Category Archives: Zeitgeist Movement

On Wednesday, Hulu dropped the first three episodes of its most star-studded scripted series to date, David E. Kelleys adaptation of Liane Moriartys bestselling novel Nine Perfect Strangers. Directed by Jonathan Levine and co-produced by Nicole Kidman, the limited series takes place in an exclusive wellness retreat where the titular guests attempt to undergo some spiritual and physical transformation, guided by a sketchy Russian guru named Masha, played by Kidman in yet another distracting wig.

As Kevin Fallon opined in his review, the series is a tonal mishmash. Despite some performances that would otherwise attract immediate awards buzz if placed in a better show, notably from Melissa McCarthy and Michael Shannon, none of them really coalesce to create a dynamic ensemble. Nor do any of these broadly written characters or the evidently fraudulent institution warrant that much intrigue. On a marketing level, the series also faces the burden of competing with the hype of HBOs just-concluded smash hit The White Lotus, which also portrays rich people swapping their privileged at-home lives for another privileged experience in an exotic location, and Kelleys previous Moriarty adaptation Big Little Lies, where his pen is far more robust.

Whether or not Nine Perfect Strangers attracts the fanfare its clamoring for with its cast of A-listers, its presence in the zeitgeist, and wonky, cult-ish portrayal of the wellness industry, along with other new media, feels indicative of a growing exhaustion and cynicism surrounding the state of self-care and wellness, particularly the ways its manifested in American life just over the past few years, from social media to QAnon conspiracies to corporate advertising and, of course, the current pandemic.

Wellnessencompassing holistic practices and dubious remediesis hardly a new phenomenon in the United States, although it feels like its become ubiquitous over the past decade. Since colonialism, the Western world has been importing and appropriating Eastern methods of medicine and spiritual practices that are now associated with catchall terms like New Age, alternative medicine, and even Goop. Self-care as a rationalization for incorporating wellness and self-improvement into our lives also has a deeper history than the average Instagram user inundated with #selfcare sponcon would be led to believe, promoted by ancient philosophers and repopularized in political environments like the womens liberation movement of the 70s and, specifically, queer Black feminist spaces. (This is why writer and activist Audre Lordes definition of the term is often referenced on the feminist sections of the internet.)

Now more than ever, these practices and their philosophies have been detached from their histories, stripped of their nuances and monetized by corporations and upper-class white peoplebut most visibly in pop culture, upper-class white women. In a piece for The New Yorker, Jordan Kisner writes about the #selfcare-as-politics movement of 2016 that was ironically powered by straight, affluent white women in response to Donald Trumps presidential campaign and subsequent election, a moment that awakened much of that demographic politically. Likewise, the rich white woman who collects crystals, receives sound baths and is obsessed with tarot cards and, most significantly, considers herself an expert in these customs has captured our collective attention and skepticism, from Gwyneth Paltrow and her Goop empire, Kourtney Kardashians try at her own Goop, shows like the aforementioned Nine Perfect Strangers and Foxs Fantasy Island (although the rich woman is Latina).

Now more than ever, these practices and their philosophies have been detached from their histories, stripped of their nuances and monetized by corporations and upper-class white peoplebut most visibly in pop culture, upper-class white women.

Lorde has taken on this archetype in her new music, particularly the music video to her latest single Mood Ring, which dropped on Wednesday ahead of the release of new album Solar Power. It captures Lorde, ironicallybut maybe not so ironicallydonning a blonde wig like Kidmans Masha, and a group of women in jade green performing sun salutations, turning through old, spiritual texts, and playing with crystals while the 24-year-old croons about tryna to get well on the inside. This lifestyle has been so readily adopted by her ilk, particularly people in the entertainment industry, that one might miss the satirical tone in these lyrics. In her newsletter, the musician explained that the song is satire and that the narrator is fictional, although she admits that she occasionally succumbs to magical thinking when she need[s] to believe in something to feel good and clear.

While Lorde lacks a strong rebuttal to the Gwyneth Paltrow figuremaybe because its too close to home the singers analysis of wellness culture and its misappropriations feels sharper when aimed toward men. On the Solar Power song Dominoes, she lambasts the specific type of man who takes on gardening, weed, and yoga to rebrand from his toxicity and misogyny. It must feel good to be Mr. Start Again, she sings caustically. The song cleverly illustrates how goodness is often ascribed to men who associate themselves with activities that are deemed feminine within our culture. But it also gets at the way self-improvement can easily be utilized as a Band-Aid or a facade in place of doing the actual work.

As culture becomes more and more desperate for healing, whether from political divisions, as our president constantly suggests, or literal life-threatening diseases like COVID-19, the space between community and cult, non-traditional medicine and pseudoscience, self-care and individualism seems to be capturing our artistic imaginations at an extremely vital time. How can the roots of wellness be reclaimed and reasserted when its become a $4.4 trillion money grab and employed for the most dangerous political agendas? Lordes Solar Power and Nine Perfect Strangers may not be perfect articulations of these quandaries, but they show how much there is to mine in that danger zone.

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Lorde and Nicole Kidman Take on the Cult-ish Wellness Industry - The Daily Beast

Celeste Bateman highlights Black theatre performances for Broadway audiences

Celeste Bateman continues the legacy of Elmart Theatre Service founded in 1969, by connecting Broadway fans with shows supporting Black theatre.

NorthJersey.com

A time-out can be good discipline.

Broadway like achild sent to its room hashad a lot of time over the past 15 months to ponder its bad behavior. Especially inthe matter ofinclusion.

Now, after a long lockdown, and a "Black Lives Matter" movement that has stirred the conscience of a nation, the New York stage is reopening in a thoughtful mood. It's not just new health protocols you'll be seeing in theaters this fall. It's new marching orders.

Trouble in Mind, Thoughts of a Colored Man, Paradise Square, Lackawanna Blues, Caroline, or Change, To Kill a Mockingbird, Pass Over, "Skeleton Crew" are just some of the shows that, in various ways, address our current moment of racial crisis and alsoattempt to adjust an imbalance that is as old as the aptly named Great White Way.

And thats not counting the purely escapist shows centered aroundAfrican-Americans: MJ, Tina, Ainttoo Proud "Freestyle Love Supreme." Ortraditional shows that have been "reimagined" with multi-racial casts, like "1776"an all-female production, to boot. Orlong runs resuming their record-breaking careers, like "The Lion King" (back Sept. 14 at the Minskoff) and "Hamilton" (back at the Richard Rodgers Theatre, also starting Sept. 14).

None of these shows, in itself, is remarkable. But the sheer number of them is something new, says Celeste Bateman, director of Newark's ElmartTheatreService.

She knows. She's been keeping tabs for 50 years.

"It seems like everyone woke up in this last year of pandemic and discovered Black people," Bateman said. "This is major. This has got to be an all-time record for Broadway shows."

The business Bateman runs and which she inherited from her mother, who co-founded it in 1969 is a "theater party" service.

These are the chartered buses that bring groups of as many as 55 pervehicle to New York, to see Broadway plays at group-discount rates. It's one of the backbones of the theater business. "We're the theater party ladies, and we come to all the matinees," sang a group of grannies in the1979 off-Broadway revue, "Scrambled Feet."

But Bateman's company is different in onerespect. It is aimed at Black theatergoers. Which are as numerous as any other kind only Broadway producersand publicists tend not torecognizethis.Or, when they do, don't know how to reach out to them.

"We've always known the audience is there, and it's only grown over the years,"said Montclair playwright Richard Wesley, who has written for Broadway ("The Mighty Gents"), movies ("Uptown Saturday Night," "Let's Do It Again") and for that uniqueinstitution, the Black regional theater, subject of his latest book, "It's Always Loud In The Balcony" (Applause Books).

Over the years, theElmarttrips became an event. Box lunches, prepared by a caterer, would be served to the ticket-holders, before they boarded the bus in Newark and headed to the city for the big show. They had no trouble finding customers."They could take as many as three busloads at a time, easily," Bateman said (she now usually just does one bus).

The belatedrecognition of this audience may be one reason Broadway has pivoted.

Another is Broadway actors and backstage folksthemselves. They've beencalling foul.

