Daily Archives: March 31, 2022

I grew up in Mystic and lived there for 25 years, since 1944. Needless to say, in those years downtown Mystic was a different place. There is no need to explain how and why it was different. But, fortunately Gravel and Pearl Streets still appear as they did in 1950s with charming New England homes that reflect the era of Mystic's shipbuilding history. Do we want that to change by allowing a mega mansion to be built on Gravel Street overlooking the Mystic River?

Frankly, I am appalled that the Groton Historic Commission would even consider to allow the destruction of Downing Cottage, a lovely little piece of history, to replace it with what is proposed.

Shame on you!

Is this direction we want our little town to go?

Joan Burrows Hill

Ivoryton

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The Day - Destroying 'a lovely little piece of history' - News from southeastern Connecticut - theday.com

As the Soviet Union's primary secret intelligence agency during the Cold War, the KGB gained notoriety for its widespread global espionage. But the organizationand its communist-era predecessorsalso played a key role inside the Soviet Union: quashing political dissent.

Protecting the homeland from internal enemies has concerned Russian leaders for centuries, spawning a long series of repressive secret police agencies. During Russias imperial era, the Okhrana worked to identify and destroy enemies of the tsars. After the 1917 communist revolution, the Cheka served the same role for the Bolsheviks. An alphabet soup of agencies (OGPU, NKVD, GRU, MVD) followed until 1954, when the KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoi Bezopasnosti) was established. Soviet bloc satellite states, such as Hungary, Poland and East Germany, supported their own version of these agencies.

Here are some of the ways that Soviet-era secret police discharged their internal security duties, responding to the demands of different leaders and changing historical circumstances.

READ MORE: When Soviet-Led Forces Crushed the 1968 'Prague Spring'

Man being held and executed during the Russian revolution, c. 1918.

Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

After the October Revolution of 1917 placed the Bolsheviks in power, a civil war raged, with the communist Red Army being fought by a loose coalition of counterrevolutionaries: monarchists, social democrats, foreign powers and others. To help root out enemies and protect their fragile new regime, the Bolsheviks formed the Cheka (All-Russian Emergency Commission for Combatting Counter-Revolution and Sabotage). When Vladimir Lenin, leader of the Bolshevik party, was seriously wounded in an assassination attempt in 1918, the agency quickly undertook a program of state violence known as Red Terror.

Cheka leader Feliks Dzerzhinsky (whose statue stood outside KGB headquarters in Moscow until after the fall of the Soviet Union) proclaimed that anyone who dares to spread the slightest rumor against the Soviet regime will be arrested immediately and sent to a concentration camp. In practice, however, mass shootings and hangings without trial began almost immediately. Being the wrong kind of person (a priest, a hungry food hoarder) or being in the wrong place at the wrong time or simply possessing a firearm was enough to earn someone a death sentence from newly formed revolutionary tribunals.Estimates of total dead range upward of 100,000.

These tribunals sanctioned purges of everyone from surviving members of Russias imperial family to land-owning peasants,setting the tone for decades to come. Even during periods of relative domestic tranquility, the shadow of state terror hung over the Soviet population.

READ MORE: How Joseph Stalin Starved Millions in the Ukrainian Famine

The 1938 Trial of the Twenty-One was the last of a series of show trials of prominent Bolsheviks during Stalin's Great Purge.

Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

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The Red Terror and the civil war ended in the early 1920s, but after a brief easing, repression continuedand worsened. When Joseph Stalin took over the communist party after Lenin died, he focused on cementing his control of both party and country by any means necessary. The NKVD, which had replaced the Cheka in 1922, played a key role in supporting the dictators draconian toe-the-line-or-pay-the-price culture.

Whereas the Cheka had persecuted enemies of the Bolshevik party, the NKVD targeted well-positioned party members whom Stalin perceived as potential rivals, including government officials, army officers and the Soviet partys older guard, such as Trotskyites. The secret police used torture and manufactured evidence to elicit confessions. Highly public show trials, whose verdicts were never in doubt, provoked widespread terroras did Stalins decree allowing families of suspected traitors to be executed, including children as young as 12.

