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Covid-19 and Resistance in Brazil: Life-Making, Memory, and Challenges in Seeding an Alternative Future
By: Rhaysa RuasAugust 25, 2020
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When COVID-19 – a pandemic caused by a pathogen that sprouted from the very conditions through which our capitalist societies produce food and deal with nature – was announced as a reality in Rio de Janeiro on March 13th, our concerns were focused on growing police killings, lack of water in various working-class neighborhoods, and an increasing unemployment rate at a national level of 12.2% (around 12.9 million of people), this in a labor market where informal work comprises as much as 41% of all workers and where many of the unemployed are therefore not counted.
Austerity politics were on track, putting forward a project of deeper privatization, financialization, income concentration, and social exclusion. State budgets for social expenses such as health and education have been frozen until 2036, according to a constitutional amendment approved in 2016. An escalating political crisis that involved all levels of state power was also part of this atmosphere.
Very quickly, the political crisis – at the center of which was the battle between President Jair Bolsonaro and the Congress and the Supreme Court – turned also into an internal fight between the President and his own ministers, including the former Minister of Health. Whilst the latter was inclined to follow World Health Organization (WHO) directives, Bolsonaro insisted on denying the full existence of the virus while also calling public demonstrations against democracy. As I am writing this report, Brazil reached more than 50 thousand COVID deaths – second highest in the world – and, after several splits in the government, Bolsonaro has not even nominated ministers for education, culture, or health.
Although the corporate mass media has been positioning itself on the side of "science," highlighting a degree of concern for public health, unequal social realities have been more naturalized than really addressed. The media showed three main general concerns regarding virus contamination. First, came the virus's quick pace as it spreads in favelas and peripheries, where it is far from uncommon for a whole family to share a one-room house, with a lack of sanitation, clean water and other infrastructure. Importantly, when the federal government offered an emergency aid of USD 112.96 per month for the poor – after proposing the ridiculous amount of USD 37.65 per month ending with a political battle with the left in Congress – it was 8 times less than the necessary salary calculated for the basic market basket, USD 868.94. This process also revealed the further extension of the reality of social marginalization, since many of those requesting the benefit faced real challenges in requesting it, such as no internet access or required documentation (basic citizen ID), not to mention the unreasonable delays in payments – issues which were once more naturalized.
The second concern was Brazil's prison system, containing the third biggest population in the world. Here, the scenario of general human rights violations and lack of infrastructure would create a dramatic effect that could go outside its walls. Importantly, the general concern on the part of the dominant media was not with human beings stuck there to die (even if 41,5% of them have no criminal convictions), but the fear that COVID could spread outside its walls, for which the measures taken – prohibition of family visits and no policy for guaranteeing their health or well-being – are illustrative.
A third concern, less noticed and even less addressed, was Indigenous and Quilombola people's vulnerability to contamination, including the more isolated communities that were already suffering constant invasions and attacks increasingly legitimized by the Bolsonaro administration. Again, much more was said than done, since no state policy was directed at them and the virus got there through the same roads opened by the invaders. Those invasions are part of a bigger complex scenario of conflicts and disputes over land, such as the looting of Amazon forest – another project driven by Bolsonaro.
Although mainstream media, NGOs, and civil society – mostly rooted in the liberal-oriented, progressive middle classes – showed a degree of preoccupation with the so-called social question, far less was said when the first COVID death in Rio de Janeiro was a domestic worker, a Black woman residing in a peripherical area, who was infected after being forced to work in her employers' house even after they had returned from Italy with symptoms. Considered to be essential workers and with few or no labor rights, domestic workers, such as maids, nannies and housekeepers kept working in precarious situations with no support and very little concern for them or their families' health.
II. Building survival strategies in trenches…
When a Black man named George Floyd was brutally murdered in the U.S. by the Minneapolis Police Department on May 25th, we had already counted 23.522 COVID deaths in Brazil and at least 606 police murders in Rio de Janeiro State alone, of which 78% victims were Black. What is shocking is that even after a severe social isolation decree, police brutality against Black people continued to increase: In April 2020, there were 43% more such killings than at the same time last year. Meanwhile, during the months of April and May 2020, the state of Rio de Janeiro increased the volume of police operations, allegedly meant to crack down on drug trafficking, by 27.9%. This produced 53% more deaths than in the same period of the previous year. Floyd's murder vocalized again a slogan that shows the worldwide working-class's most recurrent feeling: WE CAN'T BREATHE.
