Category Archives: Politically Incorrect

Sinad OConnor has been pretty much invisible for the past few years. Theres a good reason, though, she tells me with her usual disregard for social niceties. Ive spent most of the time in the nuthouse. Ive been practically living there for six years. She pauses, takes an intense drag on her fag, and warns me off being similarly politically incorrect. We alone get to call it the nuthouse the patients.

OConnor is a music great her 1990 version of Princes Nothing Compares 2 U is one of the most transcendent five minutes in pop history, the solitary tear falling from her eye in the accompanying video one of its most beautiful images. The single topped the charts worldwide, as did the album it was taken from, I Do Not Want What I Havent Got. Astonishingly, in the 31 years that have passed, she has never had another UK Top 10 hit single and only one Top 10 album. And yet she remains a household name.

Perhaps OConnor was always destined to be best known for simply being herself: the angelic skinhead who swore like a trooper and shocked the world with allegations of child sex abuse; a woman who played out her own mental health crises in public; who became a Catholic priest and then reverted to Islam; who had four children by four different men, when all these things were unheard of or taboo. Her albums have often been cussedly uncommercial traditional Irish songs on Sean-Ns Nua, roots reggae covers on Throw Down Your Arms. There have been gorgeous, relatively poppy albums, such as Universal Mother, but even that featured a spoken-word polemic on why the Irish famine was not actually a famine, and compared the country to an abused child. OConnor must be one of pops most reluctant stars. When she was told Nothing Compares 2 U was at No 1 she wept and not out of happiness.

Its not just her eagerness to stick two fingers up at convention that makes her endlessly fascinating. OConnor is an enormously empathic figure; hers is a vulnerability we can all relate to. And she is often proved right, long after the event. Last time we met, 11 years ago, OConnor was a Catholic priest (she had been ordained by a breakaway church in 1999) who had just been vindicated. In 1992, she had torn up a picture of Pope John Paul II on Saturday Night Live as a protest at child sex abuse in the Catholic church. At the time many people dismissed her as a loopy self-publicist. Two weeks later she was booed off stage at a Bob Dylan tribute concert, and her records were publicly smashed. But in 2010 Pope Benedict XVI issued an apology to the victims of decades of sex abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland, expressing his shame and remorse for their sinful and criminal acts. (She viewed the apology as wholly inadequate, calling the Vatican a nest of devils and a haven for criminals.)

Now, OConnor is publishing her memoirs. The book, Rememberings, has been a long time in the making. For the first time, she has written about the childhood abuse she suffered at the hands of her mother. The book is a series of beautifully observed vignettes rather than a conventional autobiography: she takes us from the abuse to the kleptomania, reform school, pop stardom, pope-baiting, heresy, apostasy, breakups, breakdowns, kids, marriages and celebrity shags that have shaped her life. The writing, particularly when recounting her childhood, is lyrical, funny and anguished, and the revelations come thick and fast.

Shes at home in Wicklow when we speak, decked out in grey grey jumper, grey hijab (she changed her off-stage name to Shuhada Sadaqat when she became a Muslim in 2018), grey cropped skinhead and grey fag ash. Shes 54 now, her cheeks more rounded but her eyes still bright. For three hours, she talks and talks eloquent, indiscreet, potty-mouthed, poignant, conspiratorial.

In Rememberings, she captures the way she saw the world when she was young. She describes her fear on the day her father left, and her mother moved her and her siblings into the garden hut and locked them out of the house. She was eight years old. I knelt on the ground in front of the gable wall and wailed up to the landing window to get her to let us into the house when it got dark. That is when I officially lost my mind and became afraid of the size of the sky. This particular incident shaped much of her life, she tells me. Thats why Im agoraphobic. I find it difficult being outside. I dont mind when it turns into black night, but once the hours of dusk come, I get very anxious.

OConnor grew up in Glenageary, County Dublin, the third of five children born to Marie and John. The family were middle-class, fairly well off, practising Catholics and dysfunctional. When her parents split up, she says, her father (a structural engineer turned barrister) became only the second man in Ireland awarded custody of his children and a campaigner for the right to divorce.

In the book, she recounts her mothers physical and sexual abuse, including the times she ordered OConnor to strip naked, lie on the floor with her arms and legs splayed open, then hit her repeatedly in her private parts. She is convinced her mother wanted to destroy her reproductive organs. She had a thing about wanting me to be a boy. She didnt want girls.

OConnor closely resembled her mother. Was she aware at the time of how alike they looked? Yes. Ive often thought she did all this to me because I was the child who reminded her most of herself. Did it worry her that she looked like her? Yeah. I think thats why I continue to shave my head, because if I have hair I look more like her and I dont like to see her in the mirror. Theres no picture of her in the book.

She says it was her mother who forced her into thieving as a little girl. They would collect money in charity boxes, then Marie would steal all the donations sometimes as much as 200 a night. My mother was a kleptomaniac. She would visit houses that were for sale just so she could steal shit out of them. She would take money out of the church plate. But her parents had plenty of money, didnt they? Exactly. My father was very well-off. When my mother died, we were living like she had no money, with no heat, no electricity, no hot water. The bitch dies and theres 250 grand in the bank!

OConnor says she never wanted to steal, but then she found she was addicted to it, like her mother. I became a kleptomaniac as well. My father took me on holiday with the rest of the kids when I was 13 or 14 and I stole a rug out of the hotel room. Id steal shit for the sake of stealing it. She would take things from shops to order for her schoolfriends. The young OConnor was a talented sprinter; shed put on the clothes she wanted to nick, walk to the exit, then run. At the age of 14, she got caught stealing a pair of gold shoes for a mate and was sent to a reform school run by nuns.

When OConnor was 18, her mother was killed in a car crash. In the past, she has said she loved her despite everything, and never recovered from her death. Today, she simply says she was relieved that she died. Does she think her mother was ill or just cruel? I think she was an evil person. But she doesnt believe it was her fault. When I look at photos of the woman she was before she got married, she was a joyful, gleaming, happy young woman, and I feel something possessed her. It was the devil in her.

