Category Archives: Political Correctness

(Dreamstime/Leo Malsam)

The day after Donald Trump won the presidential election, Mike Boyle decided he was ready to become an Episcopalian.

A practicing Catholic all his life, Boyle was serious enough about his faith that he had spent three years as a member of a Dominican community, in the priestly formation track. But even prior to 2016, he was growing frustrated with the behavior of lay Catholics and clergy. With the initiation of the Fortnight for Freedom during the Obama administration, he began to be uncomfortable with the church leaders' obvious promotion of right-wing political ideologies.

Then Pope Francis was elected. Boyle initially hoped the new pope would bring about much-needed reform, but after a few years started to doubt whether Francis could really change things. He began to be drawn toward an Anglo-Catholic Episcopal parish.

"But I still held on," Boyle said. "With Trump, it was basically like watching a car crash in slow motion. Deep down, I knew that the hierarchy and all theusual suspects were going to jump on board the Trump train, but I still hoped that I was wrong, that I was being too cynical. But, of course, I wasn't being too cynical."

Mike Boyle (Courtesy of Mike Boyle)

According to Boyle, "it was not so much that MAGA Catholics (whether lay or clergy) pushed me out the door, so much as the embrace of MAGA cut the last strings that I was holding onto."

Boyle's departure from the Catholic Church is part of a broader trend, as church membership among Catholics has declined sharply in recent decades, especially over the past 10 years. Many who have left, like Boyle, cite their coreligionists' alliance with the MAGA "Make America Great Again" movement as a key factor in their decision.

H.L. Vogl came from a conservative background and converted enthusiastically to Catholicism as an adult. But in 2016, Vogl was dismayed to see their pastor becoming far more political and it got worse after Donald Trump was elected president. According to Vogl, their pastor was "explicitly citing Fox News in homilies, preaching on the obligation to respect those in authority in the government, and stoking fear of 'political correctness.' "

Vogl began fact-checking the pastor's homilies, and in the process also discovered falsehoods and misrepresentations that had previously been accepted without question, such as the misrepresentation of Mary Magdalene as a prostitute.

Vogl was also appalled by the church's lack of accountability, and the harshness with which the authorities silence anyone working for gender equality.

"I could no longer see the hierarchy's claims of God-given authority as anything more than an abusive power-grab," Vogl said. "In short, the political abuses destroyed my trust in the clergy and prompted me to rip my pious blinders off. Having taken in this broader perspective, I can never see the Catholic Church the same way again."

Others have been dismayed by the spectacle of prominent Catholics they once respected embracing Donald Trump's far-right nationalist ideology and substituting it for the traditional teachings of the church. This has been especially distressing for converts to witness, as they watch those who once influenced their conversion veer sharply to the right.

J.M. Jensen grew up evangelical, but his attraction to classicism in art and philosophy drew him to Catholicism. He converted in 2008.

J.M. Jensen (Courtesy of J.M. Jensen)

Then, in 2015, Trump announced his candidacy. Jensen was sure Christians and Catholics would reject him, but the opposite happened. Leaders and apologists whom he had trusted began not only to make excuses for Trump, but to enthuse over him even following the release of the "Access Hollywood" tapes that recorded Trump boasting about assaulting women.

"Over the course of the next four years, I saw almost every single Catholic leader who had been a voice for me in my formative years turn to Trump," Jensen said. Though other Catholic voices were outspoken against the MAGA movement, nevertheless Jensen found it depressing to see the change in those he had admired.

"People who once had decried 'cafeteria Catholics' and said that you must give your consent to the church's sexual teachings now said you had to ignore the pope when he talks about the environment or social justice. People who decried the moral relativism of the left now used the same tools when it suited them. All of the principle and character that they demanded of [Bill] Clinton were left at the wayside when a truly foul person came along. All for political power," he said.

Jensen is considering exploring other Christian faith communities once the pandemic has passed, and has been reading Buddhist and Taoist thought.

A recent Gallup report revealed that the United States is becoming less religious in general. The number of citizens who are members of a house of worship has dropped to below 50% for the first time in the 80 years since Gallup started keeping track. And people are not only leaving their church communities; they are cutting ties with institutional religion itself. It is noteworthy that the decline in the past three years has been especially steep.

While generational change is a factor, church membership is waning among older adults as well as millennials and Generation Z. The Gallup report notes that some of the numbers from 2020 may be due to the pandemic, and likely temporary, but this doesn't erase the reality that many are taking leave of their religious traditions permanently.

Adam Gabbatt, in a recent piece in The Guardian, cites studies indicating that a rise in extremism from the religious right is driving people away from religion itself. Gabbatt quotes David Campbell, chair of the department of political science at the University of Notre Dame:

"Many Americans especially young people see religion as bound up with political conservatism, and the Republican party specifically," Campbell said.

"Since that is not their party, or their politics, they do not want to identify as being religious. Young people are especially allergic to the perception that many but by no means all American religions are hostile to LGBTQ rights."

Writing for Business Insider, Kelsey Vlamis reported in November 2020 that young people were leaving their churches because of Trump. Vlamis spoke with Michael Wear, once a faith adviser to President Barack Obama, who had talked with many young Christians on college campuses. According to Wear, the "Access Hollywood" tape was a factor for many Christians re-assessing their place in their religious communities.

"Having been young during Clinton and seen the way evangelical leaders responded to him, and then to see these same leaders make excuses for Trump," he told Business Insider. "It just led them to think, some of these voices aren't trustworthy."

He also predicted Trump's impact could last long after his presidency, as many Christians who dislike the president will not forget the way so many churches embraced him.

Wear reported that Christians of all ages told him they could no longer enjoy some of the most basic aspects of their religious communities, like coffee after church and small-group discussions, because of the new divisions.

