Category Archives: Personal Empowerment

Every week when the parliament is in session, Factly reviews the important developments including on bills, debates, questions & answers, and reports submitted, of the past week in both the Houses of the Parliament- Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. Here is what happened during the last week of the 2021 winter session.

The Winter Session of the Parliament which began on 29 November 2021 was adjourned sine die on 22 December 2021, a day earlier than scheduled on completion of essential government business. There was a total of 18 sittings spread over a period of 24 days during the session. The fourth week of the session had only three working days. In this weekly review of parliamentary proceedings, we review the key developments not only in the past week but the entire 2021 Winter session of the Parliament.

Weekly review

The fourth and last week of the winter session of the Parliament witnessed protests by the opposition on the Lakhimpur Keri issue and the suspension of 12 MPs from the Rajya Sabha, because of which both the Houses were adjourned multiple times, just like in the earlier weeks. A total of three Bills were introduced. On the last day, both Houses were adjourned immediately after the closing remarks. Rajya Sabha MP of TMC, Derek O Brien was suspended from the Rajya Sabha for the rest of the Winter session for throwing the Rajya Sabha Rule Book towards the Chair during the discussion on the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021.

Details of Bills taken up

Election Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2021 that seeks to amend theRepresentation of the People Act, 1950and theRepresentation of the People Act, 1951to implement certain electoral reforms was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 20 December 2021 and passed on the same day. The Bill aims to remove duplication in the electoral roll by linking the electoral roll data with Aadhar. Moreover, 4 qualifying dates i.e., the first days of January, April, July, and October have been proposed to include new voters who turn 18 instead of one single qualifying date as 01 January. This is intended to include a large number of voters who turn 18 but miss out because of only one qualifying date.

The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 20 December 2021 by Law Minister, Kiren Rijiju amidst opposition. Congress MP Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, among other MPs, opposed the introduction, stating that the Bill violates the Right to Privacy and calls for referring it to the Standing Committee. He referred to the verdict of Puttaswamy Vs. Union of India, which limited the use of Aadhaar solely for welfare programs and linking with PAN Card. Congress MP Shashi Tharoor added that Aadhar is a proof of residence and not citizenship while opposing the introduction of the bill. However, Lok Sabha passed the Election Laws (Amendment) Bill amid strong opposition. The Bill was introduced and passed in the Rajya Sabha the next day, amidst opposition.

Minister of Women and Child Development, Smriti Irani introduced the Prohibition of the Child Marriage Amendment Bill, 2021 which seeks to increase the legal age of marriage for women from 18 years to 21 years, bringing it at par with that of men by amending personal laws including the Indian Christian Marriage Act, 1872, the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act, 1936, the Muslim Personal Law (Shariat) Application Act, 1937, the Special Marriage Act, 1954, the Hindu Marriage Act, 1955, and the Foreign Marriage Act, 1969.

The introduction of the Bill was opposed by several MPs who demanded that the government had not held any consultations with stakeholders and that it had brought the Bill in a hurry. Since personal laws will be affected, some MPs called for referring the Bill to a standing committee. Smriti Irani added that research showed that between the years 2015 and 2020, as many as 20 lakh child marriages were stopped from being held. The bill was referred to the standing committee.

The Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (Amendment) Bill, 2021that waspassedin the Lower House in the third week to replace an ordinance on the same was passed in the Upper House.

The Chartered Accountants, the Cost and Works Accountants and the Company Secretaries (Amendment) Bill (2021) were introduced in the Lok Sabha during the second week to strengthen the existing mechanism and ensure speedy disposal of the disciplinary cases related to Chartered Accountants and Company Secretaries was also referred to the Parliamentary standing committee.

TheBiological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021aimed at encouraging the cultivation of medicinal plants, the Indian system of medicine, facilitating fast-tracking of research, patent application process among other things has also been referred to the joint committee for further scrutiny.

The Appropriation (No.5) Bill relating to the Supplementary Demands for Grants for the year 2021- 22 which was passed by Lok Sabha, and sent to Rajya Sabha, will be deemed to have been passed by both Houses after the expiry of 14 days.

Important issues discussed

There was a brief discussion on the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus in the Rajya Sabha with members asking the government to ensure that the COVID-19 mismanagement that occurred during the 2021 assembly elections is not repeated during the upcoming elections.

During the discussion on Supplementary Demands for Grants, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman informed the Lok Sabha that banks recovered 13,109.17 crores by selling the assets of fugitives like Vijay Mallya, Nirav Modi and Mehul Choksi. She added that the monies of the defaulters, who fled the country, has been received and put it in the public sector banks, and that the money of depositors is safe.

Important reports presented

The Standing Committee on Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Food Processings report on the Pesticides Management Bill, 2020 was laid in the Parliament. The report laid out suggestions to further strengthen the Bill that was introduced last year. Arguments were made regarding the penal provisions and punishment stipulated in the Bill which has been supported by the committee. The report supported having stringent penal provisions to ensure deterrence- to prevent the sale and use of banned and spurious pesticides.

Questions raised

The Environment Ministry in response to a question of deaths of persons in tiger attacks and poaching stated that in 2020, a total of 44 persons lost their lives to tiger attacks. A total of 106 tiger deaths were reported in the same year including 14 deaths due to poaching.

The Bureau of Police Research & Development (BPR&D)s data showed that female police comprise only 10.3% of the total strength of police as of 01 January 2020, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs as per response to a question on the subject in the Lok Sabha. Further, the Ministry added that it had issued multiple advisories to all the State Governments to increase the representation of women police to 33% of the total strength. The goal is to ensure that each police station should have at least 3 women Sub-Inspectors and 10 women police Constables so that a womens help desk is manned round the clock.

When asked about the data on hate crimes, the Home Ministry replied that in the year 2017, NCRB collected data on cases of mob-lynching, hate crimes, etc. It was observed that the data was unreliable as these crimes etc. have not been defined. Hence, collection of data in this regard was discontinued.

In response to a question in the Lok Sabha on drug abuse, the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment referred to Comprehensive National Survey on Extent and Pattern of Substance Use in India conducted in 2018 which identified that 1.8% of the children less than 18 years of age were using Opioids while 0.6% of women in the 10 to 75 years age bracket used Cannabis. The response also listed the measures taken by the government to curb drug abuse.

A question on the deaths in educational institutional institutions such as IITs, IIMs, IISc, and other central universities was raised in the Lok Sabha. The Education Ministry responded by saying that between 2014 and 2021, a total of 122 students committed suicide which included 71 students belonging to Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Minorities.

Summary of the entire session

In the Rajya Sabha, there were 18 sittings during which the House sat for 45 Hours 35 Minutes. A further 44 hours and 01 minutes were lost on issues like demand for revocation of suspension of Members, killing of civilians in the incident of firing in Mon District of Nagaland, and demand for resignation by MoS in the Ministry of Home Affairs in the light of the report of SIT on the Lakhimpur Keri incident. Meanwhile, the Lok Sabha was more productive as it sat for 83 hours 20 minutes in 18 sittings and only 18 hours 48 minutes were lost in interruptions. The productivity of Lok Sabha was approximately 82% and that of Rajya Sabha was approximately 48%.

13 Bills (12 Bills in Lok Sabha and 1 Bill in Rajya Sabha) were introduced during the session. A total of 11 Bills were passed by both Houses. One Bill namely the Biological Diversity (Amendment) Bill, 2021 was referred to the Joint Committee of both Houses of Parliament and five Bills were referred to respective Standing Committees.

Two short duration discussions on the COVID-19 pandemic and various aspects related to it, and on Climate Change were held in the Lok Sabha while Rajya Sabha had a discussion on the situation arising out of cases of Omicron variant of COVID-19 virus in the country.