Audra McDonald, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Anna Deavere Smith, Vanessa Williams, Billy Porter and Wendell Pierce are among the stars aligned with Black Theatre United, a coalition that has called for a "new deal" for inclusion on Broadway. Another group, We See You W.A.T. W.A.T. being "White American Theatre" has a whole list of demands. "As the global majority, we demand a bare minimum of 50% BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Color) representation in programming and personnel, both on and off the stage."

"These are Black theater artists who were veterans of Broadway, and theater in general," Wesley said. "They were upset that, after all these years, after all this time, and in the midst of all this tumult going on in the wake of George Floyd's death, we're still waiting for some kind of representation on Broadway beyond the occasional all-Black show, beyond the occasional role here and there."

Time, they are saying, that the people on the stage looked like the people in the audience.

"How can we have a country we perceive as multi-ethnic, and yet we still have shows and still make assumptions about an overwhelmingly white audience, that is only interested in seeing shows by white authors?" Wesley said.

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As for thatwhite audience subject of the baleful stare of the "We See You" activists it is showing some appetite to engage with the current moment of racial reckoning. But at varied levels of comfort.

Musicals, or course, are usually safe. Especially that variety known as the "juxebox musical" familiar songs rendered newly flavorsome by energetic young performers, spectacular dancing and singing,and lots of "production value."

For instance,"Tina: The Tina Turner Musical," which reopens at the Lunt-Fontanne on Oct. 8. Or" Aint Too Proud The Life and Times ofthe Temptations," which will be back at the Imperial Theatre starting Oct. 16.

True, "MJ: The Musical," starring Myles Frost as the King of Pop the previously announcedEphraim Sykes has left the cast does skirt some potentially explosive issues. But word is that the book, by Pulitzer Prize-winnerLynn Nottage, steers clear of most of them,focusing on the backstage drama during a singletour, in 1992. ItopensFeb 1 at the Neil Simon Theatre, with previews beginning Dec. 6.

In a different category is"Freestyle Love Supreme," an improvisational rap musical playing a limited run at the Booth Theatre from Oct. 7 to Jan. 2. The big name here is not somesuperannuated pop star, but Broadway royalty.Lin-Manuel Miranda not in person, but as co-creator is the draw for this show, even as his other one, "Hamilton," prepares to resume its spectacular career at the Richard Rodgers.

As far as less escapist fare, among the lesschallenging is"To Kill a Mockingbird," the Aaron Sorkin adaptation of the beloved Harper Lee novel about a courageous white lawyer (Jeff Daniels through Jan. 2) in the1930s Alabama defending a Black man falsely accused of rape.

It recalls a day when African-Americansand progressive whites were in theory, anyway comrades-in-armsin the civil rights struggle,with pats on the backall around. It will resume performances at the Schubert Theatre(it was shuttered by COVID in March) starting Oct. 5.

Other dramas ofracial conflict feature different ethnicities mixing it up thus giving white audiences a"way in."

"Paradise Square," the musical about relations betweenAfrican-Americans and Irish at a Five Points bar in the 1860s period of the New York draft riots,will open onSunday, March 20(previews begin Feb. 22) at theEthel Barrymore Theatre. "Caroline, or Change," a revival of the musical by Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori last seen on Broadway in 2004 about the evolving relationship between a Jewish Louisiana family, their maid, and her family, set during the Kennedy years, will be at Studio 54 Oct. 27 (previews begin Oct. 8).

"Trouble in Mind," the 1955 drama by trailblazing African-American writerAlice Childress, about an actress of color (LaChanze) confronting the white creative team of her latest play about lynching, no less willopen atRoundabout Theatre Company's American Airlines Theatre on Nov. 18 (previews begin Oct. 29).

The BLM zeitgeist can also be detected,directly or indirectly, in many other shows some of them new, some of them older pieces that happened to seemon-point.

"Thoughts of a Colored Man," a "slam poetry" meditation on the inner lives of Black men by Keenan Scott II, beginsOct. 31 (previews start Oct. 1) at the John Golden Theatre."Lackawanna Blues," the Broadway debut offRuben Santiago-Hudson's one-man reminiscence (it launched at the Public Theater in 2001) about the strong woman who raised him, opensSept. 28 (previews start Sept 14) at theSamuel J. Friedman Theatre. "Skeleton Crew," starring Phylicia Rashad inDominique Morisseaus play about Detroit auto workers facing the 2008 recession, follows at theSamuel J. Friedman TheatrestartingJan.12 (previews begin Dec. 21).

One playthatmay speakmore directly to the era of George Floydis"Pass Over."The 2015 Antoinette Chinonye Nwandu drama, which riffson "Waiting for Godot" and "Exodus," isabout two Black men on astreet corner, ponderinga no-way-out world of police violence and existential dread.

The show, which had an off-Broadway run in 2018 and was filmed by Spike Lee for Amazon Prime,makes it Broadway debutat the August Wilson Theatre, Lincoln Center on Sept. 12, with previews startingAug. 4. This is Broadway's ribbon-cutting: the show that launches the season (if you don't count "Springsteen on Broadway," the solo show that began June 26).

"It's that idea of existential crisis, of not being able to go anywhere, feeling stuck," said Namir Smallwood, the Newark-born actor who will be reprising his off-Broadway role ofKitch.

"It's about where do these people find hope," hesaid. "In president Obama's first election, the tenor was hope. And then, four years later, eight years later, everybody's losing hope. More Black people are being killed by the police just because of fear. The terror on both sides, the victim and the victimizer. And you couple that with the the pandemic, which essentially is a plague. We are living in plague right now. California is burning.This could be a time where we and our society are purging."

These shows range in approach, appeal, and it's fair to say quality. Butthey have have one notable thing in common.People of color:In front of the scenes, and behind the scenes.

"It's admirable that this upcoming Broadway season is going to have so many Black voices as part of it, Black artists," said Caseen Gaines, a Hackensack cultural historian. "But I think what people are really looking for is a lasting, systematic change, that allows these artists to frequently have opportunities to perform on the greatest sages of the world."

This year marks the 100th anniversary of "Shuffle Along," the first Broadway hit written and performed by African-Americans.

Gaines has written a new book, "Footnotes," about this famous 1921 show by Eubie Blake and Noble Sissle, which gave the world the classic tune "I'm Just Wild About Harry." The signals appeared toturned green, then, for African-American performers.It seems they have done so again.But will it last?

"We have seen throughout the last century these moments where the floodgates open up and there are a lot of Black productions, and increased representation on Broadway," he said. "Sometimes these moments are very fleeting."

Such moments have been very precious to Black theatergoers. During years when African-Americanswere nearly invisible inTV and movies, the occasional glimpse of a non-white face on Broadway was an Event."There was such a hunger for Black theater in those days, because it was such a rare commodity," Bateman said.

Only problem was, producershad no idea how to tap into that audience."They market through the New York Times," Wesley said."Black audiences really do a lot of their communicating through word-of-mouth."

So audiences took matters into their own hands. A 1969 New York revival of "A Raisin in the Sun" was the first field trip organized byElmart named for Elma Bateman, Celeste's mother,and Arthur Wilson, both theater buffs and parishioners ofQueen of Angels, an historically Black Catholic church in Newark.

Church, in fact, has beena key channel for audience outreach in the Black community, as producers of "The Wiz" (1975)and "Dreamgirls"(1981) discovered.

"'The Wiz' was a classic case," Wesley said."It got a great review in The New York Times, but that wasn't what got Black audiences to see it. They came out because someone was wise enough to invite church groups."

After 50 years, and mostly slim pickings, Bateman has plenty to choose from in the coming year. "MJ" is first show, post-pandemic, in Elmart's books: Jan. 5.

Hopefully there will be more, in the years to come.

"What we ideally would be looking for is that the next Broadway season would also have a lot of spaces for creators of color," Gaines said.

Jim Beckerman is an entertainment and culture reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access tohis insightfulreports about how you spend your leisure time,please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email:beckerman@northjersey.com

Twitter:@jimbeckerman1

Read more:

Broadway in 2021 will 'have so many Black voices.' Theatergoers, pros say it's about time - NorthJersey.com

Some filmmakers write a hit movie and spend the ensuing years trying to escape its shadow. Paul Schrader never flinched. Forty-five years after his Taxi Driver script put him on the map, the writer-director has developed a body of work loaded with alienated anti-heroes compelled to violent and reckless extremes for the sake of a higher calling.