Kaya Oakes is the author of The Nones Are Alright: A New Generation of Believers, Seekers, and Those in Between (Orbis Books, 2015). While researching for the book, she encountered a number of former Catholics who reported having a "last straw" moment.

Kaya Oakes (CNS/Fordham University)

"Most often, it was some culture war issue that they finally had had enough of," Oakes said. "So while I don't have hard data on this, we have certainly heard plenty of anecdotal stories of this worsening under Trump," she said. "And then with the recent flare-up of QAnon Catholics, Catholics refusing to take the vaccine, bishops telling Catholics not to take the vaccineagainst the teaching of the pope,and so on, it's easy to imagine a person whose ties to the church were already fraying in the pandemic hitting that tipping point and deciding they have had enough."

Even for those who still identify as Catholic, their fellow Catholics' embrace of MAGA ideology has been disconcerting. One interviewee, who prefers to be anonymous because of his work with the public, shared how the 2016 election was a factor in his changed relationship with the church. Influential Catholics who had initially talked about how terrible Trump was began halfheartedly defending him, and finally enthusiastically promoting him and everything the MAGA movement represents.

"As their support for Trump grew, so did my disgust," he said. "To understand how this impacted me, remember these are the Catholics who influenced my conversion, Catholics I admired and trusted for information on faith. To find out their principles really just masked a loyalty to the Republican Party was devastating."

For this convert, the way some Catholics responded to the pandemic did not help. Neither did their response to racial justice issues.

"During the Black Lives Matter protests, the church sided against racial justice and were more worried about statues of saints than real people whose lives are not valued by our society. They refused to stand with the marginalized. The hierarchy seems incapable of looking beyond their self-interest," he said.

"The Bible says you'll know Jesus' followers by their fruits, and the fruits I'm seeing are so rotten I wouldn't touch them with a thousand-foot pole, let alone consume them," he said.

While he has not opted to leave the church, nevertheless he is tired. "I want a church that stands for justice. I did not sign up to join a GOP SuperPAC."

Where are they going, these tired and angry Catholics who are leaving? Are they giving up on religion itself? Not necessarily. According to Oakes, many of these people are "creating a more DIY, mix-and-match kind of faith practice."

And social media plays a significant role in this change, Oakes said. "What's interesting is that a lot of that individualized combining of religious practices ends up in people finding smaller communities of like-minded people via social media which in turn become more supportive, oftentimes, than anything they'd find at a Catholic parish."

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Support of Trump within church has driven some Catholics to the exits - National Catholic Reporter

Leave it to Milwaukee Chamber Theatre to awaken us to thewoke side of Thanksgiving and all of its over-the-top, comical trimmings withThe Thanksgiving Play.Written by Native American playwright Larissa FastHorse, TTP brimmeth over with political correctness gone astray and oh, what fun it is (regardless of the seasons). FastHorsess witty, incisive writing and the excellent cast of four make it all work to hilarious effect given the spot-on direction by Laura Gordon.

Logan (Kelsey Brennan) is an elementary school teacher whos received numerous grants to devise a play about the first Thanksgiving. Her street performer boyfriend, Jaxton (Eric Schabla), is along for the ride as well as older history teacher Caden (Torrey Hanson). The star of the show is Alicia (Hannah Shay) whos hired based on her supposed Native American heritage to guide the show and make it all the more authentic.

Problem is, shes not. Native American. She onlyactsthe part. And thats when the fun really kicks in.

So, were four white people making a culturally sensitive first Thanksgiving play for Native American Heritage Month? Logan exclaims in horror realizing her error. Oh, my goddess! But Alicia in her Valley Girl-ish speak simply responds, Whatever. Its theater.

And thats what makes TTP the kind of engaging theater that informs, entertains and keeps us watching the entire 90 minutes (no intermission) while smiling and smirking and nodding knowingly at all the attempts to overcompensate and overthink amid the overwokedness. This is, after all, theater.

Director Gordon has become a master of staging intimate dramas with few characters. And with TTP, she gets to spread her comedic wings, shepherding a cast that is as authentic in their roles as it could possibly get. Brennans Logan slowly evolves to see Shays Alicia as more than just an actress admired only for her surface beauty. Each helps the other to see look inside themselves for their own inherent worth and value. Theyre great roles for both women and they make the most of FastHorses sharp dialogue,allowing their characters to show depth and range.

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Ditto for Schablas yoga teaching boyfriend who tries hard to walk the woke talk but lets glimmers of his true self slip through. And Torrey Hanson delights in what hedoesntsay but expresses non-verbally, his comic timing impeccable. Its so nice to have you back where you belong, Torreyon a Milwaukee stage.

Good drama is, at its core, truth, explains Logan at the start of the rehearsal. The truth is, we can also add good comedy to that as well starting withThe Thanksgiving Play.

The Thanksgiving Playstreams through May 23. For more information and to register, visit the Milwaukee Chamber Theatrewebsite.

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Thanksgiving With all the Comical Trimmings - Shepherd Express

Morbidly obese theres not a precise sense of bucket-kicking in the term. But it sure seems that way. If your channel-surfing has introduced you to the freak-show panoply served up nightly by TLC, especially the long-running program My 600-lb Life, youll find it difficult to pooh-pooh the obvious: The shows super-morbidly obese subjects are eating themselves to death.

Poor things could that tug at your clogging heartstrings? Theyre counting on it, and its evident to me (having watched chunks and snippets from numerous episodes in recent years) that many of the shows featured subjects have spent their lifetimes perfecting the arts of victimology. But one mans statut de victime is another mans stark warning (in this case, a doctors): Every week, My 600-lb Life broadcasts deathly predictions, or something akin to them, from the droning but hypnotic voice of one Dr. Younan Nowzaradan, a.k.a. Dr. Now, the tough-talking, memes-instigating, Iranian-born obesity guru and bariatric surgeon who has seen it all, heard it all, and says no to it all. When the excuses come, Dr. Now refuses to (if youll pardon this) stomach them, or the lies and BS, or the whining and subterfuge that are part and parcel of the on-display, individual bulge battles that are reality shows Wednesday-night heaping main course.