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Parliament Review: Here is what happened in the last week of 2021 Winter Session - Factly

New Delhi: As 2021 comes to an end, we remind you that this year was not just about the life threatening COVID-19 pandemic and its variants because India achieved some remarkable milestones on its way to 2022. From firsttrack and field gold medal in Olympics to the first FM radio station in Ladakh, here is the list of the firsts of India in 2021.

First 5G Technology trail(24 December 2021)Ahemdabad: The countrys first 5G technology trials for rural broadband began at Ajol village, with a base transceiver station (BTS) installed 17km away at Unava town in Gandhinagar district.Women Personnel deployed in VVIP Security:(23 December 2021)Leading towards true women empowerment, women commandos of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) will also provide Z-plus security to Union Home Minister Amit Shah, former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi, Priyanka Vadra Gandhi, and other politicians. This is the first time in the history of India, women personnel would be introduced in their security setup. The CRPF will deploy 32 women commandos for VVIP security.Indias first conventional ballistic Missile trail:23 December 2021:India conducted the second trial of 'Pralay' conventional ballistic missile off the APJ Abdul Kalam island in Odisha. The developmental trial of the missile was successful with the platform reaching a range of 500 kilometres.'Pralay' is India's first conventional ballistic missile and is an answer to any conventional missile attack from northern or western borders. It is also the first time in history that two tests of conventional ballistic missiles were done successfully on consecutive days.India invoked its emergency powers under the IT Act:21 December 2021:India has invoked its emergency powers under the IT Act for the first time, ordering YouTube to block 20 channels and banning two websites. Claiming that they were running anti-India content from Pakistan that affected the country's sovereignty and integrity.Ladakh got its first ever FM Radio Station:15 December 2021:Ladakh got its first ever FM radio station in its capital city Leh, officials said. Advisor Ladakh, Umang Narula launched the first-ever Top FM radio in Leh, they said. First Indian to qualify for Beijing Winter Olympics 2022:26 November 2021:Arif Khan becomes first Indian to qualify for Beijing Winter Olympics 2022.India's fertility rate drops below replacement level for the first time:25 November 2021:In an indication that the population growth in the country is stabilising, India's fertility, the average of number of children per woman, has declined further to 2.0 from 2.2 reported in 2015-16. As per the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS) released by the Union Health Ministry, all Phase 2 states have achieved replacement level of fertility (2.1) except Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh.First Indian who has been awarded the honorary title of 'Knight of Parte Guelfa' in Italy:25 November 2021:Sohan Roy, a Forbes-listed entrepreneur from Kerala and who has a passion for getting noticed in the film industry through his unconventional contribution to humanity and the world cinema has now become the first Indian who has been awarded the honorary title of 'Knight of Parte Guelfa' in Italy.First meet between Pope Francis and PM Narendra Modi:30 October 2021:Pope Francis and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi met for the first time on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Rome.One Billion Covid Vaccination:21 October 2021:India Makes History By Completing One Billion Covid Vaccinations Milestone.Becomes First Indian Woman to Win World Championships Silver:7 October 2021:Wrestler Anshu Malik Becomes First Indian Woman To Win World Championships Silver.India becomes first in southeast asia to deliver COVID-19 vaccine through drones in Manipur:4 October 2021:Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya launched i-Drone, ICMRs drone-based COVID-19 vaccine delivery model that helps reach tough terrains of the Northeast. This is the first drone based vaccination model in South east Asia, and the ICMR done is part of the 'make in India' project.Indian exports have crossed $100 billion mark:2 October 2021:India reported $101.89 billion in exports in the quarter ending September, the ministry of commerce and industry said. This is the first time that Indian exports have crossed $100 billion mark.First Indian woman to score a century in a pink-ball Test:2 October 2021:Indian womens cricket team opener Smriti Mandhana became the first Indian woman to score a century in a pink-ball Test when she played a 127-run knock against Australia in the one-off Pink Ball Test. This is also the first century by an Indian woman on Australian soil.India becomes first country to commercial produce and spray Nano Urea through Drone:1 October 2021:For the first time in the World, India conducted a practical field trial of Drone for Spraying of Nano Liquid Urea at Bhavnagar in Gujarat, claimed the Union Chemical and Fertilizers Ministers.First Floating Missile:7 September 2021:INS Anvesh India's first floating missile test range to go on sea trial.India becomes first Asian nation to launch Plastics Pact:3 September 2021:India has become the first Asian country to develop a plastics pact, launching a ground-breaking new initiative to bring together leading businesses at a national level to make commitments for building a circular system for plastics.First Indian PM to preside over a UNSC:9 August 2021:Modi is thefirstIndian Prime Minister to preside over a UN Security Council Open Debate.Prime Minister Narendra Modi chaired a UN Security Council open debate on Enhancing Maritime Security A Case for International CooperationWon Indias first track and field gold medal:7 August 2021: Neeraj Chopra won Indias first track and field gold medal at the Olympics.Indian Women Hockey team enter semifinals:2 August 2021:TOKYO: A brave and determined Indian women's hockey team etched its name in the history books by entering the Olympic Games semifinals for the first time.First Indian woman hockey player to score an Olympic hat-trick31 July 2021:Vandana Katariya became the first Indian woman hockey player to score an Olympic hat-trick as India beat South Africa by 4-3 at the Oi Hockey Stadium in Tokyo.India begins accepting foreign aid for the first time in 16 years:29 April 2021: In a significant shift from the erstwhile policy of not accepting foreign aid, the India has started accepting fiscal aid, donations and gifts from countries as the country is battling to contain the spiraling COVID-19 cases and deaths.Around 16 years ago, Manmohan Singh had announced that New Delhi will not accept aid from foreign countries.India becomes first country to develop fully integrated digital Personal Health Passport:23 March 2021:Rishabh Sharma, India's AI Pioneer, Founder of Thalamus Irwine in partnership with ITI, Ministry of Telecom very successfully developed a fully integrated digital Personal Health Passport (COVID Passport) named The Garuda Personal Health Passport (PHP). Empowers India to become the first country in the world to develop a fully integrated digital Personal Health Passport

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From Olympic Gold to radio station in Ladakh- India`s BIG firsts in 2021 - Zee News

Bihar is ranked 15th among 18-major states (Group A and B category together) and 6th in Group B states, as per the latest Good Governance Index (GGI) - 2020-21, released by the Administration Reforms and Public Grievances (DARPG), Government of India, on Saturday in New Delhi.

A biannual exercise, GGI was first published in 2019. This year, it includes 58 indicators for 10 important sectors. The indicators have been revised this year incorporating additional process-based indicators in addition to the outcome and output-based indicators.

Bihar has been kept in other states Group B category with MP, Rajasthan, West Bengal Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, UP, Bihar, and Odisha. Though Bihar ranks second last in its category out of eight states overall, it has shown improvement in some key sectors.

Sudhanshu Kumar, economist & associate professor, Centre for Economic Policy and Public Finance (CEPPF), Patna, said more weight has been assigned to the outcome and output based indicators compared to the process-based indicators while preparing the index and despite Bihars low ranking, it has done appreciably on the indicators associated with public infrastructure and utility sector, in which it is ranked No.1 in its category, ahead of states like Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, and Rajasthan.

GGI is a comprehensive and implementable framework to assess the state of governance across the states and UTs which enables ranking of states/districts. The objective of GGI is to create a tool that can be used uniformly across the states to assess the impact of various interventions taken up by the Central and state governments including UTs. Based on the GGI framework, the index provides a comparative picture among the states.

