Category Archives: Intentional Communities

The sound of Christian hymns echoes through an empty sanctuary during a Facebook Live service at Immanuel Lutheran Church in DeKalb.

Like nonessential businesses, the churches doors have been locked to their congregations in the interest of public health.

You can imagine parishioners are singing along, sheltered-in-place at their homes. Marty Marks is the pastor at Immanuel. One of his members wanted to sing but didnt have a hymnal.

So I did kind of a drive-by ding-dong ditch thing where I went to the house, I rang the doorbell, you know, Im leaving the hymnal here! said Marks.

Every faith group is trying new ways to keep their communities connected, even if they cant do it face-to-face. For many, Facebook has been the tool of choice to reach them.

Facebook Live sermon broadcasts and Zoom meeting prayers are the new norm.

Theyre also keeping up with each other through phone calls, emails and WhatsApp.

For the Muslim Association of Greater Rockford, its been a big adjustment. Just consider their mosques normal Friday prayer gatherings.

We usually have approximately 700 people -- now there is none, said Imam Mohamed Ahmed Elgobashy of the Muslim Association of Greater Rockford.

The Association posted daily prayer from home instructions on its website.

You can pray anywhere, he said. And if you have some emergency like this, you will get the same reward from God if you pray at home if you didn't come to the mosque.

Denzil Luckritz is the pastor at Trinity Episcopal Church in Aurora. Hes been having morning and evening prayer groups on Zoom. Hes also doing Facebook streams for the first time.

Everybody's been talking about a learning curve, said Luckritz. It has not been a learning curve at all. It has been like a rocket launch. It has been straight up.

Many peoples daily schedules have all but exploded during the COVID-19 crisis. The Rev. Eric Doolittle says having a prayer schedule, like in Islam, can be beneficial to anyone in any faith tradition.

So planning that time, 10 minutes, five minutes, 20 if you can do it, to be intentional about the different parts of your self-care is essential, said Rev. Doolittle, the chaplain at North Central Colleges Office of Faith and Action.

He says hes eager to see how people of faith take the opportunity for action in their communities.

How will people use the extra time? And as they feel that they are able to engage, to give back to embody the love of neighbor in a proactive way, said Rev. Doolittle.

Members of the Muslim Association of Greater Rockford are helping deliver meals to students.

Other religious groups at Northern Illinois University are working with food insecurity missions for college students and trying to connect them to other campus resources.

Marty Marks is also the president of ACRO -- the association of campus religious organizations at NIU.

He says those student faith groups are also staying plugged in with each other.

I don't see me doing a Snapchat or TikTok Bible study but, you never know, you get creative in times of need, he said.

Rev. Doolittle at North Central College is hoping church leaders learn to rely on the young adults they have.

Theyre already experts, so lean into them, he said.

One of the religious organizations at North Central, the Christian fellowship FOCUS, is breaking services into chunks through the week and curating Spotify playlists for worship.

Despite the innovation, many churches are also feeling a financial burden.

Its all unknown, said Marty Marks of Immanuel Lutheran. Weve got no idea what our offerings over the next few weeks of them look like, we're in the process of budgeting for our next fiscal year. So we have no clue what our income is going to look like.

Some churches, like Immanuel, also run schools that have teachers and staff who need to be paid.

Most churches set up online giving options in the meantime.

For now, Denzil Luckritz at Trinity Episcopal says, hes seeing his community step up spiritually for each other.

All of that has been challenging at the same time there's been a silver lining because we're coming together in ways that are simply remarkable, said Luckritz.

And with coronavirus stress and anxiety taking a toll on many, faith groups pray they can continue to nurture spiritual care for themselves, and others. in a uniquely uncertain time.

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'Embody The Love Of Neighbor': Practicing Faith In A Pandemic - WNIJ and WNIU

Ben Higgins is engaged!

The Bachelor star, 31, proposed to girlfriend Jessica Clarke over the weekend in Franklin, Tennessee.

I was super nervous. Shes my best friend, my partner and I love her. I was nervous to kind of do this whole thing in front of her. I wasnt anxious, its just a big moment! he told Entertainment Tonight.

So who is Higgins future wife?

Clarke, 24, is an avid runner and competed on the University of Mississippis (Ole Miss) womens track and field and cross-country team. According to her athlete bio, Clarke is also dedicated to helping others and stayed in a special needs orphanage in China for 10 days.

Ben Higgens/Instagram

She graduated from Ole Miss in 2018 with a bachelors degree in integrated marketing and communications, according to her LinkedIn, and began working at Valet Energy in Nashville in November 2018. Shes also the co-owner of SweatNET Nashville and SweatNET Denver, online communities that offer coupons for workouts and more.

The couple met in 2018 when Higgins successfully slid into Clarkes direct messages on social media. The two dated in private for several months before making their relationship public in February 2019.

RELATED: The Bachelors Ben Higgins Claps Back at Troll Who Says His GF Looks Like Shes in High School

Ive been selfishly keeping this girl to myself for too long! Hey friends meet @jessclarke_! I successfully slid into her Dms a few months ago. I took a risk and I am glad I did, Higgins captioned a photo of himself and Clarke in Honduras.

She is someone special, and I look forward to where life is going to take us, the Generous Coffee co-founder continued. Stay tuned for the journey. In addition, this picture was taken this week in Honduras. I got to spend some time with an incredible group of people from all over the USA on a @generous_coffee_ adventure. Life is good!

Though Clarke was aware of who Higgins was when he slid into her DMs, she hadnt watched his season of The Bachelor.

Her mom loves the show so much, so she called her mom right away and was like, What is happening here? and her mom was like, I dont really know, but you should at least message him back. So she didnt watch my season, which is actually good, Higgins previously told PeopleTVs Reality Check.