OConnors worldview has always been one of gods and devils perhaps not surprisingly for somebody who was brought up to believe the incontestable truth of the scriptures. Of her 20-odd tattoos, all but one are scriptural. On the back of her hand is printed The lion of Judah shall break every chain (My Rastafari fist), on the other Lumen Christi (light of Christ), and on her chest is a huge Jesus tattoo. On her neck is All things must pass, another biblical quote. The exception is a tattoo saying Vampire slayer which is what some friends called her after the Saturday Night Live incident.

She began writing her memoir in January 2015 when she was in a good place. But then she had a prolonged and catastrophic breakdown, brought on partly by one of her children becoming seriously ill; she also had a radical hysterectomy later that year. Everything went fucking pear-shaped. I went through what you call surgical menopause, which is like menopause multiplied by 10,000. Then I didnt write anything again for four years. The first half I wrote on a laptop at home, the second half I dictated from the nuthouse. The difference is obvious the early part of the book is economic, tonally assured, poetic, writerly; the latter pacy, gossipy and entertaining.

After the hysterectomy, her mental health took a dive. Nobody had explained to me or my family that shes going to be a crazy bitch because we took her ovaries for no reason. So the children were terrified of me. How was she terrifying? Angry. Raging. I was furious. I was completely gone. I was suicidal. She says she scared everybody off. Nobody could deal with me. I was very isolated and alone. Id be looking at them, thinking, what the hell are they all frightened of?

She admitted herself as an inpatient to the psychiatric hospital St Patricks in Dublin in 2016. OConnor assumed the staff wouldnt be able to cope with her either. She says she was hard work when she arrived on the locked ward. You test them. You show them your ugly side and youre like: I bet you throw me out now. After about three years I realised they werent going anywhere. In fact they loved me very much indeed.

Rememberings is partly dedicated to St Patricks. She calls the hospital her second home. Thank God I spent a lot of the last six years there, because otherwise I wouldnt be alive. Most of the time, she was on an open ward, learning about her mental health. Im 10% bipolar, apparently, 40% complex traumatic stress and the rest is borderline personality disorder. Did she try to kill herself in hospital? No. Never. I went there all the time because I was suicidal. I would take myself there. In the past I have made several suicide attempts. I would take the pills and say to God: OK its up to you, you decide and then of course I would wake up three or four days later. Clearly God thinks Im such a pain in the arse that he doesnt want me either. She grins. Im a strong little fucker. I wasnt meant to die.

It was the times when she signed herself out of their care that the disasters happened. In 2017, she convinced herself everybody in Ireland and Britain had given up on her, so she headed for America to see friends. In fact, she ended up living alone in a motel in not-so-quiet desperation. That was when she put a video on Facebook in tears to tell the world she was in urgent need of help: My entire life is revolving around not dying, and thats not living. It was terrifying for her and for her fans. She managed to get back to Ireland, and readmitted herself to hospital. Today, she says she wasnt only mentally ill at the time, she was in physical agony with gallstones. Social media has often brought the worst out of her. Twitter is really for lonesome people, isnt it? she says. And I was desperately, desperately lonely.

In one way or another, OConnor says, she has always had issues with self-esteem. In the book she writes about how her sister imear tried to boost her. She made me look in the mirror when I was 23 or 24 and say, I am loving, I am lovable, I love and accept myself exactly as I am and shed make me give myself a kiss. And did she believe it? I probably only started believing in January of this year. Has she kept on doing it? Sometimes I still do it. If Ive managed to achieve something; if Ive managed to have a shower or Ive managed to clean the house, Ill say to myself: Youve achieved a lot today, that was great. But I dont do it looking in the mirror. She pauses. Now and again Ill give myself a kiss in the mirror or say, you fucking rock!

Her last stint at St Patricks was her longest eight months. And it was this January that she and the hospital agreed she was fit to leave. Theyd been threading this thing together in me for six years. Both you and your team know when youre ready. How did she feel different? I didnt feel sad any more, I didnt feel depressed, I didnt spend all day terrified, I was able to go out, I was able to have fun, I was able to spend a day not beating the shit out of myself for my flaws. She is cutting back on her work hours to focus on the essentials paying bills, keeping the house clean and not being overwhelmed.

She puts out yet another cigarette, prepares to light the next, then stops. Can I just take a piss? A minute later she returns. Wonderful piss, she says. I ask whether she learned anything about herself from writing the book. I learned how very, very lucky I was. Coming from where I did, and then to walk around the world having this fantastic adventure. Sometimes I would ring my father, saying something bad had happened to me, and hed always say thats part of the adventure, thats part of life. You know the Harrison Ford movies, hes always being chased by a boulder or in a pit of snakes, but its all part of the adventure? Its scary, but its fun.

Towards the end of her stay in hospital, she started to appreciate her talent for the first time. When she was planning to tour (before it got cancelled by the pandemic), she worried that she may have forgotten the lyrics to her songs. So I went on YouTube to remind myself. I had never done that before and I thought, holy shit, thats me; thats quite good! Is she thinking of any particular songs? A lot was about the live performance, like on Jools Holland I did two songs called Fire On Babylon and Famine. I was a skinny young lady and I thought, where did that voice come from?

Did she think she was beautiful? When I look back, I think, yeah, thats a pretty girl. Not any more. And at the time? That was never something in my mind. Im Irish and I grew up in the 70s when to be a good Catholic you had to think you were shit; you werent allowed to boast, you werent allowed to be proud of yourself. You would never declare: I am loving and lovable!

OConnor says she was terrified of reading Rememberings: she thought she would find the chapters on her childhood triggering. There came a point when she couldnt avoid it any longer, because she had to read the audio book. Did she find it tough? No, the only bit that fucked me up was the Prince chapter. When I read it, I was like, holy fuck, that was a really scary night.

She was in America in 1991, soon after Nothing Compares 2 U had topped the charts. Although Prince had written the song for his side project, the Family, hed had nothing to do with her recording. One day she got a call saying hed like to meet her. A chauffeur-driven car arrived to take her to his house. From the off, she says, Prince acted strangely. He told her he didnt like the language she used on TV and made it clear he was unhappy she was not his protege. Things soon got tense. She says the evening ended up with him locking her in his house, insisting they have a pillow fight, then hitting her with a hard object hidden inside the pillowcase. OConnor says she managed to get away and he chased her in his car. Eventually she escaped. She has talked about this night before now, but previously she seemed to laugh it off. Not this time.