The infrastructure & utilities sector includes access to water, rural road connectivity, and electricity-related indicators. The state has recently taken many initiatives to improve these and its benefits are getting reflected with better ranking. There is one indicator, per capita power consumption which is highly correlated with per capita income and industry and therefore will increase with the overall development of the state. Availability of electricity and its access both have improved a lot in the state, said Kumar.

Similarly, on indicators concerning citizen-centric governance, the state is ranked fourth in its category and seventh overall among 18 states. Bihar is among the first two states to enact right to service acts and first to have a grievance redressal mechanism. The state needs to improve online access to government services. This is something which can be easily improved, Kumar added.

The state has also shown improvement in human resource development and public health, in which it is ranked third in its category and 11th and 13th respectively among the 18 states. The state needs significant improvement in the economic governance sector. It needs to improve its own tax revenue as the share of its own taxes in total revenue is as low as 26%. With improvement on this, the debt scenario will also improve. This is something where the state needs to work to realise long-term goals of economic development, Kumar said.

However, Bihar fared poorly on the front of social welfare and development, where it is ranked last in its category as well as overall among 18 states. Bihar has done well on empowerment of women. However, more needs to be done on this to improve relative performance. Better coordination and implementation on MGNREGA will give better results in this sector. Lower health insurance coverage is one of the indicators used which is something that goes up with overall economic development as people realise benefits of insurance, he said, adding the state also needs to improve the availability of police personal.

Good proportion of police personal in the state are women, which is impressive and any further increase in personal will help in improving ranking on other indicators too. Areas of concern as highlighted by the index are low conviction rate and poor performance on disposal of court cases, he added.

The index reflects that the state has a lot of catching up to do on the key fronts of agriculture & allied sector and commerce & industry, where it is ranked 6th and 7th in its own category. Industrial growth in Bihar, however, has shown a dip. The state needs to work on crop insurance and generating surplus through value addition, besides ensuring improved access to the market. The state also needs to focus on ease of doing business and encourage a start-up environment, as this area has a lot of competition from other states. In the environment sector also, Bihar has to lay stress in waste recycle and renewable energy, he added.

Arun Kumar is Senior Assistant Editor with Hindustan Times. He has spent two-and-half decades covering Bihar, including politics, educational and social issues....view detail

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GGI Index: What the ranking tells about Bihars progress - Hindustan Times

There are many reasons why we fall off the path and pick fruit. But there is hope! Donovan Fulkerson, shares his story on how he overcome our temptations and move towards a more fruitful life. Donovan teaches a practical approach on how to become more like who you were created to be through personal development, success, and helping others unlock their potential.

Donovan was born, 1973 in Las Cruces where his parents attended NMSU and his father later achieved degrees in Mechanical and Sound Engineering. They moved to California during the years his father worked at Lockheed. In the late 70's they returned to New Mexico and opened a HVAC/Plumbing wholesale store. Roswell became the town where Donovan would begin shaping his desires for film.

He was an avid artist. Starring in live stage productions as early as 7, modeling clothing for TV, singing live and on TV, writing stories (long, depth-based characters/worlds), playing piano at 5 and getting top honors in guild for a decade, graphical art, finishing 6th grade by 4th grade through the gifted program and... well, you get the picture, always going after and achieving whatever he set his mind to.

His father "introduced" entrepreneur mindset in several ways: summer vacation spending monies were Donovan and his sister's responsibility to raise the funds, so they began making items and selling door to door, by 14 Donovan had a lawn mowing gig as well as worked for his father at his shop doing most of the dirty yard and warehouse work. During his growing up years he traveled some with his father as he expanded into other cities which provided much later needed wisdom for starting his own ventures.

An "A" student who really was bored most of the time and many times got B's and C's due to lack of effort. He spent much of his spare time "acting" out stories with his Star Wars, Lego, He-Man, Roblox and Transformer toys. He began programming on Apple IIc, was the VP of the computer club in middle school, had nerdy glasses, became an avid Atari player, a regular at the Arcade yet still took time to play baseball, basketball and later football and softball. He played the coronet in Band and was a freshman first chair out of twelve when they played at Disneyland representing the state of NM. All the while continuing to do live musicals/plays.

His youth summers were spent attending and working as many camps as possible while working to pay for said camps and other youthful exploits. He started recreational filming using his father's video camera and hip laden vcr while roping in his friends to play the characters he created. Later in high school he became a shift manager for Miller's Outpost and the local downtown Christian Bookstore.

These are a few of the highlights of the "busy" life he chose and knew as normal and probably why it comes to him easily now. His parents always encouraged going after dreams, whatever they may be. And during the last year before his father past, his dad asked him to promise to keep going after them regardless of the cost and not fall short like he had for fear of not making it.

Film and art are as much a part of who he is as being an entrepreneur and work ethic. You could say it is in his DNA. His passion for achieving is only outshined by his desire to impact others through media and his devotion to his faith.

He married in 1993, has two awesome children and a wife he is madly in love with. Over the decades there have been some crazy tough times despite all the good and he desires to assist others in their journeys using his life's good and bad. He published his first book in 2011, SIN'S CURE - NO MORE PICKING FRUIT, DESTROYING THE ROOT with accompanying online video course and live stage talks. Born out of many years searching for answers on why we face such a destructive, damaging path to ourselves and those around us. Donovan teaches a practical, daily approach on how to become more like the image of who you were created to be. Based in deep spiritual truths coupled with parabolic stories, he will guide you in becoming your true self. He teaches bible at his local church and is working on future books/courses to expand his influence in others' lives to improve their success.

Donovan grew up with a dad who introduced him to video games and technology. At an early age he was introduced to Pong and then the Atari gaming systems. He spent many hours conquering games like Centipede, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Pac-Man and others. Arcades became a mainstay in his weekly routine. As he was fairly proficient, a few quarters could sustain hours of play. Over the years, he played with Intellivision, TRS-80, Nintendo NES/64/Wii, Xbox Series, PC Games. He began in the early 80's programming on the Apple IIc and even built his own PC's in the 90's. These years included games like Quake, Half Life, Command & Conquer, Unreal and Wolfestein. Many times, he could be found setting up network systems with office computers including several friends for C & C matches. Later he played through the Call of Duty generations and enjoyed many hours of Team play online. In the late 2010's he found Minecraft as a creative outlet when not working his businesses. As usual, he figured out how to get "into the guts" of the game and began making his own textures. Finding a niche on the Bedrock version of the game, His HD and RTX packs started to take shape and now are available to all. He plays regularly on a public server and streams when he can to Twitch.

In 2011 he founded Relicwood Media as a side hustle and fulfillment of a lifelong passion for creating film, art, and writing. He began with professional photography and design while practicing his filmmaking skills once again. In 2013 he had the opportunity to be a small player in a film called CAMP and established his first producer IMDB credit. He went on to compete the same year producing a short film in a digital shootout, winning awards, and turning it into a series. With hardly any monies and a large group of volunteer "filmsters", they accomplished great, although widely unknown work. As the years moved and his skills increased, he added video production to the list and today, is his most sought-after product. As the digital needs of companies shift with social media, Relicwood Media adapts with video products, social creation/management, photography, and design. He continues to work for independent filmmakers on shorts/features as well as the occasional wedding film.

He works with corporate and small businesses to enhance their brands, people, and outlook on success. Through the use of video, photo, graphic design, social and print media, the brand, Relicwood Media develops personalized content for exposure and growth. For the filmmaker, he brings the talents of producer, writer, director, director of photography, editor, actor and more.