That includes The Card Counter, in which Oscar Isaac plays guilt-stricken Abu Ghraib vet William Tell, a man with a gambling addiction compelled to help the revenge-seeking son (Tye Sheridan) of a former colleague. Taking justice into his own hands, Isaacs William Tell slithers through the Vegas strip in search of questionable salvation, not unlike a certain Vietnam vet named Travis Bickle did from the drivers seat. As if to cement the comparisons, The Card Counter features Martin Scorsese as an executive producer, marking the first time the two men share a credit since 1999s Bringing Out the Dead.

For Schrader, Taxi Driver comparisons are inevitable in all his work. My tendency is to look for interesting occupational metaphors, Schrader said in a recent interview. Taxi Driver hit the bulls eye of the zeitgeist and it doesnt die. Theres no way I couldve planned for that, but it does inform the stories I tell.

At 75, Schrader continues to churn out movies much like his compatriot Scorsese, albeit on a much smaller scale. The Card Counter is the latest illustration of the secularized Christian dogma percolating through his work. Our society doesnt like to take responsibility for anything, he said. But I come from a culture where youre responsible for everything. You come into the world soaked with guilt and you just get guiltier. In his own prickly fashion, Schrader makes movies steeped in empathy for lost souls in search of redemption despite the daunting odds. Were all certainly capable of forgiveness, he said, and chuckled. Anyone who says otherwise is wrong.

The Taxi Driver dilemma looms large in nearly all of Schraders work, from the dazzling high-stakes activism of Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters all the way through Ethan Hawkes eco-conscious priest in First Reformed. While the latter, Oscar-nominated effort brought Schrader new fans, The Card Counter is an even more precise distillation of his aesthetic a moody, philosophical drama about the vanity of the personal crusade.

AGF s.r.l./REX/Shutterstock

Schrader, who has labeled his homegrown character studies as man in the room dramas, embraces the parallels as usual. There is this kind of myth that the taxi driver was this friendly, joking kind of guy who was a character actor in movies, he said. But the reality is that its a very lonely job, and youre trapped in a box for 60 hours a week. He saw the same logic with gambling, a wayward profession generally depicted in the movies in the context of escapist romps, rather than the somber rituals that afflict most players. I thought about the essence of playing cards every day, or sitting in front of a slot machine. Its kind of zombie-like, Schrader said. You see commercials of people in casinos laughing. But its a pretty glum place. Today with slots you dont even have to pull the lever. You just sit there and let the numbers roll.

The gambling figure led Schrader to the bigger picture of his characters conundrum. I was wondering why someone would choose to live in that sort of purgatory, he said. He doesnt want to be alive, but he cant really be dead, either. What could cause that? It cant be a simple crime, murder, or a family dispute. It has to be something unforgivable. And that was Abu Ghraib.

After the fallout of that debacle, William did time in a military prison, and reenters society before the movie begins. That was a world the filmmaker wanted to understand in clearer terms. Though Schrader has received blowback for his controversial Facebook posts in the past, in this case, the platform was an asset: He used it to track down soldiers who had done time in the United States Penitentiary in Leavenworth, the only military prison in the U.S., to better understand the initial claustrophobic world that Tell endures, as well as the conflict between the justice hes received and what he deserves. This man has been punished by his government, set free, and paid his due, but he doesnt feel that, Schrader said. What does he do then? How does he fill his time? Thats how it all began.

Schrader himself toyed with gambling when he lived in Los Angeles early in his career, but soon gave it up. I very quickly realized I was only interested in gambling if it was really dangerous and I didnt want to expose myself to that kind of danger, he said. Years later, though, the experience helped inform his story. There is this whole fantasy of gambling movies from The Cincinnati Kid to California Split, Schrader said. But poker is all about waiting. People will play 10 to 12 hours a day and two to three times a day, a hand will happen where two players both have chips. Now youve got a face-off. But that doesnt happen very often. Most guys who are there are running the numbers, the probability.

He envisioned The Card Counter as a repudiation of the traditional poker movie, which builds to the giddy release of a final tournament. When that moment arrives in the movie, Schrader takes the movie in a bleak, shocking new direction. Its not really a poker movie thats a red herring, he said.

William is immersed in his casino journey when he encounters Cirk (Sheridan), the crazy-eyed son of another Abu Ghraib soldier who committed suicide. Cirk blames the soldiers former commander (Willem Dafoe), and hopes to loop William into the plan. Instead, the older man decides to take Cirk under his wing to talk him out of the act, which doesnt prove so easy. In the process, the gambler forms a curious bond with La Linda (Tiffany Haddish), a gambling agent and pimp whose icy, relentless drive to make the most out of the poker circuit brings William some measure of companionship on his wayward journey.

It should come as no surprise that the Girls Trip breakout is nearly unrecognizable in the role of the calculated La Linda, which is also a distinctly Schraderish touch: From his work with Richard Pryor in 1978s Blue Collar all the way through Cedric the Entertainers supporting turn in First Reformed, Schrader has made a habit of seeking out comedic actors willing to play against type. Thats partly opportunistic on his part. Theyre eager to do it because they want to expand their palette, so you can get them for a price, Schrader said, chuckling again. Thats necessary, given the kind of films I make. But thats not all: They will always find a way to be interesting, even when theyre not getting a laugh.

Which is not to say that the process comes easily to them. Haddish recently told the New York Times that Schrader had to coach her out of speaking in a comedic sing-song. The filmmaker put it in blunter terms. On the first reading of the script we had, frankly, she wasnt very good, he said. I told her to go back and read every single line without emotion. Then I said, Youre not going to do that in front of the camera, but you cant hit every line either. So lets pick five or six lines you can hit where you get a smile or reaction. Quickly she got that it was a different rhythm.

As for Isaac, whose disquieting turn suggests a maniac lingering just beneath the surface, Schrader once again turned to metaphor. I told him to imagine himself on a rocky coast in the ocean, Schrader said. Waves are going to come up and get you all day every day. Theyre going to try to batter you. Let them. The waves will go away. Youll still be there. Dont compete. In the end, the rocks will win. You have to learn to trust that the way these things are put together has more power than the individual movement.

Williams routine includes an odd ritual in which he covers all the furniture in his various Vegas hotel rooms with white paper. While the motivation is never explained, Schrader said it stemmed from an experience with production designer Ferdinando Scarfiotti on the set of 1982s Cat People, when Schrader realized the man was doing the same thing. He said, quite simply, I have to live here surrounded by these ugly hotel furnishings, Schrader recalled. The concept inspired the new movies most compelling visual motif. Casinos are very ugly places. There are no exceptions, Schrader said. Often you aspire to finding pockets of beauty and there werent really any here except the only place he could control, which was his hotel rooms, where he could privatize his visions. I came up with this ritual for him to control those visuals.

At a certain point, Schrader himself couldnt control the visuals of The Card Counter for more prosaic reasons: After an extra tested positive for COVID-19, the production shut down last March, with five days of shooting left, and couldnt resume until July. Though Schrader initially took to Facebook to fume at his producers, the pause eventually opened up an opportunity to tweak his vision. I edited the film and put in placeholders for the five or six scenes of consequence that I hadnt shot, he said. I didnt have a fully finished film but I could screen it for people. Normally you only get that privilege if you have a big-budget film and youre allowed reshoots. The early audience included Scorsese, who provided a crucial note. I asked Marty, What am I missing? He said to me that the relationship with Tiffany and Oscar was too thin. So I rewrote those scenes.

Schrader asked Scorsese to take on the executive producer credit as a favor. I said, Marty, wouldnt it be nice to share a card again? I thought it would help sell the film but it would also be a cool thing to do after all these years, Schrader said. Then a couple of weeks later his agent called wanting to work out a deal. What deal? I asked Marty and he said yes. Thats the deal! Now, the pair are trying to collaborate on a new long-form TV series based on the Bible, though the timing has been delayed by production on Scorseses upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon.

