Category Archives: New Utopia

By Kate Douglas

Crowds fill a park in Essen, Germany, at a summer music festival in 2013

Jochen Tack/Alamy

FROM the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to the orange gardens of Seville, urban planners down the ages have taken inspiration from nature. And those of us living in the concrete and brick jungle have perhaps never appreciated scraps of green space more than during the covid-19 pandemic. During lockdowns, city dwellers across the world have found parks and gardens where they exist an unexpected source of calm and joy.

That comes as no surprise to the growing number of psychologists and ecologists studying the effects of nature on peoples mental health and well-being. The links they are uncovering are complex, and not yet fully understood. But even as the pandemic has highlighted them, it has also exposed that, in an increasingly urbanised world, our access to nature is dwindling and often the most socio-economically deprived people face the biggest barriers. Amid talk about building back better, there is an obvious win-win-win here. Understand how to green the worlds urban spaces the right way and it can boost human well-being, help redress social inequality and be a boon for the biodiversity we all depend on.

Advertisement

On evolutionary timescales, urban living is a new invention. Our species has existed for at least 300,000 years, but the oldest cities are only some 6000 years old. Only recently little more than a decade ago, according to figures from the UN Population Division have we become a majority-urban species. Now the number of us living in cities is booming like never before. By 2050, projections suggest almost 70 per cent of us will be urban dwellers (see Urban latecomers).

Our late arrival into cities might help explain our affinity with nature and green spaces. In 1984, biologist Edward O. Wilson made this connection explicit with his biophilia hypothesis. His idea was that the environment in which humans evolved has shaped our brain, priming it to respond positively to cues that would have enhanced survival for our ancestors, such as trees, savannah, lakes and waterways. This, Wilson argued, is why being in nature makes us feel good.

Whether that is the reason or not, the past few years have seen an explosion of research finding concrete links between increased exposure to nature and not just improved physical health, but better mental health, too. Mental health issues are estimated to account for as much as a third of all years lived with disability, and account for around 13 per cent of disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) lost, similar to the toll of cardiovascular disease and circulatory disorders.

Getty Images

The evidence of positive effects from nature includes studies on specific psychological conditions such as depression, anxiety and mood disorder. Access to nature has also been found to improve sleep and reduce stress, increase happiness and reduce negative emotions, promote positive social interactions and even help generate a sense of meaning to life. Being in green environments boosts various aspects of thinking, including attention, memory and creativity, in people both with and without depression. The evidence is very solid, says psychologist Marc Berman at the University of Chicago.

Complications in comparing studies and saying exactly whats good for whom makes it hard to distil the effects into an individual prescription (see How much nature do I need?). In the UKs remote Shetland Islands, however, they are doing just that: since 2018, doctors there have been able to prescribe nature-based activities such as birdwatching and beach walks to treat mental health conditions and stress, as well as physical conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. They arent alone, either: a review in 2019 identified 28 nature-based interventions used in various countries to improve health and well-being, from organised gardening programmes to forest bathing.

If we are to maximise the benefits of nature for the worlds legion of nature-deprived city dwellers, we need to know exactly how they work. Here, too, there appears to be no simple answer.

Urban vegetation can benefit peoples physical health by absorbing harmful airborne particulates and other pollutants produced by fossil fuel-powered transport and industry. It may improve mental health in this way as well. Evidence is emerging that exposure to these pollutants can damage the central nervous system and is linked with certain mental health conditions such as depression. Urban vegetation also helps mitigate noise pollution, which causes stress and sleep disturbance.

Another possibility is that the mental health effect is mediated via physical health: urban residents living near green spaces simply take more exercise, which in turn improves their mental health. But most research suggests otherwise. In many cultures, visiting green spaces is less associated with physical exercise than with sedentary social activities, such as picnicking. That could be a source of natures benefits in its own right: socialising can reduce loneliness, anxiety and depression. Certainly, being part of a supportive community is good for mental health and research shows that attractive public spaces are a catalyst for building cohesive neighbourhoods.

Intriguingly, some well-being effects do seem to be entirely psychological. Just this year, researchers in Switzerland found that simply having a view of nature from your home can reduce your perception of noise and the closer the green space, the bigger the effect. Attention restoration theory is the name given to one hypothesis that attempts to explain such effects. It says that everyday focused thinking is cognitively draining, with negative consequences for mood, and that the wide range of stimuli intrinsic to nature provide a restorative sensory environment that alleviates this attention fatigue.

Some of the well-being effects of nature seem to be entirely psychological

But that is as yet educated guesswork. Theres a lot going on. We have to be creative with our studies to try to isolate the different mechanisms, says Berman.

And it is only half the story. Besides mental health benefits, we know that healthy natural spaces provide us with a whole range of essential ecosystem services for free, from clean air and water to nutrient recycling, flood defence and pollination. Ideally, in designing or reconfiguring urban environments, we should aim to maximise the benefits for biodiversity too. How do we do that?

That is always going to be a trade-off because cities occupy land that could be wild, says ecologist Karl Evans at the University of Sheffield, UK. Urbanisation is a major and increasing cause of global extinction risk, he says. Whats more, we have a limited understanding of urban ecology upon which conservation-minded planners can draw. In 2017, Evans and his colleagues highlighted some fundamental questions yet to be resolved. These include how large, connected and diverse urban green spaces must be to promote biodiversity. Many animal species need access to different types of habitat to thrive. Its not just about the amount, its about the quality of those spaces, says Evans.

He points out that about half the green space in urban environments in the UK is just closely mown grass, a pattern repeated in many Western cities. You could convert this to meadows or plant more trees, he says. In a study of urban meadows in the south of England, his team found that people responded more positively to the more-biodiverse meadows than to mown grassland. Similarly, a recent study led by landscape architect Anna Jorgensen, also at the University of Sheffield, concludes that what urbanites, at least in the UK, most value in their encounters with nature is variety.

We still dont know whether increased biodiversity equates to increased mental health benefits for urban dwellers. But incomplete as these findings are, they nevertheless make a strong case for greening cities. People think of nature as being an amenity, not a necessity, says Berman. But we all need it and we need to take it very seriously. Environmental engineer Anu Ramaswami at Princeton University agrees. She says green public spaces are one of seven key provisioning systems in cities, along with shelter, water, food, energy, connectivity and sanitation. I think they are exactly on par, she says. People need green spaces.

This is something that enlightened urban planning has long taken to heart, from the UKs Garden City movement at the turn of the 20th century to the recently announced plan to turn Pariss Champs-lyses, currently a busy thoroughfare, into a green oasis. Our evolving understanding of natures broad health benefits, plus our ongoing pandemic experience, is a wake-up call to apply that lesson more widely.

The pandemic has shown that we dont have enough [access to nature], says Berman. That is especially true for people in more deprived socio-economic groups. Access to green infrastructure is very income-based, says Ramaswami. A recent survey by Natural England, for example, found that children from low-income families spent less time outside in green spaces during the pandemic than children from higher-income families.