If truth-telling and spade-calling that defy political correctness and that refuse to make concessions to victimhood are the stuff of modern conservative virtues, then Dr. Now the author of The Scale Does Not Lie, People Do is very much a conservative hero. He may seem like a glutton for punishment, but he is a man for these troubled times.

The people eating themselves to death? Well, some of them after the lying stops turn out to be heroes, too.

About the show: Since its 2012 launch, My 600-lb Life has featured more than 100 people seeking radical weight reduction via bariatric surgery (and then the removal of massive skin swaths). Their startling gargantuan presence is usually shocking some of the shows featurati have begun the process weighing in at over 900 pounds. Camera angles and close-ups highlight mattress-covering enormity and expose numerous ways in which the body adapts to extreme weight, accommodating it via de facto mass boulders and displacing bulges amid flaps of flesh. There is attending grotesque skin-related afflictions, as well as issues of immobility, questionable hygiene, and scenes of eating that seem unreal but arent.

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It can leave the viewer speechless. Or yelling, What the hell is . . . that?

The shows premise is simple: Participants confess and admit that something utterly catastrophic is happening, that drastic measures are required to avert death, and that they must follow, on-site, Dr. Nows Houston-based program, making a commitment to aggressive weight loss. The regime includes dieting (its all about the intake) and exercise, to meet Dr. Nows shocking (to those of us mildly obese) reduction targets. (A typical meme: You have one munt to lose tirty pounds.) If all goes well (or ends well, because on this show it never goes well), surgery can include lap-band systems, gastric bypass, vertical-sleeve gastrectomy, and other procedures.

Thats the first goal. Surgery is little more than the end of the beginning: It is only the engineered means by which people can achieve additional, significant weight loss. Some of Dr. Nows patients have lost over 500 pounds.

As a health matter, reaching the initial goal on My 600-lb Life merits a job-well-done response. And a job well done receives that plaudit. But . . . the entertainment aspect of this reality-television staple prompts more jeering than clapping.

Thats because My 600-lb Life is unsettling. How can it not be when the viewer finds himself immediately rooting against the weeks subject? Because theyre fat, and fat people deserve fat-shaming, as the status-holders contend? No: Contempt, or something approaching it, comes from watching the participants indulge in scapegoating, self-pitying, and rage at the denial of food. They toss tantrums when disappointment looms, brow-beat their indentured enablers, rationalize junk-food bonanzas, lie about commitment, lie about recent eating habits, and lie about sneaking pizzas into hospitals. To me, the most disturbing is that they sometimes force children into uncomfortable care-giving roles a teenage sons job is to clean between moms folds with a face cloth or scrubbing brush!

Could viewers contempt be intentionally elicited by tricks of the shows producers? Unlikely.

Still, goody-two-shoes do not make for good television. So drama reigns. My 600-lb Lifes weekly fare ranges from complete failure (the individual leaves the program, ignores Dr. Nows instructions, refuses counseling, etc.,) to success, reached via crooked and bumpy paths, journeys of the two-steps-forward and one-step-back variety. And the success is this: Dr. Now proclaims his satisfaction, announces his decision (his alone to offer or deny) to schedule surgery, and shares sought-for words: Im Proud of You.

Success does not come easy, though. It is achieved through the monotone hectoring of the 77-year-old surgeon, he of hunched posture, alarming dye-job combover, and clipped English that speaks truth to power and powdered doughnuts, a strange star in a visual medium, but a star nonetheless.

In an age of required pitying and babying when Americans fear to call the bare-faced liar a bare-faced liar, and instead sanctify contrived victimhood the empathetic but un-connable emigre understands that he is engaged in a deadly (literally) serious business. He understands that he cannot allow the portly patient to justify his 20-pound weight gain without a direct counterattack. Minus Dr. Nows bluntness, this patient, already on a path to an early grave, will arrive all the sooner.

This unwillingness to allow lies to go unchallenged should make conservatives smile: To shock the system, the fabulist must be told, directly, that he is lying, and that his excuse-mongering is not fooling the man who is trying to help save that life.

Does Dr. Now enjoy the position he must take? Probably not. But whether he knows it or not, he has emerged as a refreshing image of leadership, absent amid Americas cultural cave-ins. He is the sort of role model who is sorely missing among the woke-accommodating presidents of universities and corporate boards.

His words are blunt, direct, and necessary. (No you dont have to eat something! You have 800 pounds of food in you.) They are leveled at all who need the comeuppance of truth (You dont gain weight from thin air!), and when necessary, they can consist too of accusations, directed at anyone who runs errands and worsens the habits of his obese patient. When it comes to enabling, Dr. Now does not hesitate to employ the death-rhetoric card.

Theres righteous anger when needed. But Dr. Now armed with the facts of the scale that tell no fibs, his ears familiar with all the possible jargon and alibis that come with his trade is typically unflappable when the moment comes to ask the patient, So, how yall doing?

Prepare for a confrontation, at least from the perspective of the story-telling patient. To the physician, though, the ensuing ice bath is a requirement. There is a life to be saved here. Lies are a powerful enemy. They cannot be abided.

And Dr. Now does not abide them. There are as many examples of this as there are episodes. Picking one at random: Holly Hager fit the bill, and was over 650 pounds. Her initial compliance with Dr. Nows weight-loss demands produced minimal results. At her check-up meeting with the famous physician, Holly displayed a defense of ignorance and immaturity. Dr. Now called BS:

Holly, stop playing games and lying to me. You know exactly what youre doing when youre making your choices. Im not going to play along with this act. . . . You act like a child who doesnt understand, so everyone gives up on trying to get you to do what you should. Thats not going to work on me.