After the 1934 assassination of Sergei Kirov, a veteran Bolshevik and potential rival to Stalin, the Soviet dictator used the killingwhich some historians say he himself ordered the NKVD to carry outas an excuse to undertake purges, deportations and murders that became known as The Great Purge. In 1937 and 1938, according to a Moscow-based researcher,an estimated 40,000 NKVD agents oversaw the arrest of about 1.5 million Soviet citizens and the murders of nearly half of that number. Those not killed by the NKVD were sentenced to forced labor in one of the many brutal gulags proliferating around the USSR.

The terror of the 1930s decimated the Soviet military force, leaving it unprepared to push back a Nazi invasion in 1941. During World War II, the NKVDs role was to fight not just the Germans but any signs of defeatism among Red Army troops.

When propaganda didnt work, blocking detachments of NKVD troops used force to stop unauthorized Red Army retreats, often from certain-death battlefield scenarios. Suspected deserters were summarily shot, sent to prison camps or punishment battalions. A 1941 NKVD report listed more than 650,000 desertion arrests among Red Army personnel.

Soviet authors Yuli M. Daniel (left) and Andrei D. Sinyavsky sit in prisoners' dock at the opening of their trial, c. 1966. The writers faced charges of conducting a propaganda campaign designed to undermine and weaken the Soviet Union by the dissemination of "slanderous concoctions smearing the Soviet State." Both men pleaded "not guilty, totally or in part," to the charges.

Bettmann Archive/Getty Images

After the war and Stalins 1953 death, the NKVDrechristened in 1954 as the KGBretained much of its power over Soviet citizens lives. For the first time, dissidence became possible in the 1960s, following Stalin successor Nikita Khrushchevs famous 1956 speech attacking the dictators cult of personality and the excesses that produced. But dissent still had consequences, even if not a firing squad or hangmans noose.

The KGB sought to silence writers like Yuli Daniel and Andrei Sinyavsky, sentencing them to forced labor in gulag camps for the crime of maliciously slandering Russia in stories that had been smuggled to the West and published under pseudonyms. Decades after Boris Pasternaks iconic Doctor Zhivago was first published abroad, Russians could still only buy it on the black market, and anyone who broke the law and read it ran the risk of losing a job, a place at universityor their freedom. The KGB forced Pasternak himself out of the Soviet writers union and demanded that he refuse to accept the Nobel Prize for Literature. Following Pasternaks death in 1960, theyarrested his lover and muse, Olga Ivinskaya, sending her to the gulag.

The KGB found other ways to muzzle internal critics. Writers and dissidents like Alexandr Solzhenitsyn were arrested, imprisoned and later stripped of their citizenship and forced into exile abroad. When physicist Andrei Sakharov began arguing for human rights in the USSR, the KGB kidnapped him and confined him to a hospital, where he was tied to a bed, drugged, brutally force-fed and subjected to other tortures. When the KGB couldnt dissuade critics from speaking out, even with arrest, they sought to discredit them by sending them to psychiatric hospitals for treatment.

In August 1991, after Russians under Boris Yeltsins leadership foiled a coup attempt led by the KGB, the statue of the intelligence agencys notorious founderFeliks Dzerzhinsky wasfinally removed from the plinth outside the Lubyanka secret police headquarters in central Moscow. But just as the statue remains intactalbeit in an open-air museum of Soviet-era sculptureso does the KGBs legacy. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the KGB gave way to the FSB (Federal Security Service), which may not send dissident Russians to Stalinist-style Siberian labor camps. But it still draws on intelligence tools honed during the Soviet era to silence its critics.

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How the KGB Silenced Dissent Across the Soviet Union - History

NEW YORK - The Hispanic Society Museum and Library in Washington Heights is bringing some long-hidden art pieces to the forefront, under the leadership of the museum's first Black curator.

In theNuestra Casaexhibit, the neighborhood is welcomed home to the iconic institution of culture, which closed five years ago for renovations. This time, guest curator Madeleine Haddon is reframing history.