Meanwhile, a study by Berman and his colleagues in Toronto, Canada, found that adding just 10 trees to a city block has a huge impact on peoples perceptions of their health and well-being, equivalent to the effect of earning $10,000 more per household. If urban greening were an investment priority, it neednt take much to have a big impact, with the most disadvantaged benefiting the most.

Even minimal green spaces, such as under this overpass in Osakoko, Japan, boost our mental well-being

Nick Hannes/Panos Pictures

So, what does an ideal green city of tomorrow look like? I would think of compact, walkable cities, says Ramaswami. You want four or five-storey buildings in a liveable fabric. Thats the base. Then you include green spaces that are accessible and equitable. Berman says it is important to make green spaces multipurpose so they meet a variety of needs. He also favours incorporating more natural elements into the built environment, such as green roofs, and even designing buildings that mimic patterns found in nature such as curves and fractals. Research using eye-trackers indicates that people are drawn to such shapes, and Berman thinks there is something about the way our brains process the aesthetic of nature that is comforting.

Advocating for nature itself, Evanss utopia is quite similar, emphasising building compactly to minimise the amount of land taken by cities. A model green city for me would be one that was relatively densely packed, he says. But the green space within it would be highly connected and extremely high quality and, crucially, highly accessible to all sectors of society.

Realising such visions wont be easy. Evans says it is incredibly hard to retrofit existing cities to match his ideal, and he doubts that new urban areas will be built with such a brief in mind. I dont think biodiversity conservation needs are given high enough priority to make that a realistic prospect, he says.

But Ramaswami is more optimistic. She notes that the trend for urban greening has already begun, pointing to some inspiring examples in the US, including the Million Trees Los Angeles initiative and an ambitious greening programme in New York.

People use green spaces for physical and social activity, here tai chi in Taiwan

mixetto/Getty Images

This isnt just a richer-world phenomenon, either. Most urban growth in the next decades will occur in lower-income nations. The Milan Urban Food Policy Pact, which aims to increase urban gardening around the world, has 211 cities signed up, many in Africa, South America and South-East Asia. Chinas Ministry of Ecology and Environment, established in 2018, has made fighting pollution one of its three critical battles, spurring the building of parks, green spaces and wildlife corridors in many cities. Admittedly, lower-income countries face many challenges in building greener cities, but they can learn from the mistakes already made in older-growth cities in the West, says Ramaswami. Theres a lot of opportunity for sustainability in developing cities, she says.

Some researchers are thinking of new ways to get policy-makers across the world to value nature more. Biologist Gretchen Daily at Stanford University in California pioneered the concept of ecosystem services as a way of evaluating the benefits nature provides and factoring these values into economic decision-making. In conjunction with Berman and others, she published a paper in 2019 outlining how this approach could be used to put a price on the mental health benefits of nature in cities. The intense pressure on urban land means we need to invest strategically, she says. Daily has founded the Natural Capital Project, which offers free science-based computer programs to guide such investments. Software modules on health are being tested now for release in the first half of 2021, she says.

How we plan cities now will affect the well-being of billions in the future

But it will take more than policy-makers to push urban greening up the agenda. We need a grassroots movement, says Berman. Community involvement ensures that different cultural and local needs are met, says Ramaswami. You want the imagination of those people in those communities to think of their own vision.

geogif/Getty Images/iStockphoto

In some parts of the world, that is already happening: the economically disadvantaged favelas of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, for example, are home to a burgeoning forestation movement. A common problem, however, is that people dont know about the benefits of nature, says Berman. Scientists need to work a bit harder to get out of the ivory tower, to get their message across, he says. Its important to talk to communities. Its not going to work to be paternalistic.

And it isnt just about knowledge: people need to also experience the effect that urban green spaces have on their sense of well-being. If we can do interventions where we can encourage people to try it, then I think they will buy in, says Berman.

That is why the pandemic could be such a powerful force for change. Our planning today and into the future will affect the well-being of billions of people, says Daily. And if we can build back greener, that will create a virtuous circle. Recent studies from both China and England find that feeling more connected with nature makes people more likely to adopt positive environmental behaviours. If so, then greener cities wont just improve the mental health of their residents, but also focus our minds on the needs of nature beyond our urban jungles.

When it comes to pinning down the link between well-being and access to nature, there are big confounding factors. To begin with, what is psychological well-being? The World Health Organization defines mental health as a state of well-being in which an individual realizes his or her own abilities, can cope with the normal stresses of life, can work productively and is able to make a contribution to his or her community. That is hard to quantify.

Then there is the question of what access to nature means. Some studies measure passive access, or how much green space is available in someones local area. Others look at active access, which is the actual exposure a person gets to green space. That makes it difficult to compare results and build a coherent picture.

A few researchers have tried to assess what the appropriate dose of nature might be. A 2019 study involving almost 20,000 participants in England concluded that at least 120 minutes a week of recreational nature contact was associated with good health or well-being. The team, led by Mathew White at the University of Exeter, UK, found that the effect peaks at between 200 and 300 minutes a week, with people reporting no further gain after that.

What exactly this means for you or any individual is unclear. As other studies indicate, the mental health benefits a person gets from access to nature are likely to be influenced by myriad factors, including age, gender, personality traits, personal preferences and socio-economic status. Your culture matters too and, so far, most research into the well-being effects of nature has been done in Western societies.

This feature is the fourth in our Rescue Plan for Nature series produced in association with the United Nations Environment Programme and UNEP partner agency GRID-Arendal. New Scientist retains full editorial control over, and responsibility for, the content. The fifth and final part of the series, on 10 April, will look at the links between climate change and biodiversity loss.

More on these topics:

The rest is here:

Green spaces aren't just for nature they boost our mental health too - New Scientist

When it debuted in 2003, you'd be forgiven for assuming the superhero comic series Invincible was yet another in a slew of playful but similar riffs on the superhero genre that filled comic store shelves at the time, peopled as it was with analogues of various well-established characters. There was a team of heroes called the Guardians of the Globe who looked, if you squinted, an awful lot like the Justice League. There was an all-powerful hero from another planet called Omni-Man who read as a straight-up Superman stand-in (though he'd swapped out Kal-El's signature spit-curl for a bushy mustache). And there was a group of super-powered, perpetually squabbling adolescent heroes clearly modeled on the Teen Titans.

The look of the series, provided in turns by artists Cory Walker and Ryan Ottley, was classic superhero clean lines, bright colors, and friendly, inviting, and in some cases downright cartoony character designs. It set out to tell the tale of young Mark, the half-human son of Omni-Man, who was waiting for his powers to kick in so he could follow in his father's superboot-steps. Mark was only the latest in a long line of fledgling superheroes in the Peter Parker mode: a nerd unsure of himself, his powers and his social status which is to say: it all felt familiar, old school, nostalgic.

But it soon became clear that there was more going on in the pages of the comic than playful, whimsical pastiche. The writer was Robert Kirkman, who would go on to show, in the pages of The Walking Dead, a gift for getting the reader to care about his characters, only to dispatch them in horrific, gore-flecked ways. Again and again, he ripped your heart out by having characters get their hearts ripped out, or their brains smashed in, or their limbs gnawed off, or all of the above, simultaneously. He didn't hold back.