What does she think would have happened if Prince had caught her? I think he would have beat the shit out of me. Even talking about it after all these years, she looks shaken. What was the scariest moment? When he was sitting on a chair by the front door and he wouldnt let me out. His irises dissolved and his eyes just went white. It was the scariest thing Ive seen in my life. If he had still been alive, does she think there would have been a #MeToo moment about Prince? There still might be, she says. Im interested to see if that does happen because I know one woman he put in hospital for months. And she didnt make a complaint. I think he was a walking devil. He wasnt called Prince for nothing. Did they ever meet after that? No, I wouldnt go fucking near him, no way. And he never attempted to meet me. I could have gone to the police and made a report, but I didnt. I was just so glad to be out of it.

As well as the traumatic stuff, Rememberings is hilarious at times. Every minute she is falling in love with someone new invariably a priest or yet another man called John. She describes gleefully how she had never fitted the Catholic template: Four children by four different men, only one of whom I married, and I married three other men, none of whom are the fathers of my children. In 2011 she made a call-out on social media for a sweet sex-starved man. After a few unsatisfactory responses, Mr Right offered his services, and this resulted in her brief fourth marriage.

She describes the man who took her virginity at 14 as her deflorist. She admits she stole the term from her brother, the celebrated novelist Joseph OConnor. Is she surprised theres been so much sex in her life? No, because I was a horndog. I was like every other girl in a band. We all fucked our way around America.

She stops, and says she has a confession. To be honest, I exaggerated how slutty I was. I had a couple of affairs on tour with crew members, but I didnt do my slutty years till I was 49. Then I went on a load of dating sites. I never did any one-night stands before, and then I did the entire slutty college years in six months. Did she enjoy it? Oh yeah, I loved it. But it was time for it to stop.

There are also honourable or dishonourable mentions of celebrity boyfriends. She writes that Peter Gabriel, who was divorced from his first wife when they dated in the early 90s, regarded her as his weekend pussy. Did that upset her? Yes, I was really hurt because he had chased me for about a year as if he was madly in love with me. He was the type of dude who youd be away with and hed put a note under the door to tell you hes just about to go out on a date with another girl. And hed get you down for the weekend and then say, you know this isnt going to go any further. She says, Because of Peter, Ive always drilled it into my sons that you must never tell a woman you love her to get her into bed. She says she doesnt want to give the wrong impression of Gabriel, though. To be fair, he also has a great tenderness about him.

Anyway, this is all the past, she insists; the hysterectomy has done for her libido. I dont even look at policemens arses any more, she says sorrowfully. I used to look at them a lot; especially motorcycle cops. Id completely objectify them. A little smile plays across her face. There has been quite a hot electrician around my house for the last while. See, I say, theres still hope. Well, its six years since I either had sex or went out with anybody, and now Ive had six years on my own, I love it. The thought of having to shave your legs, pluck your eyebrows, hold in your stomach, stick out your arse, always stress, stress.

While were on sex, shes got a joke for me. I went to the doctor. He told me to stop wanking. I said, Why? and he said, Because Im trying to examine you. She laughs. I love that joke.

I ask OConnor why she thinks she has has had so few hit records. Simple, she says its never been a priority. For her, music has always been a form of therapy. When she did Top Of The Pops, she just regarded it as an opportunity to get this shit I have to get off my chest. The only reason to make an album is because youll go crazy if you dont. If you make it because you want to be famous or impress the fella down the road or to make money, its not going to be a good record.

Having said that, she did earn a fortune from music. I made 10 million quid on the second album [I Do Not Want What I Havent Got] . I probably should have made more. I gave away half of it. Why? A priest told me: when you grow up and get a job, pay back the money you stole. So as soon as I got the money, I doled it out in various ways to different charities and people. Thats not in the book, I say. She looks embarrassed. No. Because youre not supposed to say when youve done a good deed.

Shes probably still most famous for ripping up the picture of John Paul II. Has that defined her career? Yes, in a beautiful fucking way. There was no doubt about who this bitch is. There was no more mistaking this woman for a pop star. But it was not derailing; people say, Oh, you fucked up your career but theyre talking about the career they had in mind for me. I fucked up the house in Antigua that the record company dudes wanted to buy. I fucked up their career, not mine. It meant I had to make my living playing live, and I am born for live performance.

Despite everything that has happened to her the abuse, the breakdowns, the betrayals and fallouts she has never lost her faith. Yes, she has been hypercritical of formalised religion, particularly the Catholicism she was born into, but thats different. Religions are simply platforms for faith, she says, and she decided Catholicism was a lousy platform, so she chose Islam. I guess I was born with a huge faith and it never left and nothing would shake it, she says.

Why did she become a Muslim? What I like about Islam is that it is anti-religious. In the same way that Jesus was a militantly anti-religious figure, Allah is saying that people are not to worship anything but God. The worst thing that happened to God is religion. She means weve spent too long worshipping priests rather than God. Islam is the most maligned religion on Earth because it has the truths that would make you not worship money, make you not steal, make you be good to your brothers and sisters, make you gentle.

Weve been chatting for hours, so we call it a night. But over the following days she calls and texts with corrections and additional information. There are new stories about her mother, some horrific, some funny (One evening some friends of hers called round she gave them dog food on toast and told them it was pat). There are reminders of how much she adores her father, her children and two of her ex-husbands. (My first husband, John Reynolds [who was also her producer], is still my best friend.) And, most importantly, there are pleas not to misrepresent her. Dont make it all misery, she commands. Just remember, my storys not Angelas fucking Ashes.

Last time we met it was a period of relative stability in her life. At the end of that interview I asked if she thought her state of calm could be permanent, and she bridled. People always say to me, Do you think your happiness is going to last? as if Im teetering on some edge, she said, before telling me it was bollocks.