"Narratives that are told through art, and through paint in particular, are really critical in thinking about how we think about our cultural and racial identity today," said Haddon.

Famous works collected since the museum opened in 1904 took a tour to share their impact on the world, but in the vaults, more than 700,000 works lay waiting for their turn in the spotlight. One such painting was Young Man From The Coast by Jos Augustn Arrieta, which is now the centerpiece for the exhibit.

"It was absolutely important to me that this Black man is the first thing that you see when you walk into this show, to counter so much of that," Haddon said.

The young man's portrait overshadows Diego Velsquez's Portrait Of A Little Girlto his side. This is a deliberate and personal mission for Haddon, which started when she started studying art.

"I painted photographs of my family," Haddon recalled. "There were not many Black people in my school that I could paint. It was hard to find models."

Haddon saw the bigger picture in her first art history class.

"When we stereotypically think about art from this period, people of color are not represented, Haddon said. "Doesn't mean that they weren't there."

One pair of paintings by Miguel Viladrich show people of African descent in their home environments in 1920s Montevideo, Uruguay.

"Once slavery ended there, the population really flourished," Haddon explained.

Other displays explore the value of slaves over the value of the silver they mined, with a hand-drawn map of a Peruvian mine in Potos placed next to a silver tray from the same era.

"Something that's akin to genocide has not always been acknowledged," pointed out Haddon.

Igniting these conversations, Haddon invites other young art lovers of color to follow in her footsteps.

"I hope they're coming to shows like this and will see that this is a home for them," she said. "This is a place for them. And really, we really need them."

The Nuestra Casa exhibit is open to the public Thursdays through Sundays until April 17. The Hispanic Society is located on West 155th Street and Broadway.

Jessi Mitchell joined the CBS2 team as a multi-skilled journalist in October 2021, focusing her reporting in Harlem.

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New Hispanic Society exhibit aims to change the art landscape - CBS New York

Deep in the Earth beneath us lie two blobs the size of continents. One is under Africa, the other under the Pacific Ocean.

The blobs have their roots 2,900km below the surface, almost halfway to the centre of the Earth. They are thought to be the birthplace of rising columns of hot rock called deep mantle plumes that reach Earths surface.

When these plumes first reach the surface, giant volcanic eruptions occur the kind that contributed to the extinction of the dinosaurs 65.5 million years ago. The blobs may also control the eruption of a kind of rock called kimberlite, which brings diamonds from depths 120-150km (and in some cases up to around 800km) to Earths surface.

Scientists have known the blobs existed for a long time, but how they have behaved over Earths history has been an open question. In new research, we modelled a billion years of geological history and discovered the blobs gather together and break apart much like continents and supercontinents.

The blobs are in the mantle, the thick layer of hot rock between Earths crust and its core. The mantle is solid but slowly flows over long timescales. We know the blobs are there because they slow down waves caused by earthquakes, which suggests the blobs are hotter than their surroundings.

Scientists generally agree the blobs are linked to the movement of tectonic plates at Earths surface. However, how the blobs have changed over the course of Earths history has puzzled them.

One school of thought has been that the present blobs have acted as anchors, locked in place for hundreds of millions of years while other rock moves around them. However, we know tectonic plates and mantle plumes move over time, and research suggests the shape of the blobs is changing.

Our new research shows Earths blobs have changed shape and location far more than previously thought. In fact, over history they have assembled and broken up in the same way that continents and supercontinents have at Earths surface.

We used Australias National Computational Infrastructure to run advanced computer simulations of how Earths mantle has flowed over a billion years.

These models are based on reconstructing the movements of tectonic plates. When plates push into one another, the ocean floor is pushed down between them in a process known as subduction. The cold rock from the ocean floor sinks deeper and deeper into the mantle, and once it reaches a depth of about 2,000km it pushes the hot blobs aside.

We found that just like continents, the blobs can assemble forming superblobs as in the current configuration and break up over time.

