my dream school is a private liberal arts/small research university on the east coast. i won’t say exactly which because there are a few top contenders at the moment that i could never afford or get into anyways.) so, the good part is that i finally got to laying out a plan for practicing for the sat, applying for jobs, applying for scholarships, and working on my meager serving of extracurriculars, which will hopefully increase my chances of getting into/being able to afford the schools i want to go to. i guess that that’s not something that happened to me because i made it happen, but it’s similar enough.
thank you for tagging me !
i’m tagging @ninasowl-studyblr and @la-biblioteca-de-ciana. both are excellent accounts, and, as i’m fairly new, pretty much the extent of my mutuals. 
questions:
if you could travel anywhere (in or out of the world) right now, where are you traveling? (pretend c*****v**** and money aren’t issues)
why did you start your blog?
how ya doin’?
are you a chocolate or vanilla person?
what’s your motivation for learning your tl(s)?
what’s the next language you would like to learn, if any?
what’s your favorite song at the moment?
favorite food?
feelings on duolingo?
what have you done to be proud of recently?
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Day 6 ..Friday          Struggling .. which is why i did nt see the news or spend time on Social Media yesterday..          I thought it would be a breeze and after a little concentration id have it down .. but no , even the first part…known as lumpedy lump was proving tough , because of the triplet ��walk up from the V to the 1.. and i think thats the part Jimmy Reed himself is playing…   If you ve read previous episodes you will know i refer to Honest I Do….the song.   Im learning it on a You Tube lesson , now a lot of people who think of themselves as pros , seem to think there s some sort  of stigma ro learning stuff on You Tube, but i know a French guy , of Spanish descent , who is a really hot Flamenco guitarist who has mastered nearly all the Palos , and all on You Tube  They are right, if you dedicate yourself to different songs at the same time, but it s like working form home…you need time and discipline ..and take the lessons very slowly and don’t move on till you can play it 20 times with your eyes shut..preferably standing up .. then move on up. Yesterday  was the first time i managed to do this.   There is a different tone on Social media today .. angrier , more prone to blame others, more censorious…and on one group forum i saw they were going to ban Humour..well , i don’t personally know the Group leader.. but it does nt take much imagination to know she s not someone you d want to be quarantined with.    The only thing to fear is fear itself.. well i certainly don’t think that applies in this situation, quite the reverse, the more frightened we are the less we will venture forth on errands that are not strictly necessary..i was on my way out the door , literally, when my mobile rang…it was the charming woman from the bank.. she d got my message .. id gone way over my limit.. which was why i could nt withdraw funds…She , and i won’t name her, is working from Home and sorted it all out on her laptop..no need for me to go to town..      Is nt that great?..well , I thought it was..and a good thing too,as she has not been provided with any masks..and we are talking about a Bank..if they cant get basic stuff like that no wonder the Government  are nt testing people .. they don’t have the wherewithal…it is nt as though this has nt been on the News everyday since December the something.    .I remember listening to Radio Four as i was driving through Slough, in December,… don’t ask … the M4 was closed..and i was listening to a woman in Wuhan describing how her parents were dying in the Street.. that really got my attention.   It did nt seem to get the attention of the people in charge here however, as when the inevitable arrived nearly three months later , they had done nothing to prepare for it.   The Spanish Disease is politics, it creeps into every corner of life and spreads its poison , a bit like you know what,..and in the past when people got fed up with their venal politicians there was a Military Coup , and then they realised maybe life was better before with democracy … and the cycle starts again. This model has been exported successfully to Latin America.. with the possible  exception of Mexico. and Costa Rica   Its all very well for us stodgy Northerners with our bad weather , to criticise, but Sun affects people,and when things are good they seem so much better  in the Sunshine..but something about Sunny weather produces Volatility, and an @ i won’t fix the roof as its not raining @ World View… and Italys  colossal death rate is the price to be paid .. not that it is nt sunny in China..or South Korea..but they do a lot more than just fix the roof..and to put  it down to Confucianism .. well  maybe best not to start on that.   Australia will be interesting, they have lots of sun , but its a pretty organised place ..and i don’t see them making this sort of Balls up.. also they have the experience of natural disasters,,and pulling together, and will not let Politics interfere…any country that had leaders with  names  like Abbott and Costello doesn’t waste too energy on petty politics.  The Current Classic example of petty minded, spiteful, pointless,  negative ,oppurtunism , is the  attempt on social media and what sup groups to denigrate the Royal Family organising people to rattle saucepans at a given time, because apparently the current King s father had a rather large amount of money in a Swiss Account..well, it was Saudi Money , not money stolen from the Spanish taxpayer, unlike the billions stolen by the previous administration , the PP .The idea for this stupidity was inspired by the Custom of applauding the Medical profession every night at eight o clock.. an excellent morale boosting , bringing everyone together kind of gesture..well everything has its opposite and this is an excellent way to breed more discontent and fracture an all ready pretty fractured society.. it beggars belief and you really have to have lived here to see these Barca Madrid  idiocies at first hand.   Barca Madrid is a term used to describe the divide and conquer ,us and them , attitudes that have stopped Spains progress since the collapse of their Empire, culminating in the most vicious Civil War in recent European History, and one would have hoped  that after 40 plus years of Democracy it would have disappeared , but sadly, like in the USA and a lot of other democracies , it seems to be on the increase.The anger on Social Media which results from the claustrophobic frustration of a lockdown will hopefully not boil over into something with unpleasant political consequences, which would be very sad , as after Francos death and the adoption of constitution that is the envy of many countries, Spain was a beacon of hope in the last quarter of the 20 th century… how the mighty are fallen .. one hopes not.. SPANISH LOCKDOWN DAY  7   Slept really well , but then  I remember reading that people on Death row sleep 16 hours a day so possibly not a good sign.   Last Night i watched the Spanish news ,on the main channel and things are looking up , relatively speaking, in the sense that testing has arrived ..someone, or some country, has sent several thousand, or may be half a million test kits.. which is obviously excellent news , and testing in  Galicia is going full steam ahead. There was the obligatory item about a vaccine..which I think one can take with a pinch of salt. .Military erecting field hospitals next to various main hospitals…the eight o clock applause of medical staff…all in all well put together not too desperately pessimistic, and generally not as disheartening as Facebook.. afterwards i felt like some light relief so we watched eleven episodes of 2 and half men,  in Spanish ,to cheer ourselves up before going to bed.   ..   Today i decided to live a normal day .. if such a thing were possible , so , after taking Tina for a walk i got the Old TV and DVD working and put on Marty Schwarz s Intermediate Blues Guitar Course part one…and it started raining .. so that was encouraging as it took away any temptation to venture outside.. except for firewood that is.   I worked through the course without rushing , but also without too much pausing , as i d done those lessons before, and all that repetition of Honest I do  is paying off..   On going outside for firewood i could not ignore the noise of the generator that kicked in yesterday evening, as we ve had not Sun for several days, so i decided to fill it up with diesel, and see how much 15 hours constant running had used,only half the 20 litre can to fill  up the tank…but was it full to begin with?..anyway it s very rare to have 4 days without sun , so even if it did use  13 euros of diesel  Im not going to freak out as that was expensive diesel.. and I’m entitled to use the cheaper stuff .Of cause i spilled Diesel over my hands , and shoes , and when i spent a good 5 minutes trying to wash the smell out i realised this was the ultimate anti virus test.. so i will leave a bowl of Diesel outside every time i go to town and use that as first part of the disinfection process , yet another excuse not to go to town.    My neighbour M.  rang and suggested i look at his scheme on Facebook to institute Food Deliveries , so one does nt have to go to the Supermarket in person  and infect and be infected… a good idea of course , but like so many , i don’t see it happening…I pointed out several objections , lack of drivers, expense, one would need a sort of Uber program which will probably not be ready for a year .. etc..and the Supermarkets are making so much money i doubt they need this sort of input.I promised to look at it later , which I will , as Lunch was ready.   We ve run out of  Bread ,Oranges and Chocolate, Aurora has broken a nail and the nail bars are closed till further notice…but otherwise  we can probably get through till Monday without suffering too much ..on the other hand Monday is probably the worst day to go shopping..Im toying with the idea of going to the small Supermarket, at 8 am Sunday morning, and hopefully having it to myself , as i cant face the idea of a queue. I know English people are supposed to love queueing but i must be an exception, and queuing nowadays is a High Risk Activity.    The Sun is out and i did one of the jobs from a month old to do list… pumping the water out the flooded pump room , it all went very well , and i felt  very worthy , and now , with the Sunshine it s time for a walk , with Tina , of course.   I return , feeling optimistic .. and the phone rings, i assume it s my neighbour asking if I’ve read his article.it isn’t , it s C another near neighbour, with some very bad news .  The police are in Quarantine…and the Army will soon be here. No Tobacco..as they will close the Tobacconist.  A completely different ball game  I rang M, and gave him the news…I f he d had  a kalashnikov  he d have been checking the magazine  I rang another neighbour  F, whose office is next to the Police Station , to warn him. .When the Rumour , comes to your Town , It Grows and Grows, Where it Started No-one Knows…*Robbie Robertson   I rang my source in the Town Hall G…no , it s only one cop , and he has nt got the results yet..   I rang M  again…he had spoken to his friend who is a Guardia Civil .no , it was nt a Cop it was a Guardia Civil..he also told me the Cuban woman who cleans houses had been stopped, by the Police and they checked the receipt for her shopping    I rang the first neighbour and corrected the original story        I opened Facebook .. and there was the original story , which had started a firestorm of comments along the likes of whats your source? etc as though we were in the Watergate hearings, not only that,  the people reading the story imagined it referred to Mojacar , not Carboneras , and were all frantically ringing the Police Staion , The Town Hall and each other to see if it were true.    The tones of the respective comments went from shrill outrage that anyone should suggest such a story without due documentation , to fear , to I knew this would happen, all these irresponsible idiots .. blah blah   It began to increasingly resemble an episode of Dads Army with a false alarm about a German Landing.., which Facebook does anyway    There is the Captain Mainwaring..@While i was out today making sure everyone was behaving themselves i saw these irresponsible panic shoppers,  and these people walking around without a good reason @     The Fraser .. We Re Doomed     The Air raid Warden…Its all the fault of the Ruling Class, and rules are rules etc     Jones ..Dont Panic... in a tone of complete hysteria    Pikes mother…Be sure to wear your gloves , motorcycle helmet , hazchem suit, mask..galoshes, .Do you have your hand sanitiser , all clothes must be burnt on reentry etc     By this time Auroras original alarm had been replaced by hilarity, as she was sitting by the fire hearing one side of these conversations..     I went out for some more wood and we relaxed by watching a Documentary about the Boeing 737 MAX..complete with simulation in the Pilots cockpit    The best part was the CEO of Boeing trying to justify his 30 million Dollar salary at a Congressional hearing..…i wondered what the Shareholders thought about that , i know what the victims families thought , as they were being interviewed and did nt sound too impressed
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idyoma · 5 years
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The 14 Best Language Learning Apps for Fluency in 2019
Best Language Learning Apps
You’re here because you're looking for language learning apps so you can keep learning anytime, anyplace, anywhere.
For an in-depth look at our seven favorite tools check out our best language learning software article.
If you want to see a little more variety and some extra interesting concepts keep reading!
Here are some quick links to all the tools we recommend. Scroll down for an overview of each one!
Our best language learning apps:
Duolingo
Idyoma
Memrise
Mondly
Babbel
Italki
Quizlet
Our extra best language learning apps:
Busuu
Rosetta Stone
Beelinguapp
Clozemaster
TripLingo
AnkiApp
HiNative
Duolingo: Best language learning app
Duolingo has to be top of our list. The largest language learning app in the world boasts over 200 million users; a huge community with varied interests which Duolingo has been developing new language courses for.
You can anything from Spanish to Klingon with Duolingo.
One of the things which makes Duolingo so good for users is that it is free. Sure, you have to look at adverts every time you complete a mini-lesson, but that is of little inconvenience. If you want to pay and support Duolingo then it’s not expensive to buy the premium product which means you can hide adverts, access a small amount of gated content, and feel happy that you are supporting the learning of others.
Duolingo tests you on your vocabulary, on your grammar, and even uses voice recognition to try to test your pronunciation.
All of the learning through Duolingo is undertaken through small games. These games normally involve selecting the correct words in your language to translate a sentence from the language you are learning, matching words with their translations, and selecting the correct sentence from a selection of similar options.
That is, no long lists of vocabulary and no conjugation tables.
Duolingo works very well to learn the basics of a language and can work as an excellent refresher for someone who is at an intermediate level. I still regularly go back to Duolingo to keep myself sharp.
Highly recommend.
Idyoma: Best language exchange app
Idyoma is based around the idea that because language is a social tool, we should find a social way to learn it. With Idyoma you can find other language learners in your area who you can meet with to practice, share cultures, and have fun.
Structurally Idyoma is probably most similar to Tinder - an app we all know and love. The difference with Idyoma is that your goal would be to meet with anyone who has a corresponding language skill set to you. Of course, this also means that you can get significant value by connecting with a person who is not in your area, for example, via a video call conversation.
In Idyoma, you have two ways of searching for language partners. You can search your local area or you can search globally based on the language you want to learn. So, for example, I could open up Idyoma and find a Spanish speaker who wants to practice English in my area here in Seville, or I could go onto the worldwide screen and look through all the Spanish speakers on the app. Maybe I would connect with a person from Colombia or Peru. I could then chat with them in the app or via video call.