In the meantime, Schrader has been mulling over the way Taxi Driver not only continues to inform his storytelling but the world at large. Hardly a week goes by that I dont notice or hear some reference to it, he said. But I dont know how youd tell such a story today. A number of writers have tried and I dont think theyve succeeded because it has to come out of a certain place and time. We have plenty of these incels around, but theyre not as original or revealing as they were 45 years ago when that character came on the scene. I wouldnt know how to write about it.

Instead, his next project is a love triangle called Master Gardener, which he hopes to shoot in Louisiana before the end of the year. He has several other potential scripts ready to go after that. And while he has expressed trepidation about the future of cinema in the past, hes not convinced that audiences have given up on it yet. He recalled a conversation he had with Cedric the Entertainer when First Reformed made the rounds. He said off-handedly to me, You know, I didnt realize there were so many people who liked serious movies, Schrader said, and chuckled once more. Well, yeah, there are.

The Card Counter premieres next week at the Venice Film Festival. Focus Features releases on September 10, 2021.

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The Card Counter: Paul Schrader on the Ways Scorsese and Taxi Driver Informed New Gambling Drama - IndieWire

The political career of Kalyan Singh, the former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, who died on Saturday aged 89, reflects the ebb and flow of the BJPs electoral fortunes since its formation in 1980. His spectacular rise in the 1990s and marginalisation in the 2000s coincided with the BJPs own transformation from a cadre-based party that talked of Gandhian socialism to a mass outfit that championed Hindu nationalism during a period of political upheaval in northern India.

Singh was well poised to ride the crest of the two ideas that had captured the zeitgeist of the decade Mandal and Mandir and occupy office in Lucknow as the BJPs first CM of UP. Along with Uma Bharti, he was the prominent face of the BJPs own Mandalisation process, through which the party had tried to shed its image of being a caste Hindu outfit and embrace a pan-Hindu identity with a support base that included large numbers of backward castes. Born in a Lodh-Rajput family, Singhs rise to office was viewed as representative of the empowerment of OBCs within the rubric of Hindutva politics, which also neutralised the political edge that Lohiaite groups had gained on the ground, post Mandal. As CM, he presided over the demolition of the Babri Masjid, a moment that shamed constitutional democracy, but also irreversibly changed the contours of the countrys politics. It also cost Singh his office. When the tide that rose with the Ram Janmabhoomi movement fell and equations within the BJP changed, Singh found himself dispensable to the party though he had become CM a second time in 1997. Singh quit the BJP in 1999 (and in 2004) to float his own outfit only to realise that he could at best be a caste leader and dent the BJPs electoral fortunes, but would need the support of his chief political adversary in the 90s, Samajwadi Party supremo Mulayam Singh Yadav, to win even his own Lok Sabha seat.

Singh returned to the BJP after more than a decade at the political fringes, but like Bharti, was a much diminished leader with little or no influence within the party on his return. It only seemed to confirm that leaders like Singh and Bharti commanded influence as products of a moment and movement, which overtook them, left them behind. Their relegation also suggested that OBC empowerment in the BJP could only exist as a current within the main course of Hindutva politics. However, the churn that Singh was a part of, and contributed to, has not ceased. It continues to shape the electoral and ideological contours of Indias politics.

This editorial first appeared in the print edition on August 24, 2021 under the title Mandal in Kamandal.

More here:

Kalyan Singh was a product of, and contributed to, change in the BJPs politics, with all its tumult and contradictions - The Indian Express

Theres a bare arse peeking out of every wave, Romy Schneider is said to have remarked after a visit to the island of Sylt in 1968.

But nowadays, Freikrperkultur (FKK), or free-body culture, is less trendy than ever or at the very least, its divisive. Many Germans love to scamper about in the nude, while others turn their noses up at the idea. On top of this, the pandemic is bringing about new concerns. The Wannsee lido in Berlin, for instance, is no longer welcoming nudists, as theyre seen as posing a health risk in the pandemic.

(article continues below)

While many (particularly older) Germans may be used to stripping off completely at the beach, sauna and swimming pool, women going topless has sparked a fuelled a raging debate this summer and one prominent case has led to a whole movement being founded.

At the beginning of July, one woman bathing topless at the Berlin water area Plansche im Plnterwald was accosted by police and accused of indecent exposure. This led to widespread debates about equality. The water parks security had asked her to put a top on multiple times, and eventually the police were called. The authorities defended the actions of both the park supervisors and the police, but did also apologise to the woman in question, who had been sunbathing with her six-year-old son.

Equal breasts for all

At the core of the discussion is an important question: why are naked breasts an example of this free body culture, while a cisgender mans naked chest isnt?

READ ALSO: Only in Germany: Wild boar steals laptop from naked Berlin sunbather

Under the motto equal breasts for all, a campaign has been born. It demands that women be allowed to go topless in places where men are already extended the same privilege. Proponents want to normalise breasts instead of sexualising them. Their maxim is no nipple is free until all nipples are free.

A woman was accosted by police for bathing topless at Plansche in Berlin Plnterwald, starting a new movement under the motto, Equal breasts for all. Photo: picture alliance/dpa | Fabian Sommer

Further evidence for an increasing discomfort with nudity has been sourced by researchers in recent years. A joint survey with YouGov and the statistics portal Statista found recently that most adults in Germany feel uncomfortable in spaces where nakedness is permitted, for instance in saunas or nudist beaches. Only 28 percent of people reported feeling at ease, compared with 36 percent who were not comfortable.

The rest of the people surveyed either avoided such places completely, or chose not to volunteer information relating to the topic. Women felt slightly more uncomfortable, at 39 percent, compared with 34% of men. In line with the age-old clich, eastern Germans were more likely to feel comfortable in nudist settings than western Germans, at 36 percent compared with 26 percent.

No filter

The historian Heiko Stoff of Hannover Medical School, who has researched the history of naturism, considers that public debates such as about the topless woman in Berlin are ultimately not representative of broader opinion. For him, the internet is the biggest culprit in terms of instigating shame. In the selfies and full-body photographs which saturate sites like Instagram, an idealisation of thinner bodies with firm skin is dominant.

SEE ALSO: VIDEO: Why do Germans love getting naked?

Most pictures that are uploaded have been photoshopped, he said. But when were naked on the beach, we cant put our bodies through a filter. In my view, thats definitely part of the reason why so many people feel uncomfortable with nakedness nowadays.

Is Instagram responsible for the decline in popularity of FKK? Photo: picture alliance / dpa | Jens Kalaene

And even if some people feel comfortable putting their imperfect bodies on show at the beach, many still feel a certain pressure to resemble conventional beauty standards.

It doesnt take long for you to feel like a failure, or like someone who has not succeeded in making their body meet the ideal, Stoff said. That steals the joy of nakedness, and replaces it with stress and a certain competitiveness.

This competitiveness is exactly the thing that clothing usually helps to cover up.

READ ALSO: Undressing at a Berlin sauna wasnt the moment of liberation Id hoped for

Someone who is accustomed to feeling socially high-ranking because of their job or their money can have their self-image turned upside down when naked on the beach, Stoff explained. Suddenly they might feel inferior to a young proletarian who spends a lot of time doing physical labour.

Whats Germanys history with nudism?

Historically, Germany has been regarded as a cradle of naturist culture. Up until the founding of the first FKK club at the end of the 19th century in the German Empire, most of Europe had pretty much the same relationship with nakedness, said Stoff.

But the then-burgeoning naturism movement in Germany had a clear message. It was all about working systematically with the body in line with the classical Greek model, trying to translate those ideal marble bodies into a corporeal reality.

Dozens of naked bathers sit on a beach at Mggelsee in East Berlin in 1986. Photo: picture alliance / Thomas Uhlemann/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa | Thomas Uhlemann

It was a hugely flawed movement whose message was easily exploited. There was a sense within the movement that only beautiful, healthy bodies should procreate. According to Stoff, this tapped into the zeitgeist of eugenics, nationalism and so-called racial hygiene.

And there were foul consequences: parts of the Lebensreformbewegung, or life reform movement, gave rise to a fatal antisemitism. According to Stoff, some proponents of the movement taught people how to recognise Jewish people through their circumcised penises.