She confessed: She had nagging thoughts about chocolates. The thoughts prevailed. So, replied Dr. Now, chocolate is more important to you than living, apparently.

First and last, its all about life and death for the Houston surgeon. And its inspiring that on this one television show stuck amid TLCs other fare of hoarders and the quickly affianced, the too-close sisters and the too-many wives, the foot-mangled and the pimple-afflicted there is evidence that there is someone in our under-assault culture who will speak the truth, who will reject lies, who will call them as he sees them, who will resist the glorification of contrived victimhood, who truly wants whats best for people, even and especially those people who need help but inspire little sympathy.

His name is Younan Nowzaradan. He is stooped, has a funny accent, and needs a new barber. But for this right-winger, he is a conservative hero and an American one.

Read more:

Dr. Now, Conservative Hero - Yahoo News

Ive been part of a small group studying racism and its impact in our society for the past eight months. It has been a journey of discovery and self reflection as we have endeavored to better understand the experience of people of color in our culture.

Our Living Into Inclusivity group six church leaders and two community members approaches this issue with a shared conviction that everyone should be treated with respect and dignity and that our society has a long history of discrimination and exclusion.

Our most recent discussion focused on how actions we take or language that we might use in everyday conversations can reinforce feelings of exclusion or not belonging. While some folks might consider this political correctness, we took the view that it is a helpful practice to consider how language might be received.

Rufus Woods

Publisher emeritus

Personally, I believe in the value of trying to meet people where they are rather than expecting people to meet me where I am. You can check out our conversation about these micro-aggressions by searching YouTube for Living Into Inclusivity dialogue eight and see us wrestling with the issue.

For example, assuming a person of color is a service worker reinforces a notion of people of color being second-class citizens. Or, asking a person of color where they are from reinforces that the assumption that they dont belong.

We live in a society where the norm is assumed to be white and there is a long history of people of color are somehow less than.

We can have unconscious reactions that are built on these assumptions, as Cascade Unitarian Universalist pastor Laura Shennum acknowledged when she talked about moments in her past when she clutched her purse tightly while passing a group of African Americans on the street. These are the cultural messages that are deeply ingrained in our society.

Dave Haven, the pastor at Celebration Lutheran, talked about how his church has adopted a mindset of being color amazed rather than one of being color blind.

As weve discovered in our reading and conversations, the notion of color blindness may seem like a worthy ideal, but in reality it whitewashes or denies the experience of people of color, who face far different challenges in everyday life than those of us from the dominant culture.

As Francis Twiggs, the rector at St. Lukes Episcopal Church put it, Martin Luther King thought that we shouldnt judge people by the color of their skin. He didnt say we shouldnt notice the color of a persons skin.

Those of us from the dominant culture cannot truly understand the daily life experiences of people of color. What doesnt happen to us doesnt affect us. As John Coleman Campbell, senior pastor at First United Methodist Church put it, my first reaction if you are offended (by my language) is to justify myself rather than try to understand. This is the self awareness we are trying to develop to be more compassionate and aware human beings.

People who are different have experiences the rest of us cannot fully fathom. This is true of people of color, those in the LGBTQ community, individuals with intellectual disabilities and so on.

What emerged out of our discussion was a sense that we ought to do our best to understand the barriers and slights people are subjected to and do what we can to create a community where dignity and respect is extended to everyone.

For those who are interested in exploring this issue further, we are using the Racial Healing Handbook as a resource. Ive included a list of micro-aggressions and how those messages might be received at artofcommunity.com.

Rufus Woods is the publisher emeritus of The Wenatchee World. He may be reached at rwoods@wenatcheeworld.com or 509-665-1162.

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Opinion | Rufus Woods: When it comes to race, our choice of words and actions matter - wenatcheeworld.com

Dan Deming| Special to The News

Thanks, Gov. Kelly, for killing a proposal to help Kansas students become better informed and educated on local, state and federal government and successfully handle their personal finances once in adulthood. Kelly'sveto and the legislature'sinability to override means the bill won't become law and many young people will continue to be ignorant on basic civics that would help them be better citizens and understand government they must live under.

The basic course would have required passing a 60 question test, taken as many times necessary, and similar to what immigrants must pass for citizenship. What a burden considering most students currently pass through courses and come out with little lasting knowledge or understanding.

The governors' reasoning? The State Board of Education, not legislators, should set graduation requirements. Yes, unless it can be demonstrated, which it has been multiple times, that the current system isn't working and the state board along with teachers union and many school administrators continue burying their collective heads in the stand to obtain any meaningful improvement.

Killing that bill will have a more long-term negative impact on Kansas students than the also vetoed transgender sports bill. It also should have been overridden but got caught up in disturbing political correctness, misunderstanding and unwarranted organizational threats that organizations such as the NCAA would pull tournaments and business from Kansas if the state dared to disagree with their viewpoints.

One graduation you probably won't read about but deserving of praise are the two students, one from Ethiopia, the other from Florida, who graduate on Saturday from Victory Village Christian Academy, east of Hutchinson.

Victory Village has been doing the impossible in helping troubled teenage girls get their lives together and graduate from high school for 51 years. More on those amazing accomplishments in a future column.

It appears that the Nickerson/School Hutchinson School District has finally gotten something right in hiring new Superintendent Curtis Nightingale. As Forest Gump once said about opening a box of chocolates, you never know what you're getting, but from initial interviews and background, it appears Nightingale will be an excellent communicator to help bring about unity and quell division that has permeated USD 309 for far too long.

He's been principal for five years at the junior/senior high school in Bennington, Twin Valley principal in USD 240, and spent 10 years at Pratt High School following a series of varied and interesting non-education jobs.

Nickerson schools have been badly split over a failed bond issue, their former superintendent, how to move forward on numerous issues and even unable to agree on filling board vacancies for months. All of that could be in the rear-viewmirror with the arrival of Nightingale.