The best part about it is the ability to find people local to you. However, it is still very useful to be able to look globally and find a large number of people.
In terms of features, Idyoma has a clean visual interface where you can see multiple photos from the person you are considering meeting with - it uses a card structure so that you can swipe between different users. When you are having a conversation with another user in the chat screen you can Auto Translate messages and also recommend Corrections to someone else's message.
Idyoma is free but has a small verification fee for people who want to prove they are not a robot and want to help support the application.
You can download Idyoma for iOS here: Idyoma: Language Exchange
And for Android here: Idyoma: Language Exchange
Memrise: Best gamified language learning app
Memrise is a really good gamified language learning application. When you are using the app it does feel like you are playing a game and it is very easy to feel invested in your progress.
When someone describes an app as being gamified, what they may mean is that the app contains a narrative and a series of goals, and an interactive method to achieve those goals within the scope of a broad narrative. This could, for example, be done through earning points and being able to exchange those points for something else in the app which helps you complete a level. This kind of technique is utilized by many apps, particularly learning apps. Memrise uses this technique very effectively to help keep you interested, motivated, and engaged with your language learning efforts.
Memrise has a really large range of different languages within its platform which you can choose to learn. You can access this huge database of languages for free and you can access a load of really cool added features in their premium package; features like an interactive chatbot.
In my opinion, Memrise is best for improving your vocabulary. However, Memrise can be really useful for improving your grammar and learning conversational phrases too.
The app provides a parallel with Duolingo in that you can start learning a language from the point of having zero knowledge or experience and suddenly find yourself at a basic conversational level when you finish the course.
In the premium package you will also find a large library of videos from native speakers of the language you want to learn, along with many more games as well. This gives the premium package from Memrise a real edge because buying it provides you with significant value as a learner - not something all premium accounts deliver.
I can't finish talking about Memrise without mentioning its wonderful design. Through the gamified nature of the platform Memrise has found a way to present the design in an ambitious and adventurous way.
It makes the platform a pleasure to use.
Mondly: Best virtual reality language learning app
Features like grammar tests, interactive workbooks with question-and-answer scenarios, and over 33 languages make Mondly a strong choice for anyone deciding which is the best app for language learning.
However, Mondly deserves special mention for its unique and immersive virtual reality setup.
This allows you to partake in simulated conversations in a variety of virtual environments, which adds a depth to the experience of language learning second only to face-to-face interaction.
For people who find communication with others difficult, or simply prefer to learn in solitude, Mondly offers an enticing alternative to full real-world immersion.
This narrative aspect is a huge component of learning and memorizing a new language.
Mondly is also a great enterprise option, with a specialized product available for businesses interested in improving the language skills of their employees.
Any company looking to provide language training should strongly consider Mondly.
Babbel: Best conversational language learning app
"Babbel" is the imperative mood of "babbeln", which means "to chat" in a certain West German dialect. It's also a pun on the Tower of Babel, the story of which is about why there are so many different (and mutually incomprehensible) languages.
It's also the world's highest-selling language learning app, second only to Duolingo in raw downloads.
Babbel's approach is similar to Duolingo, focusing on short sessions of an interactive workbook that present you with tests, grammar and word problems, and similar exercises.
The difference is in how Babbel's courses are structured.
Designed with conversations in mind, the aim is to help you get better at conversing in your language of choice.
In that sense, Babbel's main focus is conversational language learning, where importance is placed on listening to, and reading the other side of the conversation to properly comprehend the discussion.
Babbel is a paid app, with a large variety of subjects and talking points to choose from. Lessons are split up into short 15 minute segments, so it's easy to pick up during a commute or on a lunch break.
Italki: Best language tuition app
If you're considering language tuition, you may have investigated your local language schools. That's great, if you happen to live in an area which can cater to your interests.
But for many people, especially those interested in less common languages, there simply are no viable options for local language tutoring.
That's where Italki comes in.
Italki's value proposition is 1-to-1 language tutoring from teachers all over the world.
You can search for teachers who are native speakers of the language you're interested in learning, with the option to video chat.
You can even specify that your teacher needs some (or even extensive) knowledge of your native language if you'd like.
The strength of Itaki is in its flexible and varied pricing, with options for all levels of specialization and formality. You can find a tutor who fits your schedule, your budget, and your level of proficiency.
Simply arrange a time to chat and get learning ASAP!
Quizlet: Best vocabulary learning app
Quizlet is a language app with a focus on highly customizable vocabulary learning.
You start by choosing a bunch of words or phrases you'd like to learn, and Quizlet lets you pick and choose what you deem to be the best way for you to learn them.
This approach recognizes that different people learn in different ways. Some people learn better with immersive word association; others prefer a simple paired list of words with their translation.
With this method you can build your ideal language learning course. If you want to build it out to be similar to Duolingo's approach, you can do that. If you prefer a Memrise-like structure, you can do that too.
You can build your course exactly how you want it.
But that's not all - Quizlet could also be called the "best language learning app for community content", because, well, there's a lot of community content! Over 270,000,000 to be exact.
For every new course (or "set", as Quizlet calls them) that you build, you can set it to be either public or private.
Public sets are then available for any Quizlet user to use for themselves.
Although, not all of Quizlet's content is focused on language learning, as it's used by all kind of teachers and students to improve their knowledge of just about any kind of vocabulary you could imagine.
Nonetheless, with its combined customization and community content, Quizlet is without a doubt one of the best language learning apps available.
Busuu: Best versatile language learning app
There are a lot of language learning apps available. Some of them offer highly customizable lesson plans, some of them offer ready-made courses for you to get started right away.
This can be confusing. How do you know which will work best for you? Maybe you want a bit of both, or are curious about testing some different approaches.
If this sounds familiar, then look no further. Busuu, (stylized as busuu) is a versatile language app for learners of all proficiencies.
What do I mean by "versatile"?
I mean that busuu offers a safe "middle way" between the highly customizable offering of Quizlet and the highly structured solutions of Duolingo. It has a bit of both!
You'll start by taking a placement test to make sure your lessons match up to your skill level, and from there you can navigate to the language of your choice from the busuu dashboard.
Each language has about 150 units, and all of busuu's modules are extremely well-organized. You will build on what you already know and utilize customizable tests and print-outs to learn at your own pace.
You also have the option to have your exercises corrected by a native speaker, for an additional measure of quality.
Rosetta Stone: Best language learning app for speech recognition
When it comes to language learning apps, if you haven't heard of Rosetta Stone then there's a pun in there somewhere.
Since 1996, Rosetta Stone has offered "dynamic immersion" language learning in the form of its signature software, pairing sound and text to images to facilitate learning.
The app follows in this lineage, focusing on practical scenarios and speech-recognition to improve your accent, in 24 different languages.
You can also download a bunch of the learning material for offline learning, which is a huge bonus for those wanting to save on data, or for offline sessions.
Rosetta Stone's experience in the language learning software industry, and the sheer amount of time they've been offering and refining their audio-based language learning solutions for clarity of pronunciation has earned it a place on this list.
Beelinguapp: Best language storytelling app
Whether you're watching Spanish telenovelas, reading Japanese manga, or using Beelinguapp, some people find that storytelling empowers their learning ability.
Specifically, Beelingu is focused on improving reading skills by offering mirrored text in two separate languages simultaneously.
You can choose from a range of stories at different levels of proficiency, in Japanese, Arabic, Korean, Chinese, Hindi, Turkish, French, Russian, Portuguese, Spanish, German, Italian, and English, with everything from news, science papers, fairy tales, and novels.
The app also offers an interesting "karaoke reading" feature, which is an audiobook that lets you listen as you read the mirrored text.
A great way to immerse yourself that isn't conversing!
Clozemaster: Best retro language learning app
Clozemaster requires some unpacking.
Simply put, it's a retro-themed app (for tablets, smartphones, and web browsers) that teaches vocabulary through gamification and a concept known as "cloze".
What is "cloze", you ask?
It comes from the term "cloze test", which is a way of testing comprehension by removing words from sentences. You can also think of it as a game of fill-in-the-gaps.
If you were trying to learn English, it'd look like this:
My _____ told me he thinks one of the best language learning apps is Idyoma.
You'd have a choice of options like "dog", "brother", "sister", "chair", "football".
Using your knowledge of the language, you'd infer the correct answer based on the options available. You're essentially learning the language through context.
Clozemaster is based on this method.
It utilizes Tatoeba, an enormous database of sentences designed for language learners, by taking sentences and blanking out the least common word.
Another perk of Clozemaster is that it's completely free. You don't even need an account (unless you want to save your progress; in which case you can make a free account).
TripLingo: Best language learning app for travelers
TripLingo is one of the only language learning apps designed specifically for travelers.
As you might expect, TripLingo focuses on useful phrases, and to that end it's a great crash-course resource for those looking to brush up before (or during) a trip.
Offering thousands of phrases, slang, audio lessons, flashcards, a translator, and quizzes for learning in 13 languages, TripLingo stands up as a language learning app outright.
But it really shines in its array of traveler-focused features like safety tools (how do you dial 911 in France? How do you tell someone you have a food allergy?), tip calculator, culture notes, and a whole suite of travel tools to aid the language-bereft wayward wanderer.
There's even a built-in wi-fi dialer for saving money on costly roaming calls!
AnkiApp: Best language learning app for customizable phrases and flashcards
Flashcards are a great way to learn languages. What AnkiApp offers is customizable flashcards, for learners who have specific word sets or vocabularies they want to learn.
Sure, some of the other apps on this list offer customizable flashcards. But AnkiApp offers a simple, streamlined solution, for those who simply want flashcards without any of the other features.
You can also search through a ton of community content in a wide range of languages, if you'd rather not spend time building flashcards yourself.
Definitely one to try if you are a fan of flashcards.
Moreover, it has a particularly strong cult following among those who are learning Asian languages. Some of the communities are practically Anki fan clubs. So if you’re learning Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or another Asian language, you should definitely check it out to see what all the fuss is about!
HiNative: Best Q&A language learning app
Last but not least, we have HiNative.
HiNative is a Q&A app that lets you ask any question you can think of to native speakers of the language you're trying to learn, with audio, image, and/or text support.
Because the format is quite conversational (you can ask about whatever you're interested in) it makes for a natural, fun way to build and practice vocabulary.
It's also informal and unstructured, so you have the chance to ask about things you may not find in some of the other offerings of this list, such as curse words (though that is far from the only way to use HiNative).
With over 100 languages, HiNative can be a great supplement to some of the other apps in this list, and deserves a mention if only for its unique offering.
What are your best language learning apps?
I've reviewed the best workflow apps, task management apps, BPM software, todo list apps, and productivity software, and people always have new apps they want to recommend in the comments.
So, go ahead and let me know! What are your favorite language learning apps? Do you know any hidden gems?
For more from Idyoma, check out these articles:
The 7 Best Language Learning Software of 2018: The Awards!
The Best 12 Spanish Movies to Immerse Yourself in the Language
Best Way to Learn Spanish: A 6 Month Process That Works for You
This article was written by Idyoma’s Adam Henshall and Oliver Peterson, who writes about processes and systems for business process management and workflow automation platform Process Street. Oliver is learning Spanish.
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saskhal · 5 years
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Understanding how racism works
Dear Sara Chavez,
​I do agree with you that we have yet to see this dream come true. I also believe that we can one day make it happen and live in a world where the idea of race no longer exists. Notice how I said the idea of race. This is because long ago during the colonial times of the Americas race had not been a real thing for people to use and describe people as. People identified with their nationality. For example, English, Spanish, or Shawnee instead of white or native American. I don’t believe racism is inherent because there was no race. and if it was inherent from a primitive time then wouldn’t people look similar while they could not travel to a faraway place like we can now? I would suggest that race started around the time of Thomas Jefferson because he was one of the first people to address it in a way that suggested a racial hierarchy when he wrote how blacks were distinct either originally or over time and became inferior to whites (Golash-Boza, 2018). Although in history the terms white and black had been used to describe people of another ethnicity, it was never used in such a way that was degrading to a person even an enemy. Color of skin had not been used as a category of people in this way.
​But the next step is to understand how this idea gets passed on socially if it really isn’t inherent. If I am not born racist, then how come when I look at someone and assume part of their character based on how they look? This process is called socialization. It is a method to create culture and values as well as public order. Things to look for in socialization is our peers, family, media, and schooling. Since we both like psychology, there was a study in Texas to see if children were born with trait that naturally separated themselves by race when interacting with each other. “Bigler contends that children extend their shared appearances much further—believing that those who look similar to them enjoy the same things they do” (Bronson, 2009). The bias was fund at age six. This means before that children do not think this way. But it is not about who is good, it is about essentialism and what you look like means you have these set of traits or in this case of the study things you enjoy. This is definitely shown in pop culture when you see people of the same looks doing the same activities which further reinforces this idea of race to the next generation.
​Now that we can begin to say that racism is not inherent, I want to also point out that even people who are not racist can be engaged in racist ideas. As Americans, we understand that overt racism is bad, and we like to say hey that was racist, or this person is bad. But when we point out individuals it hides attention to where racism still lies today. There are many policies set by our institutions that have racist consequences and over time and by many different institutions we see a pattern of structural racism that keep marginalized people under oppression even after most of our county sees racism as a bad thing. But we ignore our system by only pointing out individuals, punishing them, and never questioning the system that made it possible for a racist idea. For a brief example, we justified slavery with race. Then slavery was abolished so instead there was sharecropping which was like slavery because white people still owned their property and it was almost impossible for blacks to pay off the plantation owners. In modern day we have continued this chain of discrimination and kept black people at a disproportional rate of poverty and harsher prison sentences. And if one person were truly not racist it would not make sense to suggest that black people are just lazy, so they are poor or that black people are just really bad and do more crime. I am only use one racial example, but it is easier to understand how the discrimination works that way.