A key aspect of our models is that although the blobs change position and shape over time, they still fit the pattern of volcanic and kimberlite eruptions recorded at Earths surface. This pattern was previously a key argument for the blobs as unmoving anchors.

Strikingly, our models reveal the African blob assembled as recently as 60 million years ago in stark contrast to previous suggestions the blob could have existed in roughly its present form for nearly ten times as long.

How did the blobs originate? What exactly are they made of? We still dont know.

The blobs may be denser than the surrounding mantle, and as such they could consist of material separated out from the rest of the mantle early in Earths history. This could explain why the mineral composition of the Earth is different from that expected from models based on the composition of meteorites.

Alternatively, the density of the blobs could be explained by the accumulation of dense oceanic material from slabs of rock pushed down by tectonic plate movement.

Regardless of this debate, our work shows sinking slabs are more likely to transport fragments of continents to the African blob than to the Pacific blob. Interestingly, this result is consistent with recent work suggesting the source of mantle plumes rising from the African blob contains continental material, whereas plumes rising from the Pacific blob do not.

While our work addresses fundamental questions about the evolution of our planet, it also has practical applications.

Our models provide a framework to more accurately target the location of minerals associated with mantle upwelling. This includes diamonds brought up to the surface by kimberlites that seem to be associated with the blobs.

Magmatic sulfide deposits, which are the worlds primary reserve of nickel, are also associated with mantle plumes. By helping target minerals such as nickel (an essential ingredient of lithium-ion batteries and other renewable energy technologies) our models can contribute to the transition to a low-emission economy.

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Volcanoes, diamonds, and blobs: a billion-year history of Earth's interior shows it's more mobile than we thought - The Conversation Indonesia

Uptown Partners plans to ask Pittsburgh City Council to designate 1817 Fifth Avenue, Uptown a historical site. The owner of the property claims in court documents that they have a buyer for the property, and they plan to take the home down and add apartments and retail in its place. "It tells the story of Uptown it tells how it was created," said Sabreena Miller, Uptown Partners of Pittsburgh Real Estate and Development Manager. "It tells about those Italian, Black and Jewish families that lived here and still live here."Uptown Partners consulting Historian Dr. David Rotenstein said the most prominent Italian American family lived in this home for 50 years and it should be preserved."Probably best known for a period of time between 1922 and 1972 when the Tito family owned it," Rotenstein said. "The Titos were prominent in bootlegging and in numbers gambling and they became very well known for buying the Latrobe Brewing Company at the end of prohibition."Rotenstein said it is also believed that Rolling Rock Beer was first sold in the beer distributor behind the Titos' home.Uptown Partners will hold an event outside the home Saturday, April 2, from 1-3 p.m. to share the home's history and encourage people to sign the petition to ask city council to designate the home as a historical site.Pittsburgh City Council is expected to hear arguments on the historical designation on April 20.Uptown Partners said they hope to take over the property and turn the home into either a museum or a restaurant and speakeasy.Pittsburgh's Action News 4 reached out to the attorney representing the homes owners, for comment. They have not responded.

Uptown Partners plans to ask Pittsburgh City Council to designate 1817 Fifth Avenue, Uptown a historical site.

The owner of the property claims in court documents that they have a buyer for the property, and they plan to take the home down and add apartments and retail in its place.

"It tells the story of Uptown it tells how it was created," said Sabreena Miller, Uptown Partners of Pittsburgh Real Estate and Development Manager. "It tells about those Italian, Black and Jewish families that lived here and still live here."

Uptown Partners consulting Historian Dr. David Rotenstein said the most prominent Italian American family lived in this home for 50 years and it should be preserved.

"Probably best known for a period of time between 1922 and 1972 when the Tito family owned it," Rotenstein said. "The Titos were prominent in bootlegging and in numbers gambling and they became very well known for buying the Latrobe Brewing Company at the end of prohibition."

Rotenstein said it is also believed that Rolling Rock Beer was first sold in the beer distributor behind the Titos' home.