READ ALSO: The dos and donts of public nudity in Germany

In the 1920s, a more socialist perception of nudism arose alongside the nationalist. It was thought that the oppressed proletarian body would become aware of its enslavement in its own nakedness, said Stoff.

People wanted to set aside the old moral codes of the German Empire and embrace a joy in life. In the same decade, magazines about nudist culture sold like hotcakes in kiosks. They werent explicitly pornographic, Stoff clarifies, but often occupied grey areas in terms of legality. Most importantly, the body was now pictured romping around frivolously on the beach, far from its previous statuesque ideal.

The early FKK movement strove for a Greek ideal of physical beauty and health. Photo: picture alliance / Marcela Gutirrez/NOTIMEX/dpa | Marcela Gutirrez

During the years of Nazism, people were far less prudish than we tend to assume. Hans Surns FKK book Man and Sunlight, which teems with naked figures, was a bestseller. After 1945, fans of the nudist movement were given their own designated beaches in many places in both the West and East. From the 1960s into the 1970s, naked bathing was a trend women were expected to be at least to be topless, a huge difference to todays ideas.

With this history in mind, its easy to see how people are assuming that Germany is undergoing a progressive re-prudeification. But Stoff doubles down on his view that unrealistic body standards are the main culprit in this cultural shift. He said: The reality of their own bodies makes people feel anxious, so they choose to reject that reality. I see that as a more decisive cause of discomfort than the idea that Germans are somehow becoming more prudish, or that religious views are being rekindled.

Translated by Antonia Harrison

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FKK: Is Germany falling out of love with nudism? - The Local Germany

(Credit: Unsplash)

This article was written by one of our guest writers, Mr. AaronGates-Lincoln, writer for Immigration News. The opinions expressed within reflect only the writers views and not The European Stings position on the issue.

The ever-growing crises that are displacing migrants from their homes are dominating the headlines in the world of immigration. The act of seeking refuge has been turned into the political zeitgeist of our time by governments who either wish to support those in need or decide to shut the gate to keep them out. However, for countries such as the UK, it is arguable that we have a duty to support individuals seeking asylum- simply for the reason that we have the capacity and resources to do so.

However, with the ongoing discussions of Priti Patels proposed Nationality and Borders Bill, it appears that the UK is choosing to not follow through with this duty.

Patels bill, which is due to undergo its second reading in the House of Commons on the 19th and 20th July 2021, has been claimed to be the key to fixing what has been described as the broken immigration system of the UK. It is already known that the current UK approach to immigration has been consistently hostile for near to a decade now, so why would Patel think adding cruel fuel to the already raging fire would be helpful?

The main features of the bill the power to send individuals seeking asylum to overseas territories for processing and an extension of Patels signature camp-style accommodation that was controversially introduced in 2020. This is compounded with the lengthening of prison sentences for entry to the UK that is deemed as illegal and a clause that redefines the offence of facilitating illegal immigration. This clause has most likely been introduced to help curb the increase in illegal Channel crossings that have dominated headlines and debate for the past several years. However, the clause is so vague, that legal experts have pointed out that even the Royal National Lifeboat Institution could be criminalised for saving the lives of Channel crossers who face situations of drowning.

Colin Yeo of Free Movement speaking on the Bill, has said that of the new legislation introduced, the majority of it will be bad for refugees and the public purse. He also believes that there is some genuine nastiness included and that the Bill will only worsen the problems with the United Kingdoms current asylum system. These thoughts were mirrored by Caroline Lucas MP, of the Green Party, as she stated, it is a mean-spirited, inhumane and possibly illegal response which will criminalise many seeking sanctuary and play into the hands of people traffickers.

As the UNCHR, the UNs refugee agency, have argued, the bill risks breaching commitments under the Refuge Convention that clearly protects the universal right to seek asylum. However, the government and Home Office has denied such claims, stating that the bill is motivated by humanitarian principles. Priti Patel has yet to distinctly lay out exactly how and where humanitarian principles apply to the bill, meanwhilst experts have explained thoroughly that bill is most likely going to put some of the worlds most vulnerable people in extremely dangerous situations.

One specific anxiety surrounding the bill, touched on by Caroline Lucas MP, is that of the risk to human trafficking for migrants. It is believed that due to the bills ignorance of the lived realities of those seeking asylum, it has misunderstood exactly how migrants become exposed to trafficking risks. In most situations, due to hostile immigration systems, individuals in need of asylum are forced to try and take unviable routes to reach their desired destination- such as dinghies or lorries across borders and Channels. It is in these dangerous situations that migrants are exploited. With Patels bill, taking these routes would result in criminalisation, pigeon-holing migrants into new, unviable routes that would often be linked to or set up by human traffickers. Therefore, the proposed aim of the bill is immediately subverted, and it acts as a catalyst for increases in the issues it is trying to fix.

Patricia Durr, CEO of ECPAT UK, has highlighted how the bill will also negatively impact on the protection and safeguarding of children. She has stated that, it will fail to protect those in need of safety, including unaccompanied children who will be at significant risk of dangerous journeys, exploitation and harm. The bill could also lead to delays in children receiving support from the immigration system and forcing children to disclose trauma as a means of proving their asylum claims. Durr argues that children must be treated as children first and foremost and our concern with this bill is that it seeks to erode hard fought for rights and protections and leaves some of the most vulnerable children at the greatest risk and holds us to a different standard of care and protection for them.

Whilst the asylum system certainly needs fixing, the cruel nature of Priti Patel is not the medicine that it so desperately needs. With it being found that 33,000 people in the UK immigration system were waiting over a year for an initial asylum claim in 2020, it is clear that reform needs to focus on improving how the system runs not trying to reduce the numbers of those entering it. The bill is a clear example of creating a new problem to avoid having to address an old one. Going forward, it is imperative for the safety of migrants entering the UK that legislation is put in place that supports entry to the UK and places migrants onto necessary immigration pathways such as indefinite leave to remain and eventually citizenship. The Nationality and Borders Bill must be stopped from being enshrined in law, and campaigning for the rights of migrants must continue to pressure ministers to reject the plans it proposes.

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The ever-growing crises that are displacing migrants from their homes - The European Sting

Whoever enters the building of the French Olympic Committee, located on Pierre de Coubertin No. 1 in Paris, will not miss the bronze statue of the Baron himself, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. She stands in the center of the hall, on a marble pedestal, whose name is written in golden letters. De Coubertin has put his hands loosely in his pocket since 1992. He wears a mask over his nose and mouth.

Since March of this year there is still a statue in the corner. It is a more modern work of art, made of painted wood, silver leaf and metal, and was made by students at a French art academy. A plaque bearing the name of Alice Milliat, to whom we owe to women the opportunity to participate in the Olympic Games. The statue is a harbinger of things to come three years later in Paris: the first fully gender equality games. Historic moment.

Because the Olympic movement goes a long way when it comes to womens equality. De Coubertin, a historian and educator, did not like womens sports not practical, not aesthetically pleasing, not interesting, not appropriate. No women participated in the Olympic Games in Athens in 1896. The Greek Stamata Revithi did not leave her at that time. The day after the Olympic marathon, she ran alone on the same mens track. She did not reach the finish line, because she was stopped at the gates of the Olympic Stadium. Women would not be allowed to run a marathon until the 1984 Los Angeles Games.

In Paris (1900) women participated in the Games for the first time, but only in areas which, according to de Coubertin, would not harm their female charm; Tennis and golf. Archery, figure skating, fencing, and swimming became Olympics for a while, but they also disappeared from the program. The proportion of women at the Games in Antwerp (1920) was only 3 per cent. Meanwhile, a feminist movement was underway in France, led by Alice Millais, an avid teacher and rower.

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In 1919 she had asked the International Olympic Committee (IOC) if women could be added to the athletics program at the Games, but to no avail. Then she founded the International Womens Sports Federation (FSFI), of which she herself became its president. With this organization, she organized the first womens games in Monaco in 1921. It was a one-day event, with an Olympic-style opening ceremony. Initially, five countries participated, but the event grew into a success. In the Paris suburb of Vincennes, on August 20, 1922, 15,000 people watched women compete in all sports disciplines prohibited by the International Olympic Committee.