Donovan's stage talks coupled with his writings and courses, focus on personal development and success mindsets. He is passionate for helping others unlock their potential and achieve purposeful growth.

His podcast, The Roswell Business Podcast came from Donovan's desire to have a greater impact in his home city. He had been looking for ways to increase his influence and expand his other brands too. While listening to a Gary Vaynerchuk podcast, the idea was born. He is proud to use the Roswell brand to highlight companies both in and out of the Roswell area that are making an impact in the little town with a "big" name.

His festival, The Roswell Film Festival, located in the alien capitol of the world, Roswell, New Mexico features short and feature films from around the globe. From the first-time filmmaker to the studio powerhouses, submissions are juried and showcased annually. It is currently on hold while the world recovers from the pandemic closures and hopes to re-open soon.

Donovan has served on several boards including: the Roswell Museum & Arts Center, New Mexico Film Foundation Advisory, Leadership Roswell Alumni, Roswell Chamber of Commerce, Roswell Filmfest & Cosmicon.

He is an ordained minister, served on many church staffs from 1988-2001 and is a graduate of Southwestern Assemblies of God University.

Donovan Fulkerson is a true inspiration to those who want to achieve success in life. His focus on personal development and success mindsets will help you unlock your potential, set goals that are achievable, and take the steps needed for purposeful growth. He wants people to make their world better by becoming their best selves. In order to expand his influence further into others' lives - he's constantly working on developing more amazing content through media channels.

To learn more about this inspiring individual visit Donovanfulkerson.com

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Company Name: Disruptors LLC

Contact Person: Carlos Siqueira

Email: Info@carlosinspire.com

Phone: 7722227567

Address:PO Box 1441

City: Lathrop

State: CA

Country: United States

Website: getonmorestages.com

Source: http://www.abnewswire.com

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The Journey to Self-Empowerment is to Stop Picking The Fruit. That's The Cure of All Sins. - marketscreener.com

Phoenix Center for the Arts CEO Lauren Henschen has resigned from her position after nearly 10 years with the organization. She will step down in February of2022 to pursue personal creative endeavors.

I have been incredibly honored to serve this organization and the Phoenix community during a time of important growth and development," Henschen said in a press release. "Im also excited to continue supporting Phoenix Center for the Arts for many, many years to come. Iknow we will continue to see that meaningful impact continue to blossom in the years ahead."

Henschen has served as the center's first Marketing Manager, Marketing Director, Deputy Director and assumed the role of CEO in July 2019. In November 2021, Henschen was recognized as an ATHENA Awards Finalist by the Greater Phoenix Chamber for her leadership.

Henschen has led the organization from a $200,000 budget with 40 arts classes to a budget of more than $2 million with more than 750 classes virtually and in person, boardchair Angela Rodela said.

"Through her leadership and vision, PCA is now able to serve a more expansive community, having a greater impact in bringing arts and culture experiences to all," Rodela said in a press release. "Laurens style of shared leadership and personal empowerment will be missed by her entire team staff, students, teaching artists, resident organizations, volunteers, and board of directors all of whom wish her every success in her future endeavors.

The Phoenix Center for the ArtsBoard of Directors will begin a nationwide search for Central Arts Alliance's new CEO in the coming months. Applicationswill be due on Jan. 17, 2022.

Reach the reporter at sofia.krusmark@gannett.com. Follow her on Instagram@sofia.krusmark

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This downtown Phoenix arts organization is seeking new leadership. Here's what's we know - The Arizona Republic

If youre anything like me, you might be impulsively suspicious of claims that digital technologies such as cryptocurrency and blockchain can produce radical decentralization, personal empowerment, and assuage the wounds of capitalism.

However, the latest string of letters to emerge from the depths of the blockchain universe DAOs, or Decentralized Autonomous Organizations might have something to offer to those interested in advancing the power of labor, specifically when it comes to employee ownership.

DAOs are a little difficult to define because they are still an emergent phenomenon, but for simplicitys sake, they are organizations that are managed entirely through blockchain technology. They provide an accessible form of decentralization and transparency which, in certain ways, could scale more easily than traditional organizations.

The amount of governance innovation happening in DAO-land is not something Ive seen anywhere else, Nathan Schneider, a journalist, author, and professor of media studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder, told Shareable. Itfeels, in some circles, like a social movement, where people feel like they are really involved in a new thing that is helping to remake the world as they understand it.

The social movement Schneider describes is a result of two distinct worlds colliding those of blockchain technologies and worker cooperatives.

Theres this flourishing of people who havent come from a cooperatives background, they havent come from this political analysis about the balance of power between labor and capital or anything like this. Most of them have come with, Hey, this is some cool technology, what can we do with it? Richard Bartlett, co-founder of Loomio, told Shareable.

The amount of governance innovation happening in DAO-landfeels, in some circles, like a social movement, where people feel like they are really involved in a new thing that is helping to remake the world as they understand it. Nathan Schneider, professor of media studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder

This, Bartlett said, is producing a lot of fruitful questions: How do you actually engage people? What do you do with their attention span? What happens if you try and get 1,000 people to vote every day?

One DAO advocate, who blogs and runs a podcast as the Blockchain Socialist, and who requested anonymity due to concerns about workplace retaliation, told Shareable that these questions may be opening doors for socialist-style co-op innovation among tech communities that are traditionally seen as more libertarian and right-wing.

Ive been actually very surprised that a lot of these crypto-type people are very open to listening to me, he said. Because of this emergent synthesis of cooperatives and DAOs, these people are straight up asking: are DAOs socialist? They created DAOs, they realized it was kind of like cooperatives, and then they realized that cooperatives are kind of like socialism. So then they pause and look at each other and theyre like, are we doing socialism right now?

Can these two communities technologists and community organizers join forces and bring real democracy to decentralized, disruptive technologies?

And on the flip side, could DAOs with their secure, flexible, scalable systems of creating value and distributing ownership-authority within a co-op bring worker ownership into the mainstream?

Maybe so but its important to begin this conversation with a grain of salt.

Before we get more deeply into the potential benefits of DAOs, its important to take a step back and critically examine the track record that blockchain technologies have because its not always a very comforting one.

Cryptocurrency, for example, has been lauded as a revolutionary force in decentralizing and democratizing finance. NFTs (non-fungible tokens) are similarly lauded for giving new power to individual artists and musicians working online.

However, the decentralization rhetoric coming out of the blockchain world can feel a bit bloviated when you consider a new study which just revealed that the top 10 percent of NFT traders account for 85 percent of transactions and trade 97 percent of all assets, and that 10 percent of buyerseller pairs have the same volume as the remaining 90 percent.

And the recent craze around NFTs is a compelling example of how blockchain technology is being co-opted and corrupted by the nefarious forces of capital in ways that are not only antithetical to prosperity but which only do more to increase scarcity and enclose digital commons.

Its hard not to recoil at the idea that we have anything to gain from this world in the face of headlines such as: A Metaverse mega yacht that just sold for $650,000 is the most expensive NFT sold in The Sandbox virtual world.

As with all new technology-based systems, DAOs come with a lot of hype. Its important that we keep this in mind as we attempt to see through the smoke and mirrors to explore the real benefits that DAOs could potentially impart to those interested in employee-ownership.

One of the key benefits of DAOs is the flexibility in organizational structure that they allow. Because these organizations live entirely on contracts made through blockchain systems, the same systems that power cryptocurrency, they have a lot of room for creativity.

Keeping in mind that cryptocurrency is still pretty novel, and states are still playing catchup when it comes to regulating these systems, the idea with DAOs is that you can design your organization or write your contracts with much more flexibility than traditional legal entities subject to the laws of the states that they reside in, of course.