In The Walking Dead, a zombie comic featuring grimy, gritty black-and-white art by Tony Moore, Charlie Adlard and others, all that gruesome blood and guts seemed simply part of the book's grim visual landscape. The presence of grisly, graphic violence in such an otherwise hopeful, breezy and frequently funny superhero comic, however, was striking, and unusual.

That was back in 2003. For the next 15 years, Kirkman and his artists built a vast superheroic universe around Invincible, his friends and his family. The series was dense with plot twists, sudden reveals and teenage, soap-operatic emotion, but it never shied from depicting the violent, real-world ramifications of superhero physics. The resulting perpetual tonal whiplash couldn't help but cause the quality of the series to vacillate wildly, as Invincible's youthful delight in discovering his powers gave way to his struggling with the weight of responsibility on his shoulders.

The new Amazon animated series based on the comic tells much the same story the comic set out to tell back in 2003. But the intervening years have seen countless superhero stories clamoring for our attention, across all media; the landscape has changed. Consider: At its core, Invincible's basic narrative formula (superpowers + grisly violence) has been gleefully adopted by The Boys, a live-action show on the very same streaming service, which was also based on a comic book.

The good news: Invincible is more than its formula, and its approach is vastly different. Where The Boys comes from a place of smirking, sadistic, let's-see-what-we-can-get-away-with adolescent nihilism, Invincible seems sincerely committed to building emotional connections between its characters. It is greatly aided in this endeavor by an outstanding cast of voice actors who find the humor and pathos amid the over-the-top action, led by Steven Yeun as Mark, Sandra Oh as Mark's mother Debbie, and J.K. Simmons as his father, Omni-Man.

There's more where they came from many more: Zachary Quinto, Gillian Jacobs, Zazie Beetz, Walton Goggins, Andrew Rannells, Jason Mantzoukis, Mahershala Ali, Mae Whitman, Djimon Hounsou, Sonequa Martin-Green, Nicole Byer, Jon Hamm, Seth Rogen, Jonathan Groff, voice-acting all-stars like Clancy Brown and Kevin Michael Richardson and, somehow inevitably, Reginald VelJohnson.

Some of the series' devices now seem less fresh than they did in 2003 (a bit about using a special tailor to devise super-outfits, for example, has since become well-trodden ground), but the show combats this by devoting serious screen time to building out the dynamics between its characters in ways big and small.

The comic's grisly violence is made all the more stark and shocking when animated, as it is here. But it's not depicted with the cynical, repellent glee it is on shows like The Boys, Preacher and Utopia -- oh, it's harrowing, yes, but it's not played for laughs, which turns out to be hugely important. But if the gobbets of animated flesh flying around on an animated show like Harley Quinn turns you off, know that Invincible ratchets it up even higher.

Amazon made only the first three episodes, which drop together on Friday, March 26th, available to press. The other five episodes of this (first?) season will be parceled out over the next five weeks. There's every chance that the series will trade the emotional heart it displays in these first episodes for more literal ones, strewn across the floor and smeared across the walls; it's attempting to thread a very difficult tonal needle, after all. But the voice cast is certainly up for it, and there's 144 hugely imaginative issues (plus spin-offs) of the original comic for the writers to pull from. I'll be watching, even if, every so often, through my fingers.

Excerpt from:

'Invincible' Is Packed With Pulpy, Visceral Thrills And Lots Of Pulpy Viscera - Capital Public Radio News

Mar 26, 2021 11:43 AMET

Legal Newswire POWERED BY LAW.COM

Talentopia, aCambridge, Massachusetts-Based Remote Talent Company has merged with Impactian, an Extraordinary Talent on Demandplatform. EToDplatform first started to leverage cutting-edge technologies to provide the innovative 'Talent as a Service' hiring model to enterprises, startups or law firms. Effective immediately, Impactian'sEToD platform will be known as Talentopia. The merger shows Talentopia's growth, position, and most importantly, long-standing commitment to acquiring the best and the brightest talent in the world.

The merger is to run a new hiring and interview platform that companies can utilize to find their talented remote developers and professional writers. TheCambridge, Massachusetts-Based Talentopia will take advantage of the innovative EToDplatform's thorough vetting process to further grow an elite talent network of developers and writers. Employers who hired pre-vetted candidates would be sure to get the exact candidate they needed.

The new brand name, Talentopia,and its platform, Talentopia.com, will now focus on bothonline remote developer sphere andskilled legal and technology writers for various application domains. Similar to Impactian, Talentopia will work to gather the top 2% professionals of each field and match them with jobs and independent cases that best match their expertise and interests. Talentopia nowseeks to find hundreds of highly motivated and experienced writers who are interested in the following:

Candidates should be equipped with:

To optimize the recruitment process and identify the top-notch talents and to meet the future trend of remote jobs and gig economy transformation, Talentopia has consistently invested in innovative technologies to accelerate and optimize the recruiting process while retaining strong cloud-based vetting system. Despite the merger, the core value and culture of recruiting top talents will remain intact. Talentopia will continue to operate as a utopia for talents and empower them to grow their professional career.

Before joining Talentopia, interested writers will need to undergo two steps of challenging assessments. If you think you would like to be one ofthe extraordinary talents in the new Talentopia network, For more information on this role, please visit Talentopia's website via the following linkhttps://www.talentopia.com/technical-writer-jobs. Visithttps://hire.talentopia.comto apply now!

CONTACT:Talentopia, Inc.Public Relations Department1.617.315.4828[emailprotected]https://www.talentopia.com

URL : https://www.talentopia.com

Tags: Wire, Legal Newswire, United States, English

Go here to see the original:

Talentopia Announces Merger of Impactian and Aims to Recruit Top Remote Technology and Legal Writers - Law.com

TWO Cheshire towns have been named among the best places to lives in the North West of England.

Bollington and Knutsford appeared in the list of eight locations in the region chosen by The Sunday Times in the annual Sunday Times Best Places to Live guide.

Altrincham has been named the Best Place to Live in the North West.

The Sunday Timess expert judges behind the guide assess a wide range of factors, from schools, air quality, transport and broadband speeds to culture, green spaces and the health of the high street.

They look for improving towns, villages or city centres, for attractive, well designed homes and locations bursting with community spirit - which the pandemic has shown to be the most vital quality of all.

A detailed breakdown of house prices has been supplied by data specialists TwentyCi and information on internet speeds has been supplied by Thinkbroadband.com, the UKs leading independent guide to broadband.

The Sunday Times Best Places to Live 2021: Northwest of England

Winner: Altrincham, Cheshire

Arnside and Silverdale, Lancashire

Bollington, Cheshire

Kirkby Lonsdale, Cumbria

Knutsford, Cheshire

Liverpool

Manchester

Saddleworth, West Yorkshire

Helen Davies, The Times and Sunday Times property editor said: This guide has never been so important. The pandemic has taught us just how much we rely on our homes, our communities and our surroundings. With working from home now common, its no surprise that many of us are reassessing our priorities and thinking hard about where we really want to live.