Now she feels differently. She knows things are going well at the moment she is happy living alone, shes got a good relationship with her children but she knows nothing is permanent. I think Im good now. But Im not stupid enough to think I wont have relapses. Im not stupid enough to think I wont end up in hospital again. Im a recovering abuse survivor and its a lifes work. Its not like you get reborn or something. She lifts her hijab slightly, showing more of her cropped hair, and she smiles again. For a moment, she looks just like the angelic skinhead of old. So yeah, Im always going to be a bit of a crazy bitch, but thats OK.

In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline is 1-800-273-8255. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org.

Rememberings, by Sinad OConnor, is published by Penguin on 1 June at 20. To support the Guardian, order your copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply

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Sinad O'Connor: 'I'll always be a bit crazy, but that's OK' - The Guardian

A.J. Foyt is still here, 86 years young, still crusty, still interesting, still armed with strong and sometimes politically incorrect views on racing and life. I found him where he can be found every May, in Garage A-1 in Gasoline Alley at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Nearby, there is the cacophony of noise from work being done on A.J. Foyt Racings four 500 entries, including a replica of the livery from his first-ever Indianapolis 500 victory in 1961, which will be driven by J.R. Hildebrand from the 22nd starting spot. Joining Hildebrand on the grid are A.J.s drivers Sebastien Bourdais, starting 27th, and Dalton Kellett, starting 30th (veteran Charlie Kimball did not qualify).

Hard to believe, he said with a laugh. When I first started driving here (in 1958), I was sleeping in my car. Then I rented a basement in Speedway for $10 a week.

Read more from the original source:
'I'm still A.J.': A.J. Foyt's semi-filtered thoughts on his first Indianapolis 500 win, the good old days and... - The Athletic

To anyone who will pay attention, I recommend the late comedian Bill Hicks.

So many people say that we sorely needed the wit and insight of George Carlin in 2016 and still need it in the years since.Thats not something I can disagree with though, given the opportunity, I will argue that weve needed Bill Hicks even more.

Related: Tennessee enacts law allowing youth a reasonable accommodation to avoid trans kids

While he knew he was dying, he served up the most vicious takedown conceivable of so-called reality TV.

Okay, many of us today properly deride the cancer that is that part of our culture. But Hicks offered that takedown in 1993 well before it metastasized and ate a generations collective brain.

He also offered an interesting take on the previous years Rodney King Riots (as well as the trial that preceded them, though thats a different matter entirely, and a take that includes some decidedly politically incorrect language). In a pre-internet world, Hicks hopped on a plane for a trip from L.A. to London, arriving in the latter having no clue as to the carnage that began in the former just after his flight left.

His description of the newspaper headlines he saw when he got to Heathrow? L.A. Burns to Ground.

His comedy routine recollection of his first thought upon seeing the headline? He must have left a lit cigarette back at his west coast apartment.

I too was on a journey as L.A. was burning.Nothing that fancy, though and certainly not trans-Atlantic.I was driving through the backwoods of east Texas, headed towards Little Rock, Arkansas to attempt to peddle some artwork at a sci-fi convention.

But instead of hanging around at the convention during the weekend, I ventured north to make some more artwork photos of other backroads that Id not yet seen in states Id never set foot in.

Missouri, Tennessee, KentuckyAnd Illinois the state I find myself a resident of almost three decades later.

Granted, over the course of less than two full days, I didnt have a chance to get very far into Illinois. Where I now live would have to wait for a few years; instead, I just made a quick jaunt into the decaying town of Cairo, known for not much else than being the sentry at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.

I was well into adulthood, but ultimately I was still the frightened little kid from Texas whose father repeatedly spewed tales of the inherently evil and poisonous nature of everything north of where he was born (southern Arkansas). Such rants often included mention of what he branded as a diseased industrial cesspool but what most folks call the Ohio River (and the less of what he had to say about Illinois as a whole the better).

But, when I drove across the Hwy. 51 bridge over the Ohio, I didnt die. I didnt develop boils. I didnt join the Communist Party. I didnt turn trans; I was born this way.

All I did was look to the south and see two really big batches of water becoming one even bigger batch.Its still a pretty cool sight; if youre ever in the area, I recommend taking a peek at it even if you need to detour a bit.

And all throughout that weekend, I felt alive. As for my cheezy, crappy art that I was headed back to Little Rock to check on? Well, to no great shock, I didnt sell squat. Ive gotten far more use out of the photos I took that weekend.

And thats in addition to the now-sometimes-fleeting remembrances of just feeling alive.

In a very real sense, you can draw a straight (no pun intended) line from my rambling adventure that weekend to the very fact that you are looking at my words right now. Later that summer I drove out to California though only to Needles (cue Three Dog Night); the summer after that: San Francisco (and another sci-fi convention attended by people who had the good sense not to buy any of my crappy sci-fi art); the summer after that: Canada (cue Leonard Cohen); two summers after that: England (cue Blur). Now, as Bill Hicks did, I had help from a plane to get across the pond but once there when I wasnt on foot I was on wheels on the left side of the road.

May 1992 was one small part of my coming out of a shell. It took a bit longer for me to get up the courage to begin the transition process, but it is not hyperbole to say that one would not have happened without the other.

Likewise, I cant imagine my ever going to law schoolAnd then after that moving from Texas to MinnesotaOr from there to Iowa

Or from there to Illinois and an often stressful (yet never dull) career Id have never had and a really cool colleague Id have never met had things not gone the way they have.

But all of this is not merely reminiscing about a few days I took off from work 29 years ago; nor is it just a shout-out to a colleague at my present-day job.

Its something Im doing to distract myself from so much else of the present day some of it personal that gives me the weepies on occasion and something that some will say is political, though it is anything but.

This signage mandate from Tennessee does a bit more than make me cry: This facility maintains a policy of allowing the use of restrooms by either biological sex, regardless of the designation on the restroom.

True, it is just businesses and government buildings that must obey the sign-wearing edict.

Now.

Your guess is as good as mine as to when Tennessee politicos decide to put the display burden not on the certain places that have restroom facilities but on certain people who might need to use those facilities.You shouldnt need a Ph.D. in history to see what this Tennessee law is a precursor to.

So, no, this is neither reminiscence nor shout-out.

It is none of that.It is pure fear.

Fear of what this new law is really saying. For it says nothing about protecting anyone.