Hats off and way up high to how the Reno County Health Department, local medical community, private pharmacies and support agencies have handled COVID-19 vacations. The Sports Arena and other vaccination sites couldn't have been handled more efficiently. All of the individuals and organizations who helped have reason to be proud. This was one of the county health departments' finest moments in recent years.

Dan Deming, former general manager of Hutchinson radio station KWBW and former Reno County Commissioner, can be reached at 620-960-6733 or dan.deming2@gmail.com.

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Deming: Dumbing down the kids - The Hutchinson News

Daily file photo by Colin Boyle

The Lorraine H. Morton Civic Center. Alderpeople and City council members will now be official alternative terms to refer to city officials.

Yiming Fu, Assistant City EditorApril 28, 2021

City staff will no longer use the term alderman to refer to the 81st City Council, which will be sworn in on May 10.

Alderpeople and City Council members will now be official terms to refer to elected city officials, a change City Council approved at a Monday meeting.

Shenicka Hohenkirk, a city management fellow, wrote in an April 26 memo that the current gender-coded term may be interpreted as biased, discriminatory or demeaning. Instead, gender-fair language relinquishes implications that one sex is the norm, she wrote.

Using gender-neutral language helps reduce gender stereotyping, promotes social change and contributes to achieving gender equality, Hohenkirk wrote in the memo. Gender-neutral language is more than a matter of political correctness, but a language that powerfully reflects and influences attitudes, behavior, and perceptions.

Alderman has been the title for City Council members for more than a century. In 2011, former Ald. Jane Grover previously proposed to change the term to Council Member or alderperson, but the proposal was rejected because members of the council at the time said they found the substitutes too generic.

At the state level, the Illinois House of Representatives approved a bill in early April that would change all mentions of alderman and aldermen to alderperson and alderpersons, and all mentions of congressman to congressperson.

Email: [emailprotected]

Twitter: @yimingfuu

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City Council members to be addressed with gender neutral terms - Daily Northwestern

THE BASICS: Presented via Vimeo by the New Phoenix Theater, where it was filmed, there are four more showings of FOXFINDER by British playwright Dawn King, directed by Mike Doben: Friday and Saturday, May 1, 2 and May 8 and 9. Unlike some offerings, viewing is limited to the day selected with each ticket sold just for the day of the performance. The link is usually sent around 5 pm and you have only that evening to watch the performance, as in a regular run. This day of system, not my favorite, was stipulated in the contract from the plays London agent. Runtime: Well under 2 hours.

THUMBNAIL SKETCH: To prevent the imminent demise of Englands farming economy, the government has dispatched Foxfinders to find and remove the designated cause of the problem foxes. Dont laugh. In fact, the apparent (to us) ridiculousness of this theory is what gives this play its power. What are the foxes in your life?

THE PLAYERS, THE PLAY, AND THE PRODUCTION: Englands economy is suffering, farms are flooded, quotas are down, and the population could starve if the problem isnt identified and resolved. Now the government has fingered one group of outsiders, in this case, foxes, as the culprit. Weve seen this before, demonizing the other, whether it was Jews in Germany in the thirties, or the Japanese in America in the forties, or communists Hollywood in the fifties, right up until today when it could be caravans of criminals coming up from Central America, Chinese or other Asian-Americans responsible for Covid-19, Democrats stealing the 2020 election, or socialists, or the political correctness police, or cancel culture, or Planned Parenthood. Or, it might be your neighbor, the guy who helped you with that home-repair project, but who had a Vote Trump sign on his lawn. Or was it the other neighbor with the Kamala Harris sign on her lawn?

And so, in order to prevent the disaster that could be on the horizon, trained Foxfinders are dispatched to ferret out these, up to now, invisible threats. The very absence of evidence (nobody has seen a fox nor heard a fox nor seen fox tracks neither the farmers, nor the Foxfinders themselves) is simply proof of the foxs cunning and subtle ways. In fact, denying that foxes are on your farm simply means that you are a collaborator and that they have you under their power.

And if you are going to be under anyones power, it damn well better be the government, which knows whats best for you, even if your farm has been in your family for generations.

As the Buffalo Springfield song For What Its Worth put it: Paranoia strikes deep / Into your heart it will creep. / It starts when youre always afraid. / Step out of line, the man comes, and takes you away.

And so we meet Judith and Samuel Covey (Stefanie Warnick and Rick Lattimer) who have failed to meet harvest targets and now, following up on an ominous letter, must feed and house a trained Foxfinder, William Bloor (Zach Thomas) as he starts his investigation. As Judith tries to discuss the situation with her husband, Samuel starts behaving more and more like a Q-Anon believer himself. Will her sympathetic neighbor Sarah (Rachel Buchanan) provide some clarity, or will she too succumb to the paranoia?

This is not new territory for Dawn King, who has adapted Aldous Huxleys BRAVE NEW WORLD for the stage, created what was described as an immersive rave called DYSTOPIA987, and has a play call CIPHERS described by The Guardian as An ingenious thriller about spies, surveillance and doubleness.

This project seems to have been a labor of love on the part of The New Phoenix Theatre. The sets are believable, the costumes as well, and the lighting and especially the background ambiance are spot on. The direction is sure and the camera shots are effective, unlike with some other plays on video where the camera seems to move simply because the director doesnt trust the actors nor us in the audience to stay focused. Mike Doben respects his cast and his audience.

Without a doubt, I wanted to watch this because of actor Rick Lattimer, whom I often think of as Buffalos answer to Bruce Dern, or Christopher Walken or perhaps Steve Buscemi. Rick takes on the weird edgy roles and makes them his own and has appeared in a number of dystopian plays including FARENHEIT 451, also directed by Mike Doben or SHE KILLS MONSTERS, or THE KISS OF THE SPIDER WOMAN.