Ben Higgens/Instagram

RELATED: The Bachelors Ben Higgins and His Girlfriend Jessica Clarke Dish on Their Romantic First Kiss

And according to Higgins, the likelihood of them ever sitting down together and revisiting his Bachelor days is slim to none.

The very first time she ever saw any piece of my season was watching the Bachelorette reunion show that came out last year. And it was when JoJo [Fletcher] and Lauren [Bushnell] were both there with me at the end, Higgins explained, noting his exes. And it crushed Jessica. Shes like, I dont want to ever see this again. So I have no doubt we will never watch my season.

While the couple started their relationship long-distance (with Higgins based in Denver and Clarke living in Nashville), they made a point not to go more than two weeks without seeing each other and frequently traveled together. She even joined him on the road for The Bachelor Live on Stage Official Tour, until the coronavirus pandemic forced its cancellation.

Like Higgins, Clarke is Christian; she lists the Bible passage 1 Thessalonians 5:16 (Rejoice always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is Gods will for you in Christ Jesus) in her Instagram bio.

Faith is foundational. Our relationship wouldnt work or make sense without our faith being front and center, they told the blog Live Original in November 2019. Its a grounding force for us and something that has led to the most challenging, but also the most fruitful conversations. Starting to get to know someone by dating long distance means that everything must be intentional. We never have been afraid to dig deeper into our beliefs from the get-go and its led to a strong foundation that now weve been able to build on and really have fun with. Bens leadership in faith is one of the things Jess is most attracted to about Ben.

Clarke announced their engagement on Sunday, sharing a sweet photo of the proposal.

I dont remember everything you said, but I know that I said yes. I woke up in a dream today and I get to live in this dream every day from now on (eeeep), the bride-to-be announced on Instagram, along with photos of the moment her fianc proposed.

Read the rest here:

Everything to Know About The Bachelor Star Ben Higgins' Fiance Jessica Clarke - Yahoo Entertainment

Jeremy Cohen of Playwrights Center, Rachel Spencer Hewitt of Parent Artist Advocacy League, and Godfrey L. Simmons Jr. of Civic Ensemble. (Photo by Ryan Bourque for Theatre Communications Group)

At this time last year, I was preparing to attend TCGs annual conference to facilitate a lab on creating supportive work structure and environments for caregivers in our field. None of us could anticipate that in just 12 short months, our world would be on lockdown and our livelihoods in crisis.

The irony in this anniversary is that while our planet experiences a seismic shift, the work and strategies generated in that lab have become more relevant than ever. Ive received messages thanking the Parent-Artists Advocacy League (PAAL) for acting so quickly to provide solutions to current conditions. But the reality is that gathering these solutions has been in the works for years because, for better or worse, caregivers have extensive experience with necessary work accommodations, conditional employment loss, and experiences of isolation.

A year ago these were thought of as challenges chiefly for the vulnerablefor workers who might be allowed to form their own affinity groups during the lunch hour only to wait months, if not years, for their organizations to listen to their advice. In short, accommodations for caregivers were once a niche issue. Now, tragically, these accommodations have become necessities for everyone.

When I began collecting information for this piece, I contacted caregivers who have endured their own versions of quarantine, remade their creative spaces, and created solutions for working at homeall before the field at large was ready to hear them. It is an extraordinary privilege to share these solutions on a universal scale to honor the stories of caregivers who have proven to be accidental Cassandras for our current state.

What were once essential needs for seemingly few have, in a matter of months, become the essential needs for all. We now have the opportunity to use the lessons from caregiver solutions to make this time of crisis a time of organizational reinvention. In order to achieve resilient reinvention, however, we must take intentional steps to reshape our way of thinking, our way of working, and our way of making. Before the crisis, the solutions were effective for caregivers. After the crisis, the solutions are universally necessary. What an opportunity to take these lessons and implement them to make our collaborations healthier, more effective, and designed for humanity. This began as a piece on solutions for caregiver support, and it now can serve as a blueprint of intentional steps toward the reinvention we need to shape a sustainable future.

When I presented for the first time at the Statera Conference in Milwaukee in 2018, I conducted a workshop on Motherhood and Leadership. I invited mothers to share their experiences, non-parents to ask their questions, and leaders to challenge themselves to walk away with one actionable item they each could implement to support their caregivers. While that workshop could be an article in itself, the most striking moment happened after we dismissed. I was approached by a non-parent who had attended as an ally. She shared with me in confidence that in her organization, there was a time when she was diagnosed with a serious illness at the same time her co-worker became pregnant. Almost simultaneously, she shared, her illness and her co-workers pregnancy created a shift in how they were treated. Conversation on solutions was nearly non-existent, the organization had no plan in place, and both were left to endure their major life events alone: in isolation, without structural support or cultural awareness.

These two colleagues had parallel experiences of abandonment by their leadership because their organization had shaped its policy outside of the realm of events that make us dynamically human. I often share that there will be a point in every individuals life where they will experience a major life event: illness, birth, loss. We are all vulnerable at some point. In a conversation with Ann Marie Lonsdale from the HowlRound webinar Artists in a Time of Global Pandemic, she offered a phrase that has circulated throughout the disability community: Were all temporarily able. We have long failed those in our field who have had to face their major life events alone. Now that we have a universal life event, we must cling to this experience to define the priorities of our organizations as theyre remade.

At PAAL we talk about interconnected access. This refers to the belief that by centering our policies on need versus convention, we find solutions that elevate benefits of the work environment for everyone. For those terrified of the financial implications of this concept, not to worry: It is actually economically beneficial. As all our financial plans feel shattered in this moment, as we reconstruct the pieces to shape a new financial future, our fragile structures will survive if they are centered on the realities of what it means to be human.