You can get together with some friends to do something, and rather than just paying out money in dollars, you can make your own currency and try to make it valuable and set the rules for how that currency works, Schneider told Shareable. And maybe its not just a currency, maybe its also for governance maybe its just governance votes. Or maybe its just things you use to access the service that you share. You can write the rules in a pretty profoundly flexible way.

In order to understand how DAOs work, we have to understand the idea of digital tokens. It might help to think of a token as a sort of coin a unique bundle of data that represents some kind of value, and that is tracked on distributed ledgers, including blockchain.

In cryptocurrency, tokens are assigned monetary value. NFTs use tokens to assign value to digital assets, such as works of digital art, and stamp them as unique.

With DAOs, the idea of a digital token is expanded to the point where it could represent basically anything, including, importantly, a vote.

This is really where things can get exciting for folks in the worker cooperative world. It opens up a whole new realm of possibility in terms of coordinating decentralized, democratic governance.

Youre able to basically make a democracy within a workplace much, much more achievable and much, much more easy to do, Joshua Davila, a blockchain solutions architect currently writing a book on blockchain cooperatives, told Shareable.

On a purely logistical level, DAOs make voting easier. In a traditional cooperative, for example, you need a quorum of over 50 percent of people to show up at the meeting, Davila said. But with DAO technology, there are fewer barriers to achieve a quorum, because you can vote from anywhere that has an internet connection. Youre able instead to facilitate a very, very reliable system for voting and for applying democratic principles over a digital space.

Remote voting by organizational boards using electronic communication, such as email or even phones, is subject to regulations that are different from state to state, and are changing rapidly, but DAOs are a powerful new tool for this process.

According to Jason Prado, chief technologist at the Drivers Cooperative, DAOs are an important development that may offer new possibilities for investment or better forms of organization.

The Drivers Cooperative is a driver-owned ride-hailing cooperative in New York City. They are currently exploring the DAO framework as a potential path to building their platform and becoming a more sustainable business.

The Drivers Cooperative currently has thousands of drivers on their platform but are hoping to grow to tens or hundreds of thousands as well as to expand beyond New York City.

Their aim is to grow their democratically owned and governed platform to the scale of an Uber or Lyft, which would make them the largest worker-owned federation in the world.

As we do that, how are we going to scale decision making? How are we going to scale these notions of ownership? Prado told Shareable. When were talking about platforms that have tens of thousands of workers on them and then hundreds of thousands or millions of customers who also maybe should be included in the concept of ownership we dont have existing structures that have scaled successfully to that level.

Opolis is an example of a member-owned digital employment cooperative currently utilizing DAO technology. Opolis helps independent workers access high quality group-rate employment benefits like healthcare insurance, (crypto) payroll, and tax compliance, among other things.

Opolis claims that they have overcome all of the challenges inherent within the DAO landscape, but according to Joshua Lapidus, the organizations executive community steward, DAOs in general need to learn how to take advantage of cooperatives to find legal footing, increase legitimacy to skeptics, and help us achieve a mass adoption.

Another downside of how traditional cryptocurrencies work is that anyone with the most coins or tokens inherently has the most power.

If you have something for sale, what can stop a malicious actor from buying it up and controlling it? Jason Prado, chief technologist at the Drivers Cooperative

As soon as you allow a token to be sold and it looks something like an investment, then you have a problem where now investors can come in, or capitalists can come in, and buy up that token and have undue voting power on the platform, Jason Prado told Shareable. Thats very frightening because youre playing with fire a little bit. I still think thats a good idea for lots of businesses because the reality is raising capital is important. But still, if you have something for sale, what can stop a malicious actor from buying it up and controlling it?

Worker cooperatives, on the other hand, operate on the principle of one member, one vote. This is possible theoretically on the blockchain, but doesnt always work well in practice because identity is much harder to keep track of in a DAO and there are ways of abusing the network.

DAO enthusiasts claim to be exploring new forms of voting that could potentially bypass these issues.

These include quadratic voting, in which the more tokens you use to vote, the less they are worth; and conviction voting, in which your time commitment increases the value of your token vote.

The scalability inherent within DAOs traditionally one of the biggest selling points lauded by advocates of blockchain technology is also full of wrinkles.

If you want to use the Ethereum main net for your cooperative and you want to have a lot of democracy you want to have people voting all the time its probably not feasible. Its too expensive, Joshua Davila said. Youre paying at least like $30 worth of Ether per transaction When you are voting, that is a form of a transaction. So thats not very conducive for democratic structures.

Many of the challenges facing DAOs are purely technological, but others are more social in nature: You cant always actually code a code of ethics.

Digital technology is not just value-neutral math its designed and applied by actual human beings who bring their own values and ideologies. Algorithms can be racist and sexist. And in this sense, theres nothing inherent within a DAO that would lead it to having the values that those within any specific organization might hope for it to hold.

Kei Kreutler, strategy lead at Gnosis, a blockchain technology company, told Shareable that while many DAOs embrace operating principles or economic relations that resemble digital cooperativism this does not mean that their software necessarily enforces this organizing form.

In other words, Kreutler said, technical decentralization does not necessarily lead to political decentralization of power.

Yet the momentum DAOs have is exciting, Kreutler told Shareable. A third, autonomous social sector, apart from the public and private sectors, emerges more clearly, she said. This is my most idealistic take that DAOs could breathe new life into existing and emerging movements related to civic governance.

While there is certainly something appealing about the decentralization inherent within DAOs, theyre no substitute for the power that comes with unions, strikes, minimum-wage campaigns, and other forms of labor organizing.

We still need to make sweeping changes to the way our entire economy functions if these technologies will ever stand a chance of contributing to our collective liberation.

As Paris Marx, tech critic and host of the Tech Wont Save Us podcast, recently tweeted:

Changing the path of tech development requires much more than building niche alternatives that few people ultimately use. It requires changing the larger structures in which technology is developed so people arent desperately trying to find hope in libertarian bullshit.

Perhaps what we really need to be asking is not what DAOs could offer to the world of employee ownership, but rather what employee ownership can bring to DAOs, by injecting democratic and cooperative values into their organizations and projects.

There already was a decentralized version of the traditional corporation that was the cooperative, the Blockchain Socialist creator told Shareable. Though co-ops lack popularity and can be difficult to establish and coordinate, with the advent of DAOs, people who would have never given a shit about cooperatives are suddenly really, really interested in this. And that is something that should be taken advantage of.

Link:

The DAO of decentralization: Can co-ops thrive on the blockchain? - Shareable

A hefty, end-of-year donation from UMB Bank will provide The Porter House KC an opportunity to dig deeper in assisting local entrepreneurs, said Daniel Smith, expressing appreciation for the $350,000 boost.

These resources will be used to continue our current work and implement another program that will assist small businesses with direct support, creating additional inroads to success, said Smith, co-founder and principal of The Porter House KC.

Charon Thompson and Dan Smith, The Porter House KC

Click here to read more about what drives Smith and co-founder Charon Thompson, who were recognized for their work at The Porter House KC as two of Startland News 2021 Kansas City Community Builders to Watch.

The donation from Kansas City-based UMB Bank is part of a $1.25 million gift to three organizations supporting underserved communities housing needs, small business efforts, and education and emerging talent in Kansas City. KC Scholars is expected to receive $500,000, while CHES, Inc. is set for $400,000. (The Porter House KC is itself a program of CHES, Inc., but is receiving an individual donation.)

For more than a century, UMB has actively supported each community we serve, said Mariner Kemper, chairman, president and CEO of UMB Financial Corporation. Weve had a strong year, and we want to share this success by giving much needed funding to key organizations within our communities. Were thrilled to support these outstanding community partners and the tremendous work theyre already doing. We hope to see the impact of these dollars for years to come.