Milliat gained increasing influence internationally through her movement. Womens sports federations were created in Great Britain and the United States, and pressure increased on the International Olympic Committee to allow women to enter the Games. Milliat insisted that women should be allowed to compete in all areas of athletics and that there should be an equal number of women and men at the board level. The IOC was willing to consult on whether to stop calling the annual Womens Games Olympic. Milliat agreed, and at the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, women were allowed to participate in athletics and gymnastics for the first time.

Journalists used gruesome terms to describe what they saw after 800 metres. on women Chicago Tribune They were thrown to the ground completely exhausted. A journalist from the British newspaper thought it was too dangerous times. In the Pittsburgh Press They did not find it extremely helpful to see a group of women self-destruct. In the following games, the 800m was dropped, only to be added again in 1960.

At the end of the 1920s in the Netherlands, people were not waiting for the Olympic liberation movement, but under pressure from the International Olympic Committee, the athletics federation appointed a womens coach. A woman out of all people has won the only Dutch athletics medal: Lianne Jesulf, silver in the high jump.

Female participation in the games was not taken for granted in the ensuing years. At the 1932 Los Angeles Games, the Olympic Village was for men only. The women were housed in a separate hotel.

It was Fanny Blankers-Queens success story at the 1948 Games that showed women around the world that a 30-year-old mother of two can achieve great things win four gold medals and become the star of that tournament. But this does not mean that the IOC has opened all ports.

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Until 1960, for example, only women were allowed to participate in individual sports. From the 1964 Tokyo Games, contactless team sports were added the first volleyball. Twenty years later, team sports with contact were also practiced; Hockey, soccer and water polo. From that moment on, the graphs of male and female participants converge, but have not yet crossed. The most conservative sports are cycling, strength and martial arts. Weightlifting and boxing did not become Olympics until after 2000. Until 1996, the International Olympic Committee conducted gender tests that were mandatory only for women. Men are exempt from it.

Read also: Gymnast Simone Biles fights stress and critics blame her weakness

At the Games that year in Atlanta, 7,000 of the 11,000 participants were men, and 26 of the more than 200 nations did not send in women, including many Arab nations. In light of this, it is particularly remarkable that women have won two-thirds of all Dutch Olympic medals in history.

Recognizing the need to keep pace with the times, the IOC added a chapter to the Olympic Charter in which it committed to promoting and encouraging womens sports and achieving equality between men and women. The process was to be completed by 2024. The maximum number of participants was also reduced to 10,500, half of whom would have to be women within three years in Paris. Although the International Olympic Committee has indicated that this goal has been achieved in Tokyo, this is not entirely true; 48.8 percent of women and 51.2 percent of men. However, this was not true at all.

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The gap in Tokyo was partially closed by the introduction of mixed numbers. Women and men compete against each other in the same match. For example, Nigerian athlete Patience Okon George managed to run against the men in the 4x400m mixed relay race. She had entered the last lap with a big lead by her male teammate, who was running against the women, but was overtaken. It was above all a wonderful sight. The Mixed Nations Cup in Judo was one of the most exciting additions to the Olympic tournament.

Administratively, the committee also wanted it to be a better reflection of the zeitgeist, with a larger number of UN member states. Until 1981, a woman was never a member of the International Olympic Committee. The proportion of female IOC members has risen from 21 to 37.5 percent in the past two years. Women occupy 48 percent of IOC committees. That was 20 percent a few years ago. For the first time, the Tokyo Athletes Committee includes more women than men; 11 in 6. The highest position, the president of the International Olympic Committee, on the other hand, has never been held by a woman. One of the four vice presidents is Aruban Nicole Hoevertsz, who was elected in Tokyo.

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Games are likely not at all gender equality. Although the International Olympic Committee required all countries to designate a male and female flag bearer at the opening ceremony, countries such as Oman, Djibouti and Ethiopia refused to do so. It remained without consequences. This does not mean that the IOC has no influence. Prior to London 2012, the committee threatened to exclude Saudi Arabia from participating if it did not authorize a woman. The country succumbed to pressure and appointed a judoka and an athlete. Nine years later, that number is still low.

Gender equality in games became a vital issue earlier this year when Yoshiro Mori, 83, the head of the organization in Tokyo, said women have long meetings, which is annoying. When that became known, he had to resign. In a country where womens rights are under pressure. Japan has been at the bottom 120 of 156 countries in the World Economic Forums Global Gender Gap Index for years. But when the world watches the games, things are a little different.

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Two weeks ago, there was an uproar when Norwegian beach volleyball players decided to play their Olympic bronze in shorts instead of a bikini bottom. The union thought this was inappropriate and imposed a fine of 1,500 euros on the duo. German players were allowed to wear long clothing during the games, in place of traditional clothing. Women twice earned equal standing in the games.

It should all lead to the first gender equality games in history, in Paris three years ago. But host country France still has a lot of work to do. Of all the countries in the world, they scored the worst in five matches between 2000 and 2016 in the distribution of gold medals between men and women the Netherlands was the best. French men have become Olympic champions more than twice as often as French women. In other words: the sporting state that is least liberal is the one that organizes the most liberal games. If that doesnt change before 2024, it could have medal-level consequences. To prevent this, France needs to train more women. It would have sounded like music in Alice Millais ears.

In collaboration with Jurryt van de Vooren

A version of this article also appeared in NRC on the morning of August 9, 2021

Excerpt from:

The long road to gender equality at the Olympics - Aviation Analysis Wing

When my publisher Steve Blank asked me to join a Town Hall Meeting, I was happy to do so. It is not every night that I get to sit and chat with intellectual luminaries.

Steve Blank is a Pulitzer Prize nominee and publisher, Judy Epstein is a humorist who was an award-winning producer of The Bill Moyers Show, Michael DInnocenzo is a Hofstra professor of American history and Andrew Malekoff was the director of North Shore Child and Family Guidance Center. And then there was me, a sport psychologist. We are the weekly columnists for the newspapers of The Blank Slate Media.

Our televised conversation touched upon the current zeitgeist in America with all our anomie, existential dread and rage. Here is what our free-floating conversation touched upon;1) Judy Epstein began talking about the vagaries of these virtual meetings whereby the audience gets to see into your private space whatever it may look like. Since none of us are particularly well trained in set design, the background is invariably odd.

When I do these Zoom calls, I know that the light I use casts horrific shadows on my face and ages me more than my already ancient 73 years. And my bookcases in the background are unkempt and off-putting.

2) The impact of the pandemic on kids and adults in Nassau County was discussed. Andrew Malekoff remarked that the outcome of the pandemic can best be summed up with the word loss.

We all lost loved ones, a sense of safety and most importantly we all lost a way of life. What he meant by that is that we lost all the social structures that seem to be essential for mental health. We lost the very ordinary and every day social processes like kids getting on busses and going to school thereby giving parents respite. We lost sports activities which mean kids lost a chance to participate in physical and social activities. Kids also lost things like graduation ceremonies, proms, music events etc. And finally, we lost the chance to mourn with the removal of funeral processing.

3) Michael DInnocenzo, our history professor also talked about loss of social connection and about how President Biden was quietly attempting to establish communal cores or places where regular citizens would gather just to chat about things. This is what Starbucks so wisely capitalized on.

But alas if you go to Starbucks, you will not be engaged in caf life in any real way but rather will be sitting at a long table hunched over and engaged in a conversation with your computer. Michael was making a plea for a return of the Third Place, a place which is not home nor work but a third neutral place to meet neighbors. The piazzas in Italy are like this but we have a critical lack of these communal environments in America. Michael said that meeting neighbors this way could remedy and overcome our paranoid divisiveness which now dominates our political and even our social life.

4) Our conversation turned to sports and over competitiveness in America. I referenced the Matthew Stewart piece entitled The Birth of the New Aristocracy where he outlined the wall that has been carefully built by the upper 10 percent of Americans who have invested huge dollars to live in golden zip codes, join country clubs, and have their kids attend only the very best schools. All this to guarantee that they will maintain their social status and standing.