​I would say that children might be able to learn certain things better than adults such as language, but they learn the same as adults such as how we are socialized through the media. Adults learn from media the same way children do by looking at interactions. We can think about a long process of ideology and control of people. I am talking about hegemony, the process where there is a dominant control of a whole group of people through knowledge and beliefs by consent and not by force, and it serves for a group hierarchy. With this process we can notice how people are portrayed similarly so that everyone in this control will begin to create bias from the information they are given. We can see on the news many instances of terrorist and movies about people in the middle east, but for white Americans who commit mass shootings they are not terrorist but instead mentally ill. Or on the other hand it can be what is called enlightened racism that makes people think a poor person of color can do better if they tried hard like on the shows we watch (Golash-Boza, 2018). If a black person became the president that means anyone can, unless you look at his history and all the privileges he had, it is unrealistic to think someone from a poor family and little city resources could achieve this although it may be possible it is not likely in our current system.
​Structural racism can work through the dominant ideology of the United States, color-blindness. Color-blind racism has four main frames. They are abstract liberalism, naturalization, cultural, and minimization of race (Bonilla-Silva). If someone is color-blind it means they do not see race and just see everyone as equal, which seems like a good idea, however it lets them ignore that racism exists and they can justify discrimination and marginalization based off the four frames instead of calling it racism. With abstract liberalism we can argue for a policy to not have racial words and disagree for any policies to give “extra” to marginalized people. Naturalization racism is saying more of inherent rationalization of why people of one race are mistreated, such as they just feel more comfortable in this group and people naturally separate themselves. Under cultural racism we can say a group of people often make decisions that lead them into poverty without thinking of how the system and current political policies make it hard for that group of people to pursue a better economic path. The last frame means that when we see an example of racism (such as a news report), which is often individualized, a privileged person can agree that is bad but follow with a “but that doesn’t happen all the time” or “it could be anyone. Why do they point out race?”. With this information I would like for you to open your mind like you said. People can open their minds and change, but the change is not necessarily for the good. Instead of basing arguments on individuals being closed minded I would say that many people are open minded, but the culture they are surrounded by teaches them that being a good person means there is no racism. But we both realize that racism still exists.
​Humans do seem to fear change, don’t they? We have changed a lot, but racism has also changed and that is why we still face it today. This can be explained through racial formation. Once institutions and groups challenge what we collectively know, we face change. But once we fix our problem a new stereotype is made and is socialized. It looks to me like a never-ending cycle, but if we acknowledge it and stop hiding racial ideas in our policies, we may be able to end the cycle of racial formation. I hope that by giving you a sociological perspective that I have helped you better understand how racism exists. I know you are willing to learn, and I hope you can find a way to teach others to be more aware of racism and how it affects each of us. I have hope that once we can understand and accept what is currently wrong that we can work to fix it instead of changing it to match a political or economic agenda.
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@elskett sent an ask that wouldn’t publish for some reason so, here you go, Kai~! Send a 🙌 and I’ll introduce you to an NPC related to my Muse. || Accepting
This means any minor ‘background character’ in my Muse’s life, such as a relative, coworker, friend, rival, etc. that they interact with in their personal canon.
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NAME: Baron Battle
ALIAS(ES): Barry Jules Burnham (Alter ego, before marrying Penelope Peace/Monsoon), Barry Jules Peace (Alter ego, after marrying Penelope Peace), Matteo Julius Marcantonio (Birth name, informally changed during high school, legally changed at age 18), Mattie (Childhood nickname, by Danielle Marcantonio), M&M (Childhood nickname, by Claire/Bloodhound), ‘B’ (By Saul/Scout), Boss (By Lester/Leech, among others), Boss-man (By Niles/Memento, among others), Dear (By Constance/Demonita), Baron Barbecue (By Penelope Peace, in her freshman year; Later by Lyn/Viper), [Teddy] Bear (by Penelope Peace, after entering into their relationship), Dad (By Warren Peace), #164209-S (Confinement number, by various researchers, jailers, and psychologists), [the] Bloody Red Baron (the Maxville Star Tribune), The Baron (by many people), Baron Fucking Battle (by many people, including himself), ‘Barron Battle’ (Sky High yearbook, on certain photos), “Brandon K” (Used by psychologist Dr. Marnie McDougal, M.D., as an alias in There Is No Wonderland Here: Understanding the Criminally Insane, Broadriver University Publishing, Inc., Maxville, CA, 2003), Ashton ‘Ash’ Nobles (Used as an alias while in Europe).
PORTRAYED BY: Daniel di Tomasso (Singing voice performed by Ramin Karimloo)
POWER(S) AND ABILITIES (IF ANY): Pyrokinesis/Pyromancy (largely regarded as the most powerful pyrokinetic in modern history, if not all time), invulnerability, enhanced strength; Fluent in English, Italian, ASL, and French. Speaks conversational Spanish and Cantonese. Following incarceration, knows a handful of assorted insults and a few basic phrases in Russian. Skilled engineer and inventor. Photographic memory. Highly skilled in unarmed combat. Talented and very much interested in musical theater. Highly manipulative, seen by many as charismatic. Owns at least one mug which proclaims him the world’s #1 dad. Can, in fact, drive a standard transmission (but not an automatic). Makes a good omelette.
AGE: 35
D/O/B: December 20th
ETHNICITY: Italian
GENDER/PRONOUNS: Cis male; He/him/his
ORIENTATION: He’s never put much thought into it. Considers himself straight, but might be somewhere on the ace/aro spectrum. He’s not sure. Doesn’t care enough to do the required introspection.
EMPLOYMENT STATUS: Currently incarcerated; Formerly, salesman at AutoWorld North; Prior to that, intern at Hermes Corp. Unofficially, infamous supervillain, founder and leader of the Battalion, smuggler, arms dealer.
CURRENTLY LIVES: Northern Alaska Penitentiary for the Supernaturally Enabled, Solitary confinement wing, floor 6, cell 6-382 C.
PAST RESIDENCE(S): Maxville, California.
ALLEGIANCE: Penny and Warren Peace, himself, the Battalion (in order from most to least prioritized)
ALIGNMENT: A healthy mix of chaotic and neutral evil, with a splash of chaotic neutral for flavour. Nobody really has it figured out.
RELATION TO WARREN: Father.
DESCRIPTION: Matteo Julius Marcantonio (known later in life as ‘Baron Battle’) is the only child of businessman Mercurio Raffael “Mercury” Marcantonio/”Heatwave” and Danielle Gisella Marcantonio (nee Damiani). Mercury sat at the head of Hermes Corp., a massive shipping company started by his grandfather (Baron’s great grandfather) Luciano Marcantonio. This meant that Matteo/Baron grew up wealthy, and wanted for nothing, materially. ‘Too expensive’ didn’t appear to be a phrase in his family’s vocabulary. It wasn’t a terrible childhood. People assume that, to turn out the way he did, he must have been beaten, but he wasn’t. They think his parents must have somehow mistreated him, but they didn’t. If forced to describe them, Baron would to refer to his parents as ‘relatively decent, and terribly boring’. None of them (Baron/Matteo, Mercury, and Danielle) were surprised when his powers came in (roughly at around age 5-6). Mercury was a pyrokinetic, too, and a superhero. Great-grandfather Luciano had been a pyro, as well. It ran in the family. Matteo was, of course, fascinated by this. All of his free time was henceforth devoted to experimenting with his powers, focusing on them to see what he could do. And he had a lot of free time. School was fairly easy for him; he attended a private school called the Simon Blackford Academy for Boys (’the Blackford Academy’, for short). He didn’t really have an established ‘group’ there. Sure, he had people who considered him a friend, he would be invited to birthday parties, or to hang out sometimes, and he could move between circles easily enough, but there was nobody that he really considered a friend. They were all just people, and they were all just there. And at home, there were even fewer distractions. Danielle and Mercury were running a business, after all. It wasn’t that they were terribly neglectful on purpose, they were just busy. They made an effort to speak with him when they had a moment, and let him know he could always come find them if he needed anything. He had the numbers for their office phones if he needed them and they were out. He generally didn’t call. The only other presence in the house came in the form of hired help, most of whom were quite happy to leave their young charge to his own devices, as long as he didn’t get hurt and they got paid. And, if he sits in his room quietly the whole time? That makes their job easier. He would occasionally be checked on by a woman named Claire Abatescianni. A super herself, which was why Mercury trusted her to watch his son without ousting Matteo/Baron’s powers. Claire’s power was a superhuman sense of smell. If you couldn’t guess, she’d had a hard time finding employment as a sidekick. Though Claire never said anything, Baron was pretty sure she only took the job of his ‘babysitter’ to get in good with his father in hopes of getting hired for something more exciting. She always seemed far too cheery to be there. Yes, yay, he’s still in his room, gosh, how thrilling. The older he got, the more irritating it got. He was quite glad when his parents decided he was old enough for a lock on his door (age 12). Aside from the help, his only companion was the radio in his room. He found that he very much did like music. It filled the silence, and the radio hadn’t been paid to like him. He found himself singing along to it while he went about his day. Reading, scribbling in his notebook, straightening out his things, honing and experimenting with his powers… Even walking the halls of the family home, he’d probably be humming to himself. It was something to do, at least, and he did enjoy it. Again, he didn’t resent his parents for being busy. He didn’t resent the help for doing their jobs. He, frankly, didn’t care enough for resentment. He also didn’t know any different. As far as he’d ever known, the day you spent time with your family was Sunday, and the place you spent time with them was in church. Yes, the infamous Baron Battle was raised Catholic. Most people are surprised by that. Mercury was the most devout of all of them, but Danielle was close behind. So, Baron went to church at least once a week, every week, and listened to preachers and priests lecture him about an all-powerful god. This got him thinking. According to the priests and the bible, God made all things. God was, supposedly, infallible. If these two things were true, it meant that God had intended to give Baron and all other supers their powers, which, by extension, meant that God intended them to be above ‘normal’ people, to be better than them. The very term ‘super human’ meant ‘above or beyond human’, and most people, Baron knew, could not shoot fire out of their hands at will. So, that, by definition and by will of God, meant that the average person was beneath Baron in the same way average people were beneath saints and angels and the Lord Himself. On the other hand, if it wasn’t true? If God wasn’t an all-powerful creator, wasn’t infallible, or maybe didn’t even exist? Well, then, why should Baron be beholden to His rules? He should be able to do whatever he wants. He did mention this to his parents, once, and never made that mistake again. Mercury told his son that thinking he was better than most of the planet was Pride and therefore a sin, and thinking about God in such a way was heresy and even worse, and you had better be in confessional next time they stopped by the church to talk to a priest, Matteo, before it gets any worse. Baron, who had just turned fourteen at the time, decided three things in that moment. Firstly, he decided that God was clearly not infallible, as He had definitely made some mistakes when He was making Mercury. Secondly, Baron realized that he had no intention of changing his way of thinking, priest or no, without a tangible reason to do so. Lastly, if God really was powerful enough to send souls to Hell, and if these thoughts would condemn him on their own, what reason did Baron have to try and earn salvation? He’d burn anyways, why not have fun with it? (And the irony of Hell supposedly being a place of fire and brimstone, and himself being able to conjure fire from nothing, was not lost on him.) But again, he didn’t say anything to his parents. He had better things to do than listen to lectures from them. -> Baron had discovered his love of theatrics while he was going to Blackford. There were school plays, and there were readings of classics the students would have to do out loud. Baron thought it was great fun, and his parents were thrilled. Finally, something that caught his interest. Finally, something got him out of the house and socializing without it being like some kind of chore. The drama department at the academy definitely saw a generous donation or two from Hermes Corp. Baron made himself involved with every production the school hosted during his tenure there. Like most, he started out with minor or supporting roles. Towards his later years in the academy, he gradually became used to landing the lead. There were a number of cast and crew photos and handmade commemorative t-shirts stored away in his childhood bedroom. He loved everything about it. Dressing up differently, stepping into another persona, being on stage… It was fun.And, in a way, it helped him connect with people. Or, rather, it helped people connect with him. He decided that he liked the other theater kids, well enough. He couldn’t put on the productions without them. And the drama teacher (Mr. Daryl Gunn) was quite pleased with his star students, and, as many teachers are known to do, tended to let them get away with more than he should. So Baron liked the drama part of school. And yet, as flashy as some productions might be, Baron couldn’t really show off. No powers in public. That was something Mercury always said. Baron argued against it, of course. Don’t show off his powers, dad? Why not? What, are the unpowered masses going to call the fire department on him? Ooh, he’s so scared. … Still, Baron understood the logic. He didn’t like it, but he understood. So, he played along, for the most part. No powers in public. It was stifling, though. Suffocating. Fire is a hungry, chaotic, screaming element to keep contained. It doesn’t belong in a cage. Not being able to use his powers outside was one of the reasons he stayed home so often. So, when he got the letter to attend Sky High, he was actually glad to go. Not surprised, though. Mercury had gone to Sky High, and he’d always said that Matteo would go to his alma matter, too. His son was going to be just like him. Baron took one look at his father, who he thought was boring, simple-minded, and quite frankly uninspired, and decided that, no, he wasn’t going to be like his dad. He wasn’t going to sit in an office all day signing business deals; He wasn’t going to be content living what was to him an ordinary life; And he certainly wasn’t going to be a hero. … But, more on that particular hangup as we go. 