As many states shelter in place, both administrative and creative work has moved to virtual connections. In interviews with parents, they say that work from home has helped increase their time to bond with children, reduced financial strain by cutting back hours needed for childcare or unnecessary travel for occasional production meetings that could be conducted virtually, and provided contingency plans when schools were closed, and prevented tapping into much-needed sick days when it has been their child that needs care.

Historically, remote work has also been a key factor in increasing accessibility. Says Talleri McRae from National Disability Theatre, I always appreciatewhether its related to parenting, disability, or neitherflexibility and understanding. Flexibility on tight deadlines whenever possible. (My turnaround time has tripled since becoming a parent.) Flexibility in how I can participate, in person, by video, or even by email before a meeting happens because the meeting is during toddler bedtime. Understanding that meeting times might shift, rehearsal plans might get rearranged, but also trust that things will move forward. Questions will be answered. Discussions will be had. And just because Im disabled and just because Im a parent doesnt make me less capable to do these work things. It just means shifting how Iand we, the teamget things done.

In PAALs new HR Health program, weve launched the online workshop The Readiness Series on how to seek employment and effectively work from home. In this series, we are releasing the resources once meant for caregivers that could now help our field at large. The recommendations for successful execution in the work from home environment include

a) Start each call with a personal check-in to generate healthy relationship over digital space

b) Create a physical space in the home dedicated to the work to create a physical and psychological boundary

c) Articulate as a team or organization specific times off-line where emails and calls will not be answered to create healthy work expectation

d) Commit as leadership or with leadership to write these time boundaries out as company-wide commitments and articulate any project exceptions and how to compensate exceptions with additional off-line time frames

e) Engage with caregivers on supportive streamlining for calls and deadlines (occasional work calls post-bedtime while the next morning is designated as off-line or scheduling all work calls in the afternoon to leave the morning off-line so they can establish schooling, home routine, outdoor time, etc.

f) Understand that the more humans involved, the more compassion is required. If your colleague has to negotiate a sibling war or is changing a diaper or has to pause the call to bandage a wound, remember our humanity is the priority here, and the project a far second. Take a breath and the opportunity to be generous and even take a moment of meditation for yourselfthen offer one to your colleague who may reenter the call breathless and likely amped

g) Engage leadership to make work from home a provision for major life events and work/life balance moving forward.

Our theatre culture clings to tight production schedules and extensive office hours as indications of commitment or passion. For caregivers whose human responsibilities require more supportive scheduling, this mindset cuts into their reputations, employment opportunities, or financial and physical health. But many caregivers in leadershipoften women, such as the case of the leadership at Detroit Public Theatre, and primarily women of color, to be more specific, including Roberta Pereira and Patricia McGregorhave broken ground in restructuring more humane schedules to more relevantly support our time, and to define commitment and passion by the work contributed, not hours logged.

Supportive scheduling includes the five-day rehearsal week, restructuring tech days, and creating administrative off-line boundaries with project exceptions and off-line compensation times (as listed above). With the five-day rehearsal week, it has been proven time and again that financial and logistical burdens are reduced for everyone and the quality of the contribution rises. Award-winning director Patricia McGregor is a powerful advocate for the five-day work week and restructured tech schedules. Also a caregiver, McGregor told me that her belief in a more humane work schedule preceded her becoming a mother. Her own mother was a union worker who marched for teachers rights decades ago. Both witnessing and participating, young Patricia learned of the inextricable nature between labor and equity. Here and now, she says, the theatre has an opportunity to be a leader not in what has always been but in what should be in redefining how collectives should work.

Supportive scheduling will make it more possible for more artists and administrators to contribute as we rebuild what it means to commit in our field. The five-day rehearsal week is available for every equity contract, and PAAL has outlined how to engage with it.

In the play Goodnight Nobody by Rachel Bonds at the McCarter Theatre Center this past fall, the lead character Kay pumps her breast milk in a farmhouse. The audience hears the breast pump runninga mechanical and jarring gear-plus-suction soundfor 25 percent of the show, then witnesses Kay washing her pump parts in the sink. While the character has a three-hour timer for pumping going off in her head, she also wrestles with identity, a full-time job, caring for a seven-month-old baby, and loneliness.

The McCarters production featured a radical element offstage. Kay was played by actor Arielle Woodweiss, who, at the very moment of production, was a new mom to a seven-month-old little boy. Throughout rehearsals and tech, Bonds, director Tyne Rafaeli, and the theatre engaged in constant dialogue with Woodweiss about her needs, specifically in terms of space. Finding powerful advocates in Bonds, a mother herself, Rafaeli, a committed ally, and the McCarter, an organization with a reputation of this kind of support, Woodweiss said she learned language in real time to articulate what she needed to live in housing with a child and pump on-site while bringing the story of a breastfeeding mother onto the stage.

Talleri McRae seconded the importance of space access. As a disabled parent, one of the things I appreciate the most is a no-judgement attitude, if my toddler attends a meeting or a through, and actswell, like a toddler.

As we reimagine what a professional space means, many of us need not look much farther than the dining room table or the couch we now call the office. Children entering the rehearsal space may happen time and again due to financial and logistical failings. These examples are critical to include in our conversations with parents now as we all navigate how to communicate with children in the space, and ask what artists access need may be in order to best contribute. Because, at the end of the day, shaping the space for access needs rather than adhering to convention affects the stories we can tell. It is impossible to bring diverse content to our stages and create accessible opportunities for our audiences without first learning how to do it for our artists and administrators behind the scenes.

Even before the crisis, budgets for nonprofit theatres often strained financially. At our national summit on caregiver support last December, we engaged with many leaders who provided real numbers for funds they created to support childcare, including Elevator Repair Service, the TEAM, the Playwrights Realm, and more. PAAL has outlined the steps to creating a fund for caregiver provisions. While budgets look slashed and hopeless now for so many institutions, freelance caregivers are in the same boatand they dont have access to boards or a platform for their voice. If they are to return to our field, we need to hold space for their support. What weve found is that when a fund is dedicated to caregiver support, donors find it a relatable cause, as caregiving affects all of us in some way, especially in times of crisis.