Our focus for this year has been community, countryside and convenience. It hasnt been a year for big cities or small villages. Instead it is small towns that have shone: big enough to have everything you need within walking distance and small enough for everyone to feel connected.

Altrincham was named The Sunday Times Best Place to Live in Britain last year. It was chosen as our regional winner this year, as it has everything you want in a suburb: parks, excellent transport links and top-class schools.

The inspirational market and food hall that transformed the town centre from the worst in Britain to a favourite destination have continued to show their value, even during the pandemic.

* Altrincham :The judges described Alty as where suburbia meets utopia. They particularly admired the schools: the selective girls grammar was named the Northwest state secondary school of the decade by The Sunday Times Parent Power guide the boys grammar came second, the convenience of the tram route into central Manchester and open spaces such as Stamford Park, the River Bollin and the National Trusts Dunham Massey. Most of all, though, they were impressed with the market and food hall responsible for the inspiring regeneration of the town centre. They love Tender Cows triple-cooked chips (4) and the way that, even selling essentials only during lockdown, it has remained at the heart of life in the town.

Average sale price: 400,000

Average rental: 995 pcm

* Bollington: Cheshires happy valley kept a smile on its face thanks to an endless choice of country walks and helpful neighbours, said the judges. They love the views from White Nancy, the beehive-shaped folly overlooking the town, the walks on the Middlewood Way, and the spicy takeaways from the Indian Goat, a brilliant new food truck based at the immaculately kept recreation ground.

Average sale price: 285,000

Average rental: 725 pcm

* Knutsford Posh Cheshire with a sense of fun and a love of the countryside, is how the judges described the ancient market town that is a regular feature on the Best Places to Live list. Theres no better example of its spirit than the Knutsford Hosts, a group of volunteer helpers whose efforts have been vital during the pandemic, they said. They also liked the quirky buildings designed by Richard Harding Watt, the walks in Tatton Park, in Toft Wood or around Knutsford Moor - and the coffee from the Tatton Perk coffee van.

Average sale price: 445,000

Average rental: 1,100 pcm

Go online at: : https://www.thetimes.co.uk/best-places-to-live

Go here to see the original:

Two Cheshire towns named among the best places to live in the North West - The Chester Standard

On the Shelf

Libertie

By Kaitlyn GreenidgeAlgonquin: 336 pages, $27

If you buy books linked on our site, The Times may earn a commission from Bookshop.org, whose fees support independent bookstores.

Kaitlyn Greenidges explosive 2016 debut novel, We Love You, Charlie Freeman, approached American racism through the perspective of a Black family hired by a scientific institute to teach American Sign Language to a chimpanzee. In Libertie, Greenidge takes a more international approach. Her second novel is loosely based on the life of Susan Smith McKinney Steward, the first Black woman doctor in the state of New York. In Greenidges version of the story, Dr. Catherine Sampson has skin as light as her daughter Liberties is dark; the pair have plenty of other differences too. Cathy would have Libertie follow her path in medicine, while Libertie feels drawn to music.

From her early life in Brooklyn to her brief schooling in Ohio and on to married life in Haiti, Libertie seeks a way of life that will allow her to use her intellect and celebrate her femininity. Unfortunately, when she and her new husband arrive at his family home in Haitis Jacmel, she discovers that even a society without white slaveholders has layers of caste and privilege, none of which are to her advantage. Greenidges immersive story asks many questions, answers few and heralds a blossoming literary career.

Greenidge spoke with The Times via video from her screened back porch in New England, about colorism, Meghan and Harry, and the Song of Solomon, the WAP of the Bible.

We have to talk about Meghan Markle and your reactions to her recent interview with Oprah.

I love that Oprah brought every bit of herself to it, and I loved how unguarded Meghan and Harry were. But I dont think there was anything in there that a person of color would be surprised by. Oprah knows racism exists, but in asking Meghan and Harry to walk her through why things happened, she set things up to walk multiple viewers from multiple different experiences through Meghans words about her own experience.

You have a billion-dollar press corps dedicated to telling you: Your dysfunctional extended family is fine. You should be able to deal with it. What gets lost in there is the question of Archies skin color. Those questions happen all the time, for anyone who has had a biracial child. Those questions were happening at the same time as the questions about his future security. Thats not poetics. Thats not a metaphor. Thats Colonialism 101.

Like Harry and Meghan, Liberties 19th century protagonist refuses to follow anyone elses script.

Its a little heavy-handed, but I did love using the name Libertie. It allowed me to play with the idea: What does freedom actually look like? In the United States our understanding of freedom is often intricately tied with domination. We measure freedom with what we can get away with doing to people who have less power, whether that means I have the freedom to dictate my childs life or to take over lands that belong to Indigenous people, or I have the freedom to carry a gun as I please.

Libertie is a dark-skinned Black girl in Civil War and Reconstruction society. Shes at the bottom of all the power structures by race, gender, age and color. I set the book during Reconstruction because, as a lot of people have pointed out, that era mirrors our own. Its a time where Black people and abolitionists were coming up with definitions of freedom and personhood that had never been thought of in this country.

Because there were gaps, or even contradictions, in the work of the group known as the Founding Fathers.

Libertie, in her personal life, is trying to hold all these truths at once. That shes born into a country where people are fighting for freedom, but also into a time when Black people are making the argument that we have made over and over again for generations. Some people argue that if Black people had a space of our own, an all-Black country, all these issues would be solved. Libertie attempts to find that when she moves to Haiti and learns that the oppression has not disappeared in that country. Instead, its changed, due to a different power dynamic.

Its also a utopia that doesnt work out. Her husband, Emmanuel, tries to lead Haiti into a new era, but quickly loses control.

Right, and also when you try to name the main perpetrator of the oppression, you can lose sight of the internalized oppression that goes with it. Oftentimes people think we will keep the power structure, well just get rid of the person at the top. To do the hard work of re-imagining what an equitable structure would look like can be something we think we dont have time to do. So lets just lop off the head and everything else will figure itself out.

I think that is what were experiencing right now. Some people are saying we can imagine something better. Other people are saying, No, this structure we have is all I can imagine, so it must be good enough.

Libertie finally realizes what she has to do, not just for herself but for her children.

My daughter was born while I was writing this book. I found out I was pregnant on the day I finished the first draft. I handed in the second draft and went into the hospital six hours later. But when I was drafting, I hadnt yet had children. In literary novels, motherhood is often this really depressed and contested place. It can be that, there is drudgery in parenting, but I also know women who are both artists and mothers and find motherhood creative and generative. I wanted to explore that alternative version of motherhood, in which youre not necessarily confined to the dust heap of history once you give birth.

How else is Libertie different from Charlie Freeman?

This book challenged me to write about things with, I guess, a certain gentleness and reverence a little bit different tone than my first novel, which had a more ironic and detached tone. That was a real challenge for me because I find it easiest to write in the ironic voice.

One of the things that cracked it open for me was, when I got to the romantic relationship, I started to read the biblical Song of Solomon. One of my wonderful poet friends is currently working on a translation of it, and she gave me insight into how much of that part of Scripture is about womens bodies and womens pleasures, and its about colorism as well. Its about a dark-skinned woman talking about her sexual desires. Its basically the WAP of the Bible.