-> So, Baron attended Sky High. He had to admit, he’d never had a bus ride quite like that, before. He’d nearly thought he’d discover whether or not God was real much sooner than he’d anticipated. But, no, he was fine. According to power placement, he was more than fine. He was a hero. Or- Hero class, at least. (He learned very early on that the school didn’t really care whether you used your powers for ‘good’ or not.) At first, he was satisfied by this. Yes, he was wonderful, thanks for noticing. But then he got to thinking. On one hand, the social system of the school was laughably easy to exploit, when you were a Hero. On the other, there was so much potential going to waste. Sure, other powers weren’t quite as destructive or immense or- Powerful, for lack of a better word, as his own, but they were still powers. Everyone in the school was still ‘super human’, and we all know how Baron interpreted that word. And there were so many applications for how the powers of his fellow classmates could be used. The fact that there even was a ‘Most Useless Superpower’ award in the yearbook only went to show him that the administration at Sky High was useless. As you’ve probably figured out, Baron always had a problem with authority. This did not help. He could be quoted later as saying “There is no such thing as useless superpowers; only a superhuman lack of creativity”. This is a philosophy he would abide by for the rest of his life. It helped him accomplish two things. First, it increased his motivations to analyze and study superpowers, though no longer limited just to his own. Secondly, it helped him realize that sidekicks - especially upper years, who’d been beaten down by years of being told how worthless they were, or graduates, like Claire - were very easy to persuade to do things. This would later help him in founding the Battalion, but, for now, was just a useful little tidbit to know. Not like Baron had any trouble finding his place in the school, mind. He was smart, he was rich, he was descended from another well-known super, he was a Hero student. He wasn’t a jock, but he was pretty high up on the food chain all the same - especially for the arts kids. He had a decent group of people he usually hung around with. He wasn’t particularly attached to any of them, but, it was all well and good. They filled his lunch table and gave him people to talk to. It gave him an excuse to get out of the house, too. He didn’t mind it. It was better than hanging out with the radio, at least. And, since a good amount of his friends were other theater kids, they at least got his references, and he got theirs.  And, whenever it came time to get ready for school plays, they could do line readings together to get ready for auditions and performances. When not in school or at home, you could usually find him at some cafe or another with members of his entourage. Or, you could find him at work. In order to teach their son responsibility, Mercury and Danielle had given ‘Mattie’ an internship at Hermes Corp. It was pretty standard faire. A way to get spending money, at least. A way to learn how a business was run. Useful skills, to be sure, but not very interesting, and it took time away from his research. Back when he was in Blackford, one of the science teachers - Mr. Trent Connery - impressed upon his class that the key to any proper experiment was to write things down. So Baron had taken to writing down his work on his powers. He had to admit, it made a difference. And he would much rather be doing that than sorting files for his parents. With his school now populated exclusively by supers, and home being- Well, home, work was the only place he couldn’t use his powers. It was like a prison. A very dull prison. Mercury didn’t seem to notice. He told his son that, one day, he’d be the one sitting at this desk. Mercury understood it as saying ‘one day, you’ll be wealthy and successful, too’. Baron saw it as ‘one day, you’ll be stuck at this desk, slaving away over paperwork and forced to act as an average human being for the rest of your life, too’. So he decided it was about time to work on distancing himself from the whole thing. It was little things, at first. Flirting with the other interns, growing his hair out, staying out late. That irked his father. But what really got to Mercury was when, after speaking to some of his old friends who had stuck around to teach at Sky High, he had learned that his son almost exclusively played the role of the villain in Save the Citizen. That infuriated Mercury. His son, a villain? No, no, that wasn’t happening. What was so appealing about it, anyways? Baron’s answer was that being a villain was more fun. He had better reasons than that. Heroes had rules they had to follow, villains did not. Heroes had to answer to the public, villains did not. Above all, heroes had to wait for villains to show up before they could do anything, whereas villains could act at any time they felt like. He’d thought through it, of course, as he thought through most things, but he didn’t tell his father. ‘It’s more fun’ would get a better reaction. Mercury was very upset about this. He couldn’t raise a villain! Matteo, that’s not what our powers are for! Baron responded to this by switching from almost always requesting to play on the Villains team to exclusively playing as a villain. It really was fun, and he found his powers were quite well suited for it. The rule book had to be changed a few times because of him, but that was something he was proud of. It was during one of these rule-changing matches where he met his future wife, and one of the only positive influences he ever took to heart: Penelope Anne Peace. ‘Penny’, to her friends, of which Baron didn’t initially consider himself to be one. -> He didn’t know her at all, in fact. She was a freshman, he was a junior. (And yes, if you’re wondering, this was after he got The Perm. It was a hassle to maintain and got in the way of things, but the looks on his parents’ faces made it worth it.) More importantly, she was what society would consider a good person, and he was not. She hadn’t been at Sky High for very long - it was the start of the year - and, being in different years, they had no classes together aside from the very much mixed Phys Ed, so he’d never really had any reason to notice her, nor she him. Baron had been called up to the ring, along with Lyn “The Lioness” van Rueben (later, Lynda Shale/’Viper’), a fellow villain who generated and manipulated various poisons and toxins. Baron had met and befriended Saul within their first year of high school (you can read more of that in Saul’s bio, linked way up at the top), and they’d been sitting together in the bleachers. When the two of them realized that Lyn and Baron had been chosen by Coach Pacer to phase in some freshies, the boys thought it would be hilarious. Baron had even muttered a ‘this’ll be good’ to Saul as he left. He and Lyn weren’t friends, not exactly. They each essentially headed off two different groups. But, they had devastated the STC ring enough times together that they knew how the other operated, and knew how to work with it to make the most damage. A wink from Lyn. A smirk from Baron. The freshies looking very excited and determined. The buzzer sounded. The citizen went up in flames. The rope broke instantly. Lyn thought this was funny, and Baron was proud of himself. Penny called a foul as soon as she processed what had just happened. Pacer had to stop the match and climb down to deal with a group of bickering super-teens. Penny’s argument was that that was unfair, and gave them no chance to react. Baron’s counterpoints were that villains weren’t supposed to play fair, and that if he’d gone through all this trouble to let the citizen die, he wanted to see them die, and wouldn’t bother with a timer in the first place. Lyn took his side, for once. Penny, who was still learning to control her powers and was very frustrated with ‘Baron Barbecue’, made a sweeping gesture with one hand, and accidentally sicked a massive gust of wind and torrent of water on Baron that not only lifted him off his feet, but hurled him through one of the walls. Lyn thought this was hysterical. Penny, for her part, freaked out, thinking she had just killed one of her classmates on her first time participating in gym class. Baron, being invulnerable, was fine, though he was still blinking dust out of his eyes when Saul hauled him to his feet and asked if he was okay. Baron wasn’t really listening, though. He wouldn’t be able to say why, exactly, though he would later be able to write paragraphs on the subject, but he was relatively certain he had just fallen in love with Penny Peace. He said as much, too, quietly and somewhat dazedly. Nobody heard him but Saul, who assumed Baron must have a concussion, and dragged him off to the nurse. Baron snapped out of his stupor and insisted he was fine, flung a few threats around, but ultimately let himself be carted off. He didn’t feel like rejoining gym class, and this was the perfect excuse. -> Of course, the nurses didn’t find anything wrong with him. Though, when Penny came in to check on him, and Baron actually apologized, they were certain they had to have missed something. It was just hugely out of character. He offered to buy her lunch, she apologized and explained she brought one form home, but did say she’d see him later. He considered the fact that she left with a smile on her face a victory. He left before the nurse could look him over again. He liked science class too much to want to miss it. -> Courting her was an effort in and of itself, but one he considered worth it. A lot of running into her in the hall or the cafeteria and making idle small talk working up to the point where she’d approach him first, and then where they’d eat at each others’ tables with increasing frequency. Eventually, it became a daily thing. More often than not, he’d be eating at ‘her’ table rather than his, since he didn’t really care about spending time with the people there. Penny was the one he was interested in, and was quite literally the first person he had ever genuinely cared about, outside of himself. Saul went where Baron went, and since he was decent enough and went along with Baron’s antics, Barry didn’t mind. So Saul and Baron became a part of Penny’s friend group. It took him until nearly the end of her first year to convince her to go out with him, but convince her, he did. It was a fairly simple date. They went out on a Sunday (Baron had stopped going to church with his parents) and went to a park for a walk and to feed ducks. He took her for lunch at a small local restaurant, and she showed him her favourite arcade. They played skeeball and Space Invaders and Baron pooled their tickets together to get Penny one of those over-priced stuffed animals that always seem to be behind prize counters. He walked her home, and carried her the last few steps to her door when he noticed her limping from a blister; She teased him about how gentlemanly it was. He put her down right as Nicholas, Penny’s older brother, opened the door. Penny kissed Baron on the cheek and went inside. It was only as he was walking away, and glanced over his shoulder at the Peace house that Baron realized something that struck him as odd. ... He’d never been happy before. Sure, there were things that he derived satisfaction or pleasure from - getting a good role in a play, good music, fresh coffee, Save the Citizen, attention, burning things, the simple joys - but he’d never been HAPPY. He was fairly certain that that’s what this was. It sounded cliche and corny, even to him, but he wasn’t going to question it. Just enjoy it while it lasted. And last it did. The interesting thing about not really forming emotional attachments is, if you ever actually do make one, you don’t tend to have many commitments to get in the way. As mentioned earlier, Baron had stopped going to church entirely. He’d been thinking for a while about the relationship of God and supers. If God did exist, at any point in time, Baron thought, and if He really could do half the things people said that He could, then, perhaps He was simply a very powerful super, Himself. As Baron grew more powerful, through natural aging and through his own training and experiments, he found it a waste of time to devote his life to worshiping someone who was very quickly becoming his equal (his own thoughts, nearly verbatim). Mercury was very much considering hiring either a therapist or an exorcist to pay his son a visit. Something had to be done about ‘Matteo’. It wasn’t like Mercury got much of a chance to talk to him about it, though. When Baron was home, he locked himself in his room. More and more often, he would be out with his school friends, or spending time with Penny. Danielle said they should be grateful that he was socializing of his own volition; Mercury wasn’t so sure. But, yes, for better or worse, Baron was socializing. He and Penny spent a lot of time together, enjoying the high that comes with a new relationship. It was towards September (before they went back to school) that she finally confided in him about the problems she had with her father. Though he did conceal it well at the time, Baron was furious. Here was this wonderful, lovely, and as far as he was concerned, perfect girl, and she was being hurt. Hurt by someone who by societal decree was meant to take care of her. And the man hurting her was going unpunished. More than that, he was wealthy and well-known, revered by his colleagues in the medical field. Where were all the self-righteous heroes? Why was nothing being done about this? What, they can take down giant monsters, but not monsters who looked like model citizens? ... Before this, Baron had wanted to be a villain because heroes were boring and too bound by rules to be worthwhile. Those reasons still applied, but now, heroes were also inefficient. The more he looked into it, the more he saw the problems with the world that went largely ignored by ‘superheroes’. The government was corrupt. So many crimes went unpunished. The world was broken and cancerous and needed to be fixed. Heroes either couldn’t or wouldn’t fix it. What kind of boyfriend (and later, husband and father) would he be if he let his girlfriend (and later, wife and son) live in a world that was so cruel to her? To everyone? No, he had to change things. Like an overgrown forest, burn down the old to make way for the new. He wasn’t a villain for kicks, any more. He was a villain who thought his cause righteous, and that is a dangerous thing. -> He was also a villain who was still in high school. Even if he had his delusions of grandeur set, he did want to graduate. So, he attended classes. Still spent time with his school group, and, of course, Penny. He joined her closest friends in convincing her to move out of her parents’ house and live with her grandfather, instead. Baron had personally met Penny’s father only once, and did not like him at all; Penny’s grandfather, Peter, was- Passable. Nothing special, but nothing bad. And she seemed happier with him, which was all that mattered to Baron. He studied for exams, just like everyone else. He’d have a table at the library with a few of his crowd, where they’d compare notes or otherwise sit in silence, reading. He and Penny went to Homecoming together. When the drama department announced the school musical, Oklahoma, Baron, of course, jumped on the chance to act in it. He’d always be a theater kid at heart. He went up against a few people for the lead, but none of them would ever prove to be nearly as impactful on his life as one Steve Stronghold. Neither of them really knew it at the time. All Baron knew was that Steve looked especially miffed at not getting the lead, and Baron himself felt quite smug to be the star. He found out relatively quickly he could get a smile out of Penny with renditions of ‘Oh What A Beautiful Mornin’’, and he absolutely abused this fact whenever he could. Out of a mix of spite and pride, Baron began referring to Steve by the nickname ‘Understudy’, which never really went away. He thought the play went well. Another cast photo to go on his wall. His parents went to the opening night, and though he basked in their praise it didn’t do anything to change his opinions of them. Penny went on the first and last nights, Saul went on the first and second (it ran for five days, standard school week), and the theater kids Baron had often surrounded himself went to at least one performance, assuming they weren’t in the play already. Baron quite enjoyed the full-page feature in the yearbook, and the interview for it. Attention was always something he loved. When friends asked him to sign their yearbooks at the end, instead of signing on the back page like