This a wonderful opportunity for individuals to be specific with how they can help rebuild our institutions. At the PAAL summit, the Realm also explained how they were able to provide paid maternity leave for producing director Roberta Pereira: The Realm created a fund with a surplus for artistic risk and expanded its use to support a leave policy shaped with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) standards. While not every organization has a surplus or qualifies to fulfill FMLA obligations, every institution has the opportunity to demonstrate the commitment of their budgets narrative to gender parity, diversity, and improving the retention rate of upward mobility in our field. That applies even when rebuilding. And the national statistics prove that gender parity, diversity, and retention rates are directly impacted by caregiver funds and leave policies. Every institution must include a childcare fund as they rebuild. Structuring the budgets of our rebuilding field around these provisions will improve our efforts in rebuilding communities as well.

As quickly as the world can fall into crisis, even more quickly it can forget what it means to be vulnerable. We have a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to convert the energy generated by our fear of the future into energy to fight for it. There is no future worth that fight where we gather again, healthy and working, while a few are left to quarantine in their own crises because weve neglected to take this time to make need the priority of structural change. In a social media post this past week, Johanna Maynard Edward, executive director of Womens Theatre Festival of Raleigh, N.C., and PAAL chief rep, documented her family life during social distancing. In a video, she shares her experience running a theatre company and caring for her family while in isolation during the time she was also being diagnosed with an autoimmune condition of the cardiovascular system. Her experience helped equip her for the current isolation with a child on the spectrum. The takeaways Edwards offers include, We are parent artists. We are the most creative problem solvers on the planet. We were made for this moment.

While layoffs, budget devastations, and shuttered productions threaten our institutional sustainabilityor, in some cases, very existencewe must find our light. Whether its conscious of it or not, our field is more flexible than ever in its understanding of necessity and luxury, and this flexibility can foster growth if we invest in the right ways. Remote work, flexible scheduling, childcare, and leave provisions in the past were often categorized as luxury because they only impacted a few. Now that these provisions are everyones necessity, our time now opens wide the door for the theatre to lead the way through it. Thanks to caregivers who persevered, we have the next steps for how to learn from a crisis we couldnt anticipate to create the future our field deserves.

New York-based actor Rachel Spencer Hewitt is the founder of Parent Artist Advocacy League for Performing Arts + Media.

Creative credits for photo:Goodnight Nobodyat McCarter Theatre Center, written by Rachel Bonds, directed by Tyne Rafaeli, withsets by Kimie Nishikawa,costumes by sta Bennie Hostetter, lighting by Jen Schriever, and sound by Daniel Kluger.

Related

See more here:

Work/Life Balance Is Everyone's Urgent Business Now - American Theatre

The University of California told students this week that it is inappropriate for them to use the term Chinese virus. The university released a set of guidelines that made the case that the term projects hatred towards Asian communities.

According to a report by the College Fix, the University of California system has released a set of guidelines that were designed to reduce xenophobia during the ongoing Wuhan coronavirus pandemic.

The guidelines encourage students to actively seek out and condemn intolerant speech that is taking place in response to the pandemic. Reject racism, sexism, xenophobia and all hateful or intolerant speech, both in person and online. Be an up-stander, and discourage others from engaging in such behavior, the guidelines read.

The guidelines go on to add that students should not use terms such as Chinese Virus or other terms which cast either intentional or unintentional projections of hatred toward Asian communities, and do not allow the use of these terms by others. Refer to the virus as either COVID-19 or coronavirus in both oral and written communications.

Breitbart News reported this week that actor George Takei had accused President Trump of emboldening racism by using the term Chinese virus. Takei said that Trumps use of the term Chinese virus sends a cold chill throughout the Asian-American community.

The University of California system has often inappropriately prioritized political correctness. Breitbart News reported in February that 17 students at the University of California, Santa Cruz, were arrested for blocking a local intersection during a protest for higher wages. Earlier in February, Breitbart News reported that UCLA told students to avoid using the words lame and insane because they create a stigma against marginalized people.

Stay tuned to Breitbart News for more updates on this story.

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University of California: Saying Chinese Virus Projects Hatred Towards Asian Communities - Breitbart

Now that were nearly through the work week, and school week, the uncanniness of the current moment has set in. Some European countries like Spain and Italy have enforced strict lockdowns while in New York, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has urged New Yorkers to stay indoors as much as they can. But social distancing not commuting, not dining out, saying no to that party you really didnt want to go to anyway can also open up some unexpected opportunities for those with time on their hands: to try a new recipe, work out from the comfort of your own home, catch up on some reading and tackle any organizing projects you havent gotten around to yet. Below, T recommends some activities for riding out the quarantine whether self-imposed or not while preserving your sanity and sense of purpose.

Make Something Delicious (With Ingredients Youve Stockpiled)

When the San Francisco-based florist Christina Stembels decade-old business, Farmgirl Flowers, was in its infancy, she often baked cinnamon rolls the ultimate comfort food, she says and brought them in for her employees. Stembel doesnt just consider the gooey dessert to be the ultimate comfort food; she thinks of it as a good litmus test: If you meet someone that doesnt like one of these, she says, do not trust them.

Growing up in the West, I was always wanting to be very westernized to fit in, says the Taiwanese-Canadian designer Jason Wu. And in my 20s, I really started re-embracing my roots. That included his moms ultra-comforting fried rice, made with whatever ingredients were conveniently available, including cubes of ham, an unexpected, nontraditional accent he keeps in the recipe to this day.