Uptown Partners will hold an event outside the home Saturday, April 2, from 1-3 p.m. to share the home's history and encourage people to sign the petition to ask city council to designate the home as a historical site.

Pittsburgh City Council is expected to hear arguments on the historical designation on April 20.

Uptown Partners said they hope to take over the property and turn the home into either a museum or a restaurant and speakeasy.

Pittsburgh's Action News 4 reached out to the attorney representing the homes owners, for comment. They have not responded.

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Uptown home is center of battle: Preserve its history or tear down to add apartments and retail - WTAE Pittsburgh

By: James Colgan March 30, 2022

Two of the most famous shots in Masters history belong to the same CBS cameraman.

The Masters/CBS

Theyre two of the most famous camera shots in Masters history. In fact, they might even be two of the most famous camera shots in golf history.

Roll back the tape and watch them both. Theres Tiger and Earl Woods, circa 1997. Tiger has just conquered the world, becoming the first Black golfer ever to win the Masters at the tender age of 21. Watch as tears well in Tigers eyes nestled in his fathers warmth WOODS emblazoned upon the back of Earls cap.

Now fast forward to 2021. Theres Hideki Matsuyama, the first Asian winner in tournament history. And theres his caddie, Shota Hayafuji, fulfilling the traditional caddie duty of removing the 18th flag. Then watch as Shota bows quietly in acknowledgment of Augusta National.

What you dont see what you cant see is that the man on the other side of the lens for both shots is the same. His name is Eric Leidel, and he is one of CBSs longest-tenured cinematographers (or cameramen, for the layman).

Leidel was a youngster at the Masters in 97 when he hustled over to the area next to the 18th green with a camera on his shoulder. As luck would have it, he would punctuate his first Masters as a cameraman by grabbing Earl and Tiger in full embrace. It was the shot of the tournament a moment that was replayed everywhere in the days following.

In 2021, Leidel succeeded legendary CBS Sports cameraman Davey Finch in the 18th Tower at Augusta National. As the tournament wrapped to his left and Hideki Matsuyama walked the path up to the clubhouse, Leidel spotted Matsuyamas caddie, Shota Hayafuji, headed toward the green. He trained his camera in the direction of the flagstick, careful to leave room at the top of the shot, and watched as Hayafuji grabbed the flag, removed it, and bowed toward the flag. Once again, Leidel had grabbed the shot of the tournament, which quickly made the rounds worldwide.

Down in Butler Cabin, Jim Nantz couldnt believe his eyes.

When [CBS Golf lead producer Sellers Shy] rolled it in, I was just awestruck, Nantz said Wednesday. The minute I laid eyes on it, it was so powerful. I called it the shot of the year in golf. Most times you would think it would be someone pulling off an up-and-down or a bunker shot thats holed to win a tournament, but to me that was my favorite shot in golf. Just the respect that was shown for the opponent, and in this case, the course. It was extraordinary.

That the shot was even captured is a testament to Leidel, Nantz explained Wednesday, who couldve very easily been anywhere else.

The action had long left that stage, Nantz said. He was up in the up in the tower alone and could have been breaking down at that point. He happened to just notice that the caddie was reentering the putting surface. So he took his camera, went over and framed it. Then he stayed with it.

The resultant camera shot placed Leidels work firmly in the annals Masters history. Again.

Its that kind of ingenuity that kind of presence of mind. Its an artist, really, Nantz said. He deserves all the credit in the world. We have great people. Their jobs are more meaningful than anyones, really. What they do to present the Masters through their lens is pretty amazing.

James Colgan is an assistant editor at GOLF, contributing stories for the website and magazine on a broad range of topics. He writes the Hot Mic, GOLFs weekly media column, and utilizes his broadcast experience across the brands social media and video platforms. A 2019 graduate of Syracuse University, James and evidently, his golf game is still defrosting from four years in the snow, during which time he cut his teeth at NFL Films, CBS News and Fox Sports. Prior to joining GOLF, James was a caddie scholarship recipient (and astute looper) on Long Island, where he is from.