A Black writer depicting a Black character has be writing about race, but to me this book seemed to transcend it. Theres no white gaze.

The intellectual and philosophical challenge for me was to write a book set in the 19th century without any major white characters in it. Of course, whiteness is going to be on the periphery for these characters. How are they going to talk about the world that they live in and how they move through that world? This book is about Blackness, and freedom, and where they intersect. Even in an incredibly repressive white supremacist society like 1860s New York state, people are still going to attempt to make a way of life for themselves.

Thats the beauty of Reconstruction-era America. There was intense, racialized violence but also an incredible flowering of Black communities and culture. When you think about people two and three years out of enslavement founding colleges and hospitals and more, its mind-boggling. The spirit I wanted to explore in Libertie is that a person in a limited environment can still make a deep, strange, wonderful world for herself, a world that is not really in conversation with an oppressive structure that thinks it knows everything about her.

Patrick is a freelance critic who tweets @TheBookMaven.

Continued here:

Kaitlyn Greenidge: Song of Solomon is "WAP" of the Bible' - Los Angeles Times

Its half past six on a Wednesday. A family of five places plates on a table, grabbing cups, silverware and helpings of shepherds pie. It smells like home, and it looks like any other family eating any other meal in any other place in the United States. Its not. At the end of the table, the familys middle child, Lavinia Tyagi 23, has become a champion. Her older sister laughs and checks the youngers 14th win in the GamePigeon mobile game Anagrams. Tyagi sends a kissy Bitmoji, promising her grandmother that shell go easy on her when they play after dinner. 3000 miles away, US Senator Elizabeth Warren puts down her phone with a laugh.

Tyagi said she is grateful for her close relationship with her Gammy, and that her public role as a political figure never hindered her ability to be a loving grandmother. In fact, Warrens work as a Senator has led her grandchildren to stay up to date on news.

With the help of my grandmas immersion in politics, my political evolution was able to begin at a fairly informed starting point from a young age, Tyagi said. I was grateful to be able to involve myself in political happenings and witness discussions up close because it taught me how difficult it is to implement substantial change.

Tyagi has introduced her grandmother at town halls, attended presidential debates and has spoken to national and local news outlets before. Warren makes a great teacher and grandmother, but Tyagi said that she hopes young people, regardless of their political connections, remain passionate about what they want to see in the world.

Just one individual in the Senate pushing and campaigning for programs and reform wasnt enough, which is painful to see as a kid, as I believed my grandmas strength to be an unstoppable force, she said. Despite some of these aspects of working in U.S. politics making her work difficult, she has always remained resilient, and I admire her for that.

Tyagi said her experience with both politics, her family and their intersection has been positive, akin to that of Marlborough School student Helena Hudlin 23. As the niece of Vice President Kamala Harris, Hudlin is a political and social activist in her community. She has introduced her aunt at rallies and attended the inauguration of President Joe Biden.

As you can imagine, I am so, so proud of my godmother, Hudlin said. Shes my MVP.

As the son of Dee Dee Myers, the first woman and second-youngest White House Press Secretary, Stephen Purdum 22 said that he feels pride on behalf of his family, despite politics having only played a causal role in his home. He said he gained gradual exposure from overheard conversations and breakfast table small talk. Myers served under Bill Clinton at age 31, hosted Equal Time on CNBC, won Celebrity Jeopardy and wrote The New York Times bestselling novel Why Women Should Rule the World in 2009. Her intellect, Purdum said, teaches him to analyze information critically and be more aware of the laws that form our society.

Having my parents be so involved in politics exposed me to political issues much earlier than I probably otherwise would have, Purdum said. Because it was just what was always talked about in my house, I learned a lot more than I would have left to my own devices. I think it made me consider political issues for most of my life. As a result of that, Ive always been interested in and concerned about politics, and far more politically active, and I think that does come as a direct result of my parents.

Both politics and family dynamics fall on a spectrum, and the point in which they meet is sometimes bound to be messy. Notre Dame High School student Lillie Bush 23 has become an expert at navigating these moments. She said that, like a delicious Thanksgiving meal, sometimes the best option is to appreciate whats good and ignore the political debates circling the table.

Every summer, her family of five travels to Walkers Point Estate in Maine. The Kennebunkport residence, otherwise known as the Bush Compound, boasts nine bedrooms, four sitting rooms and at least 10 different political viewpoints. Former President George H.W. Bushs six children have given her plenty of cousins with whom to roam the island. However, as a seasoned Lincoln-Douglas debater and self-proclaimed oversharer, Bush said she struggles to enjoy the New England utopia without a few flare ups.

I just remember a dinner at Kennebunkport watching my father and his brother talk about business, Bush said. I was in seventh grade and hadnt formed any big political opinions, but something about the way they were willing to put money over human rights felt wrong. I remember the line, we cant fix these things without the money to do so, and something just scared me about how that money was going to be made.

After that moment, Bush decided to reflect upon what felt so off about that interaction. Bush said she still loves and admires her family and that she would always be open to discussing differences in their beliefs.

I respect them, but theres so many things I cant talk about anymore, Bush said with a sigh. I was surprised to have lost a lot of respect from my family just from them knowing Im left-leaning. I told my dad I wanted to vote as a Democrat, and he threatened to disown me. When I started getting visibly upset, he said it was a joke. And honestly, I bet it was. I just still think that, especially as a kid, you shouldnt get threatened by your parents for having independent beliefs.

Two years later, Bush entered a varsity debate lesson for help formatting evidence for an upcoming tournament. She said that, upon entering the classroom, her goal of citations and sourcing was eclipsed by a much more intriguing aspect of the course: politics. Seniors in navy and khaki were bent over excerpts of The Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. A freshman looking to rise the ranks of high school debate, Bush read up on Marxism to prepare for what was to come.

I wanted to be ahead of the curve, Bush said. I knew wed have to read Karl Marx eventually, so I just ordered every book of his I could find. I was surprised. Everything he said just clicked with me.

Now a Marxist Anarcho-Communist, Bush still sets sail, swims and spends summer nights with her family under a Republican legacy. From her childhood to that night in the compound to now, Bush said she was able to learn about politics through three different phases: watching, listening and learning for herself.

In being surrounded by politics from a young age, I learned early-on that political ideology is everyones independent journey, Bush said. Family doesnt and shouldnt shape your stance. It is up to you and you alone to research and support what you believe.

Visit link:

Diplomacy at the dinner table The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle - The Harvard-Westlake Chronicle

Express News Service

BENGALURU:This week marks one year since the lockdown was first announced, and our lives changed forever. Going by recent history, whenever our benevolent Prime Minister asks us to assemble at 8 PM, it gives me the jitters. Over the years, we were informed about demonetisation, and attacks by Pakistan when our PM chose to address the nation at 8pm. But in March last year, we had a whiff of what was coming. We had heard of the virus, but for some reason, I assumed that it wouldnt affect India or Indians. I cant explain it succinctly, but I always thought viruses favoured the West, much like aliens in Hollywood movies. Until of course, the day we were informed about the lockdown.