He never overplays his roles. He embodies them.

I was also interested in seeing Stefanie Warnick who usually works with The Brazen Faced Varlets theater company but not always, and was kick-ass in SHE KILLS MONSTERS and, like Lattimer in this play, doesnt over do it. 100% believable.

Newer to me was Zach Thomas as the Foxfinder last seen in MERCURY FUR, another dystopian / futuristic play directed by Mike Doben.

And Rachel Buchanan, last seen by me in FARENHEIT 451 (Doben directed) was, as were the others on stage (or on my TV screen), equally believable.

I gave it a Four Buffalo rating, and not a Five, simply because streamed plays just dont have the impact of live theater. For just one example, Stefanie Warnick is not only tall but she is a fight coordinator and has a strong physical presence on stage. Actor Zachary Thomas is much smaller and, as the script calls for, is extremely thin. Yet his character is able to physically overpower hers using only veiled threats. That would be much, much creepier on stage.

Before you say thats unfair, the theaters are doing the best they can in this unusual time of the pandemic let me say this: We have tried to watch broadcasts of Shakespeare plays which were filmed at The Stratford Festival, a place which, if youre there, is pretty much the gold standard for North American Shakespeare productions. We have tried to watch the very productions which we saw just live awhile ago, which, at the time when we were there, were completely enthralling. On our television? Meh is a good word.

Its not just theater. I was recently part of a very small, socially distanced test audience for some live classical music presented by a group which I had been watching via live YouTube streams.So I could actually do an A/B comparison. It wasnt just a thought experiment.The effect of live was much, much, much more emotionally compelling than I expected it to be. We all say Cant wait until were all together again in the theater but Im promising you that its going to be really, really good.

However, in the meantime, support your local theater, even if you cant be there right now.

*HERD OF BUFFALO (Notes on the Rating System)

ONE BUFFALO: This means trouble. A dreadful play, a highly flawed production, or both. Unless there is some really compelling reason for you to attend (i.e. you are the parent of someone who is in it), give this show a wide berth.

TWO BUFFALOS: Passable, but no great shakes. Either the production is pretty far off base, or the play itself is problematic. Unless you are the sort of person whos happy just going to the theater, you might look around for something else.

THREE BUFFALOS: I still have my issues, but this is a pretty darn good night at the theater. If you dont go in with huge expectations, you will probably be pleased.

FOUR BUFFALOS: Both the production and the play are of high caliber. If the genre/content are up your alley, I would make a real effort to attend.

FIVE BUFFALOS: Truly superba rare rating. Comedies that leave you weak with laughter, dramas that really touch the heart. Provided that this is the kind of show you like, youd be a fool to miss it!

More here:

FOXFINDER streamed from New Phoenix Theatre lets us peek over an edge that is both too familiar and too creepy - Buffalo Rising

For almost eight years, my smiling face has appeared in the same spot every Thursday. Mark Thornton and Jim Cegielski are anchors for Saturday opinion pages. That is how it always has been since I joined this group.

We also think along the same lines, some a bit more extreme than others, but we are watching the same baseball game I do love a good sports analogy.

My column usually is the first in what we call The Hopper to be looked over. Jim is usually second and Mark the man never sleeps will get his in shortly after the neighborhood roosters wake the neighborhood.

I wish I would have counted the number of times those two have written, in essence, the same column. There is no communication between any of us when it comes to writing columns. Its a mystery until it appears ready for editing.

Great minds do think alike. And since I have dipped the quill into tackling issues that wont necessarily make it popular, I have run into times where Jim and I are, in essence, penning the same missive.

As would have been the case this week had the boss not gotten his column in first. A sneak peek at Saturdays column: Are Americans just stupid?

Yes, as a whole, this nation is stupid. That is all I will say. In typical Cegielski fashion, he gets his point across brilliantly.

I canned the mask column about a third of the way through it. Not a big fan anyway of masks or the column. Im to the point where I will wear it into a store if necessary, then shuck it as soon as possible. I have found that more and more people are understanding the ridiculousness of it all and are only wearing them so as not to get shamed. I highly doubt they did much good, anyway, but I am no scientist.

Each Wednesday, I host live trivia. One of the regulars consists of a team of doctors, one of whom is over the emergency room department at a fairly large hospital. He hasnt worn a mask to trivia in a month. The hospital is nowhere close to being overwhelmed. Hes vaccinated. Im vaccinated. Now lets go on our merry way to a productive and happy life.

Enough on that ... but do make sure you read Jims column on Saturday.

No doubt we are in crazy times, though. The world has seemed to tip on its axis. Only in a nation like ours with opportunities as boundless as ones desire to succeed could so many people be so miserable. We have gotten so fat and so lazy that all we can do is ingest ourselves from within.

Our days are numbered. It might not be next week or next year, but our time on the mountaintop is running its course. Weve had a fantastic run. But, eventually, every kid gets his butt kicked and knocked out of the sandbox. Our kicking is coming from China. We owe too much. We spend too much. We cannot agree on whether the sky is blue or not. Political corruption is rampant. We have fallen into an abyss of wokeness the modern iteration of political correctness where freedoms have to be neutered at the whims and wishes of a small, yet terribly vocal minority.

Regular readers might remember this tale, which happened several years ago, driving home from the Gulf Coast. My wife and I were accompanied by our dog Yum Yum in the front seat. Cali the Dog, the stately woman in the back seat, was as calm and cool as The Fonz. Nothing ever rattled her. All she wanted to do was be.

Then there was the insane Walter, having only been with us for a year. Many of you recall Walter in these pages and tales of his wandering up to my door in Ellisville, literally appearing out of nowhere. We have had our bouts, and he once tried to take a chunk out of Marks ... just guess. When Walters crazy, he is crazy!