everyone else, he’d sign on the shot of himself in costume. Flourish the letters and everything. Nobody was all that surprised. He invited Penny to his year’s prom. She agreed... On the condition that he finally get a hair cut. He would admit to being taken aback by this; He’d had the perm for so long, he’d gotten used to it. So, he said nothing, only thought about it for a moment, nodded, and climbed on the bus to go home. He wouldn’t know until later that Penny had been sure he was upset with her. He hadn’t really been thinking about that, at the time (and he’d kick himself for it later). He was only thinking about what style to try this time. He went out, got his hair cut much shorter and straightened. His parents were very pleased; They thought he might finally be growing up. Until, that is, Baron looked them dead in the face and told them that he’d done it ‘to impress girls’. Mercury didn’t know why he was surprised, but- At least that was a ‘normal teenage boy’ reason for doing things, so he didn’t complain much. And it was a nice haircut. Penny also thought it was nice. Most people who’d been standing next to her at the time would tell you she looked about ready to faint. Baron was satisfied with this reaction, and considered it a victory when she finally agreed to let him take her to prom. He and Saul borrowed Saul’s uncle’s plane for the trip, and were quite pleased with themselves for it. Though it was the first one he’d been to, Baron thought it was a good prom. He and Penny were practically joined at the hip for the entire event. There was decent enough music, decent food, and some joking toasts made to their time at Sky High. At some point, as usually happens at proms, someone spiked the punch, and Baron was fortunate to notice the taste before he’d had more than a sip or two; He joined the rest of the student body in trying to speculate who was the most likely culprit. The top contenders were Troy Barker, Madison Terry, and Coach Pacer. Baron never found out who did it, but he didn’t really care. He got Penny home safely at the end of the night, and then went home while Saul returned the plane to its original location. They got in trouble for the stunt the next day. They were too pleased to worry about the consequences. Besides, they were graduating by the end of the week! What could the school even do to them, anyways? (The answer, of course, was nothing. Which is precisely why Saul and Baron did the exact same thing when Penny invited them to her year’s prom, two years later.) -> Following graduation, Baron moved into the newest student residence at the University of California, Berkely (UCB), where he studied mechanical, aeronatuical, and manufacturing engineering. He’d gotten a decent scholarship to help him out, but his parents were more than happy to cover the finances. It was a good school, he’d worked hard to get there, and, hey. An engineer would do well in the company, so, even if ‘Matteo’ didn’t have any interest in running the family business, they could at least get him a position (and convince him to change his mind later on, perhaps?). Engineering was interesting. Very different from Mad Science class, though - nobody got shot by lasers at UCB. At least, not intentionally, and not the same kind of lasers. He’d still go back to Maxville when he could. Weekends, usually, to visit Penny and some of the high school friends he kept around. He preferred them to people from UCB because his high school friends were all fellow supers, so he could use powers around them. He preferred his university classmates because they could talk about engineering as much as they wanted without causing confusion. As soon as he’d finished moving into his dorm and got settled in, he set about getting his name legally changed. A lot of people he’d gone to school with didn’t actually know his birth name, and he hadn’t introduced himself to anyone at the university as ‘Matteo Marcantonio’, so it wasn’t very difficult. He never really told his parents, either. Part of the whole thing was to distance himself from them, but, also, he just didn’t think it was any of their business. He was an adult. He could make his own choices. -> University kept him pretty busy. As in all of his endeavors, he was determined to succeed. Moreover, he was determined to surpass as many people as he could. If you asked about it, he’d tell you it was, in part, a pride thing. (Most things with him were a pride thing.) So, most of his early ventures into real-world villainy took place over holiday. Small things, at first. Robberies in banks out of Maxville, forging a few documents here and there, that sort of thing. Done outside of his eventually trademark armour, because although Baron lives for attention and acclaim, he’d decided he wasn’t quite ready for the world to know his name. ... That, and he didn’t want it to interfere with his proposal. -> He and Penny had been dating for about four years by this point. She was finishing high school and debating future plans, he was getting ready for his third year of study. While Baron had left most religious ceremonies - and societal laws and customs as a whole - by the wayside, he did think marriage was important. Moreover, he worried if he didn’t ask, somebody else would. So, he called Saul and told him at, if Penny were to call looking where he is, to say he was studying for an assignment, because he wouldn’t be around to answer the phone, since he was going ring shopping. Okay, Saul said, he understood. Barry’s ‘studying’. What neither of them knew was that Penny had found out that she was pregnant a day or so before, and had been working up the courage to call Baron and let him know. So, she called his dorm a few times, then Saul, when she didn’t get an answer (Saul wasn’t in university at the time, but most people who knew the two of them knew that Saul was usually an accessory to Baron’s schemes). Saul, for his part, stuck to the story. Barry’s got a project due, and you know how focused he is, Pen. Hasn’t been answering my calls, either. Okay, she said, she’d try again later. (Baron, of course, was not studying; he was at the second or third jewelry store he’d been to so far. He was being very particular about the ring. It had to be perfect.) So, she called again later (she was getting increasingly nervous) and caught Saul right as he was heading out to pick Baron up (he was going to drive him back down to Maxville to surprise is soon-to-be fiancee). As he wasn’t really paying attention, he’d mentioned off-handedly that he’d let Barry know Penny called when he ‘pulled up’. Why did he need a car if he was studying, Penny asked. Shit, Saul thought. He flubbed something about Baron having gone to a library for a study guide and hung up pretty quickly after that. He decided not to mention this to Baron. Saul drove them back to Maxville that night, and Baron crashed on his couch (as they had both been too tired after the drive to bother getting proper accommodations). He showed up on Penny’s doorstep the next morning, asked her grandfather to speak with her, and simply explained that classes had been cancelled that morning when she asked what he was doing there (they had been, and he refuses to take the blame for it, though it may have been entirely his fault). She was, as he’d hoped, very surprised to see him. He took her out for the day. They went to a park, then out to lunch, then to the arcade they went to on their first date. They spent all of the tickets they won on candy and a handful of cheap plastic rings. They were walking along the coast on the edge of town, and Baron was just about to say that he’d gotten another ring for her when she blurted that she had something she needed to tell him. He said that he needed to tell her something, too. She told him to go first, so he did, and of course she said yes. He was thrilled, though the moment was admittedly sullied when she exclaimed “so THAT’S what Saul was picking you up from!”. But, she was too happy and the moment was too important for him to care about it for too long. After the (initial) high had died down, he asked what her news was. That’s when he found out he was going to be a father. It took him a moment or two to process it, and, yes, he was surprised. He’d always known it was a possibility, sure, but still. He wasn’t used to being caught off-guard. It took a moment for his brain to reboot, and after that, he was excited. Flustered and excited. A father! Him! They were going to have a family! And he- He... He had no idea how to raise a child. But, he wasn’t going to let that stop him. He dropped out of university the next day, and Saul once again helped him move furniture - out of his dorm, this time. His parents weren’t happy. They thought he was throwing his life away. He thought it was bold of them to assume he gave a damn what they thought and promptly cut all ties with the two of them. He had a new family, now, and one he liked so much better than the old one. He got a job at a local used car dealership, and, though he hated it, he had to admit that he was decent at it, it brought in money, let him be much closer to home, and left plenty of free time for other activities. But what really brought in the money was his- Personal endeavors. It was about this time that he really started developing and finalizing his eventually trademark armor. He and Saul also worked on upgrading their hideout to be a bit bigger. He had plans. As overconfident as Baron may have been, he was well aware those plans would require help. Even Alexander the Great had an army, after all. There would be many ‘lesser’ villains and even some non-supers who would join the Battalion (as they grew to call themselves), but most weren’t all that important, in the grand scheme of things. Some of them would end up dying. They came and went. He didn’t start seriously recruiting until after Warren was born. -> Baron was, of course, present when his son came to the world. He was thankful for his invulnerability, as, otherwise, he thought Penny might’ve broken his hand. He didn’t complain, though. He knew he had it easy by comparison. He’d be lying, though, if he said he wasn’t internally panicking - it was a grueling few hours. On August 18, 1990, at 3:42 in the afternoon, Warren Edward Peace was born. The doctors held him first, of course, then Penny, and then Baron. To see him at that moment, you’d have no idea he’d become one of the most ruthless and feared villains in recent history. (”One of the worst,” as the Commander would later describe him.) There was no visible trace of ‘that’ Baron in the hospital room. You’d only have seen a tiny, squirmy new baby, an exhausted new mother, and a new father who was visibly enamored with the both of them. He had his family, now. And he was going to give them the world. -> It’s not easy balancing supering with parenthood. Especially not when your significant other is also a super. Baron had his self-assigned purpose, and he was determined to see it through, so he had to do some serious scheduling. A lot of passing off jobs to the best-suited underlings. By comparison, acting, engineering, and everything else he’d done in his life was simple. But this was his son. He wouldn’t give him up for anything. After a while, Penny went back to work (her aunt had helped her get a job in a psychologist’s office) and Warren was old enough for a sitter while his parents were away. That made things easier. Warren was about three years old - Baron was 23 - when Baron and Saul forcibly took over one of the smaller smuggling rings they’d caught wind of. ‘The Corneli Syndicate’, they’d called themselves. Most of them weren’t too happy with these newcomers, so it was a pretty bloody skirmish. Baron didn’t kill all of them, though. He left a few alive. The most important of the survivors was a young man named Thomas Wilfred Monroe - ‘Tom’, ‘Tommy’, or ‘Monroe’ to his friends. He’d originally been brought into the gang as a drug mule, until his superpowers were brought to light. Tom is a walking pocket dimension. He was invaluable to their operation. To prevent him from squealing, his former bosses had mutilated his tongue. (Later, people would assume Baron had done this. Tom would always scoff at this with a “Barry? Yeah, righ’ ”.) He could still say some things, but ‘S’, ‘T’, ‘N’, ‘TH’, ‘Z’, ‘D’, ‘CH’, ‘SH’, ‘X’ - those were off the table for him. To combat this, he usually carried around a pad and pen. Yes, he knew ASL (had gone out of his way to learn it), but not many other people did. Baron quickly decided the method of writing everything down took way too long and was frustrating, so he dragged Saul off to the first sign language course he could find. From that point on, it became a well-known rule that if you’re in Baron’s personal vanguard - one of his ‘favourites’ - you have to know how to sign. No ifs, ands, or buts. Baron found Tom’s presence made so many things so much easier. Metal detectors no longer mattered. Security searches were a joke. Even the size and weight of things he wanted to steal no longer mattered (to an extent). This meant that the Battalion quickly got a lot of money through nefarious means, but nobody could figure out how they did it. With the increase of success and wealth, word spread quickly in the network of villains, and Baron became even more of a cult figure than he’d originally been. It soon became a trend for those hoping to earn his respect or prove their loyalty to burn the letter ‘B’ somewhere onto their body - usually the back of the neck, behind their ear, on their chest, or the inside of their wrist. Baron, for the record, hated this. Not because he was worried for their well-being; he didn’t care about that. No, he hated it because, if one of those idiots got killed, or worse, caught, it could link them directly back to him. There was a difference between his deliberately showing off or making an appearance during a crime, and someone screwing up and blowing his cover. He did what he could to put a stop to this. Incinerated a few of the more vocal supporters. But, he was never able to get people to stop entirely. The act of ‘branding’ oneself rose to prominence again, oddly enough, after Baron was arrested. Rumors still survive that Baron himself would do the branding, once you passed the Battalion’s initiation, but this is, of course, false. -> With the increased notoriety came an increase in people trying to put a stop to him. There were many would-be heroes going up against Baron, but one of particular note was a young man named Anthony Atwood. Officially, he’d been known as Surge. He’d been graced with supernatural reflexes and agility, as well as the ability to channel kinetic energy. ... He had not been graced with supernatural fire resistance. A fun fact about this fight is that, prior to it, Baron’s armor did not feature a cape. The singed, tattered, and torn cape Baron would later be seen sporting was a trophy from his victory against Surge, which he kept due to a self-proclaimed ‘mixture of sentiment and vanity’. He had to admit, it did look great, and it had such wonderful memories attached to it. -> On the opposite end of Baron’s life were Warren and Penny. Warren, by this time, had already begun to show his powers. Baron was beyond proud. A pyro, just like him - and developing his abilities so early on! He was over the moon. Yes, it did complicate things to have a toddler who could spontaneously combust. Fortunately, both Baron and Penny’s powers were suited to deal with this before it became too dangerous of a problem (though it did make finding sitters a bit difficult). Baron was already looking forwards to sharing all he’d learned about pyrokinesis/pyromancy with his boy. He arranged to have the garage lined with concrete, and have some proper ventilation installed, so they could have a safe place to explore what Warren could do. Penny thought this was a great idea. She wasn’t surprised, f course, but she was glad Baron took to Warren’s powers so well. There was no way she’d let her little boy grow up the way she had. Also, a place for Warren to let off steam without singing the new carpet? Yes, please. She and Baron had been married for about three years, now. (It had been a small ceremony, at a local church. A handful of close friends. Penny’s grandfather and great aunt, and nobody from Baron’s family, though Mercury and Danielle did send a wedding gift which arrived a day late.) Some people had their doubts about the relationship. Baron knew this - a lot of them weren’t very subtle. He didn’t care, though. As far as he was aware, they were happy. Warren was getting ready to start pre-school. He was a bit nervous about school. Baron and Penny were a bit nervous about sending their flammable child out into the world. Baron was sure he could get a man or