Rostam Batmanglij is best known as a musician, producer and onetime member of the indie-rock band Vampire Weekend. But hes also the son of the renowned Iranian-American chef and cookbook author Najmieh Batmanglij (for whom hes designed books); his pedigree means he has spent his whole life around food. Here, he shares a controversial avocado toast opinion: He swears by the strange alchemy wrought when an avocado meets mayonnaise.

Not much of a morning person? Neither is the San Francisco-based designer Evan Kinori. Still, he manages to set the tone nicely for the day with a kale- and avocado-filled shakshuka a distinctly Californian take on a beloved dish from Israel, where his father was born.

For the performance artist Migguel Anggelo who grew up outside Caracas arepas are a great unifier: It doesnt matter in Venezuela if you are poor or you are rich, middle class whatever you are, you eat arepas, he says. Having moved to the United States in 2002, Anggelo now makes arepas as a means of staying close to his culture; they are also, it turns out, infinitely adaptable the soft cornmeal patties can be filled with all manner of savory fillings, including scrambled eggs, ground beef or tuna salad.

The novelist Mona Awad has also conjured a nontraditional morning meal worth waking up for. In graduate school, she had an epiphany: What if she took all the ingredients in her classic morning oatmeal banana, raisins, cinnamon, oats and baked them? The result: a decadent, yet still virtuous, cookie thats also breakfast.

Although the scalp is the foundation for a healthy head of hair, according to the colorist Christophe Robin, its also frequently neglected. Here, Robin and other hair-care professionals offer advice for developing the right detox for any hair and scalp type.

Start with a soak, move on to a scrub, then moisturize: Here, skincare professionals share their favorite techniques for giving feet a refresh because masks and exfoliants arent only for your face.

To de-stress at the end of the day, the creative consultant Matilda Goad has devised a turmeric latte recipe she describes as feeling like a hug (and that she likes to pair with a television binge). We imagine it can also abate the headline-fueled anxiety that might be keeping you up at night.

The British designer Anya Hindmarch is all about a bit of artful disarray but shes also a consummate tidy freak. In her office, there are no Post-it Notes (too disorganized) or jackets slung over the backs of chairs (ditto); instead, the space is remarkable for its clean surfaces and the labels on, well, everything. If youre looking for something to pass the time while housebound, you might try replicating some of her techniques, outlined here.

The culinary world already has a specific term for the organization required in the kitchen: mise en place, a French phrase denoting the meticulous work space of a chef. Ellen Bennett, the Los Angeles-based founder and C.E.O. of the lifestyle brand Hedley & Bennett (and a former line cook), breaks down how to achieve the perfect mise en place in your own kitchen.

Eccentricity and maximalism dont have to be synonymous with clutter. Here, the London-based interior designer Beata Heuman whose work treads the line between crisp orderliness and refreshing whimsy shares her tips for keeping things neat. She recommends, for example, seeking out vintage storage solutions for some character, and even recruiting the youngest members of ones family to help clean up.

For an alternate perspective on social isolation, you might consider learning more about intentional communities: off-the-grid collectives where residents share duties of cooking, farming, governing and finances. If there is any sense of romanticism running through the community, writes Mike Mariani, it lies in the notion that none of us, actually, have to be complicit to political, social and economic forces with which we dont agree.

On the cusp of turning 40, a reader finds herself at a personal and professional crossroads. Megan OGrady, one of Ts Culture Therapist advice columnists, has some ideas for how to navigate what comes next.

In southeastern Switzerland, 20 minutes outside the resort town of St. Moritz, a once-lovely 19th-century building had fallen into disrepair following a few ill-advised renovations. Wanting to transform it once more by embracing a renovated version of the homes former self its new owner recruited the Milan-based design and architecture firm Studio Peregalli. If youre seeking to discover rooms other than the one you are confined to at the moment, look no further.

An overlooked touchstone of Japanese-American literature, John Okadas No-No Boy (1957) isnt often acknowledged for articulating what had never been said before, writes Ts features director, Thessaly La Force. Written under the long shadow of Japanese-American incarceration during World War II, the novel is a kind of generational reckoning with American bigotry one that has unexpected resonance now, amid family separation and incarceration along the United Statess southern border.

For Ts most recent Travel issue, the novelist Peter Rock made his way to Milos, the southernmost of the Greek Cyclades islands and the frequently overlooked neighbor of Mykonos and Santorini to discover what makes its waters, and its culture, unique. He planned to do so in a distinctly immersive way: by swimming along the islands coastline.

In 2015, a clip from Cecelia Condits Possibly in Michigan, an unsettling video artwork from 1983, began circulating on Reddit. Four years later, the piece had made her an unlikely celebrity on TikTok. Heres how.

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Ts Guide to Staying at Home, and Making the Best of It - The New York Times

Disadvantaged and communities of color are perfectly poised for electric car adoption, experts say, but they have to be targeted and engaged first.

In California, where advocates and regulators are pushing to have at least 5 million electric vehicles on the state roadways in the next decade, inclusive efforts are not just a matter of equity and are more a matter of necessity.

If were going to get to 5 million EVs we have to be intentional, and so we have to really think about what were doing, in terms of education and outreach, said Shelley Francis, co-founder of EVNoire, an advocacy organization promoting next-gen mobility options like electric vehicles.

We really have to make sure that were engaging diverse communities black and brown communities and communities that are impacted by air pollution, she added, speaking during a panel discussion as part of the annual Veloz forum earlier this month in Sacramento. Veloz is a Sacramento-based electric vehicle advocacy group.

Too often, electric vehicles have been viewed as transportation for more economically advantaged drivers, say industry insiders and advocates. However, as their price parity with gas-powered cars narrows and is combined with state and federal rebates, the cars are being seen as ideal for all drivers. The fact that they are cheaper to run than gasoline-powered vehicles will make them a more attractive option for lower-income households.