Andrew Malekoff said this has produced major stress and anxiety in the kids today. Sport perfectly reflects this desperate effort to be on top and obtain pride in a society that seems to demand one must be number one or youre a loser.

5) Finally Judy remarked that American value system seems to be that if you are not among the top of the top, you simply cannot feel good about yourself and must instead feel shame, anonymity and embarrassment. I think this kind of shame and envy may be why we are seeing such a rash of mass shootings over the last thirty years. This the winter of Americas discontent. The question of Americas core values which is never far from money, money and lots more money in order to buy stuff. Madison Avenue has done a particularly good job of commodifying and selling pride, status and happiness.

Abraham Maslow and Rollo May led a short-lived movement in American psychology called existential psychology which simply suggested that deeper values like beauty, growth, courage, mastery and self-actualization are far more meaningful than conspicuous consumption but alas existentialism was no match for Madison Avenue and the movement failed before it started.

6) The final discussion was Steve wondering about exactly how fragile American democracy is with Michael DInnocenzo suggesting that indeed it may be as fragile as we all fear. My sense is that democracy will undergo changes but the system that is far more powerful than any political ideology is capitalism where money talks and nobody walks.

We talked about choking in sports, the role of the press in American life and even a bit about how the unconscious plays a big role in all our lives. If you want to hear the whole show I am sure there is a link on theislandnow.com website.

I enjoyed my participation in Steve Blanks marketplace of ideas and we all owe him our gratitude and thanks for having the good will, courage and the energy to put all these shows together.

So thank you Steve Blank.

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Our Town: Five writers in search of a story - Opinions - The Island Now

Syrian refugee, Olympic swimmer and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini at the pool she uses to train for the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. UNHCR/Paul Wu

As part of the 23 June Olympic Day celebrations and in the week marking World Refugee Day, an exclusive series of interviews will tell the inspirational stories of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Refugee Olympic Team athletes by bringing them together with big names in film, entertainment and sport.

Premiering in the build-up to Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, the episodes feature members of the unique IOC Refugee Olympic Team that will bring together 29 athletes to compete at the Games this summer. Originating from 11 countries around the world, the team was created by the IOC and its President, Thomas Bach, ahead of Olympic Games Rio 2016. The series showcases the athletes stories to send inspiring messages of hope and resilience to the worlds 82.4 million forcibly displaced people.

Produced by Eurosport, Discoverys leading multi-sport brand and the Home of the Olympics in Europe*, in partnership with the IOC and UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, In Conversation seeks to introduce new audiences to some of these inspiring Olympic refugee athletes. The conversations will provide new perspectives on refugees stories and raise awareness of the power of sport to help displaced people rebuild their lives.

In Conversation: Yusra & Katie provides a unique perspective. The youngest ever UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Yusra Mardini, who was a member of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Rio 2016 and will compete at Tokyo 2020 this summer, meets five-time Olympic Games gold medallist in swimming, Katie Ledecky. Also set to compete at Tokyo 2020 for Team USA, Ledecky is the most decorated woman in swimming history including 15 World Championship gold medals as well as her Olympic titles.

Later episodes will see UNHCR Goodwill Ambassadors such as actress Nomzamo Mbatha and footballer and former refugee Alphonso Davies paired with members of the IOC Refugee Olympic Team, including Anjelina Nadai Lohalith, the South Sudan-born 1500M athlete, and freestyle swimmer Alaa Maso, originally from Aleppo, Syria. As each athlete and supporter become acquainted, intimate conversations follow and capture the compelling stories of the athletes, their challenging journeys, and how they have overcome adversity to compete at the worlds greatest sporting event. The series can be found across UNHCR, IOC and Discovery platforms, including discovery+ and Eurosport.com.

In Conversation follows the IOCs announcement of the Refugee Olympic Team headed to Tokyo 2020 earlier this month. A campaign to further support for the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Tokyo 2020 will be launched by Eurosport, in partnership with the IOC, in July.

*Excludes Russia. Official Broadcaster in France and the UK for Tokyo 2020.

Notes to Editor

Episode 1 (In Conversation: Yusra & Katie):

Link to episode and embedhere.

Transcript and assets available here.

About Yusra Mardini:

Syrian refugee and Olympic swimmer Yusra Mardini was appointed the youngest ever Goodwill Ambassador for UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency in April 2017, aged just 19. She advocates for refugees globally through sharing her own inspiring story and has become a powerful voice for the forcibly displaced across the world and an example of their resilience and determination to rebuild lives and positively contribute to host communities.

Yusra was selected to compete at Rio 2016 as part of the first ever Refugee Olympic Team. She was catapulted on to the worlds stage and subsequently went on to address world leaders at the UN General Assembly, meet the Pope and be honoured with several awards. Yusras incredible story is told in her memoir Butterfly: From Refugee to Olympian - My Story of Rescue, Hope and Triumph which is currently being adapted into a film.

Yusra has spoken on behalf of UNHCR at Google Zeitgeist, WE Day, the World Economic Forum in Davos and many other global stages. She also supports UNHCR campaigns and events and fundraising activities. Yusra will compete at Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 this summer.

About Katie Ledecky:

Katie Ledecky is a 5-time Olympic Gold medallist and 15-time World Championship Gold medallist who will be competing at the Tokyo Olympics this summer. Katie has dominated on the world stage since the age of 15 where she was the youngest athlete on Team USA at the 2012 London Games, winning her first Olympic Gold medal. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Katie was the most decorated female athlete winning four Gold medals, one Silver medal, and breaking two world records.

As the granddaughter of a Czech migr who defected to the US in 1947, Katie continues to spread awareness about the plight of refugees around the world through her involvement with the UN Refugee Agency. Katie is a recent graduate of Stanford University with a B.A. in Psychology and is passionate about the importance of education, especially STEM and leadership programs for girls.

Press Contacts:

UNHCR:

IOC:

Discovery:

About the IOC Refugee Olympic Team:At the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in October 2015, confronted with the global refugee crisis that has seen millions of people in the world displaced, IOC President Thomas Bach announced the creation of the Refugee Olympic Team the first of its kind to take part in the Olympic Games Rio 2016. Ten months on from the announcement, 10 refugee athletes, were competing alongside 11,000 fellow athletes in Brazil, sending a message of hope and inclusion to millions of refugees around the world and inspiring the world with the strength of their human spirit. Following the success of the Refugee Olympic Team Rio 2016, the IOC decided in 2018 that there would be an IOC Refugee Olympic Team Tokyo 2020.

On 8 June 2021, the IOC announced that 29 athletes competing in 12 sports will take part in the Games this summer. This unique project demonstrates the IOCs commitment to stand with refugees and support them through sport, and it also shows how Olympic Solidarity, through its Refugee Athlete Support Programme, helps refugee athletes not only to train with the aim of qualifying for the Olympic Games but also to continue their sporting career and build their future. A IOC Refugee Olympic Team is planned for both the Olympic Games Paris 2024 and the Youth Olympic Games Dakar 2026.You can follow and support the IOC Refugee Olympic Team on Facebook, Twitterand Instagram.

About UNHCR: UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is dedicated to saving lives, protecting rights and building a better future for people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. We lead international action to protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities and people without a nationality. We deliver lifesaving assistance like shelter, food and water, help safeguard fundamental human rights, and develop solutions that ensure people have a safe place to call home where they can build a better future. We also work to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality. We are in over 130 countries, using our expertise to protect and care for millions. For more information please visit: http://www.unhcr.org

About IOC:

The International Olympic Committee is a not-for-profit, civil, non-governmental, international organisation made up of volunteers which is committed to building a better world through sport. It redistributes more than 90 per cent of its income to the wider sporting movement, which means that every day the equivalent of USD 3.4 million goes to help athletes and sports organisations at all levels around the world.