This week marks one year of checking out the website worldometers on a daily basis, trying to make sense of statistics and numbers. A year since sanitisers and masks became a part of our daily lives. One year since WhatsApp groups began spewing venom and religious hatred. This week marks one year of assuming that it would all last for a month, and wed go back to living our lives normally.

In the beginning of the lockdown, I looked at it like an extended holiday for the entire world. It was a childhood fantasy coming true. When I was sent back to school after my summer vacations, I would secretly pray to God to cause an epidemic so that we could all be sent home. When this was finally materialising in front of me, I remember being joyous about not sticking to timelines and deadlines. I remember having to step out once in three days to buy groceries, taking me back to life in rural Odisha.

Two entire months of the previous year were dedicated to PUBG. For someone who never plays video games, the lockdown sucked me into the game. It reached a point where I was dreaming of campaigns of strategies in my sleep. While we were all stuck indoors, the game provided a release for me allowed me to scour through digital jungles to fight for survival. I am not one to boast, but I have a feeling if I kept at it, I could have attempted a career as a military advisor!

Its been a year since we all took paycuts, and took stock of what was important in our lives. One year since people walked to their homes, and their homes seemed like a distant utopia that couldnt be reached. One year since the way we look at the world has completely changed, and while the whole world turnedupside down the only constant in my life was thisnewspaper column.

For a year, I wrote about the pandemic in manydifferent ways. Of the columns over the last year, at least 30 must be about the pandemic in some way. Writing a humour column in the midst of a global pandemic made me realise that it is possible to find humour in the little things in life.Amidst all the ups and downs in my life over the last one year, it is this column that gave me a sense of continuum, a feeling of regularity. And for that, I am grateful. Now, if only adirector reads this column and decides to make a movie about my life!

More:

Looking back at the lockdown - The New Indian Express

__________________________

Notes

1. Kasper Says Will Run Human Relations Council Out Of Town, Charlottesville Daily Progress (hereinafter cited as CDP), 24 August 1956, 3. Kasper was head of the Seaboard White Citizens Council. There were four cross burnings in Charlottesville during 1956, Fourth Cross Burned On Charlottesville Lawn, The Washington Post and Times Herald (hereinafter cited as WP), 9 December 1956, B6.

2.Davis v. County School Board of Prince Edward County, Va., 103 F.Supp. 337 (1952); Richard Kluger, Simple Justice: The History of Brown v. Board of Education and Black Americas Struggle for Equality (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1976), 499-500.

3. For divisions among whites, see Dan Wakefield, Charlottesville Battle, Symbol of the Divided South, The Nation, 183 (15 September 1956), 210-213; Paul M. Gaston, Coming of Age in Utopia (Montgomery, AL: New South Books, 2010), 184-186. On the threats to Boyle and her allies, see Kathleen Murphy Dierenfield, One Desegregated Heart: Sarah Patton Boyle and the Crusade for Civil Rights in Virginia, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography 104(1996):251-284.

4. Benjamin Muse, Why Charlottesville Is a Racial Test-tube, WP, 22 July 1956, E1; Interview with George R. Ferguson, 4 December 1975, Charlottesville, VA; Interview with Oliver W. Hill, 5 October 1976, Richmond, VA; Interview with S.W. Tucker (quote), 19 September 1974, Richmond, VA .

5. Speech of J. Segar Gravatt of Blackstone, Virginia Before The Defenders of State Sovereignty and Individual Liberties, Charlottesville, Virginia, July 23, 1956, reprint in the Donald R. Richberg Papers, Manuscripts Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., Box 49 (quote); Mass Meeting Backs Proposal To Ignore Integration Orders, CDP, 24 July 1956, 1.

6. James H. Hershman Jr., A Rumbling in the Museum: The Opponents of Virginias Massive Resistance (Ph.D. dissertation, University of Virginia, 1978), 251-253; Wakefield, Charlottesville Battle, 212. Richmond editor James J. Kilpatrick added fuel to the fire, Alternatives in Charlottesville, Richmond News Leader (hereinafter cited as RNL), 8 August 1956, 12.

7. Tom Hawley, 22,288 Sign Petition Against Integration, RNL, 31 August 1956, 1; Text of Dardens Statement, WP, 2 September 1956, A14; Robert E. Baker, Va. U. President Testifies Against Stanley Plan, WP, 6 September 1956, 1.

8. Ferguson and Hill interviews (quote); Brief Case Believed Secret Hiding Place Of Tape Recorder, CDP, 17 May 1957, 1. E.J. Oglesby, at the time vice-chairman of the Albemarle County School Board, predicted Charlottesville schools will never be integrated, Charlottesville Official Vows No Integration, WP, 14 August 1957, A15.

9. Integration Set In Virginia Area, The New York Times (hereinafter cited as NYT), 13 May 1958, 1; Judge Paul Refuses Blanket Approval of City School Plan, CDP, 27 August 1958, 1. The sequence of actions is outlined in Dodson v. School Board of Charlottesville, 289 F. 2d 439 (1961), 441.

10. Andrew Lewis provides an excellent discussion of PCES and its role in his essay, Emergency Mothers: Basement Schools and the Preservation of Public Education in Charlottesville, in The Moderates Dilemma: Virginias Massive Resistance to School Desegregation, ed. Matthew D. Lassiter and Andrew B. Lewis (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1998), 72-103; Anthony Lewis, Private Classes Directed To Stop Using Virginia Aid, NYT, 9 October 1958, 1; Hershman, A Rumbling in the Museum, 308; a series of editorials and Letters to the Editor in the RNL offers perspective on the private school effort, Random Notes on Private Schools, 29 September 1958, 12, Purposes of Charlottesville School Groups Vary, 4 October 1958, 8, and An Answer in Private Schools, 10 October 1958, 10.

11. Lewis, Emergency Mothers, 88; Hershman, A Rumbling in the Museum, 305-6; Interview with Dr. James Bash, 15 April 1972, Charlottesville, Virginia. Susan McBees story, University Remote From School Furor, WP, 22 September 1958, B1, presents facts contradictory to the title. The article indicates the faculty was clearly affected by the school closings.

12.Charlottesville School Board v. Allen, 263 F.2d 295 (1959); James H. Hershman Jr., Massive Resistance Meets Its Match: The Emergence of a Pro-Public School Majority, in The Moderates Dilemma, ed. Matthew D. Lassiter and Andrew B. Lewis (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 1998), 118-119; Don Devore, Integration At Lane, Venable Carried Out Without Incident, CDP, 8 September 1959, 1; Lisa Provence, On Browns 50th: Why Charlottesvilles Schools were closed, The Hook, 8 April 2004.

13. Hershman, Massive Resistance Meets Its Match, 127-128; Ted McKown, When Is a Private School Public? Forum Argues Free Choice Plan, CDP, 20 February 1959, 17.

14. Robert E. Baker, Economic Peril Cited In Closing of Schools, WP, 11 December 1958, A17. See also, James H. Hershman, Jr.,James M. Buchanan, Segregation, and Virginias Massive Resistance, Institute for New Economic Thinking, 8 November 2020.