If policymakers are to remove barriers to EV adoption among underserved communities, part of this process is making incentives easier to understand and apply for, said Terea Macomber, electric vehicle project director for GRID Alternatives, an Oakland-based nonprofit advocating for clean, renewable energy in low-income areas and communities of color.

If we can go into communities and say, we have this incentive program, but theres all these other incentive programs that you can take advantage of with one application, were going to reach our goals a lot faster, said Macomber, speaking at the forum.

The way that we build programs, the way that we implement programing is so important, not just the policy that creates these programs, Macomber added.

The further adoption of EVs across all income sectors will ultimately help the most disadvantaged by improving air quality and job creation, particularly in the manufacturing sector.

The EV sector employs some 275,000 residents in California, with 120,000 of those in Southern California, Tyler Laferriere, an economist with the Institute for Applied Economics at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp., told forum attendees.

These are good paying jobs, said Laferriere, noting the industry is expected to grow 13 percent in the state in the coming years. It should be noted this jobs outlook was presented prior to the rapid economic slowdowns brought on by the novel coronavirus crisis.

This intersection between affordability, transportation, housing, equity, and good jobs is something that I think will lead to our greater success, said Jared Blumenfeld, secretary for environmental protection with the California Environmental Protection Agency. To the extent that we pay short service to those, we will get crosswise with communities that have incredibly legitimate claims of worrying about their future and how electric vehicles fit in with them.

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EV Access Needs to Be Equitable to Meet California Goals - Government Technology

Just weeks ago, Black Southerners were the talk of the nation. What issues we support. What candidates were courting us for our vote in the Democratic primary. We went from constantly ignored and under-resourced to the focus of national conversations. We went from unimportant to shifting what was possible in regards to who would become the next president of the United States. We went from being abandoned and, in some cases, mocked, to issues that impact us being front and center in national debates and polls.

But now, merely days later, despite the constant realities of Black Southerners, especially those of us in rural communities, were back to business as usual. Despite the disproportionate and disastrous impact of state sanctioned violence, a discriminatory health care system, and a trickle-down-til-it-stops economic infrastructure, Black Southerners are once again in this nations peripheral visioneven as the COVID-19 (coronavirus) global pandemic threatens to devastate our communities. Make no mistake, this reality could mean a death sentence for far too many of our people.

Let me explain how we know this to be true.

On March 13, 2020, the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) published the Status of State Medicaid Expansion Decisions. In the comprehensive data shared, KFF illustrates that the U.S. Souththe largest geographic region in the nation, a region that already has higher numbers of cash-poor adults without health insurance in comparison with other regionsrepresents the majority of states that did not expand Medicaid (9 out of 14).

KFF goes on to explain that the geographic disparities in health coverage arent just geographic; they also disproportionately impact people of color, specifically Black people in the Souththe region that the highest concentration of Black people in the United States call home:

Most people in the coverage gap live in the South, leading state decisions about Medicaid expansion to exacerbate geographic disparities in health coverage. In addition, because several states that have not expanded Medicaid have large populations of people of color, state decisions not to expand their programs disproportionately affect people of color, particularly Black Americans. As a result, state decisions about whether to expand Medicaid have implications for efforts to address disparities in health coverage, access, and outcomes among people of color.

If that werent enough, those states decisions activate a circular white supremacist, capitalist violence refusal to expand Medicaid leads to fewer cash poor Black southerners seeking treatment, which leads to fewer rural hospitals being able to remain open, which leads to even fewer of our people being able to seek treatment.

In 2019, John Commins reported that, Since 2005, 162 rural hospitals have shuttered, with 60% of the closures occurring in Southern states that did not expand Medicaid enrollment. Writing for Forbes Magazine, Clary Estes reported that as of February 24th, 2020, one in four rural hospitals are at risk of closure and the problem is getting worse.

All of this was true on Super Tuesday and continues to be true today as we watch the swift march of COVID-19 across our region. As of this writing, Mississippi, the 35th largest state by population ranks 12th among states for novel coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents, Mississippi Today reports. Thats 377 people diagnosed, 11 cases for every 100,000 residents. Two deaths have been reported. In Louisiana to date, there are 1,388 cases and 46 deaths reported, with 675 cases reported in New Orleans alone. In Alabama, there have been 283 confirmed COVID-19 cases. Forty-five people have been hospitalized at the University of Alabama at Birmingham Medical Center with the novel coronavirus; 18 of them are on ventilators. In Tennessee, to date, there are 777 confirmed cases and two people have died. Florida has over 1,200 cases. There are 1,247 confirmed cases in Georgia; 504 in North Carolina; and 342 cases in South Carolina.

None of these states, with the exception of Louisiana, elected to expand Medicaid. This means that these numbersespecially in states like Mississippi where no shelter-in-place orders have been given, because according to Gov. Tate Reeves, Mississippis never going to be Chinawill spike, and spike quickly.

With these reckless actions, it is us, our communities around the nation and, especially, in the rural South, which will suffer the most. Inevitably, when the United States sneezes, Black America catches a cold.

And this is no ordinary sneeze and no ordinary cold.

Wewho were already neglected by states who chose profit and partisan politics over the health and well-being of our communities, who are disproportionately impacted by poverty, white supremacist violence, health disparities and moreare seeing less access to emergency care, while the few facilities that remain are becoming the primary source of care for our people. Were seeing health care providers leave communities because of the closure of rural hospitals, gaps in specialty care expanding, job loss, and so much more, as the need for services increases beyond our ability to provide them.

Elders and already sick folks are at risk down South. Is the nation paying attention now?