On that night in 2016, coming home from the coast, he was insane, barking wildly at large trucks and bridge overpasses. On Highway 15, we worked our way north. We started cresting the hills when the blue lights came into view at a Laurel police checkpoint.

Four beings in our car had no problem with the LPD that night. Walter, the American Staffordshire terrier mix with a severe reaction to Stranger Danger, did.

Having worked with the LPD for years, I knew most of the officers or at least knew of them. As we neared the two standing in front of their car, I had no clue who they were.

I lowered my window as Walter lost the last bit of his mind in the backseat.

Two things were about to happen:

He was going to break the back window going after these two young officers, who I still dont know other than their skin was darker than mine. (I would love to know who they were, if this story sounds familiar to any officers.)

Or chew through the headrest, my shoulder and left ear and charge through the window after these men who were just doing their jobs.

We almost came to a stop. License in hand, the officers looked at me, then at Walter, then at me. Yall can go they said and waved me quickly on my way.

At parties, I usually add, I had 30 pounds of illegal drugs and untaxed whiskey in my trunk!

But I didnt. Just a ride home, a couple of scared officers and a few moments of your time to not get caught up in everyone elses misery, which, by design, will only make you miserable.

Remember, we only get so many days around this floating ball.

View original post here:

Walter and the LPD | Columnists | leader-call.com - leader-call.com

The News contact all the mayoral candidates and asked them all thesame question on housing - fifteen of the 20 came back, here are their answers:

QUESTION: What is your definition of affordable housing? How many homes do you pledge to build and how can this be achieved?

At the heart of my Affordable Homes Programme are three types of housing: homes for Social Rent; homes for London Living Rent set at one-third of local average incomes; and homes for shared ownership.

I grew up in a council home which is why, if re-elected, I am determined to build on my record delivery of council housing through the Building Council Homes for Londoners programme. I will also establish City Hall as a developer so that the GLA will become a direct home builder able to deliver significant numbers of genuinely affordable homes at pace.

NOTE: That in the printed version of the Southwark News on Thursday April 29th Sadiq Khan did not provide any answers to our questions in time so we based his responses on his manifesto.

Ill build 100,000 homes and sell them for 100,000 using the shared ownership model.

What this means is that rather than a 50,000 deposit, you need a 5,000 deposit.

Now we still need to build council homes, and we will, but 87% of Londoners want to own their own home. We dont need to create more landlords; we need to create new homeowners.

To achieve this we start Housing for London, consolidating all the powers of the mayor under one roof so that we are driving the housebuilding, not big developers.

I think Londoners are fed up with targets that are never met. What we need is a change of approach. Thats what Im offering.

Ill set up a London Housing Company, a City Hall backed developer to take direct control of building the homes we need, and take advantage of empty office space coming onto the market by converting them into quality, affordable homes.

We have left housing to the big developers for decades and the results are clear it hasnt worked, and in the last five years the gap between what London needs and what is being built has got wider.

I have won some changes, like ballots for residents on estates to help prevent us knocking down existing social homes, but we need Londoners to have the ability to develop new homes themselves.

I will set up a Peoples Land Commission to find land for the new homes we need, from the people. Not enough is being done to fix the housing crisis in the homes we already have.

In January I put forward a plan to use 400 million that the GLA has left over from current grant money, to buy back homes from the big developers for key workers to rent at rates they can afford. London needs more fresh thinking like this.

Too many luxury homes are being built in comparison to affordable and what the Tories and Labour call affordable is not.

They have both also failed to take seriously social housing needs.

I have been investigating between 100 and 200 derelict sites to build 100,000 starter homes at 150k, outright ownership.

Bailey talking about 100k homes is deceptive as this is fractional ownership, which is fraught with problems.

Ill build 50,000 affordable homes that means costing about 100,000 by Christmas, and 100,000 a year after that.

How? Well use modular housing, which is affordable, green and can be constructed in a very short time.

Well use unused TfL land within half a mile of transport hubs and well apply an infrastructure levy so that those who profit from the housing pay back into a pot to pay for community infrastructure, additional policing and a better transport system.

So, when affordable housing is built in Southwark, some of the proceeds flow directly back to improve Southwark and its infrastructure.

I will build 250,000 new homes for Londoners.

I will change the planning rules to allow offices and shops to be converted to residential use, and put aside political correctness to reconsider how we use the Green Belt, much of which is scrubland and semi-industrial.

We will not accept a definition of affordable housing that includes rent at 80% of market rates.

This puts housing out of reach for most people, and especially women who earn less than men on average.

That is why I am committed to creating a strong social rent policy in London with separate targets, and fighting tooth and nail for better housing allowance.

AFFORDABLE HOUSING is a misleading term used to justify developments providing housing UNAFFORDABLE for most.

I will have a MAJOR REVIEW of housing provision in London in which I will bring in new rules to stand-up to developer destruction of communities.

I will quickly convert empty commercial properties into high space standard council housing and (in conjunction with boroughs) take-over / get sold many empty speculators flats & blocks.

Total provision (which would also involve some new build) 400,000; 75% of which would be at council at cost rents.

The rest would be actually affordable (rent or buy) by average earners in London.

My record of fighting for housing rights speaks for itself.

Southwark people know the area far better than me or anyone living outside Southwark.

Citizens Assemblies will decide how many homes to build, where, and of what type. They often come up with innovative solutions.

Its possible they may decide to convert existing buildings.

Citizens Assemblies will also define what affordable housing is and set out how to achieve it.

London needs approximately 66,000 new houses per annum by the London Assemblys own figures, and in the next 3 years London can be served best by making those 100% affordable homes.

My personal definition of affordable is that people should spend no more than 25% of their disposable income on housing & related utility expenses.

Across London we will build 50,000 homes.

New homes will come with a contract where the tenant waives all rights to buy during the term of tenancy.