What is CHES, Inc?

CHES, Inc. is a HUD approved housing counseling and financial empowerment organization dedicated to helping clients maintain the knowledge and skills needed for long-term credit, financial and homeownership success. The UMB Bank donation will support CHES, Inc. programs including CHES Financial Empowerment and Kansas City Bank On.

The Porter House KC is an inner city based co-working community that provides entrepreneurship access and resources to underserved populations in the Kansas City Metro area. The organization resolves to assist in the representation of entrepreneurs of color by providing an affordable business space that can be used to grow an idea to a full-fledged business.

Click here to learn more about The Porter House KC.

Two additional donations of $375,000 from UMB Bank have been made to Denver organizations NEWSED and Rocky Mountain MicroFinance Institute, bringing the total for the five year-end donations to $2 million, and UMBs 2021 giving to more than $6 million.

UMB offers commercial, personal, and institutional banking services with branches throughout Missouri, Illinois, Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Arizona and Texas, and serves business and institutional clients nationwide.

This story is possible thanks to support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a private, nonpartisan foundation that works together with communities in education and entrepreneurship to create uncommon solutions and empower people to shape their futures and be successful.

For more information, visit http://www.kauffman.org and connect at http://www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdnandwww.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn

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UMB Bank deposits $350K supporting The Porter House KC; $1.25M in year-end KC donations - Startland News

CHICAGO, Dec. 16, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Over the past two years, the global pandemic accelerated consumer acceptance of digitization throughout the policy lifecycle, and that momentum will likely carry over into 2022. TransUnions 2022 Insurance Trends and Outlook Report considers multiple implications of increasingly digital and accelerated business practices for insurance carriers throughout the industry.

To equip insurers with a deeper understanding of these key trends, TransUnion conducted a survey of 2,761 U.S. consumers with active auto, homeowners, renters and/or life insurance policies during November 2021. The findings highlight consumer attitudes towards online insurance shopping, auto and property telematicswhich involve devices that monitor and report on driving behaviors or property hazard conditionsand more.

Our analysis of the past years trends as well as findings from the consumer survey suggest the insurance industry has a couple key challenges to address, said Mark McElroy, executive vice president and head of TransUnions insurance business. On one hand the insurance industry will need to meet the increased demands for digital processes. On the other, it must educate the public and ease concerns over the use of credit-based insurance scores and externally-sourced data, which are helping to drive that demand.

Consumers increasingly seek a digital experienceThe largest group of survey respondents comprised life insurance and personal lines property and auto insurance consumers. One of the most important findings from that group was that they prefer digital channels, like email and mobile apps, for requesting a quote, asking a question, or discussing a policy.

The combined averages of those who prefer email (29%) and those who prefer an insurers mobile app or website (23%) show that more than half (52%) prefer a digital channel. Whats more, the average percent of consumers who indicated an insurers mobile app or website portal as their preferred communication channel represented a 28% increase from last years survey.

Increased use of online channels will have several implications across the industry. For example, insurers will be expected to create seamless and secure digital experiences for consumers at every stage of the policy lifecycle. Many carriers will also need to reevaluate their channel mix and decide whether to adjust their sales strategy to better utilize direct-to-consumer sales websites and apps that help bridge the gap between consumers and agents.

Compared to the rate of consumer adoption of these technologies, commercial insurances digital transformation lags. However, this sector appears to be in the early stages of climbing the same steep curve.

An opportunity for digitization in commercial lines is to leverage the underutilized third-party data that can autofill much of the information about corporate real estate or vehicle assets that customers are expected to enter manually on an application, said McElroy. The current manual process also places the burden of verifying this information on insurers, making automation a win for both parties.

Continued digitization dependent on demonstrating fairnessThe continued shift to digitized, accelerated underwriting is driven largely by access to credit-based insurance scores (CBIS) and other third-party data. However, in more recent years, the use of CBIS in the insurance underwriting process has come under scrutiny by certain consumer advocacy groups and regulators. Providing evidence that the practice has expanded the availability of insurance in many cases and often works to the advantage of consumers across all risk segments will be necessary to demonstrating that CBIS is a critical element in the overall insurance underwriting process.

For example, the report explains that expanded use of accelerated and data-driven underwriting has often reduced prices for customers with good risk scores who may have otherwise been unfairly disadvantaged due to being renters instead of home owners.

In the commercial housing insurance sector, aggregated credit-based scoring of tenants can lower the insurance rates paid by landlords, who might otherwise have their policy priced solely on a buildings location and age. This savings, in turn, can allow landlords to lower rent, potentially creating more affordable housing for consumers.

Telematics are proving popular with auto insurance consumers This years consumer survey also found 32% of respondents said they had been presented with a telematics option for their auto insurance policy. Such programs can use connected devices, mobile phones or auto manufacturer car apps to monitor and report detailed driving behavior, and 49% said they opted in to the program.

Insurance rates decreased for nearly half (48%) of those enrolled in a telematics program, while staying the same for 30%. Overall, nearly two-thirds of consumers (64%) were very satisfied or extremely satisfied with their telematics experience, and 26% were neutral. In line with satisfaction rates, 64% said they are still using their telematics program.

Similarly, commercial insurance presents a significant opportunity for telematics as many business owners may be more open to installing such tools in corporate vehicles in order to encourage employees to drive more safely.

However, homeowners appeared less open to using connected devices to monitor their house or condo for warning of fires, flooding and other hazard risks. When asked whether they would allow an insurer to install and monitor such a device in their home, only 33% of respondents said they would, while 26% were undecided.

The hesitance from consumers to adopt auto and home connected devices was an interesting finding, said McElroy. I suspect this was driven by concerns over privacy, which means insurers will need to convince consumers that telematics is about monitoring driving behaviors and the condition of home appliances, like water heaters and furnaces, to ensure peoples safetynot gathering their personal information.

Pleaseclick hereto download a full version of the TransUnion 2022 Insurance Trends and Outlook Report.

About TransUnion (NYSE: TRU)TransUnion is a global information and insights company that makes trust possible in the modern economy. We do this by providing an actionablepicture of each person so they can be reliably represented in the marketplace. As a result, businesses and consumers can transact with confidence and achieve great things. We call this Information for Good.

A leading presence in more than 30 countries across five continents, TransUnion provides solutions that help create economic opportunity, great experiences and personal empowerment for hundreds of millions of people.

http://www.transunion.com/business

Read more from the original source:

TransUnion Shares Three Trends for Life, Personal and Commercial Insurance in 2022 - GlobeNewswire

In the first ever episode of Sex and the City, aired in 1998, the Manhattanite columnist, socialite and supposed everywoman Carrie Bradshaw resolves to stop looking for Mr Perfect and start enjoying herself. In that effort, she hooks up with an ex-boyfriend, a self-centred, withholding creep to whom she no longer feels any emotional attachment.

She drops round at his place mid-afternoon, enjoys his offer of oral sex and then leaves before hes had the chance to orgasm himself. Ignoring her disgruntled ex, Carrie tells us of her delight:After I began to get dressed, I realised that Id done it. Id just had sex like a man. I left feeling powerful, potent and incredibly alive. I felt like I owned this city. Nothing and no one could get in my way.

Sex and the City has returned to our screens with a new series titled And Just Like That. The protagonists are now in their mid-50s not their mid-30s, but the sexual politics of this latest iteration of the franchise are still in keeping with the first episode: having sex like a man remains the aspiration.