The virus will continue to spread, impacting communities in the Blackbelt South, like those in Cancer Alley or in Central Appalachia with a high concentration of health disparitiesboth in regards to the impact of illnesses and the lack of access to affordable healthcare insurance and adequate facilities. We know that if people in New York and California are struggling to get tested, to have enough masks and gloves and the like to properly keep healthcare staff safe, that we will probably be in a similar or even worse predicament as the virus spreads here. We, who live in right to work states, who wont have paid leave to stay home, or the ability to work remotely when shelter-in-place and lockdown orders come from our municipal governments, are at increased risk. Those of us who needed public schools to stay open to ensure our kids were fed at least two meals a daywhile we focus on making money to support our elders and children, biological and chosen familiesare in deep trouble.

We know that much of this reality exists because of policy decisions made by the white rightwing/conservative and neoliberal elected officials that take advantage of our disillusionment and voter suppression tactics to stay in office. We know that greed and abuse of power, the ability of some to harm the majority of us for the sake of consolidating their wealth and power, is a clear and present danger. We know that much of this reality exists because liberals, progressives, and left forces in this country only see the need to center the Black South when the camera is in their hands, pointed at us as the problem or a convenient geography to amplify as its convenient for them.

But theres good news to this story, too: the Southern Freedom Movement is alive and well. Communities have been fighting for healthcare for all and to fully fund medical facilities across our region. Mutual aid and community defense are old practices here. Our abilities to practice social solidarity despite the realities of the political present exist because of our strong relationships and commitments to collective liberation. Southern grassroots organizations are continuing to step up to the plate to meet the needs of our communities. The Southern Movement Assembly has trained and is continuing to train hundreds of folks in preparation for the Southern Spring90 days of actions to resist what harms us and build what weve always deserved.

Organizations like Black Voters Matter and Crescent City Media Group are fighting voter suppression, getting folks educated and to the polls, and making sure our people get counted in the census. Southern members of The Movement for Black Lives are raising demands to ensure that our people are taken care of and given what they need and deserved to survive this moment and thrive in our homeplaces. Organizations like the Gulf Coast Center for Law and Policy and the National Black Food Justice Alliance are ensuring that our people are protected during moments of manmade climate disasters and that the people who steward and grow our food are organized and taken care of.

Organizations like Women Watch Afrika are ensuring that the voices of immigrants and refugees are centered and that all forms of discrimination against women are dismantled. Organizations like SisterSong are fighting to ensure that our ability to exercise our human right to reproductive justice and bodily autonomy arent thwarted by state interventions. Organizations like Law for Black Lives, the Movement Law Lab, and Law at the Margins are working to prepare the next generation of movement lawyers that will serve and protect social movements and grassroots communities.

Organizations like The Highlander Research & Education Center is show up for social movements as it has since 1932, bringing people together across difference to learn together, share culture, and to take their new knowledge and do something with it to build a better world through the creation of virtual gatherings similar to what happens on the 186 acre space.

So, will the South be disproportionately impacted by this virus? Very likely. But there is hope, abundantly. The even better question is: will you be a part of the solution? Will you amplify the voices of the Southern Freedom Movement, and be intentional about pointing the camera youre holding toward Southern solutions?

Because, indeed, as goes the South, so goes the nation isnt an opinion; its a fundamental fact.

*****

Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson is a 34 year old, Affrilachian (Black Appalachian), working class woman, born and raised in Southeast Tennessee. Ash-Lee is the first black woman Executive Director of the Highlander Research & Education Center, a social justice leadership training school and cultural center founded in 1932. Ash-Lee is a long-time activist working against environmental racism in central and southern Appalachia, and has fought for workers rights, racial justice, women and LGBTQUIA+ rights, reproductive justice, international human rights, and led-intergenerational social movements across the South. She serves on the governance council of the Southern Movement Assembly and is a nationally recognized leader in the Movement for Black Lives.

*****

ESSENCE is committed to bringing our audience the latest facts about COVID-19 (coronavirus). Our content team is closely monitoring the developing details surrounding the virus via official sources and health care experts, including the World Health Organization (WHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). Please continue to refreshESSENCEs informational hub for updates on COVID-19, as well as for tips on taking care of yourselves, your families and your communities.

Original post:

On Being Black, Southern, And Rural In The Time Of COVID-19 - Essence

The spread of the Chinesecoronavirus will strain Americas health care system to the breaking point.Primary care physicians already are overbooked, medical products are in shortsupply, and those who become symptomatic are afraid to visit clinics for fearof putting other, more vulnerable patients at risk.

Fortunately, many of ourconversations on Capitol Hill have turned toward boosting telehealth servicesas a way of easing the burden on health care providers. Various experts andpolicymakers finally have realized that the benefits of telehealth transcendconvenience.

The first time that members of the U.S. Senate met with Trump administration officials to discuss coronavirus response, I asked officials with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to push for temporary relief of regulations preventing Medicare patients from taking advantage of telehealth services.

President Donald Trump lastweek gave the green light for CMS to lift those regulations. Now its time forstate Medicaid officials and private insurers to get on board.

All Americans, not just the medically complex or vulnerable patients, should have access to these services.

Coverage of our efforts toloosen these restrictions has made telemedicine feel like a novel concept. Butwe started building the foundation to support health care technology yearsbefore COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus, spread beyondChinas borders.

Asrecently as 2015, the same level of regulatory scrutiny applied to medicaldevices controlled the Food and Drug Administrations approval ofhealth-focused apps and software packages. This false equivalency created aregulatory nightmare that discouraged innovators from bringing new products tomarket.

The only answer was toeliminate unnecessary red tape. In 2015, I introduced legislation that directedthe FDA to come up with a more efficient way of approving health care softwarethat wouldnt discourage innovation.

Oncemy bill, the SOFTWARE Act, was integrated into legislation called the 21st CenturyCures Act, its provisions made it possible for regulators and the privatesector to work together and give us todays popular health and fitness apps andvirtual appointment software.

Asour love of tech grew, so did our focus on health care innovation and buildinga strong network to support it. Efforts to create the high-speed internetconnections required by telehealth software, including my Internet ExchangeAct, are targeted directly at communities that were left behind by previousefforts to roll out broadband.