Instead, it is an aspirational statement of national enforced conformity: a statement that a certain category of people a category to which I belong should stay in our place. They say that I should never burden respectable jurisdictions with my presence. They say that my cis colleague and I should never have had the opportunity to work together as equals and that future trans women and cis women never will.

True, the new law could not reach back in time to criminalize my use of public accommodations in Tennessee 29 springs ago even if I had by then transitionedBut I have wandered through the state on a few occasions since transitioning.

And, make no mistake, the people who put this law into force are telegraphing to the world in no uncertain terms that if they could criminalize us ex post facto, they would.

And they are telling me that, should I get the urge to drive down to Texas later this year for my moms 90th birthday, Id better not have the temerity to take a route that goes through Tennessee.

And they are telling us all so much more.Theyre telling us what they think of us.

We fail to believe them at our peril.

Read more:
Tennessee is telling LGBTQ people we aren't welcome. It's time we listened to what they're saying. - LGBTQ Nation

Discover just what that plan is when Stratagem with Alan Partridge, a live stage show starring the award-winning Steve Coogan tours to the Edinburgh Playhouse next Spring.

Love him or loathe him, there's no escaping Coogans Marmite creation. Over a multi-decade broadcasting career, this 'wonderful and surprisingly well-read man has brought delight to millions his words. And now, in a country riven with discord and disease, Alan is touring the land with a message of hope.

Described as a live stage show that promises to inform, educate and entertain in approximately equal measure, Stratagem finds Alan Partridge wearing a head-mic of the type favoured by TED talkers, market hawkers, TV evangelists, backing singers and carnival barkers, as he attempts to combine all these roles and more. He has a manifesto for the way we can move forward, a road-map to a better tomorrow, an ABC for the way to be.

Coogan is currently on location in the Capital filming The Lost King, which tells the true story of how the remains of King Richard III were discovered under a carpark in Leicester in 2012. Coogan plays the husband of historian Philippa Langley, who had a key role in unlocking the mystery.

Stratagem with Alan Partridge comes to The Playhouse on May 26, 2022. Tickets go on sale to the general public on Saturday, May 29 at 9am from http://www.atgtickets.com/Edinburgh

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Aha! Alan Partridge is heading to the Edinburgh Playhouse - The Scotsman

THE NEW LEADER of the Ulster Unionist Party has urged the DUP and Sinn Fein to keep the show on the road in terms of the powersharing government in Northern Ireland.

Days ahead of DUP leader Edwin Poots expected unveiling of his new ministerial team, and amid speculation over whether Sinn Fein will support the nomination of new ministers without a commitment over Irish language legislation, Doug Beattie said the Executive has to last.

There is also speculation that the next Assembly elections may be called before they are due to take place in May 2022.

It (the Executive) has to last, it has got to last for the people of this part of the United Kingdom, our Executive needs to keep going, Mr Beattie told RTEs The Week In Politics programme.

So theres an onus on the DUP, and there is an onus on Sinn Fein also to be generous with this because we are in a degree of instability, and they need to carry on and keep the Executive on the tracks until the elections in May next year.

Then in May next year people will be able to vote as to what way they want to go forward from that moment onwards. But the last thing we need is for the Executive to collapse, for there to be even more instability here in Northern Ireland.

Our people have suffered enough, its time politicians just held their ground, gave a little bit to each other, were a little bit more gracious and just make sure that we can provide for the people of Northern Ireland, particularly that we are coming off a pandemic which has absolutely decimated our lives.

The DUP and Sinn Fein really need to do a bit of mature politics here and just keep this show on the road.

DUP leader Edwin Poots with Ian Paisley Jnr Source: Brian Lawless/PA

Mr Beattie described a tumultuous couple of weeks in unionism but said the UUP had gone about their leadership handover in a very different way to the DUP.

We have done everything face to face with our previous leader and then we have gone out to the media and weve put our message across, he said.

We have done a smooth transition.

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Unfortunately with the DUP it has been a bit more fractious and thats not good for Northern Ireland we need stability here more than anything else.

As for anybody who wants to come to the Ulster Unionist Party we are an open party, we are a welcoming party but its not a home for people who just have a different view, or want to come and settle in here. You have to share our vision for the future, you have to share our values.

But Ill not take anyone on board just as a home because they are disgruntled with the DUP.

Mr Beattie said he will speak to everyone, including the Irish Government, the EU and the UK Government.

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DUP and Sinn Fein urged to keep powersharing show on the road - TheJournal.ie

Friends & The Art Of Being Irreverently Iconic (Photo Credit: IMDb)

You would find plenty of warts about Friends, even at a casual glance. Its about guys and girls in a couple of New York City apartments theyd probably be hard-pressed to afford, given their economic conditions over most of the shows 10-year run. Their sole problem in life seems to be falling in and out of love. The storyline you got over a decade could well be capsuled into a two-hour Hollywood rom-com.

The show has been accused of body shaming, gay jokes and, lately, non-inclusivity, and its lead players of being sociopaths, unrealistic, philanderers and, at least one of them, selfish indecisive b***h.

Lifes like that, isnt it full of warts and often politically incorrect. Friends chose to show it all with abundant humour that never failed to be funny, serving the silly with a twist of the irreverent. Its the reason the show survived all of the above.

The May 27 special, Friends: The Reunion, underlined that the 17 years that have passed since the last episode aired in 2004 have been more than just about survival in fan psyche. The complete absence of any fresh on-screen activity on the part of Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Joey, Chandler and Ross coupled with gossip about the actors that bring them alive, involving everything from Botox to drugs to inability handle fame only heightened the lure of the show, adding to the hysteria as it quietly kept building over the years.

In India, for the record, the unscripted special clocked one million views within hours across the country. For a country that had hardly found any representation in the fictional world that the show set up over a decade, thats a staggering statistic. Most social media reactions coming out of India, just as the rest of the world, have mirrored the sentimental frenzy that the show has built for itself. It shows the legend of Friends has only grown over 17 years cutting across demographic lines.

There is a pattern that pop culture follows. First comes the success, and only if the success sustains over a period of time does it pave way for an iconic stature. Notably, despite success, mainstream entertainment is often trivialised by those who look for finer sensibility even in what is meant to be served as mass entertainment. Friends did have to contend with as much during its decade-long run.