two into the school system to mitigate any potential damages that may arise. Penny told him this was kind of extreme, and she was sure things would be fine (though she may have considered taking him up on the offer). Instead, they had a series of talks with little War about the right time to use his powers, and how it was a big secret and he couldn’t tell anyone at school. They drilled it into his head like they drilled in stranger danger. Baron had, by this point in his life, memorized the Mr. Rogers theme song, and could probably recite a number of children’s stories by rote from all of the nights spent reading Warren to sleep. He knew about how low he had to stoop down to catch Warren when he tackled Baron after work (the height changed based on jumping variables). He knew Penny’s favourite baseball team (the Maxville Meteors), and bought her tickets to one of their games for their anniversary. He’d never understood the sport, himself - he was more of a soccer fan - but she enjoyed herself, and that made it worth it, to him. Warren was left at home for the game, with Saul, and Penny’s sidekick, Millie, keeping a close eye on him. Baron didn’t mention this to Penny, but he absolutely had some of his more doggedly loyal henchmen wandering the neighborhood on standby, just in case. He was sure she’d say it was ‘excessive’, but, he was allowed to be worried about their son, right? That’s what good parents did. And every moment spent being a parent, being a husband, stirred conflict in his chest. If he would ever meet his match, what would happen to them? What would happen to him if he lost them? It wasn’t that he had lost sight of his cause. He knew exactly what he was fighting for. He was fighting for mornings spent singing along to the radio with Penny while they made breakfasts, for summers spent at the city fair with Warren on his shoulders, for nights spent with his wife in his arms and his son against his chest and winters spent building snowmen and warming up with cocoa and crackling fires, and he was fighting for a world that deserved his family. It wasn’t that he’d suddenly grown a more functional conscience, either. He didn’t regret killing Surge or any of the other heroes who stood in his way. He didn’t regret wiping out other villains who had challenged his authority or posed a threat to him and his. He didn’t regret any count of theft, or smuggling, or arson, or any of the other countless charges he could’ve accumulated, if he got caught. Why should he? But there were doubts beginning to form. At the time, he thought the solution was simple. Become the most powerful superbeing the world has ever known. Powerful politically, powerful financially, powerful martially, powerful in terms of his own abilities. If he could do that, then, what would he have to worry about? What would his family have to worry about? That would solve everything. (Right?) -> He didn’t let on about any of these doubts, though. That would be weakness, which was intolerable in the villain community. He would be lax around Saul, since they’d known each other since high school. And, of course, the higher in the ranks you were in the Battalion, the nicer a boss he seemed. Sure, they all knew he’d kill them if it fit his purposes, but so would any villain, and at least he wasn’t a jerk while you were alive. And he paid well. But being superficially charming wasn’t weakness. Winning loyalty amicably wasn’t vulnerability. And giving people a reason to follow your every beck and call wasn’t airing your anxieties. Hell, he didn’t even know that’s what they were, at first. He’d never had much reason for introspection, before, and especially not since high school. He was Baron Battle, after all. Undefeated, widely feared, already terrifically powerful, basically a cult icon in and of himself, and he had been unwavering and sure in his goal to burn the world to the ground ever since that summer night when Penny had sobbed into his chest that she was afraid to go home at the end of the day. The world was still broken, still corrupt, and he still had work to do. And, hell, it was fun and it was liberating to be his villain self. A persona bound by no rules but his own, beholden to no gods nor kings nor laws of nature. And he was good at it. So, what was this, all of a sudden? He didn’t know, and, as stated before, he kept it to himself, but it always stayed in the back of his mind. Perhaps, then, that’s why he decided to launch his first major foray into politics across the ocean, far away from Maxville, just in case. He’d told his underlings that he was taking a ‘select few’ of them (read: Saul and Thomas, mostly) to England because there was someone there he’d ‘had his eye on’ for a while. While not a complete lie, this would hardly have been a good enough reason for Baron to leave all on its own. He could find patsies and proxies anywhere; they were a dime a dozen. But, this was an experiment, so he wanted to conduct it away from home, to be safe. Why England? He’d just watched 101 Dalmatians with Warren the night before he decided to do this. That, and a while back he’d seen a documentary about some Italian artifacts that were being held in a British museum. Why not be a bit patriotic, bring them back home? ... Or, back to the Barracks, if he liked them enough? Besides, the England election was sooner than the American one, and he didn’t want to wait for too much longer. So, it just made sense to him. So, he packed up some equipment and his men, told his family it was a ‘business trip’ (he’d worked his way up the corporate chain of the dealership, so this wasn't too far-fetched) and that he’d be back soon, and packed off to England. A few noteworthy things happened there. Firstly, he did end of raiding a museum or two. Most of the things he stole did find their way back to Italy (with help from Thomas Monroe, of course), though he did take back a few vases and an old sword or two for the Barracks (also with Thomas’ help). He was challenged by a handful of local supers, too. The first was a flier, Courtnie Smith/Peregrine (KIA). Then came Declan O’Dare/Anvil, who controlled metal (KIA). Travis Porter/Warpdrive, who could teleport (KIA). Ava Hart/Lady Luck, an empath (KIA). Jack Miller/Top Dog, super strength and the ability to eat literally anything (KIA). Most of these fights occurred during his ‘trips’ to the museum, but, once word spread that there was a supervillain afoot, superheroes would flock to try and put him down. The very last one, Kevin Masters/Mr. Amazing (KIA; from what Baron could tell, his power seemed to involve being very good at jumping) had actually managed to tack Baron down to where he was staying, and picked a fight in the middle of Baron packing to go home. That had been annoying. Of course, they weren’t the only supers Baron met during his trip. He just so happened to run into Lester ‘Les’ Lowinski (’Leech’, later on; a siphon who could absorb and redistribute pain and injury) while prowling the darker parts of Liverpool to meet with a contact. Lester was a down-and-out former factory worker who’d found himself rendered obsolete by the ‘miracle’ of innovation, and, y’know what? Tearing the country apart sounded like a damn good time. So he joined the Battalion - rather informally, but nobody cared. Saul didn’t like him at first, but Thomas, with a bit of translation help, seemed to get along with Lester fine, and set about helping him with the whole ‘learning sign language’ rule. Lester would go on to become one of Baron’s chief interrogators. He earned his stripes during the political sabotage Baron engaged in. While Baron’s chosen candidate didn’t technically win, enough politicians and people of interest had been compelled to ‘see things his way’ that he didn’t care. As far as he was concerned, he’d still gotten control of the government, and that’s what he’d set out to do. He’d learned a thing or two which he thought could help, should he decide to replicate the experiment elsewhere. Having felt he’d spent enough time away from home, Baron returned to Maxville, joined by Saul, Thomas, and Lester. It was good to be home. -> Warren was six years old when Baron finally figured out what the nagging doubts were. More and more often, he found his mind wandering away from the war table. It was hard to focus on taking over the world when he kept wondering how Warren was doing at school, or whether Penny was having a good day at work. Perhaps it was that villainy was no longer as much of a challenge as it had once been, that he was growing bored, or perhaps it was that he’d simply come to terms with the fact that he valued his family more than his infamy. Either way, he decided that he was ready to retire. Not completely, of course; he’d always want to operate from the shadows. Kept things interesting, and kept money coming in (And Penny had been talking about going back to school to get a degree, so he wanted to make sure that stayed a possibility). But he thought he was done with all the flashy, take-over-the-world business. He had more than enough power to protect his family, and it had gotten boring. He’d much rather be spending time at home. Perhaps he’d go back to it, someday, but for now, he was done. He told as much to Saul, Lester, and Thomas, who still remained his three favourite subordinates. He also told them what he planned to do about it. Just saying he was retiring and stepping down would be dangerous. He didn’t want people to come looking for him. No, it would be much more effective - not to mention more fun - to oh, say, fake his own death on national television. (He’d always had a flare for the dramatic, after all.) So, he worked out a plan to stage a public assassination attempt on the president, have a small-time hero show up (they had a few in mind), fake his downfall, and escape. Maybe take Warren and Penny on a vacation after, to be safe with the illusion. (Besides, Warren’s birthday was coming up, so he could play the vacation off as a present for his son. And his retirement, well- That’d be a present for all three of them.) It had all been going flawlessly. Baron briefly toyed with the idea of actually killing the president and instating himself, and whether or not he could convince Penny to go along with that-- -> And then the Commander appeared. -> He hadn’t planned for that. He’d been planning on someone... Lower on the ranking list. But he could make this work.He could figure it out. Tar Steve’s flawless moral reputation with a murder in the process. That’d be fun, right? ... It didn’t work out that way. The exhaustion in his voice was just as alien to him as the concept of actually losing when he spoke. He was Baron Battle. He didn’t lose. He just didn’t. Except, apparently, he had. He told Steve not to take off his mask (’Don’t do that to my son, Stronghold’), and in the same breath swore to kill him. (He might not have known how, at the time, but he was sure he could figure it out, given enough time. And soon, time would be the only thing he had.) The day before his son’s seventh birthday, Baron Battle was sentenced to a quadruple life sentence at the Northern Alaska Penitentiary for the Supernaturally Enabled. No chance of parole until his third life. In short, he was never getting out. But if he ever did, he thought to himself, he was going to reduce the Commander to a pile of ash. Steve had taken EVERYTHING from him. His power. His fame. His freedom. Most importantly of all, his family. As far as Baron was concerned, Steve Stronghold was the reason he would never see Warren or Penny again. Steve Stronghold was the reason his son would grow up without a father. If not for the power-negating properties of the room he was in, that thought alone would have made the entire courthouse burn to the ground. -> It’s been eight years since that day. Eight years of solitary confinement. Eight years of having been deemed criminally insane, and too dangerous to mix even with the other inmates. His only contact, outside of the letters he’s been permitted to exchange with Warren and Penny, has been with jailers (particularly, one Warden Maxim Stanislav Magnus, a former super known as ‘Ghostwall’ with a personal grudge against Baron) and the facility’s psychologists. Antisocial Personality Disorder, they say. An extreme case. So textbook and so painfully stereotypical they’d almost think he was faking it, if he wasn’t who he was. The one thing that they can’t explain away in that diagnosis is his relationship with his family. Long-term, committed, and by all accounts, mutually happy and beneficial. That didn’t fit the bill for APD. Baron disagrees with the diagnosis, but of course nobody cares. It’s this discrepancy that’s made him such a fascinating subject for so many psychologists in the know. It’s also what’s stopped him from trying to break out. Does he think he could do it? Oh, probably. It might even be fun. But he worries what his freedom might mean for his family. ... Even so, it’s been eight years. The urge to see his son growing up, hear his wife’s voice, hold his family in his arms and melt Steve’s eyes from their sockets has been growing every day, and it’s getting hard to ignore. And he swears, if he has to put up with one more chunk of ‘bread’ so stale you need to drown it just so it’s edible, he’s going to kill a man. -> Maybe a few of them.
THEME SONG: From Now On - Ramin Karimloo | Confrontation - Anthony Warlow | Let ‘Em Burn - Nothing More
QUOTE:
Barry: I’ve raised armies to my beck and call. I’ve killed people who were supposed to be invincible. I almost took over the world on a whim, people the world over fainted at the sound of my name. But nothing I’ve ever done has made me as proud as being your father. Warren: (Avoiding eye contact) Even if I’m not a villain like you? Barry: What? No- You don’t have to be a villain. I’m not making that choice for you. Warren: I don’t? Barry: Of course, not. You’re old enough to figure out what you want for yourself. If you want to be a villain, great, wonderful. I’ll do whatever I can to help you. If you want to be a hero, I’m sure your mom will be happy to teach you the ropes. Or, hell, you could do neither if you wanted. Be a chef, be a psychologist, be whatever you want. But no matter what you do- I know you’ll be wonderful. Warren: ... Barry: You’re something special, Warren. Really special. And, I know- I’m your dad, I’m supposed to say that. But I mean it. You’re going to make a mark on this world, son, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there to see you start off on it. But I’m here to watch you burn, now, and I promise you right now, that’s not going to change again. I’m not leaving. Warren: (sniff) Yeah. Barry: ... Alright, come here. Before you make me cry. Warren: .. Barry: ... When did you get so tall? I guess we-- I, have a lot of time to make up for. Eight years really does make all the difference. Warren: Yeah. I- ... Yeah. Barry: It’s okay, Warren. Everything’s going to be okay, now. Saul: What’s the plan, Baron? Baron: Well, call me old-fashioned... Thomas: Yeah? Baron: I’m just going to kill him, and make him watch. Has the security been disabled? Saul: Locks and alarms, yeah. Vault and I are just finishing up on the cameras. Baron: Leave them on. Let Ms. LaFrance see this, too. She needs to learn what happens when people make things difficult.
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grahamstoney · 3 years
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Musique Concrète and Other Experimental And Electronic Music
New Post has been published on https://grahamstoney.com/music/musique-concrete-and-other-experimental-and-electronic-music
Musique Concrète and Other Experimental And Electronic Music
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In the subject Creative Music Technology at university last semester, I was asked to listen to a collection of experimental and electronic music to stimulate my creative imagination, and to write what I liked and didn't like about it. Here's my rather cynical take on the genre.
Musique Concrète
Pierre Schaeffer and Pierre Henry – Symphonie pour un Homme Seul
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This piece reminded me of Strauss’s Symphonia Domestica; only less musical. I’m a Homme Seul (single man) and my life doesn’t sound anything like this. In his book La musique concrète, Schaeffer described the work as “an opera for blind people…”. Haven’t they suffered enough?
Edgard Varèse – Poème Électronique
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The audio equivalent of Luis Bunuel & Salvador Dali’s Un Chien Andalou.
Does to my ears what the asbestos coating on the walls of the Philips Pavilion at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair for which it was commissioned, would do to my lungs.