15. James M. Buchanan and G. Warren Nutter, The Economics of Universal Education, Report of the Thomas Jefferson Center for Studies in Political Economy, February 10, 1959, copy in Special Collections, University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, VA ; articles by Nutter and Buchanan in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: Different School Systems Are Reviewed, 12 April 1959, D3; Many Fallacies Surround the School Problem, 13 April 1959, 7. A proposal, the Wheatley Resolution, to remove constitutional protections for public education was introduced on 9 April and defeated on 20 April 1959, Robert E. Baker, States Control of Education Would Be Ended, WP, 10 April 1950, D1; Segregation Bill Loses In Virginia, NYT, 21 April 1959, 25.

16. Defenders Chief Heads Pupil Board, WP, 26 July 1960, B2; Bash interview. In 1963, the Albemarle County Board of Supervisors removed Oglesby as school board chairman in a policy dispute, Albemarle Reinstates 2 School Men, WP, 12 July 1963, A5.

17. Dean Sees Tuition Grants As A Necessary Expedient, CDP, 22 July 1959, 15; Interview with Ralph W. Cherry, 20 April 1972, Charlottesville, Virginia; CEF to Launch Fund Drive, Leon Dure is Chairman, CDP, 20 April 1960, 13; Gaston, Coming of Age, 187; Griffin v. State Board of Education, 256 F. Supp 1178 (1969).

18.Allen v. School Board of Charlottesville, 203 F. Supp. 225 (1961); Interview with S.W. Tucker. Mr. Tucker was the lead NAACP attorney in the cases after 1959. Brian J. Daugherity, Keep On Keeping On: The NAACP And The Implementation Of Brown v. Broad of Education in Virginia (Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2016), 105-146.

See original here:

UVA and the History of Race: The Era of Massive Resistance - University of Virginia

The Grammy stage is Americas Buckingham Palace, and the crowns belong to Prince Harry Styles and Queen Megan Thee Stallion. A small, elite group of royals draped in Dolce & Gabbana and Gucci celebrate, grieve, gossip and carouse in their annual kingdom. The scandal in the air is tangible. What were exes Taylor Swift and Harry Styles discussing during Doja Cats performance? Should John Mayer have attended, given his history of racist and sexist remarks? Why was Billie Eilish awarded Record of the Year over the more obvious choices? Americas eyes were glued to our royals: Beyonc, Bruno, Billie, Taylor, Doja, Harry, Megan, Dua, future princess Blue Ivy the list goes on. The show is an aesthetic feast of red carpets, flashy costumes and beautiful people, but behind the cameras and curtains looms a history of racism and sexism. Nevertheless, its the Grammys, musics most regal event, and fans across the world tuned in March 14, 2021 with excitement for a show that ostentatiously centered the Black Lives Matter movement alongside a healthy serving of feminist spectacle.

Despite the Recording Academys historic tendency to favor white men, this years ceremony was a groundbreaking night for women and artists of color, especially Black women. Beyonc casually earned her 28th Grammy, breaking bluegrass legend Alison Krauss record and becoming the most awarded female artist in Grammy history. And of course, Queen Beys daughter, Blue Ivy, became the second-youngest ever Grammy winner at nine years old for her writing contribution to Brown Skin Girl. KAYTRANADA became the first Black artist to win Best Dance/Electronic album for BUBBA, and Megan Thee Stallion took home three well-deserved Grammys for Best New Artist, Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song. H.E.R. was awarded Song of the Year for her Black Lives Matter anthem, I Cant Breathe, and Best R&B Song for Better Than I Imagined. And, unsurprisingly, Taylor Swift became the first woman to win Album of the Year three times.

The domination of female artists in both the rock and country categories, which are typically boys clubs, was a refreshing reversal. For Best Country Album, bands with female lead singers and female solo artists made up all five of the nominations. Notably, Mickey Guyton made history as the first Black woman to receive a nomination for Best Country Solo Performance for her moving ballad, Black Like Me. For Best Rock Performance, all six nominees were also women or bands with female lead singers. Were the Grammys trying to perform emergency surgery on their reputation and prove how woke they are? Its a possibility, but regardless of motive, its high time female artists were shown some recognition in these genres.

As snubs go, The Recording Academy avoided major controversy for the most part, which was a welcome change of pace from the usual programming. Fans were skeptical as to why The Weeknd, Halsey and Selena Gomez (all people of color) were absent from the list of nominees. However, only two of the awards given out during the show seemed suspicious; Best Pop Solo Performance went to Harry Styles for Watermelon Sugar, and Record of the Year went to Billie Eilish for Everything I Wanted. While Styles and Eilishs respective tracks are masterful pop ear candy, these categories were stacked with more deserving heavy-hitters. Dua Lipa should have earned Pop Solo Performance for Dont Start Now, given the songs astronomical performance on TikTok, streaming services and radio over the past year, not to mention its tremendous cultural impactLipa single handedly revived 80s disco and brought the club to everyones bedrooms. Taylor Swifts game-changing Cardigan would have also been a more suitable choice for this category.

Record of the Year belonged to either Dua Lipa or Megan Thee Stallion for Dont Start Now or Savage, respectively. No disrespect to Eillish, who is one of the most inventive artists in the pop scene; Everything I Wanted just wasnt the record of the year. When music fans think back on 2020, theyll think of their failed attempts to learn the TikTok dances for Dont Start Now and Savage. To Eilishs credit, her acceptance speech was endearing. This is really embarrassing for me, she laughed, Megan, girlI was gonna write a speech about how you deserve this but then I was like theres no way theyre gonna choose me. She was visibly shocked and uncomfortable as she continued: You are a queen. I wanna cry thinking about how much I love you. The moment was yet another notch in the cringey lets-give-the-award-to-the-white-person Grammy belt; viewers may recall Macklemore winning over Kendrick Lamar in 2014 and Adele beating out Beyonc in 2017.

A meaningful highlight of the show for women, and especially Black women, was when Megan Thee Stallion and Beyonc won an otherwise all-male category for Best Rap Song, and took the stage together for a warm and fuzzy acceptance speech. In her dazzling burnt orange gown, Megan stood momentarily speechless next to Beyonc, whose proud maternal energy radiated through the TV screen. Between joyful tears and overwhelmed laughter, Megan accepted the award: If you know me, you have to know that ever since I was little I was like, You know what? One day, Imma grow up and Imma be like, the rap BeyoncIm always likewhat would Beyonc do but make it a little ratchet. In real time, we witnessed a solidifying of Megans icon status, and the younger Black woman from Texas taking her place as Gen Zs very own rap Beyonc.

Taylor Swift, Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion were the leading ladies of music in 2020 and it showed in their performances. Swift sang a medley of Cardigan and August from Folklore as well as Willow from Evermore, the sister album to Folklore. She brought the otherworldly aesthetic of the twin albums to life, crooning from a small cottage in the midst of an eerie forest right out of Harry Potter. Dua Lipa also transported viewers to a far-off land: a dreamy, purple planet in the galaxy of Future Nostalgia. She opened with her massive hit Levitating in a magenta pink gown fit for a princess and finished off with the bop of the year Dont Start Now owning cutesy choreography like the bonafide pop supernova she is. Megan Thee Stallion put on a formidable spectacle, showcasing her chart-topping rapping while infusing elements of Broadway, the 50s, jazz and tap dancing. She opened with a snippet of Body off her latest album, Good News, before transitioning into TikTok hit, Savage, effortlessly conquering splits and complex choreography in an ethereal gold bodysuit.

Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion, HAIM, Mickey Guyton, Silk Sonic and Lil Baby also gave noteworthy performances. The unmatched WAP rap duo and iconic pop rock band of Jewish sisters behind The Steps brought some serious badass lady energy to the stage. Guyton performed an impassioned, Gospel-infused rendition of her nominated anthem, Black Like Me, shining a light on the barriers Black women face in country music and their everyday lives. Silk Sonic, the new R&B megastar duo of Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak, lived up to the hype as they sang their debut single, Leave The Door Open in matching russet colored 70s style suits. The two legends also smashed a tribute for Little Richard later in the show with .Paak on the drums and Mars belting out his signature vocal gymnastics into a vintage mic. Lil Baby made perhaps the most emphatic political statement of the night with a performance of his nominated single, The Bigger Picture, which included a choreographed re-enactment of the shooting of Rayshard Brooks. Evidently, the Wendys in Atlanta where Brooks was killed played a significant role in the rappers childhood. Lil Baby explained, I feel like Im serving my purposeto speak on stuff that I know people in my culture go through.

Overall, the performance lineup and major award categories of the 63rd Grammys helped to strategically fabricate an illusion that the glass ceiling has been broken and were on a high-speed rail to some kind of utopia. The Recording Academy made Megan Thee Stallion the main character of the show, repeatedly emphasized Beyoncs exciting new record and packed traditionally male-dominated categories with women. If you dont know much about the Grammys, you might buy into the seductive progressive fantasy. The truth? Over the last nine years, only 13 percent of Grammy nominees were women, and this years women-dominated event was comprised of an oh-so-generous 28 percent female nominees. Black artists are, to this day, confined to Black music categories and shut out from nominations and wins in the big four Grammys: Record Of The Year, Album Of The Year, Song Of The Year and Best New Artist.

The facade of inclusive recognition of marginalized groups is just that: a facade. Although there were faint signs of change and equity in the Grammys air this year, The Recording Academy still has work to do. I look forward to the day when artists who are gender and racial minorities are fully appreciated as masters of their craft, deserving of the highest honors in music. The day when the Grammys crown the musicians that women and people of color worship everyday in their headphones.

See the rest here:

The 'woke' 63rd Grammys in review The Miscellany News - Miscellany News

Reintroduced in the mini-series Hawkworld, the new Katar Hol was at once similar to but also quite different from the previous incarnation of Hawkman.

Like many characters in the DC Universe, Hawkman has undergone multiple changes over the course of the character's 80-year history. Initially, the concept was (relatively) simple: in the 1940s. archaeologist Carter Hall discovers he is the reincarnation of an Egyptian prince, uncovers a pair of gravity-defying wings and employs a stylized hawk mask and ancient weapons to fight crime. This version of the character was later replaced when editor Julius Schwartz reintroduced a number of previous DC characters (such as the Flash, the Atom, and Green Lantern) with newer, more science-fiction-themed heroes befitting the space-age 1950s.

The Silver Age Hawkman, alien police officer Katar Hol, would endure for many years as a mainstay of the Justice League, buteventually underwent sweeping changes in the wake of the seminal Crisis On Infinite Earths. Reintroduced in Tim Trumanprestige format mini-series Hawkworld, the new Katar Hol was at once similar to but also quite different from the previous incarnation of the interstellar lawman.

Related: Lucifer's Big Crisis on Infinite Earths Cameo PROVED There's a Force Mightier Than God

Hawkworld opens on a Thanagar that is decidedly different from the glittering science fiction utopia of the Silver Age Hawkman tales. In this reintroduction to Hawkman, Thanagar is the heart of an intergalactic empire comprised of multiple conquered worlds. On Thanagar, the landmasses aren't large enough to sustain both the human population and the aliens who serve at their beck and call. Instead, the cities have expanded upward, with the well-to-do Thanagarians wearing gravity-defying wings that allow them to fly amid their high towers and live a life of luxury.

Meanwhile, the conquered aliens live their lives in abject poverty, subject to the constant theft of vital food and medical supplies by criminals. Young Katar Hol joins the Thanagarian Wingmen as an idealist in love with his world's noble past but quickly wakes up to the harsh realities of life as an enforcer of policy in a corrupt, imperialist system. Betrayed by his superior officer Commander Byth, Hol is exiled and imprisoned for ten years before returning to the downside as a wingless outcast. Rebuilding his life, he discovers one of the few clean members of the Wingmen in the form of Shayera Thal. The two manage to take down Byth and stop a war between the downside and the towers. Dispatched to Earth in pursuit of Byth, the series concludes with the same basic premise as Hawkman's original Silver Age origin story.

Related: Death Metal Gives Hawkman a CRUCIAL Role in Saving the DCU

Like many revisionist superhero comics of the '80s, Hawkworld is very much a deconstructionist take on Katar Hol's origin. The shining spires of Silver Age Thanagar are still present, but the Thanagarians themselves are a people benefitting from exploitation, slavery and colonialism that places them firmly on top and the non-human aliens of their empire very firmly on the bottom. The Wingmen are not the shining heroes of the Silver Age, but a combination of a police force and occupying army, and the tensions between the classes are only exacerbated by the dealing of drugs for guns between parties in the downside and the towers. Katar himself is a man who is ground down by the system but eventually overcomes it through the aide of Shayera and his own driveto find Byth and take revenge. But for all his triumph and reinstatement to the Wingmen, the system still endures: the corruption and oppression is still there, unabated.

Katar Hol would eventually be folded into the story of Carter Hall himself when the two characters were retroactively determined to be incarnations of the same man, the Egyptian monarch Prince Khufu. He and his wife Chay-Ra were murdered by the evil Hath-Set and became trapped in a seemingly endless cycle of death and reincarnation. Much like most superheroes, who are continually rebooted and relaunched over and over to keep up with the times. Katar Hol and Hawkworld remain a vital part of Hawkman's backstory, and the tale itself is well told and very relevant to this day.

KEEP READING: Hawkman: DC Reveals How Long the Justice Society Hero Will Live

Iron Fist: Luke Cage's Team-Up With [SPOILER] Proves There's Hope For The Avengers & X-Men

Stacy Dooks is a writer and assorted pop culture fanatic whose childhood fixations on the works of Jim Henson, George Lucas, and DC Comics laid the groundwork for his current status as a pop culture junkie chatterbox. He currently resides in Calgary, Alberta while he waits for his TARDIS coral to finish growing. For more of his observations on popular culture, check out The Fanboy Power Hour: http://tfph.libsyn.com/

Read the original post:

Hawkman: How Hawkworld Completely Redefined the Justice League Hero - CBR - Comic Book Resources