But the series faced a second problem the fact that it was a comedy. The genre finds an instant fan base but it is prone to get dated soon enough, too, because comedy is thought to lack the essential heft to be taken seriously in the long run as, say, political drama, or biographical and historical fiction.

It would be simplistic to say the series managed to survive these challenges only because it has doled out a brand of humour that was down to earth, and in some way or the other delivered the lessons of life. Even today, after having watched the show a zillion times, one doesnt exactly sit down to watch the odd episode to draw life lessons from Friends.

The secret for the show crafting and sustaining an iconic stature lies in the fact that it continues to make the nineties and the noughties look happier than they probably were. Add to that the youth factor, which never fails to appeal. It is something that continues to set apart Friends from every other commercial entertainer of its era that might have also been mega-successful.

With Lisa Kudrow resolutely over-ruling any chance of a Friends revival towards the end of the reunion special, the popular sentiment for the original series only grows stronger. It gives an added incentive for fans to romance what they have already seen many times. Kudrow and her co-stars Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer would be aware of the fact. If the shows slant at iconic irreverence ensures it will never go out of vogue, that is the casts ticket to television immortality.

Must Read: Friends Earned Whopping $1.4 Billion Over The Years But Can You Guess How Much Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc & The Cast Made?

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Friends: Body Shaming, Gay Jokes To Sociopaths, B*tchy Leads How The Show Turned Irreverently Iconic - Koimoi

POLITICS affects us all, but currently not all of us can affect politics.

The recent legislative moves to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote aim to change this.

The usual argument against lowering the voting age seems to be that 16-year-olds are simply too immature and ill informed to be granted the right to vote. However, through my experience in youth activism, Ive worked with teenagers who have presented to cabinet members, who have organised worldwide protests, and who have published reports in conjecture with the ESRI.

These 16 and 17 year olds are far more politically engaged than the average adult.

At 16 years old you can pay taxes, consent to medical treatment, begin to work and finish school, yet you are forbidden from participating in the most fundamental democratic institutions: voting for your leaders.

From student council members to the national executive staff of the Irish Second Level Students Union, 16-years-olds are integral to the political fabric of this country.

Well, almost integral, despite the fact that politically involved teenagers tirelessly work to improve our society, we refuse to let them vote. By doing this we deny them the political representation they deserve and effectively attempt to silence their voices.

Of course, there are some teenagers who have no interest in governmental affairs and this is understandable.

Why on earth should they care about the leaders they didnt choose? About the policies they didnt vote for? If we want our young people to become active citizens, it is imperative we let them vote.

Moreover, The culture pervaded by partisan politics and democracy as a whole means that elected officials cater to those who can vote. This makes sense if you dont get the votes, you dont get a chance to change anything. Unfortunately, this results in the needs of people who cannot vote being ignored.

The vast majority of 16 and 17 year olds are seen by politicians as little more than a photo opportunity.

These teenagers have minds of their own and ideas of how to improve the country. Yet, until they are given the right to vote they will never be taken seriously.

Much of the issues that affect young people are decided by those who are far older than them. Take education for example, in 2018 Ireland spent only 3.5% of its GDP on education, the second lowest in the OECD. The government is able to invest so poorly in students because the vast majority cannot vote and therefore have very little political capital.

I worked on the ISSUs 2021 Senior Cycle reform survey and report. We received responses from thousands of teenagers who were astutely able to spot the flaws in the Senior Cycle System and how they could be improved. Yet, because 16 and 17 year olds lack the right to vote, their proposals and opinions are continually ignored.

The future leaders of this country are 16 right now. However, if we continue to deny 16 years olds the right to vote, they will simply become disinterested in politics. This severely limits the pool of potential candidates for election and could lead to the eventual breakdown of our democratic system.

Irelands voter turnout rates are dropping, especially in European elections. Its incredibly frustrating to see adults squandering their chance to make a difference in their society when adolescents would love to to have this opportunity. Those aged 16 and 17 have a higher voter turnout rate than any other generation, with 75% voting and 97% saying they would vote in future elections. The patterns formed at age 16 will continue into the future. By allowing adolescents to vote we are creating a generation of active citizens. This will allow Irish democracy to thrive.

I have spent this article so far praising young people. However Im not going to sit here and tell you that all 16 and 17 year olds are highly politically aware and will use their vote maturely and responsibly. But lets be honest, there are a fair few adults that dont use their vote wisely either. In every election, some spoil their ballots or cast their votes for joke candidates. Its incorrect to argue that 16 year olds cannot be given the right to vote because they would use it irresponsibly when legal adults are exhibiting theat very behaviours.

If we are to create a generation of politically aware and active citizens we cant stop at granting 16 year olds the right to vote.

We also need to seriously improve the level of political education in secondary schools. Junior Cycle CSPE is seen as little more than a joke.

The Leaving Cert equivalent: politics and society is not available to all students. 16 year olds deserve not just the right to vote but also the knowledge on how to vote in a politically astute manner.

ABOUT THE ISSU

The Irish Second-Level Students Union (ISSU) is the national representative body for second-level school students in the Republic of Ireland.

The ISSU works towards an education system in which the views, opinions and contributions of students are respected and in which students are recognised as an official partner in creating an education that is centered around and caters best for students.

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Cork teen: Why you should support the vote at 16 - Echo Live

A view of an iceberg near South George island, November 18, 2020. Photo: UK Ministry of Defence/Handout via Reuters

As we grapple with Indias COVID-19 epidemic, we cant afford to lose sight of the larger crisis that lies in wait: climate change. Several voices worldwide, ranging from celebrities to academics, claim that the global collaboration observed to address the COVID crisis could help us prepare better to face the impending climate crisis. Although the collaboration achieved so far is undoubtedly a ray of hope to cope with a climate-affected future, we were reminded of a question by one of our students, can climate change be fundamentally addressed as long as the top 5% of the worlds population (or even a smaller fraction) can bail themselves out from the worst impacts of the climate crisis?

Drawing a direct parallel, when India is reporting the worlds highest daily cases of infection, and people here are fighting their battle to breathe, many wealthy Indians fled from the country in private jets paying ten times the regular fare, just in time before several foreign countries imposed a ban on arrivals from India.