György Ligeti – Artikulation
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George Lucas must owe Ligeti millions in royalties for R2D2’s sound effects. Initially I thought I was joking when I first wrote that, but I’ve since discovered that he was actually trying to create a sort of phonetic speech in electronic music, which pretty much fits R2D2’s dialogue. Plus, the title is German for “articulation”. That should have been a giveaway.
I thought this piece might make more sense to me if I played it backwards, so I dropped it into Logic Pro X and reversed it. I couldn’t tell the difference. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I listened to it in the original quadraphonic. I’ll just end noting that Ligeti abandoned electronic music after composing this piece.
Iannis Xenakis – Concret PH
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2 minutes and 44 seconds of breaking glass to my ears. I think I’d rather listen to Kraftwerk.
Karlheinz Stockhausen – Kontakte
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It’s long. It’s too long. I think this is how Jacob Collier learned to play piano in his mother’s womb; but look at him now. The title is German for “Contacts”, which I think Stockhausen interpreted as “Just hit the things.” Maybe it sounds better in the original quadraphonic.
Stockhausen was evidently a pioneer of the extended dance remix, as the work exists in several versions: “Nr. 12”, “Nr. 12½” and “Nr. 12⅔”
Bernard Parmegiani - Accidents / harmoniques
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Parmegiani had studied mime before turning his hand to electro-acoustic composition, and in this piece it really shows. From the album De Natura Sonorum (the nature of sound). I felt like there were Martians in my head listening to this. Surely he’s just playing a joke on us.
Pauline Oliveiros – Bye Bye Butterfly
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Bids farewell to the institutionalized oppression of the female sex while also providing inspiration for the sound of the Theramin. Gave my new monitor speakers a good workout; I hope the neighbours enjoyed it too.
Tape Loops
Steve Reich – It’s Gonna Rain
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I’ve got this pervasive feeling that it’s going to rain. I’m not sure why. I liked the way the meteorological message panned left and right. More like It’s Gonna Have An Acid Trip.
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Halleluiah Part II is over. I’m not sure how I lasted the full 18 minutes.
Terry Riley – Mescalin Mix
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Parts of this sounded to me like an industrial version of native Australian bush sounds. I felt like I was on a camping trip in the 23rd century.
Brian Eno – 1/1
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From his album Music For Airports/Ambient 1, which apparently coined the term Ambient Music. Brian Eno has a lot to answer for. However, this track put me in a relaxing state, ready to fall asleep on the plane; so I liked it.
Sampling
Luc Ferrari – Ronda, Spain, June 2001
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After being jolted awake by the sound of a loud sliding door opening to greet the day, I was drawn into this by the sweet sound of a French woman’s voice. I imagined she was Ferrari’s lover, speaking to him in bed after awakening on a warm Spanish summer Sunday morning. I wanted to know what she was saying, but my French isn’t good enough. In my mind’s eye, they head to a busy market together to buy some croissants for breakfast, where we hear a man’s voice repeating “numero quatro”, which I assumed is Spanish for “number 4”. As the voices fade, the sound becomes more musical and we return to the soft sound of Ronda speaking to her beloved back in their villa together. I quite liked it.
My interpretation, however, is not what the composer had in mind. According to him, the point of Les Anecdotiques (The Anecdotals) is to dispense with the story altogether. My busy market was, in fact, the sound of Spanish tourists in a museum. While he describes the woman’s words as “Spontaneous and intimate”, in this context they are simply words in a foreign language with no narrative purpose. Just another one of Pierre Schaeffer and Michel Chion’s sound objects, if you will. My narrative interpretation of what was intended as an explicitly anecdotal work is testament to the human brain’s tendency to make meaning out of nothing. It turns out Rhonda is a village in Spain, not a woman.
Still, I enjoyed my little fantasy, thank you Luc.
John Oswald – Manifold
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Wow, this was short. I didn’t even have time to eat breakfast while listening to it. It was only about as long as the Spotify ads, but certainly more fun. I recognised a couple of songs, like U2’s With or Without You and Sinead O’Connor’s Nothing Compares To You. Artists who use samples liberally often sample obscure works, sometimes affording them attention they would otherwise have missed; but in this work Oswald went mainstream. It sounded to me like the soundtrack to a sample-abusing hip-hop artist from the 1990’s being beaten up in a boxing ring by all the artists who reckoned he’d ripped off their work.
Tod Dockstader - Water Music: Part III
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I quite liked this piece. The cuteness of the sounds and the stereo effects bouncing between the left and right channels really drew me in. I’ve recently got myself some decent monitor speakers for my home studio and this piece really worked on them. Pretty amazing for something released in 1963.
Dockstader started out in the 1940’s, prior to the invention of magnetic tape, editing his steel wire recordings with a lit cigarette. That makes me realise how much I take the piece-of-crap Logic Pro X File Editor for granted. Listening to this, I found myself wanting to know what was going to happen next, like I was watching a soap opera on TV; only with no actual story.
Synthesis
Karlheinz Stockhausen – Studie I
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I found this quite disorienting to listen to. I guess it was revolutionary in 1953 but I reckon now you could whip it up in Ableton in about 5 minutes using the Random MIDI Effect and some automation.
Eliane Radigue – Jetsun Mila (Pt.1) / Birth and Youth (Excerpt)
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I liked how the pulsing ambient drone sound in this grew over time; it drew me in and had me wondering what was going to happen next. Unfortunately the answer was: not much. Gradually a rhythmic element with some high pulsing tones which grew over time came in. It was a bit like listening to a very slow EDM dance track from underwater in a diesel-powered submarine going at full throttle for 12 minutes.
Laurie Spiegel – Appalachian Grove: I
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I liked the pulsing stereo effects in this piece and the way the tonal characteristics of the sound varied while the pitch changed. It’s much more melodic than the other tracks we’ve listened to and that made it more enjoyable to my ears. It got a bit harsh in the middle though. This piece puts the musique in musique concrète.
Morton Subotnick – Silver Apples of the Moon – Part A
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Perhaps the sound designer for Star Wars had this in mind when creating the sound effects for R2D2. I kind of lost the flow of the conversation without the witty English-accented retorts from C3PO though. Morton Sobotnick is described as The Mad Scientist in one interview, and I think if I listen to this too often I’ll end up fitting one of the DSM-5 diagnostic categories I’m learning about over in PSYC1002.
Suzanne Ciani – Concert at Phil Niblock’s Loft
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This piece had some funky sounds that I liked. The start reminded me a bit of Kraftwerk but without the rhythm and melody; although it did get more melodic later. I’d probably give it a Distinction for its use of technology given it was made in 1975, but only a Credit for musicality.
Barry Schraeder – Lost Atlantis: Introduction
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At first, I thought this sounded a lot like a modern ad for KFC; then I realised I was hearing a Spotify ad.
I liked the ambient sounds in this piece and the way it surged in and out with its “mysterious tone colors”. It slowly builds to a crescendo until we get the drop that EDM lovers crave, and then built more quickly to the ultimate drop at the end. I kept wondering what was going to happen next; I’d still rather listen to Fleetwood Mac, Supertramp or Queen though.
Contemporary Examples
Amon Tobin – Foley Room
DJ & producer. Retain percussive quality through sounds. Horsefish & Esther’s. Create beauty and delicate textures from sounds. Pitched percussive material. Fast loops. New textures. Funky beats. Check out the Foley Room Documentary.
Aphex Twin - 1ST 44
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Acid house DJ in rave scene. Intelligent Dance Music. More complex sampling, polyrhythms, rhythmic patterns. From Collapsed album. Polyrhythms sounded funky. Lots of variation.
Holly Herndon – Chorus
Intersection of humanity and technology. Recorded web browsing. Stereo ping-pong effects. Here’s a talk she gave about her creative process.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith – Riparian
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This was my favourite out of these three, largely because it sounds the most musical to my ears. I liked the pulsing beat in this track. I can hear a bass line for instance, melodies played on the synth and lyrics, although I can’t tell what they are saying. I also like the way the soundscape swirls around when listened to with headphones. It feels ambient, immersive and musical all at the same time. I get the sense that she’s using the electronics at her disposal in service of the music rather than the other way around. There’s even a great video about how she uses modular synthesis.
Graham Stoney - Foster le Concrète
"How hard can it be?", I asked myself. And since I had an assignment to do, I wrote my own musique concrète track based on the drum rhythm from one of my favourite songs, Coming of Age by Foster The People. I even made a breakdown video showing how I did it; because that's what the assignment required.
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Conclusion
I didn’t take too easily to some of the more experimental musique concrète pieces we studied at the beginning of this semester. The weekly listening tasks felt harsh to my untrained ears and I would think mean things like:
“Didn’t the Geneva Convention ban cruel and unusual punishment?”
Perhaps these tracks will never be my preferred go-to pieces for chilling out on a Friday night, but when I look back at some of my cynicism-laced early comments in these discussion threads, I cringe. I just didn’t appreciate the historical significance of these pieces and how they might have influenced later electronic music that I do enjoy, like Kraftwerk say.
Then in Angharad Davis’s Music Colloquium Series talk on George Antheil’s Ballet Mécanique, when she played a snippet of the work I heard sounds reminiscent of musique concrète. Sure enough, they were roughly contemporaneous, and Antheil had been living in Paris at the time musique concrète was just getting started. You never know when something you study in one arena will pop up elsewhere.
Another thing I’ve learned in this subject is about taking creative risks and learning to follow my gut instincts without worrying whether a concept will work, or other people will like it. This has been an opportunity for me to explore that. My Formative Skills Assignment piece Foster le Concrète was in part a reaction to my frustration at the lack of discernible rhythm in some of the early pieces we studied. However, I really didn’t know whether the concept was going to work, and that was a little anxiety-inducing; especially given that I was doing it for an assignment which would be graded. I was quite touched to hear other students say they liked the end result, and I feel more confident about following my gut instincts in future and seeing what I end up.
Finally, I’ve been really inspired by the creativity of the other students in this subject. It’s been a weird experience studying online this year without ever meeting them in person, but I’ve really enjoyed hearing the creative works everyone came up with. They’re all so distinctive and amazingly different, it’s incredible; yet they were all products of the same brief. I can’t wait to hear everyone's works on the radio, TV, movies, video games, Spotify, or whatever audio technology is around when we all graduate: live streaming direct to our neurons perhaps?
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lovemesomesurveys · 5 years
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If you were given three things to make you happy, what would these be? Good health (mentally and physically) is really what I would need, but money and a beach home would be nice, too. How would you rank the following in importance: family, career, love life? Family is first and foremost. I’m struggling to rank the other 2. I’m unable to work right now, plus I have no idea what I’d want or could do. It’s not something I’m thinking about right now or actively seeking. Same with my love life, which is currently completely non-existent. I’m not actively seeking that either right now. It’s best for me right now to be single and I’m pretty fine with that at this time. Which would you prefer: having a baby without a partner or a partner without a baby? Partner without a baby. What was your experience about being “mansplained,” and what did you do about it? I’ve dealt with know-it-alls and condescending people, both men and women.   Who was your favorite cartoon character when you were a kid? Hm. Not sure about cartoon character, but I was obsessed with Barney.
Do you think God is real, and why? Yes. Do you believe in giving people second chances, and why? Yeah, generally. In some cases I’ve probably given too many. How would you describe your first crush? I was 9 years old, I really don’t remember much. Do you ever keep a journal? I used to keep physical journals in middle school and early high school, but now this is my journal. Do you think people fall in love because the right person has arrived, or because the time is right (regardless of whom the person is that they fall in love with)? I believe the person themselves is the main thing, but timing does play a role. How do you feel about the #MeToo movement? I think it’s extremely important to speak up and out about sexual harassment and assault. What do you look for in a relationship? Someone who is patient, understanding, caring, and kind is very important. A good sense of humor, too. What is your idea of a perfect date? Just being with the person somewhere where we’re able to talk and enjoy each other’s company. Food and coffee at some point, too. ha. What legacy do you want people to remember about you after you’re gone? I don’t know. I haven’t done anything memorable thus far.
”When my time comes, forget the wrong that I’ve done. Help me leave behind some reasons to be missed. And don’t resent me. And when you’re feeling empty, keep me in your memories, leave out all the rest.” Have you ever asked a guy out on a date? No. What was the most important lesson you’ve learned from your past relationship? Don’t allow someone to play or use you. What book influenced you the most? The Bible. What life-changing event have you experienced? There’s been a few, starting with the one that made me a paraplegic at just 7 months old.  What’s a deal-breaker for you in a relationship? I’d like to think abuse would be. Are you a morning or a night person? I’m barely a person, my guy. How important is trust in a relationship? Extremely. I don’t see how you could have one with someone you don’t even trust. How do you feel about infidelity? I don’t feel great about it. Do you believe that the day will arrive when humans will be replaced by machines in almost all aspects of life? In some ways that’s happened. For example, at the lab office I go to to get blood work done, there aren’t any receptionists at the desk. There’s like an iPad to sign or check in and that’s it. Then of course an actual person calls you back to do the blood work, but yeah. Some fast food places you can order on a machine. Oh, and aren’t there those Amazon grocery stores or something that doesn’t have any registers, checkouts, or cashiers? What do you think is humankind’s greatest invention? There’s been far too many to think of what the greatest one of all would be. Do you think that humans are doing more harm than good to the planet? Definitely. What is your take on telepathy? I don’t believe in it. I think some people can communicate with people they’re really close to with a look or something, or know someone so well that they have a good idea what they might be thinking or feeling, but that’s all it is. What is your favorite workout routine? I don’t workout. Would you rather be called vain or insecure? I mean I am insecure, so.  What important lesson did a close relative teach you? It’s too late to get that deep.