The politics of the show are now being scrutinised, with the creators scrambling to diversify a cast that was originally almost exclusively white (hardly surprising, given that the show is about rich New Yorkers). And the new series includes some excruciating scenes in which the leading ladies are reprimanded for their lack of political sensitivity.

It seems that the creators are aware that, in some ways, Sex and the City has not aged well. Watching the early episodes will induce regular teeth sucking in many viewers, since there are plenty of lines that would never be permitted on screen now (after all, theyre men, says one character, Samantha, explaining her ability to charm a group of trans women who have congregated outside her building).

But few of the present day critics of Sex and the City seem to have a problem with the shows central feature: its particular conception of female sexuality. In fact, according to one article about the new series, this is the feature that stands up best today: If theres one thing the show got right for evermore, it was its portrayal of sexual desire.

To be clear, I do actually like Sex and the City. Ive watched every episode and have even (for my sins) seen the films, which were almost unanimously panned by critics. The franchise is rightly loved by fans for its humour and its often touching portrayal of female friendship.

[see also:Sex and the City might seem dated now but for a Nineties teen, it was radical]

But its depiction of sexual desire is a far from right, as the article put it. In Sex and the City, the female characters regularly demonstrate their sexual agency by having loveless, brusque sex with men they dont like. They show no regard for their partners intimate lives, treating them as means not ends in the pursuit of personal pleasure. So it seems that what the phrase having sex like a man really means is having sex like a selfish arsehole.

But then, the whole show is a celebration of women behaving like selfish arseholes. The American writer Katherine Dee has suggested that Sex and the City ought really to be read as satire:To a New Yorker watching Sex and the City, especially a New York woman of a particular age and class, the joke is understood. Its saying, Yes, we are materialistic, we are shallow, we settle down too late, and it hurts us.

The problem is that the satirical edge is lost on anyone outside of this social niche. Theres a scene in the second series of the British comedy Peep Show that pokes fun at the disconnect between the shows glamorous setting and the less-than-glamorous lives of many of its fans.

One of the Peep Show characters, Sophie (Olivia Colman), does a dull office job, lives in Croydon, has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, and dates some extremely lacklustre men. Nevertheless, her email password is (misnamed) sex in the city her favourite TV show.

Like the Sex and the City characters, Sophie sleeps with some dodgy men and delays having children until later in life; unlike these characters, this leads her to make some hasty and unwise decisions. By the end of the series, shes an alcoholic single mother (Peep Show is very funny, but its not exactly uplifting). Intentionally or not, Sophies character arc highlights the problems with imitating the Sex and the City lifestyle if youre not fabulously wealthy and able to cushion bad decision-making with money.

Occasionally, even the richest Sex and the City characters are punished by the shows writers. In the second movie, for instance the one widely decried by critics as Islamophobic 52-year-old Samantha boasts of the potency of her cocktail of hormonal supplements: Ive tricked my body into thinking its younger! But when her pills are confiscated on arrival in Abu Dhabi airport and shes forced to suffer a very sudden return of menopause symptoms, including a loss of libido, shes driven mad. Without the libido of a much younger woman, she loses her sense of self.

Its all played for laughs, of course. But cut out the jokes and the fancy clothes, and Sex and the City is more like a Michel Houellebecq novel than a cheerful sitcom all materialism, desacralisation, urban anomie and grotty sex scenes. In Houellebecqs novels, middle-aged Frenchmen try to fill the emotional void with empty sex and empty consumption. In Sex and the City, middle-aged American women do the same thing, and then discuss their exploits over brunch.

[see also: The new Sex and the City series is surprisingly sad and surprisingly good]

In the first ever episode of Sex and the City, aired in 1998, the Manhattanite columnist, socialite and supposed everywoman Carrie Bradshaw resolves to stop looking for Mr Perfect and start enjoying herself. In that effort, she hooks up with an ex-boyfriend, a self-centred, withholding creep to whom she no longer feels any emotional attachment.

She drops round at his place mid-afternoon, enjoys his offer of oral sex and then leaves before hes had the chance to orgasm himself. Ignoring her disgruntled ex, Carrie tells us of her delight:After I began to get dressed, I realised that Id done it. Id just had sex like a man. I left feeling powerful, potent and incredibly alive. I felt like I owned this city. Nothing and no one could get in my way.

Sex and the City has returned to our screens with a new series titled And Just Like That. The protagonists are now in their mid-50s not their mid-30s, but the sexual politics of this latest iteration of the franchise are still in keeping with the first episode: having sex like a man remains the aspiration.

The politics of the show are now being scrutinised, with the creators scrambling to diversify a cast that was originally almost exclusively white (hardly surprising, given that the show is about rich New Yorkers). And the new series includes some excruciating scenes in which the leading ladies are reprimanded for their lack of political sensitivity.

It seems that the creators are aware that, in some ways, Sex and the City has not aged well. Watching the early episodes will induce regular teeth sucking in many viewers, since there are plenty of lines that would never be permitted on screen now (after all, theyre men, says one character, Samantha, explaining her ability to charm a group of trans women who have congregated outside her building).

But few of the present day critics of Sex and the City seem to have a problem with the shows central feature: its particular conception of female sexuality. In fact, according to one article about the new series, this is the feature that stands up best today: If theres one thing the show got right for evermore, it was its portrayal of sexual desire.

To be clear, I do actually like Sex and the City. Ive watched every episode and have even (for my sins) seen the films, which were almost unanimously panned by critics. The franchise is rightly loved by fans for its humour and its often touching portrayal of female friendship.

[see also:Sex and the City might seem dated now but for a Nineties teen, it was radical]

But its depiction of sexual desire is a far from right, as the article put it. In Sex and the City, the female characters regularly demonstrate their sexual agency by having loveless, brusque sex with men they dont like. They show no regard for their partners intimate lives, treating them as means not ends in the pursuit of personal pleasure. So it seems that what the phrase having sex like a man really means is having sex like a selfish arsehole.

But then, the whole show is a celebration of women behaving like selfish arseholes. The American writer Katherine Dee has suggested that Sex and the City ought really to be read as satire:To a New Yorker watching Sex and the City, especially a New York woman of a particular age and class, the joke is understood. Its saying, Yes, we are materialistic, we are shallow, we settle down too late, and it hurts us.

The problem is that the satirical edge is lost on anyone outside of this social niche. Theres a scene in the second series of the British comedy Peep Show that pokes fun at the disconnect between the shows glamorous setting and the less-than-glamorous lives of many of its fans.

One of the Peep Show characters, Sophie (Olivia Colman), does a dull office job, lives in Croydon, has an unhealthy relationship with alcohol, and dates some extremely lacklustre men. Nevertheless, her email password is (misnamed) sex in the city her favourite TV show.

Like the Sex and the City characters, Sophie sleeps with some dodgy men and delays having children until later in life; unlike these characters, this leads her to make some hasty and unwise decisions. By the end of the series, shes an alcoholic single mother (Peep Show is very funny, but its not exactly uplifting). Intentionally or not, Sophies character arc highlights the problems with imitating the Sex and the City lifestyle if youre not fabulously wealthy and able to cushion bad decision-making with money.

Occasionally, even the richest Sex and the City characters are punished by the shows writers. In the second movie, for instance the one widely decried by critics as Islamophobic 52-year-old Samantha boasts of the potency of her cocktail of hormonal supplements: Ive tricked my body into thinking its younger! But when her pills are confiscated on arrival in Abu Dhabi airport and shes forced to suffer a very sudden return of menopause symptoms, including a loss of libido, shes driven mad. Without the libido of a much younger woman, she loses her sense of self.