This raises the obvious question of whether 5% of the worlds population could always be saved, be it from COVID or climate change? And more importantly, are we evaluating the situation correctly if we expect the same level of cooperation and concerted effort, as observed towards managing COVID, to combat climate change? The fact of the matter is that the uncharted pathways of COVID are much more fearsome to the top 5% of the worlds population than the threat of climate crisis. And howsoever politically incorrect this may sound, this sections active involvement in this capitalist neoliberal world does play a critical role in inducing cooperation on a global scale.

So comparing COVID and climate crisis is like comparing apples and oranges. Both share a first-order similarity: both are fruits, or both these crises are rather unprecedented global ones; there is hardly any further major similarity. The reason we are falsely equating the two is that both are bound to adversely hit every human irrespective of their human strata, at least in principle. However, there are some crucial differences.

Biological parameters of COVID-19 demand a massive global collaboration to end the crisis. COVID-19 is caused by a highly contagious RNA virus (SARS-CoV-2), which owing to its genetic makeup, can mutate quite easily. This ability to mutate is what makes it difficult to find a potent vaccine that can offer long-term protection against the virus. Thus, the key to fighting such a virus is to vaccinate as many people as concurrently as possible so that the virus does not get the scope to mutate and eventually get eradicated in the best manner possible. Although vaccines developed so far are found to be efficacious against all the new mutants (Brazil and the UK) discovered, it may not be true for all the mutants of the virus that are expected to emerge out of India.

Apart from this biological factor, it is always going to be difficult for anyone to remain unscathed from COVID-19. Being a respiratory virus, it is highly contagious, and the pathways through which it impacts are difficult to track and contain. In spite of this, the wealthy and the influential sections of the world are looking for a COVID haven. However, to think or plan for a COVID haven or a bio-bubble is a next-to-impossible task. Even when the BCCI tried its best to implement bio bubbles for the smooth operation of one of the worlds most lucrative sporting leagues, it failed.

On the other hand, a climate haven in principle can be planned as there are places that are least likely to be impacted by the climate crisis. This will surely include colonies on other planets or in space. Although experts opine otherwise and argue against the idea of a climate haven, the rich and the influential (the top 5%) of the world are already considering climate vulnerabilities while making real-estate investments. Moreover, the temporal spread of the impacts of climate change (generally over 50-100 year timescale) will always allow sufficient time to find a climate haven which is not possible during an imminent pandemic. The possibility of a climate haven deters the super-rich from contributing to a common goal, i.e., combating climate change. The impossibility of a COVID haven exposes this population to shared risks and makes them part of the battle the masses, and even middle classes are fighting.

A recent New York Times article says that despite the best-coordinated efforts and necessary support from the privileged layer of the global society, we witnessed a great deal of ineffectiveness concerning COVID vaccine distribution; the distribution also disproportionately impacted the poorer countries. It is a no-brainer that socio-economically marginalized populations are usually the most vulnerable section in any major crisis, be it a pandemic or climate change. People in power do acknowledge the need to safeguard everyone from COVID, find it hard to act ethically and rationally during such a humanitarian crisis. Letting go of private security or comforts for the public good has never been an easy task. Clearly, it is not the social collaboration but this dismal response to COVID that would be a precursor to how the world is going to respond to the impending climate crisis.

It shows that, if anything, the response to the climate crisis is going to be even less coordinated, and the resulting circumstances are going to be far worse as the richer sections and countries can always have the option to bail out. As they say, any pandemic or global crisis can only expose the fault lines present in the society and is going to magnify the existing vulnerabilities to a different order. The grim reality we are witnessing in terms of addressing the climate crisis can only be considered to be the tip of the iceberg, and the iceberg will fully emerge only when we are faced with the climate crisis.

Soumyajit Bhar is a PhD scholar at ATREE, Bengaluru. Kalpita Bhar is an assistant professor of philosophy at Krea University, Andhra Pradesh.

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Of COVID-19 and Climate Change, One Is the Tip and the Other Is the Iceberg - The Wire Science

Mythic Quest

#YumYum

Season 2 Episode 3

Editors Rating 3 stars ***

Photo: Apple TV+

In the first scene of #YumYum, co-creative directors Ian and Poppy are getting along well. But by the end of the episode, battle lines have been drawn, potentially to last the whole season. It seems, based on this episode, that season two could become more serialized than season one.

The StageGate meeting with Montreal is next week, and Ian and Poppy have little to present for the new expansion. After disagreeing on what direction to go in, theyve elected to each independently develop their own ideas. Since theyve separated, they havent been fighting at all but thats a temporary solution to a problem that isnt going away. David, triggered by the reminder of the end of his parents marriage as well as his own deems this stage the calm before the divorce.

Brad has a simple solution to their creative stasis: capitalize on the battle-royale fad popularized by games like Fortnite and Call of Duty: Warzone. But neither Ian nor Poppy like the idea, so they decide to work out of separate offices to buckle down with their respective teams. This doesnt go well for either of them, of course, because as we know, Ian and Poppy are better together than apart.

In this case, Ian needs someone to push back more on his ideas, a request that meek Phil from the art team cant grant. (It has to happen organically, like it does with Poppy, Ian insists.) He brings in Rachel as a substitute, hoping shell be her normal, indignant, annoying self and spark his creativity.

Poppy, on the other hand, needs the opposite. Ian had this way of stroking my ego and bolstering my confidence to the point where I felt like I could overcome anything, she admits early in the episode, unhappy with her new programming teams brutal honesty. Thats when Dana wanders in, hoping Poppy will help her learn to code. She calls her maybe the most talented programmer of our generation, inspiring Poppy to bring her in to stroke her ego, just as Ian brought in Rachel to crush his. Neither strategy works, and with nothing to show for all her sleepless hours at the office, Poppy is forced to resort to Brads earlier battle-royale suggestion. Ian finds this out right as hes approaching Poppy to reconcile, and the episode ends with the two erupting into an argument, their carefully calibrated ceasefire reaching its inevitable end.