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This CBS cameraman owns TWO of the greatest shots in Masters history - Golf.com

Jada Pinkett Smith at the Oscars on Sunday. Mike Coppola/Getty Images hide caption

Jada Pinkett Smith at the Oscars on Sunday.

Will Smith has apologized for the dramatic turn of events at Sunday night's Academy Awards, in which the actor calmly marched across the Oscars stage and smacked presenter Chris Rock for a dig the comedian had taken at Jada Pinkett Smith and her shaved head.

The moment was bluntly condemned on Monday by the Academy. But the display jarring as it was in a room of perfectly coiffed, elegantly dressed A-listers led to what many in Black hair care saw as an unfortunate but important moment in the discussion of Black hair and what it means to protect Black women.

"Jada, I love you. GI Jane 2, can't wait to see you," Rock said as he prepared to present the award for best documentary feature.

Pinkett Smith has been vocal about her struggles with alopecia and appeared immediately uncomfortable at the barb. Initially, Will Smith seemed to laugh along with the joke, but mere moments after the bit had left Rock's mouth, Smith took to the stage and slapped the comedian, open palm, across the face.

"Wow," a stunned Rock said, followed by another sentence with an expletive.

Many online were quick to denounce the brief exchange between the two men as an unfortunate outburst of violence between two of Hollywood's living Black legends.

But to others, the moment, while perhaps unfortunately displayed at such a high-profile event, struck a chord.

For once, they said, here was a Black man publicly sticking up for his Black wife and her Black hair on a stage where Blackness has historically been overlooked or outright shunned.

"You don't play about a black woman's hair, especially when you have alopecia," said Evelyn West, a Cincinnati braider who specializes in protective styles for Black women with alopecia.

West goes by the handle @LeomiaWest on TikTok and has been doing hair for nearly two decades. She is self-taught in styling Black women with severe hair loss.

"Our hair is our crown," West said. "[Rock] is making fun of her having alopecia, which is something that she cannot control."

"He won't make another joke like that again," West added.

Will Smith slaps Chris Rock onstage during the 94th Oscars on Sunday. Robyn Beck/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

Will Smith slaps Chris Rock onstage during the 94th Oscars on Sunday.

That was a sentiment shared by some across social media, where Black women and gender minorities expressed dismay that Rock would seek to make Pinkett Smith's baldness a punchline, especially at an event that historically has been overwhelmingly white and male.

"Beyond offensive for Chris Rock, as the Black male host of a historically and predominantly white awards show honoring talent within an equally white industry, to get a chuckle out of his audience by making a Black woman's hair loss and autoimmune disorder the butt of a joke," one Twitter user wrote, garnering thousands of likes and retweets.

"The racial divide between these reactions to Will [Smith] is...interesting," wrote another. "Sorry but Chris Rock was vile for going after a chronically ill black woman over her hair."

The history of Black hair in America is littered with painful chemicals and processes meant to straighten Black curls and kinks to appeal more broadly to white audiences. Even up to the modern day, attempts to make Black people conform to white beauty standards have been officially sanctioned in classrooms and workplaces across the country.

As recently as last year, the U.S. Army announced changes to its grooming policies to allow for a broader range of hairstyles popular among Black people. And earlier this month, the U.S. House voted to pass the CROWN Act, which would ban race-based hair discrimination at work, federal programs and public accommodations.

Even among those who disagreed with Rock seeming to make light of Pinkett Smith's health issue, the issue of Smith engaging with the comedian physically was viewed as an unnecessary escalation of violence.

"I think Black people understood Will's reaction but did not necessarily condone it," said Kevin Jackson, a licensed cosmetologist and salon owner from New Rochelle, N.Y. "Of course violence is not something we want to promote. There are, however, limits to how much disrespect one can take."

Jackson works primarily with Black women, and at his studio, Before and After Salon, he specializes in hair extensions for women with alopecia.

Both Jackson and West the Cincinnati hair braider said their clients with alopecia have gone so far as to hide the extent of their hair loss even from their closest friends and family.