Its all played for laughs, of course. But cut out the jokes and the fancy clothes, and Sex and the City is more like a Michel Houellebecq novel than a cheerful sitcom all materialism, desacralisation, urban anomie and sex scenes. In Houellebecqs novels, middle-aged Frenchmen try to fill the emotional void with empty sex and empty consumption. In Sex and the City, middle-aged American women do the same thing, and then discuss their exploits over brunch.

[see also: The new Sex and the City series is surprisingly sad and surprisingly good]

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See the article here:

Female empowerment? Sex and the City is just empty sex and consumption - The New Statesman

Darren Lund.Courtesy of the Family

In 1987, Darren Lund was in his first year as a high-school English teacher in Red Deer, Alta., when Central Alberta was being rocked by the trial and conviction of Holocaust denier James (Jim) Keegstra, and the Aryan Nations white-supremacist group had begun operating a training camp near Caroline, Alta.

The educator, who died last month at age 60, helped his racially-diverse students launch the schools Students and Teachers Opposing Prejudice (STOP) group, which inspired the creation of several similar organizations around the province.

For his efforts, he earned the first Alberta Human Rights Award and nine accolades in all, including the National Award of Distinction from the Canadian Race Relations Foundation and Bnai Brith Canadas national student human-rights award.

In 2000, two students asked him to set up a gay-straight alliance to help kids who were getting bullied because they were openly gay or perceived to be homosexual. Today, most Alberta schools have GSAs, which are student-led clubs that promote equality while seeking to curb homophobia. In 2008, he was invited to serve as grand marshal of Calgarys Pride Parade.

STOP and the GSA were just two of Dr. Lunds many accomplishments during a three-decade-plus career dedicated to promoting social justice, diversity and inclusion in school settings and beyond. After 16 years as a high school teacher in Red Deer, during which he also completed his doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia, he became a locally, nationally and internationally recognized University of Calgary education professor. He also earned numerous plaudits for helping to reduce racism and sexual discrimination around the world through teacher education, youth engagement, and community involvement.

After 16 years as a high school teacher in Red Deer, during which Dr. Lund also completed his doctoral studies at the University of British Columbia, he became a locally, nationally and internationally recognized University of Calgary education professor.Courtesy University of Calgary

Dr. Lund continued his efforts in spite of receiving death threats from opponents of GSAs and the STOP program (which has ceased to operate), said Dianne Gereluk, dean of the University of Calgarys Werklund School of Education.

Darren walked the talk, Dr. Gereluk said. Throughout his entire life, he continued to stand up against hate and intolerance. He advocated and served the diverse needs of youth in schools and communities who had less privileged ability to do so. And most importantly, he encouraged youth to find their voice, fostering their agency and empowerment.

And if there is a lesson for all of us, its in the values, in the actions, and in his commitment to continue to do that despite the adversity and the resistance that he faced throughout his life.

Darren Ernie Lund was born Aug. 31, 1961, in Calgary. He was the younger of two children of Ernie (Moose) Walter Lykke Lund and Rita (ne Jensen) Lund. Moose Lund served for three decades as a Calgary police officer, rising to become an auto-theft detective. Rita Lund was primarily a homemaker and, in different decades, held secretarial positions with a bank and a Lutheran church that she and her husband helped launch.

Darren Lund adopted a worldly view while growing up and partaking in many charitable activities with his parents in their working-class neighbourhood of Forest Lawn, which is home to many immigrants, and backpacking in Southeast Asia in the summer after high-school graduation, his sister, Laurette Lund, said.

It was just his approachability and his humour that made him able to tackle all these serious issues, she said.

Dr. Lund at the United Nations, Feb. 13, 2017.Handout

He got his bachelor of education degree at the University of Calgary and a masters degree at the University of Victoria before he started teaching in Red Deer.

His Red Deer classrooms walls and ceiling were plastered with music and movie posters, his sister recalled, while also featuring psychedelic couches and coffee makers. Desks were lumped together instead of being aligned in typical rows, but students were highly engaged in their school work.

In 2002, he objected to a letter to the editor published in The Red Deer Advocate, in which local pastor Stephen Boissoin urged people to take whatever steps are necessary to reverse the wickedness of the homosexual machine. Two weeks after the letter was published, a 17-year-old local man who was gay suffered a severe beating.

Dr. Lund filed a complaint against the pastor with the Alberta Human Rights Commission, contending that the letter exposed people to hatred. The case dragged on for years as the high-school teacher assumed his professorship. The commission ruled in Dr. Lunds favour in 2007, ordering the pastor to pay him $5,000. But an Alberta Court of Queens Bench judge overturned the decision, ruling that the letter was not a hate crime and there was no proof that it had prompted the beating. In 2012, the Alberta Court of Appeal upheld the lower courts ruling.

It was very personal [to Dr. Lund], Ms. Lund said of the legal saga, noting he was subjected to vitriolic attacks from the pastors supporters. It was personal financially. It was personal emotionally to his family. He had to worry about his wife, his kids.

Dr. Lund outside Lindsay Thurber Comprehensive High School.Courtesy of the Family

In a 2008 Globe and Mail op-ed piece supporting human rights commissions, Dr. Lund revealed that he received hate mail and e-mails calling him an evil sodomite, while his then-wife and two children regularly discovered offensive material about him on the internet.

[The death threats] never stopped, Dr. Gereluk said. He knew the risk that he was taking and, yet, ensured that he wouldnt let [young people] down.

In 2017, Dr. Lund was invited to work with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime in Vienna, where he stressed the importance of educations role in curbing corruption, crime and violence, and he served for many years on a UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) digital network. He also co-founded the U of Cs Service-Learning Program for Diversity, in which student-teachers work with community groups. As a result, he received a five-year federal grant to share the programs findings with other teacher-education programs across Canada.

In February, Dr. Lund was among 15 appointees from 215 applicants to the Calgary Police Services first anti-racism action committee.

That meant everything to Darren, Ms. Lund said. It was coming full circle with our familys long history with the CPS our dad, Ernie Lund, and our Uncle Norman Lunds long service and now he was contributing meaningfully to it through his lifes work.

Dr. Lund as a young child.Courtesy of the Family

When Dr. Lund was not working, he was a doting father, partook in poker games, enjoyed baking, attended concerts, watched movies, cheered on his beloved Calgary Flames, and celebrated his familys Danish heritage. A lifelong runner, he also exercised regularly and enjoyed many recreational activities in the nearby Rocky Mountains.

He was the most vibrant, youthful, and seemingly healthy 59-year-old you would have ever met, even when he was diagnosed with metastasized prostate cancer, said his spouse Nina Howorun.

The diagnosis came in March, after he began to experience recurring rib pain early in the year. He kept quiet about his health and its quick decline.

I had a few conversations in the last few months with him and he [said], I dont want people focusing on my health. I want people focusing on the work that still needs to be done in this world, Dr. Gereluk said.

Ms. Lund said her brother continued to work until the final week of his life, handling his ordeal unfreakingbelievably.

He maintained his wonderful spirit and his clever and sophisticated humour to the very end, Ms. Howorun added.

Dr. Lund, who died of prostate cancer in a Calgary hospice on Nov. 10, leaves his children, Stefan and Tatiana, as well as Ms. Howorun and Ms. Lund.

The University of Calgary has established an annual memorial scholarship in Dr. Lunds name for graduate-level education students.

If all educators provided an attentive way to create safe and welcoming spaces for all children in our communities, the world would be a better place, Dr. Gereluk said. Darren showed us the way of how to do it and we cant forget that.

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Alberta teacher Darren Lund fought hate through empowerment - The Globe and Mail