What part of your body do you find attractive? None of it. Which would you choose to be: law-abiding citizen or rule breaker, and why? I consider myself to be more of a law-abiding citizen, but I’m not perfect. What is your ideal vacation? Somewhere with a beach. What superpowers did you wish you had when you were a kid? Teleportation.  Are you a mountain or a beach person? I enjoy both, but the beach is my absolute favorite. What mythical animal do you resonate with, and why? I don’t resonate with any of them. Which member of your family do you feel closest to, and why? My mom and younger brother. Who do you consider your best friend in your workplace? I don’t have a job. What three adjectives would describe you? Blah, blah, and blah. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose? Somewhere where it doesn’t have long, miserable summers like where I live now. What are you passionate about in life? :/ What quality in a person do you fall in love with? There’s a few things. Have you had your heart broken before? Yes. What is your take on astrology? I don’t believe in it. What is your life’s soundtrack? Uhhh. When was the last time you spoke with a classmate from high school? It’s been years. Well, apart from “liking” someone’s status on Facebook, maybe a comment now and then, but that’s the extent of it. Are you left- or right-handed, and would you want to switch? Right handed.  What subject were you good at in high school? English and Spanish. What was the most memorable experience you had in elementary school? Some of the teachers and friends I had, field trips, book buddies, field days (the last of school where we did various activities), square dancing in 4th grade (I don’t understand why that was a thing...) the Oregon Trail game... Do you find it difficult to admit that you are wrong, and why? I’m first to admit I’m wrong and always take blame for everything. Do you get excited or scared when meeting new people? I’m very shy and awkward.  What is your secret hobby that others would consider weird? Maybe listening to ASMR. *shrug* How do you cope with stressful situations? Not well. Is there anything that you would like to change about yourself? A lot of things. What musical instrument do you know how to play? None anymore. Who or what inspires you? I haven’t felt inspired in a long time. Which would you prefer in a romantic partner: a dreamer or an achiever? An achiever. What is your favorite part of a house, and why? My bedroom, it’s where I spend majority of my time. Who is the fictional character who closely resembles you in terms of attitude? Hmm. When you were a kid, what did you say you wanted to be when you grew up? A teacher. What was the title of the first movie you watched in a movie theater? I don’t recall what the first movie was, but the first one that always comes to mind is Stuart Little for some reason. And the Rugrats movie. I know those aren’t the first ever, though. When was the last time you slept outdoors? I never have unless you count napping a bit at the beach. What is something that you are proud of about yourself? I don’t feel proud of anything about myself right now. What song do you often sing in the shower? >> Whatever’s playing on my Spotify. <<< Same. I have a whole shower playlist, actually. What do you feel is the right age for people to get married? When they feel it’s right, I guess, as long as they’re both consenting adults. Personally; though, I think 18 is way too young even though they’re legal adults, but that’s just me. What would be your super villain name and your powers? I don’t know. What three non-electric or non-automatic items would you take on a deserted island? Water, a book, and my medicine. That would really, really suck not to have a phone, though... of course being on a deserted island at all would really, really suck, ha. If “hello” were to be replaced by another word as a greeting, what word would that be? ”Hey.” lol. What is the weirdest thing that your family does together? I don’t know? What was the most embarrassing thing that you’ve done for a friend? Nothing comes to mind at the moment. What task would you really fail at doing? A lot of things. What is your definition of a “perfect life”? No such thing in this life, but good health would be pretty great. What would be the title of the movie showing your life from birth up to present? Yikes. Ha, that could work as a title. What fashion piece would you invent for women? I have no idea. What is the single most important thing people should do for the planet? Not trash and destroy it. How do you define evil, and do you believe that a person can be evil? I believe serial killers, rapists, and abusers are pretty evil. What do you think are the two things that prevent people from realizing their dreams? I don’t know. Would you lay down your life for someone? Yes. What word or term do you wish to know the meaning of? >> I mean, if such a word existed, I’d just type it into google and bam! knowledge. <<< lol true. What makes you nostalgic? A lot of things. Do you believe that each of us has a soul mate? I don’t know. How would you live your remaining days if you found out you had only a week to live? Blah. Do you listen to other people’s advice, or do you prefer figuring things out yourself? Really depends. What is your favorite motivational quote? I don’t have one. Imagine that you are tasked to re-design society - what changes would you make? I absolutely would not want to be assigned that task. What’s the perfect day for you? A day at the beach. Would you wait for the sun to rise or for it to set, and why? Set. I can’t stay up late enough to see it rise anymore. If you were born in another era, when would that period in history be and why? I like that I grew up in the 90s. Have you made someone cry? Not intentionally or to be mean, but yes. What is the most astonishing act that a person can do for you? Uhh. What is more important: being true to yourself regardless of who gets hurt or considering the consequences of your actions on other people’s lives? >> I think one can consider the consequences of one’s actions on others without turning into some kind of self-less yes-man. Being true to oneself doesn’t at all mean “fuck everyone else”, and I really don’t know why those two concepts get conflated so much. <<< Well put. I agree. If you die tonight, would you pass away fulfilled or unsatisfied with life? I guess it wouldn’t matter. Thanks for ending with this, though.... 
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theliqht · 4 years
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5 Lessons About fire inside music You Can Learn From Superheroes
How are they undertaking this?
They can be accessing MOOCs, or Enormous Open up On the internet Courses. Although platforms are already obtainable from elite colleges like MIT and Stanford for nearly ten years, open-supply lessons keep on to expand in amount and popularity. Now, even some area people colleges like Wake Technical College,Positioned outside the house Raleigh, NC, features MOOCs to a worldwide viewers. This expanding availability means You can find now an incredible range of classes available to anyone with an Connection to the internet, irrespective of place.
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Subjects MOOCs go over can differ from fashionable robotics and astronomy to Roman architecture plus the American Novel Given that 1945. MIT, one example is, has classes centered all over Mathematics, Engineering, Strength and Science, in addition to a astonishing variety of courses focusing on the Humanities and Fantastic Arts. The College of Michigan delivers programs ranging from "Storytelling for Social Transform" to Python, details analytics, and device Mastering. You can even get leadership lessons from HEC Paris by way of MOOC, rated via the Economist as owning the second strongest business school alumni network in the world.
Some MOOCs are intended to be taken for understanding obtained, but many courses also provide a certificate of completion via sites like Coursera.org. Certificates of completion--that are different from study course credits--usually cost all-around $50. Fiscal help is accessible for those who qualify.
Factors to Consider a MOOC
There are lots of reasons why a MOOC class could be best for your needs outside of time administration, While most MOOCs permit learners to work at their unique pace, which suggests they simply healthy into most schedules, Irrespective of how busy. Other positive aspects consist of:
A chance to Check out An important ahead of spending for faculty classes. Any one attempting to come to a decision with a vocation route, for The very first time or on account of a midlife alter of route, is aware the annoyance of pondering "Let's say I'm wrong about my selection? The amount of funds am I likely to invest just before I notice this is not for me?" MOOCs are a great way to 'dip your toes' in, so to talk, before the headache of working with regular university classes and regular higher education prices. You may try out as a lot of classes as you have time for right up until anything genuinely sparks your interest.
Get courses not out there domestically. You will discover basically A huge number of MOOC classes accessible online. Even if you are in Boston (in which Harvard, MIT, Tufts, Boston College and Boston College are all located) or Several other very similar College-dense locale, you may likely find a category or two by MOOC offerings not available to you regionally.
Discover (or relearn) a language at no cost. Not just can you take a foreign language study course for free by using MOOCs, but thanks to classes taught at overseas universities, you can also coach your ear by Hearing native speakers. Have a study course taught within the language you ought to find out and follow along making use of English subtitles. The 2nd tactic is a great way to primarily double your Understanding, but only functions if you already have at least an intermediate grasp with the language.
If Understanding A further language is just not superior on your own to-do list, possibly it ought to be: In 2017, New American Economy described employer demand for bilingual staff in excess of doubled considering the fact that 2010. This demand proceeds to expand. Ideal languages to check? Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic.
Create up your resume with needed competencies. Perhaps there's a improved task at function you already know you can do, but your manager won't Assume you're certified for it simply because you lack sure expertise. MOOCs are a terrific way to turn into proficient in parts like HTML coding, Search engine optimization analytics, or no matter what ability you need to come to be the right human being for your task.
Adhere to the back links in this post To learn more on a lot of MOOC programs. MOOCs will also be readily available through a variety of instructional platforms, like Coursera, Udemy, and edX. But MOOCs could be accessed straight through Every university, and are available by using the subsequent Google look for restricting syntax entered into your google research bar:
web site:edu MOOC subject matter
Such as, if I enter web site:edu MOOC robotics, I get about seven,000 success, together with this Introduction to Robotics Specialization from Penn Engineering. Through the use of this syntax, you are able to usually bypass the clearinghouses and come across just what exactly you're looking for on College web-sites, even lessons the clearinghouses may not supply.
Pleased MOOCing!
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"Millennials," "Era Y," "The Peter Pan Technology" - they go by a lot of names and were born about in between 1980 and 2000.They're the technology that grew up with smartphones, rear-experiencing cameras, Net and many others. They had been at a young and susceptible age when Harry Potter to start with took his traveling classes on his magical broom, whenever they witnessed the great slide of the dual Towers of World Trade Centre in Ny city on nine/11. The millennials grew up while in the period of mobile devices, electronic cameras, e mail, textual content-messaging, mp3 players, handheld video clip video game units, WhatsApp, Fb/Instagram, YouTube Films, World wide web browsing and what not.
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1 these millennial who knocked my socks off was this young girl named Anushka, a teen in her early twenties. Her white t-shirt with "MILLENNIAL" in massive, black, bold letters just caught our fast awareness and we could not end serious about her Unique Talent Presentation, in this article at Nirmiti Academy. The Do-it-yourself (Do It Your self) Craft was her one of a kind expertise. She represented a young experience from the millennials. Moreover, it was her presentation that spoke additional of her being a millennial. She was a real go-getter when it arrived to current her unique talent in a unique way. We could see her beaming with delight and contentment to showcase her one of a kind expertise to Many others. She was so enthusiastic that she was talking a mile a minute. She had a great deal of to convey about it and he or she could go on and on and continue to keep us glued to her presentation. The millennials like Anushka and many Other folks are inspired to work on factors which desire them. Concurrently, I could also see her remaining not able to smile and current herself Fortunately. Long gone would be the times for the millennials exactly where they truly feel present and revel in their environment. They may be the generation who feel the frequent want for Digital awareness which sales opportunities them to overshare their life and times on social networking or go inward in deep conscience to find by themselves. This leaves them unconnected Along with the Bodily globe all around them.
Millennials really are a hugely praised and confident era. These are a highly optimistic era. They have got a greater require to get everyday living experiences as opposed to to build up content prosperity, Despite the fact that they are doing like to accumulate things which should help them to love These ordeals. Millennials are the most educated technology. As the rate tag of training is currently so higher and continuing to climb on a yearly basis, Millennials became very savvy regarding their academic options. Contrary to previous generations who noticed instruction as being a ritual and an investment decision within their long run, millennials watch schooling being an price, Until it will empower them so as to be an even better individual. They assume schooling that will help them put together for The brand new options and issues of the age, in lieu of serving to them by providing fact-primarily based info/understanding. The millennials want to be challenged by thinking of the longer term And just how they might add to creating a greater Modern society and atmosphere. They don't feel the need to grow to be "textbook sensible / book worms".
They realize that facts might be simply uncovered on the internet as a result of their own impartial action. They are the era that features and thrive on know-how at finger "click on". Inside a planet of open access to know-how, it makes minimal feeling to rely on the classroom to be a forum for your transfer of information.
As an alternative, the students Significantly prefer to understand through the stories and activities of Some others. These shared stories and ordeals enable them to reinforce their own practical experience by Finding out with the achievements and problems of Other folks. This can help them prevent earning the same blunders as their influencers. Consequently, they like to invest more of their money and time on such applications which support them to produce numerous approaches that they might integrate into their views and final decision-generating course of action, therefore developing a new ability set.
We cannot ignore the fact that millennials also are a generation of uncertainties and fluctuations. They are really the era who likes to maintain switching their devices. They grew up with technological innovation in which every little thing was at their fingertips. It gets irritating for them to not get what they need whenever they want it. The majority of the issues are already handed to them on a silver spoon. This makes them sense entitled for getting what they want with out putting in A great deal effort and hard work.
Though They're the foremost workforce of the businesses today, they do not believe in lifelong work. Lifelong motivation is really a fairy tale for the millennials. They constantly bounce from on position to a different simply because they are always on the lookout for a thing new and far better. These substantial expectations turn out to be their downfall and would make them less monetarily secure than their mothers and fathers.
Millennials are right here to remain! They are really youthful, shiny and energetic and they're the long run. They are excellent property which the whole world have to harness and use. They are really the generation that is revolutionizing the whole world. They are the budding leaders of tomorrow. They adopt technological know-how and stimulus in exactly the same breadth. This generation can also be a collaborative and social era that includes a give attention to comprehending and creating their understanding as a result of many types of medium to find the responses. It really is with the educator like us to offer an arena for engagement and discovery and be considered a content material pro and mentor. It is for Understanding platform vendors like Nirmiti Academy to give an explorative and experiential expertise and convey out their accurate prospective in life and at function. It Is that this transformational journey that we at Nirmiti Academy look forward to every day to know, unlearn and relearn with these youthful and magical technology - the Millennials!
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