"I have clients who don't even allow their own husbands to see their hair in that state," said Jackson. "Their privacy is very important to them, and they take even more pride in their appearance. Seeing her face after the joke was made was definitely heartbreaking because you can tell it affected her deeply, which in turn prompted Will's reaction."

That was a point that some social media users focused on, noting that Chris Rock had years earlier starred in a documentary called "Good Hair," which examines Black women's relationship to their hair and the historic precedent for modern Black hairstyles.

During the documentary, Rock sits down with celebrity interior designer Sheila Bridges, who famously sports a bald head the result of her own battle with alopecia.

"In case you want to understand the trauma Jada and other Black women experience because of their hair, this clip is, ironically, from the #ChrisRock documentary "Good Hair". He absolutely knew better," one Twitter user noted.

After the slap, Will Smith was reportedly taken aside by actors Denzel Washington and Tyler Perry. During his later acceptance speech for best actor, Smith took a moment to apologize to the Academy and speak to his view on the importance of defending one's family.

"Now I know, to do what we do, you've got to be able to take abuse. You got to be able to have people talk crazy about you," Smith said, telling the crowd that he wants to be "a vessel for love" in a five-minute speech that earned him a standing ovation.

Late into the evening on Monday night, the day after the incident, Smith wrote an extended message on Instagram in which he apologized to Rock, explaining that the joke about his wife's medical condition had pushed him over the edge.

"Violence in all of its forms is poisonous and destructive. My behavior at last night's Academy Awards was unacceptable and inexcusable. Jokes at my expense are a part of the job, but a joke about Jada's medical condition was too much for me to bear and I reacted emotionally," he wrote.

"I would like to publicly apologize to you, Chris. I was out of line and I was wrong. I am embarrassed and my actions were not indicative of the man I want to be. There is no place for violence in a world of love and kindness."

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The long history of Black hair in America took center stage at the Oscars - NPR

Last Friday, Cultured magazines senior editor, Elizabeth Fazzare, hosted a private breakfast at Stellar Workss new showroom in Chinatown, New York in celebration of Womens History Month. Alongside Stellar Works and Ruinart, Fazzare gathered an impressive group of women to honor their work in architecture, design and the arts. Notable guests included Arielle Assouline-Lichten of Slash Objects, Lora Appleton of the Female Design Council and lighting designer Anna Karlin alongside many other architects, artists, designers and writers.

Stellar Works is a Shanghai-based furniture design brand that represents the rebirth of tradition, fusing long-standing Asian cultures and aesthetics with the light of the present and modernity. The lively brunch was hosted in the companys first permanent United States showroom on Canal Street in Manhattan, in a spacious 4,000-square-foot space that was the former home to Pearl Paint and holds the companys ever-growing furniture collection and designer collaborations. It also is home to the first-ever physical space for the Brooklyn-based wallcoverings company, Calico Wallpaper.

Upon arrival, guests mingled over perfectly chilled Ruinart Blanc des Blancs champagne, coffee and tea. The powerhouse women socialized in the Stellar Works showroom in Chinatown, formerly the home of Pearl Paint. Once seated, guests were treated to a beautiful brunch by Chef Catherine Rojas. Menu highlights included avocado toast on bread from local She Wolf Bakery, spinach and goat cheese frittatas as well as an assortment of fresh-out-the-oven pastries and scones. Brunch was served on dishware by Departo, a home goods company based in New York and born of a collaboration between Stellar Works and Yabu Pushelberg.

Fazzare took a moment to speak to the group about the importance of building a strong community of women in the long-standing male-dominated fields of architecture and design while Stellar Works managing director Andrew Yang shared a few words about celebrating designers in their beautiful new space.Organizing this brunch was the perfect way to honor the successes of every woman at the table.

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Powerhouse Women in Architecture and Design Gather to Celebrate Women's History Month with Cultured, Stellar Works and Ruinart - Cultured Magazine

How often hasBulls starLonzo Ball been injured in his career?