About Discovery:

Discovery, Inc. (Nasdaq: DISCA, DISCB, DISCK) is a global leader in real life entertainment, serving a passionate audience of superfans around the world with content that inspires, informs and entertains. Discovery delivers over 8,000 hours of original programming each year and has category leadership across deeply loved content genres around the world. Available in 220 countries and territories and nearly 50 languages, Discovery is a platform innovator, reaching viewers on all screens, including TV Everywhere products such as the GO portfolio of apps; direct-to-consumer streaming services such as discovery+, Food Network Kitchen and MotorTrend OnDemand; digital-first and social content from Group Nine Media; a landmark natural history and factual content partnership with the BBC; and a strategic alliance with PGA TOUR to create the international home of golf. Discoverys portfolio of premium brands includes Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Investigation Discovery, Travel Channel, MotorTrend, Animal Planet, Science Channel, and the forthcoming multi-platform JV with Chip and Joanna Gaines, Magnolia Network, as well as OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network in the U.S., Discovery Kids in Latin America, and Eurosport, the leading provider of locally relevant, premium sports and Home of the Olympic Games across Europe. For more information, please visit corporate.discovery.com and follow @DiscoveryIncTV across social platforms.

About discovery+:

discovery+ is the definitive non-fiction, real-life subscription streaming service. discovery+ will launch with a landmark partnership with Verizon that gives their customers with select plans up to 12 months of discovery+ on Verizon. At launch in the United States, discovery+ will have the largest-ever content offering of any new streaming service, featuring a wide range of exclusive, original series across popular, passion verticals in which Discovery brands have a strong leadership position, including lifestyle and relationships; home and food; true crime; paranormal; adventure and natural history; as well as science, tech and the environment and a slate of high-quality documentaries. For more, visit discoveryplus.com.

About Eurosport:

Eurosport is the number one sport destination in Europe, unlocking the power of sport through localised content from the worlds greatest sporting events. As the Home of the Olympic Games in Europe, Discovery is bringing Eurosport to discovery+, the real-life direct-to-consumer streaming service, starting in a range of international markets during 2021. Firmly established as the Home of Cycling, Grand Slam Tennis and Winter Sport, Eurosport channels Eurosport 1, Eurosport 2 reach 246 million cumulative subscribers across 75 countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Eurosport.com is Europes No 1 online sports news website with an average of 30 million unique users per month. Eurosport Events specializes in the management and promotion of international sporting events. More information is available by visiting corporate.eurosport.com.

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Sport and entertainment talent "in conversation" with the IOC Refugee Olympic Team Tokyo 2020 - UNHCR

Acommon misconception among Americans: When weve got a lot to do, we just need to work harder.

But according to experts, working harder may possibly be the worst thing we can do, both for professional productivity and personal lives.

Overworking leads to burn out, and burn out is not good for productivity, creativity, physical or mental health.

Jory Bowen, a mental health practitioner and integrative health coach at MAP Behavioral Health Center, located in Duluths Medical Arts Building, sees the proof in the science and in her clients sitting across from her.

Working more goes against creativity, she says. Thats the nature of the problem. It seems logical to most people if I work more, if I work harder, I will get more results. But the research shows that having that healthy work life balance, not working too much, having a flexible work environment and partaking in recreation enhances creativity, energy, physical and mental health. Studies show that it actually makes people a more efficient and proficient employee.

Bowen names a long list of negative effects from overworking: poor physical and mental health, disturbed sleep, poor diet, anxiety and depression, obesity and diabetes, chronic pain and relationship issues. So many of those negative health outcomes have been tied to individuals working too much, not taking time off work. Our health suffers if we arent being accountable and conscientious about taking those breaks for ourselves.

In other words, recreation is good for us.

But to work better by working less, we have to go against our culture and maybe even our basic wiring. It may be human nature to believe that when we have a lot to do, the answer is to do more.

In apaper recently published in Nature, University of Virginia researchers show trends in how humans look at a situation or object that needs improvement. Overall, people believe adding an element is a better solution than removing one. However, the studys findings show, peoples compulsion to add can be so habitual its done to our detriment. We miss an opportunity to make a situation or object better by subtracting.

The benefits of subtraction can also apply to companies and organizations.

The pandemics forced pause has led many companies to re-examine their missions and priorities.

Like Duluths Zeitgeist Arts Caf. At a Greater Downtown Council Table Talk virtual discussion in April, Zeitgeist Business Director Sara Rolfson described how the pandemic has inspired some serious introspection for the local restaurant favorite.

Its been anopportunity for us to slow down and think about how we can best serve the community, said Rolfson. We never had the opportunity to slow down before.

Considering how to reinvigorate and do things differently has inspired Zeitgeist to change its model by opening its kitchen to successful restaurant pop-ups Gumbo Boi and Duluth HotBox. Currently, Zeitgeist is seeking community input on its future direction and has requested proposals from potential partners open to anyone with ideas for how they would want to serve the community through Zeigeist Arts restaurant, said Rolfson.

Even renowned workaholic Steve Jobs turned off his phone once in a while, according to his former assistant, Naz Beheshti, in the new book Pause. Breathe. Choose: Become the CEO of Your Well-Being. Jobs reportedly turned off his phone while hanging out with Apple design chief Jony Ive. Granted, he was looking at future Apple products mockups and models, which the tech giant called toys. But as Beheshti describes, His time with Jony gave him the space and occasion to laugh, imagine, create and feel a renewed sense of freedom. Beheshti also told CNBC that Jobs also meditated daily and had regular physical activity.

So its good business to take breaks. But if youre already over your head at work, how do you even begin making changes? Especially among the many employees sent home to work during the pandemic, who now find themselves checking email at 2 a.m. and working weekends since theyre home anyway?

Start small, said Bowen, with realistic, achievable changes. It all comes down to science. Its neuroplasticity, helping our brain to create new neuropathways in ways that are sustainable. In other words, dont set yourself up for failure by trying to do too much, too fast.

Bowen recommends her clients make changes on two levels.

First, find ways to take breaks while at work. Take a lunch break away from your workspace. Drink enough water, laugh, get some sunshine and fresh air. Build those into your workday without affecting your efficiency and productivity, she said. If youre working late until 8 oclock every night, set a goal to finish at 7 p.m., which is more manageable and less shocking than trying to finish at 3.

Second, look at your life outside of work. Are you eating healthfully, are you sleeping well, do you have social connections, are you getting fresh air on a daily basis, are you doing something that gets your mind off the hamster wheel?

For many, succeeding at small changes and seeing the results jumpstarts the trajectory.

Once that starts to feel a bit impactful, said Bowen, the domino effect takes place. People notice the discernable difference and they want to make these changes in life.

Most local businesses arent going to build nap rooms like a West Coast tech company might, but employers can follow the lead of innovative companies by thinking outside the box and making small changes.

I just spoke to a former colleague who started leading a very short mindfulness meditation in the middle the workday for her colleagues, said Bowen. Everyone had 10 to 15 minutes to step away from their desks and get off the hamster wheel.

And how about having a meeting while walking outside?

Outside recess works so well for kids and the same applies to adults. Taking a break outside restores focus and energy. One statistic Bowen repeatedly sees is that 20 minutes of outdoor movement can equal a cup of coffee for its energy boost.

Being outside in fresh air is possibly the best recreation of all, she said. If we look to the research and the statistics, the benefits abound. Usually if were outside were getting some kind of movement, theres often joy and laughter and activities with others that checks that social interaction box.

I often say if there is a miracle drug out there for every mental and physical health ailment, it is outdoor exercise. It is so powerful. The stats on helping to manage stress, improving mental and physical health it boosts energy, prevents burnout.

Bowen emphasized that living in the Upper Midwest, its important to find ways to get outside or get movement at all times of the year. Many individuals suffer from SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder) because we have such long winters and lack of daylight, she said. It makes it doubly important to have that form of recreation and building blocks year-round, not just for the three nice months we have. We have to be intentional. We have to find what speaks to us and were motivated to do.

The pandemic has shown that some people may be more productive when working from home or with a more flexible work schedule.

Are there some of those concessions you can offer employees depending on what their personal life looks like? Bowen asked. It ends up being a win-win for the employer and employee.

Employers can also model the positive effects of downtime by practicing it themselves. Taking breaks, laughing and chatting at work, and taking vacations are all important ways to positively affect the workplace culture.

Employers fear should not be implementing these changes, said Bowen. It should be not implementing these. Overworking is whats contributing to undo stress and burnout.

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