Paid for using TFL brownfield sites and partnering with local authority pension funds looking to buy long term yielding assets rather than negative yielding gilts.

Rents will be set at 2.5% of the capital value so that the system is self-financing, and rents are affordable for key workers and London essential workers.

I want to see more homeowners in London, frankly people are being priced out of London, as it is no longer affordable.

I will be introducing a new rent to buy scheme, where with a low deposit, homeowners can increase their equity in the property with each monthly rent paid.

There is no catch, a quite simple way to ensure affordable means affordable. These properties will only be available to residents in London.

I will work with each borough so we can realistically plan what is needed in each borough against demand.

The lack of actual affordable housing for Londoners is unsustainable.

There are too many empty buildings in this city but even worse is the amount of unused land owned by the government and local authorities.

We need to use this land and give London more eco-friendly, affordable homes! I will also offer bigger discounts for first time buyers.

We have 10,000 people homeless, 58,000 in temporary accommodation and 243,000 on council waiting lists. Until everyone is housed in safe, affordable and, crucially, sustainable accommodation the work of the London Mayor is not done.

But, hand in hand with an ambitious building programme, we must think creatively about making the best use of existing buildings we have office spaces and around 30,000 homes sitting empty.

Any definition of affordable must be based upon the planets remaining carbon budget and what those with the lowest income can afford.

_____________________________________________________________________________

On Thursday May 6 you will be voting for the next Mayor of London and an assembly member to represent you at a local level.

This election, which was postponed for a year because of the pandemic, has seen more mayoral candidates than ever before. Twenty have stood, including the current Mayor Sadiq Khan.

Voters will be given a pink ballot paper on May 6 with the option of selecting two of their preferred candidates.

Different to General Elections, the London Mayor election uses a proportional representation voting system called the supplementary vote. This involves putting an X in column A for your first choice and an X in column B for your second.

This does not reduce the chances of your first choice being successful, but rather ensures all votes matter as they are counted.

We posed the same five questions on housing, crime, environment, transport and the economy, to ensure that you can see in a balanced way where each candidate stands on these key issues.

Here are the answers on:

CRIME

ENVIRONMENT

THE ECONOMY

TRANSPORT

The five candidates who did not respond to our questions

View post:

What will the Mayoral candidates do to tackle the housing crisis? - Southwark News

Doughty is a part-time bartender at Realm of the 52 Remedies and a marketing manager at Preiss Imports and lives in North Park.

There is an old joke with bartenders, What is worse than having no one at your bar? Having one person at your bar.

Now that I havent bartended regularly in over a year, having only one person in the bar would be categorized as a type of unavoidable hell. There was no way anyone couldve seen their lives upended by a virus, nor the ineptitude of a government that led to the strangulation of the local bar and restaurant industry. It is strange to watch streams of cash flow to corporations and political parties that have had your best interests lost on politicians laundry list of personal vendettas and selfish motivations. Regardless of the lack of support from federal and state governments, our local bartenders have been sidelined and forced to recommit their lives to other industries or side hustles that previously served us as passions rather than lifelines. I can only imagine that many of my regulars at Hundred Proof (R.I.P.) and Realm of the 52 Remedies have coped similarly.

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The American bar has been an emotional safety net for its patrons and a financial boost to its employees throughout its existence. When I was laid off from my position as a human resources administrator in 2018, I thought my world had crashed around me. I made a decision to become a doorman at a bar in order to bring in any amount of cash ASAP. Until 2020, this industry gave me more than financial support: I gained friends and emotional connections with the regulars. I craved human connection after being labeled disposable. Bootlegger Tiki in Palm Springs adopted me and corrupted me into a pirate. The people there taught me how to make friends through hard work and growing a thick skin. That family gave me the confidence to move back to San Diego and work for Trust Restaurant Group and Tahona and now Realm of the 52 Remedies. I wouldve never come back to San Diego otherwise.

On the most basic, personal level, the a therapist without the degree colloquialism has been well earned from the moment the first bar was created. Bartenders at your neighborhood bar invest themselves in the lives of their patrons. Its an unavoidable part of the job. Compassion at the most basic levels draws a person into the successes and/or sorrows of most patrons nightly. At this point, I never thought I would miss calling out first dates with co-workers old fashioneds and mules every time the Toyota Camry of drink orders or stories about your kids basketball games, or serving as the intermediary for slobbery political spats. I took these moments or problems for granted.

The pandemic took that away. All of it. The connection to the community has been relegated to Facebook posts and cringey online happy hours. The creativity I felt I could exercise in drinks and conversations are filtered by horrific Instagram posts by bartenders and political correctness. The bar was a bastion of freedom regarding most subjects. A bartender traffics in the support of human existence every day, positive or negative. At some point in their careers, bartenders have cared for their customers on a personal level, for one-eighth the price of a professional therapist. Right now, many Americans have been spectators to closings of many of their hangouts, which served as a personal theater for personal connections.

Since the pandemic, I have picked up a marketing manager position with Preiss Imports in Ramona. The bars I worked at gave me the knowledge to convince a family to trust me enough to write freely about their products (and fully stocked my home bar). Who wouldve thought a bar setting could make you informed about spirits and their uses?

I have prevailed financially throughout this mess but have returned to work at Realm of the 52 Remedies. I miss the small pains of dirty glassware and cutting someone off too much. I miss the feelings of connection I made with the Taquinos at brunch at Hundred Proof or talking cocktails with Phil at Realm or Reginas and Denzels giant laughs. The regulars I had become accustomed to became ingrained in my social biome. They have served as my therapists too, I suppose.

With all this gloom, I still am positive about the future. Already people have shown support in their local watering holes. All we ask as bartenders is that you treat our bartop like your own home and give us consistency.

Read this article:

Opinion: Bartenders like me offer emotional support to so many. The pandemic took that away. - The San Diego Union-Tribune