Chicago Bulls starting point guard Lonzo Ball is currently sidelined after undergoing meniscus surgery back in January. Ball has had his fair share of injuries throughout his career, including a pair a meniscus tears that have kept him off the court for quite some time. And this year, his absence has truly shown how valuable he is as a player on both sides of the ball.

Heres a comprehensive look at Balls injury history to date.

This list isnt an indicator that Ball is damaged goods or that he isnt going to be able to come back strong. There isnt a single NBA player without an injury history especially among those who play hard defense. Ball has returned from most the injuries on this list and has improved his game each season, as Bulls fans learned firsthand when it came to his jump shot.

In January, Ball suffered a meniscus tear in his left knee on Jan. 14 against the Golden state Warriors. Theteam initially thought the injury was a knee bruise. Further evaluation later revealed the tear, and he underwent surgery to address the injury on Jan. 28.

Ball has been out since. He suffered a setback and his rehab has been paused for 10 days.

Following the Christmas break, Ball was sidelined for 10 days after contracting the COVID-19 virus. The Bulls as a team were hit hard by the COVID-19 protocols in December, with a total of 13 players being sidelined for a portion of that month.

At the time, the Bulls were 22-9 and Ball was having a career year from beyond the arc.

The New Orleans Pelicans season wasnt what they expected last year, and Balls absence late in the season was a part of it. As they were in the race for the last play-in spot, Ball was unavailable due to a thumb sprain.

At the time, Ball was averaging 14 points, five rebounds and five assists. The Pelicans missed the play-in and Ball took his talents to Chicago.

Ball missed 11 games due to a hip flexor strain. He initially tried to come back after missing seven games but was unable to shake the hip soreness.

The Pelicans were without Ball for three games in Jan. 2021 because of bilateral knee tendinopathy. It was the first time he was on the injury report that season. He was averaging 12 points and six assists at that point.

Ball injured his adductor (groin) in the Pelicans loss to the Brooklyn Nets on Nov. 4. He initiallytried to play through the injury, but had to sit out a total of six games. He had started the season strong, averaging a then-career-high 11.5 points with 6.1 assists and 4.5 rebounds while shooting a career-best 36% from three.

Balls tenure with the Lakers was filled with unlucky breaks. In his second season, the Lakers had to shut Ball down for the season due to a Grade 3 ankle sprain he sustained against the Houston Rockets on Jan. 19.Ball left the Rockets game in the third quarter after colliding then-Rockets guard James Harden.

He was originally projected to only miss 4-6 weeks. Whenevaluated in late February, though, it was determined that Ball still needed more time to recover. The decision to shut him down for the season came in March after the second evaluation.

Ball missed much of his rookie season behind knee soreness that eventually required surgery.This injury has proven to have a long-term effect on Ball as hes still dealing with the side effects.After his rookie season, he underwent arthroscopic knee surgery, partially removing the meniscus to cut out the damaged piece. A study conducted byNational Library of Medicineshowed that pain and/or effusion in the knee after the return-to-sport were found in 22% of the athletes with meniscus operations.

Prior to the Lakers Christmas Day game, Ball was ruled out with a shoulder sprain and missed six games.

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Lonzo Ball injury history and updates - Pippen Ain't Easy

We are going OFF THE RAILS here as we continue to prep for another OFD Podcast during the spring football season for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. I made some very strong comments about Brian Kellys tenure at Notre Dame a few weeks ago. A lot of that stems from a topic Ive had on my mind for a while... what is the most interesting decade in Notre Dame Football history?

The most interesting doesnt have to be the best or the worst even though they can definitely can be for any individual out there. Whats the decade that draws you in with good vibes, or insanity, or rage, or whatever?

Take a quick listen to the podcast episode in the player below, and give me your thoughts. Do you agree? Do you have a different decade? Whats your reasoning? I promise... Im not trying to screw you like a hot dog machine.

Please RATE and Review! All reviews left on Apple Podcasts will be read on the next OFD Podcast.

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What is the most interesting decade in Notre Dame Football history? - One Foot Down