The parallels to divorce in the temporary dissolution of Ian and Poppys partnership can be funny, but theyre also predictable, and basically a repeat of the joke just two episodes ago with David and Jo in the premiere. Its hard to know how seriously to take the final scene when the tone of Ian and Poppys fight feels more comedic than dramatic; this feels more like the ending to an episode-long joke than a true shit just got real moment. I couldve done without some of the more forced divorce parallels in this scene, like Poppy pointing out that we were on a break.

Perhaps jumping back into the dating game to distract him from his divorce anxiety at work, David gets on the dating apps this episode, to little success. After suggesting David present himself like a loot box from a game a package with a tempting exterior that hides the garbage inside Brad comes up with an idea to improve his online dating skills. He pulls up a Japanese dating simulation called Divorcee Dance Party to soft-launch David, tweaking everything about his conversational style that doesnt work. That means no food pictures or drink orders hashtagged #YumYum, and no wedding photos on his dating profiles. After ten exchanges with a sim woman without her rejecting him, theyll know Davids ready to date.

David does get there, eventually only to realize he was interacting with real people the whole time when Brad drops a curtain to reveal Sue, Carol, and Paul. (Were still a little light on the ladies at MQ, so Brad explains.) Sue offers an explanation for rejecting him: David, I just cannot imagine being the vessel to your seed. Does that make sense? Carol, who thought she was testing a new HR tool for sexual harassment training when she propositioned David, is even more cutting: David, I dont want to hurt your feelings, but I could not dislike you more or be less physically attracted to you.

Needless to say, David is dispirited. But in a sweet scene, Brad assures him that he was wrong to call him a loot box. They should be thinking of him more like a burlap sack: not flashy or fun at all, but the people who buy it really need it. Brad even went to the trouble of changing Davids profiles, and set him up on a date. Its a nice ending to a subplot that thrives by showing Brad at his best: helping people in the honest, unsparing way that only he can. Maybe hes capable of being the hero after all.

In the episodes final subplot, Jo secures C.W. an extension on the long-delayed final book in his trilogy by threatening his publisher with involving C.W. in the promotion of the film adaptation something the publisher definitely doesnt want, given his propensity for politically incorrect stories. Its a slight subplot, and not exactly the meaty material I was hoping F. Murray Abraham would get; this season, hes still more of a dirty old man stereotype than a real character. But its a smart touch for Jo to take Brads wisdom (In a negotiation, what you think is your greatest strength can actually be your greatest weakness) and flip it (C.W., youre my greatest strength!).

Im also a little skeptical of Jos examples of authors whose personal views hurt their movie adaptations. The Enders Game movie was a box-office bomb, but its unclear if that was related to the boycott; after all, Orson Scott Cards opposition to same-sex marriage has been well-known since the 90s. And is it really accurate to say that J.K. Rowling got canceled with a couple keystrokes?

David lures Jo into giving him attention by using a fishing metaphor for online dating. Jo involuntarily explodes, Oh my God, David, youre not dating, youre trawling for a death partner.

When Rachel apologizes again for screwing up Grouchy Goat, Dana insists this is just a temporary roadblock. I mean, we dont want to be sitting on this couch forever, right? she exclaims. We both got big dreams. Totally, Rachel replies, but based on her expression, shes not so sure. Will the gulf in Rachel and Danas respective ambitions pose trouble for the new couple?

When David makes the mistake of making a message way too long, the sim shows the woman approaching a hunk instead. Why would they animate that? David asks.

Its Always Sunny Parallel of the Week: Brad likens the team to seagulls who should be gorging themselves on the whale carcass that is battle-royale mode. When Poppy denies being a seagull, Brad replies, Not yet youre not. Not yet Im not? Poppy says. What is that supposed to mean? What, Im just going to turn into a bird? Later, Poppy caves and goes ahead with battle royale, becoming the bird. This all calls to mind, of course, the Gang constantly referring to Dee Reynolds as a bird.

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Mythic Quest Recap: Calm Before the Divorce - Vulture

Pic: Edex Live

Husband: I have a question. Why did the chicken cross the road?Wife: Because the chicken behind it didnt know how to socially distance properly.Is it okay to say how to socially distance properly? Yes, it is perfectly correct. The phrase to socially distance is an example of a cleft infinitive or split infinitive. A cleft infinitive is a grammatical construction in which a word or phrase is placed between the particle to and the infinitive that comprises a to-infinitive. In the example above, the modifier socially is placed between the particle to and the verb distance. Old-fashioned grammarians say that it is wrong to split infinitives but modern grammar experts agree that cleft infinitives are acceptable. Henry Alford in his 1864 book The Queens English states that split infinitives should be avoided. Modern style guides do not speak out against cleft infinitives but advise writers to avoid awkward construction that might confuse the reader. Split infinitives are very common in spoken and informal English. Here are examples:I think everyone is free today. This evening is the best time to finally go to the beach.Jane called me a few minutes ago. She only wants to quickly talk to you.It is common to use cleft infinitive phrases in informal conversational English. Examples:to warmly welcometo suddenly noticeLets move on to another aspect of grammar called singular they. In Modern English, the plural pronoun their can be used as a gender-neutral singular pronoun instead of he/she and they can be used to represent a singular antecedent that is gender-neutral and indefinite (for example, someone, no one, anyone or a person). Gender-neutral pronouns do not specify whether the subject of the sentence is male or female. Here is a list of such pronouns: they, them, themself, their, theirs.Look at these examples:Any candidate who wants to meet the Director should submit their (instead of his/her)applicationI think someone is waiting outside. They want to meet me. Ill talk to them for a few minutes.Lets move on to gender-neutral occupation words. Actor or actress? Look at the sentences below:Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut has tested positive for COVID-19. The actor shared her health update on social media along with a long note.Thalaivi actress Kangana Ranaut tests positive for COVID-19The term actress is outdated. Feminists and those who believe in equality say that it is not politically correct to use the word actress. If there is a distinction to be made, the terms male actor and female actor can be used. Ask any female actor whether she likes to be described as an actress. No will be her reply as she thinks it is an offensive term. Here are other politically incorrect terms: authoress, comedienne, manageress. Avoid using such terms and be politically correct.

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English Blues: Here are a few grammar rules that we can now violate, find out how - EdexLive