Thiscontinued focus on underserved communities was an intentional effort toshowcase how innovation and lighter regulation can work together to help entirecommunities.

Lastyear, as part of my rural health agenda, I introduced the Telehealth AcrossState Lines Act to guide creation of uniform, national best practices for theprovision of telemedicine across state lines, set up a grant program to expandexisting telehealth programs, and incentivize permanent adoption of telehealthby Medicare and Medicaid.

Thesepolicies, though focused on rural America, can be adapted to encourage the useof telemedicine in all communities, and we must implement them as part of ourefforts to combat COVID-19.

Technology that can spare people from the threat of community spread should not be seen as a luxury. It is a necessary tool that we must use as often as we can if we want to flatten the curve and eventually suppress transmission of COVID-19 in the United States.

Although adopting telehealthservices originally might have been seen as a convenience, now it is anecessary path to making access to health care safer for vulnerablepopulations.

Read more:

Nurturing and Improving Telehealth in the Time of Coronavirus - Daily Signal

The coronavirus has taken our country by surprise. We were not prepared and equipped to deal with the amount of testing that is needed. If the threat were not dismissed months ago, so much time would not have been lost understanding the problem and setting up systems to address it. Having a vaccine remains a work in progress, and the supply chain to provide preventative care is fragile. This pandemic has disrupted our daily routines, societal problems have intensified, and some are profiting off people's fears. This crisis will pass and the aftermath should not shift our behaviors like the Department of Homeland Security has and how airport security has changed over the past 20 years.

Despite this not being an intentional attack on our nation and countries around the world, a vulnerability has been exposed and we cannot afford for it to be exploited. We've seen what happens when that is done. As we say in the military, the enemy has a vote. It will take true national leadership, decisive action, shared resources, and collaboration to ensure our enemies don't act to exploit this situation with an intentional act.

I'm not paranoid, this is not a conspiracy theory, and this is not a partisan topic. It doesn't take perfect vision to see that the initial response to this situation was slow and insufficient. After the market took a sharp decline, massive cancellations, pictures of Americans stuck on cruise ships, and action from Democratic and Republican governors took place, only then is when this administration attempted to provide a clear message, allowed health care experts to speak, and worked with House leaders to pass legislation.

An unclear strategy to coordinate efforts, speed up responses, and be proactive to prepare for and prevent any global or national health pandemic is unacceptable. An office to do just that was actually created under the National Security Council after the 2014 Ebola outbreak. Our enemies are always plotting against us, and our allies always rely on us. It comes with being a superpower and having a democracy. We cannot afford to lose confidence in our government, and our elected leaders must act swiftly and responsibly during a crisis. When bad management is mistaken for good leadership, it exacerbates other vulnerabilities.

Even without the corvonvirus, regular needs are not being met. Too many children are without balanced meals on the weekends, during the summer, and holiday seasons. The racial wealth gap remains wider than the Mississippi River. Lack of broadband infrastructure hinders rural communities from being connected to the world. Seniors still fall into the health care donut hole. A segment of small business owners are still less than one season away from losing their business. In this economy, the middle class is often considered to be working poor. For most people, working from home is not feasible. Those who rely on tips and make minimum wage struggle to make ends meet. When you factor in COVID-19, even more people are overstretched, the hardship is deepened, and the recovery will be longer.

This is not about protecting our borders, cutting taxes, less government, another bailout, or providing every American with $1,000 checks. This is about using the instruments of power and our collective sensibility to prevent our critical vulnerabilities from being exploited. If we don't, we'll find ourselves worse off than before.

The coronavirus wasn't preventable, but it was predictable. We must acknowledge what went wrong, what should have happened, and implement the corrective actions immediately. Too much is at stake if we don't get this right to prevent another pandemic and further burden those that have to sacrifice the most.

Clay Middleton, of Charleston, has held various senior-level positions in government and politics.

Continued here:

Middleton: Our leaders must learn from this outbreak, and we should expect more - Charleston City Paper

As our community demographics are shifting, what are companies doing to keep up with the change and to better serve their customers with a workforce reflective of the communities they serve? In an industry lacking diversity, we need to do something different with our past employment processes, if we are wanting a more inclusive outcome.

At Veterans United, we identified the gap of our diverse borrower population and the candidate pipeline in the financial industry. We strategized and created a customized opportunity for students of color and student veterans to immerse themselves in the mortgage industry, our home office community in Columbia, Mo., and the values of the organization: Be passionate and have fun; Deliver results with integrity; and Enhance lives every day.

What we describe as a backwards means of recruitment, meaning instead of hiring students for open internships, we identify students before we identify the positions to place them in. At our headquartered location in Columbia, we have every component of a business needed for a company to function. This includes accounting, technology, operations, sales, human resources, marketing, etc. Through our internships, we are able to provide real work experience, with an opportunity for full-time employment upon graduation. Placement of interns is based off their education, experience, interests and aptitude.

To limit opportunities for individuals to enter your company based off their work history, companies unintentionally end up perpetuating the hiring practices and demographics of other organizations in their industry. These hiring practices include carrying over these companies biases. Just as natural as your current practices are, the more difficult it is and the more intentional you have to be to create change. Dont continue allowing other organizations in our industry to dictate the diversity at your company. Change the system in which you operate, and impact the trajectory of students you bring onboard.

To further add to their growth, interns participate in leadership development trainings specific to professionals of color (Hot Button Issues, Cultural Competence, Communication & Code Switching, etc.) and are provided real work experience and a better understanding of how they can fit into the financial industry, and our values driven company as well.

In any program created for underrepresented populations, there are many considerations that have to be addressed:

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The Immersion Internship Program: Veterans United Home Loans Looks to the Future of a Diverse American Workforce - National Mortgage Professional...