We cannot breathe because capitalism as a system is unbreathable. In regulating our access to the means of subsistence, thereby forging the specific kind of precarious, disciplined life that is necessary to maintain capital's drive for profit, capitalism is a death-making system. What can we do when a system like that is revealed for the whole society? How not to let this historical opportunity opened by US popular revolt and the appearance of COVID-19 – a neoliberal pandemic – vanish into a re-naturalization of capitalist barbarism, i.e. "going back to normal"? More concretely, how to live and make a living in a world like that? At the current juncture, all our political work seems to be limited to harm-reduction actions, but it is our duty as Marxists to make sense of those contradictions and push them forward.
For instance, just as U.S. antiracist demonstrations have a core anti-capitalist and antiimperialist potentiality – since they stand against a state that brings inside its territory the same kind of military occupation that is carried out by its troops abroad, with curfews, police brutality and so on – they also have double imperialist impacts on countries like Brazil. U.S. imperialism manifests itself in both violent and not always explicit forms, with a very marked cultural component that involves posing as a symbol of democracy and freedom while exporting militarization and forms of punitive discipline through its transnational industrial-military-prison complex.
At this juncture, Brazilian white elites felt compelled to adopt an antiracist language and position – with our biggest TV broadcasters inviting Black journalists to speak on their main news programs – progressive sectors were divided between (1) those grasping the moment in less radical terms, from a rights/equality language perspective and wanting to reproduce U.S. political struggles and demonstrations in terms of expanding the politics of inclusion and diversity, and (2) those who understood the revolts in their anticapitalistic dimension and wanted to use the conjuncture to push forward a more radical project here in Brazil.
The current institutional left generally held the first position, and during the electoral calendar for municipalities and senates, maintained an agenda of trying to advance Blacks, women, and LGBTQI+ people in power positions. This is the platform adopted by the left parties represented in Congress, with the support of progressive NGOs. Guiding its politics by the electoral contest with no real alternative project for transcending current social relations, the bigger socialist party (PSOL) called timidly for industrial reconversion, while focusing – equally timidly – on a call for Bolsonaro's parliamentary impeachment. They left out any call for the taxation of big fortunes, for example.
In the second, more radical position, we can find grassroots collectives and social movements from favelas and peripheral areas – mostly Black and Indigenous. But within a political and economic context like the one described above, they are also the ones who are carrying the burden of guaranteeing working class survival, especially in favelas, villages and peripheries. This sector, composed of several collectives, spontaneous mutual aid networks/actions, community-based organizations, and supported by few non-electoral/revolutionary socialist parties or anarchist organizations, are comrades who are planting the seeds for a possible alternative future.
They do so at a high personal cost for their activists and their own organizing. Nevertheless, since the very beginning of social isolation, it is the Black favelas' youth, organized in collectives, that are in the frontline of the fight against the virus and its social effects. They work to guarantee not only the basic means of subsistence to majority of poor families, but also information about the virus and how to prevent it. Many were spontaneous mutual aid initiatives, although this sector also comprised important collectives that have been confronting state violence in the frontline of antiracist struggles of the past years.
In my view, we can classify the urban working-class mobilization during the pandemic, i.e., resistance through solidarity for survival, into two big groups: actions of political pedagogy (education, advocacy and mobilization) and actions aimed at guaranteeing the reproduction of life (life-making actions). In the first group, we can locate 1) the dissemination of information and fighting against widespread government fake news, 2) the work of popular communicators in informing people how to act in case of COVID-19 deaths and domestic violence, 3) collecting frontline workers reports and then helping to denounce and protest over issues like the lack of PPE's, 4) institutional advocacy work regarding state's accountability and to stop police violence, 5) mothers and parents of state violence victims demanding state accountability, 6) human rights protections and immediate liberation of imprisoned people, also putting forward a prison abolition movement, 7) online political organizing and education, with online classes and debates; and finally 8) organizing public street demonstrations.
In the second sector we can locate actions like 1) getting individual and institutional donations in order to distribute food, clean water, hygiene kits, etc., 2) giving health and funeral support in favelas, villages and peripheries, where those state services do not reach, 3) guaranteeing survival in prisons and detention centers, including within the socio-educative system. The collectives also organized to sanitize the streets in favelas, since the state refuses to do so to the full extent that is needed in those communities. They also responded to the fact that most people in those areas had difficulties maintaining social isolation (recall that those are the neighborhoods where many of the essential workers live, e.g., cleaners and janitors, domestic workers, care givers, food makers, and transportation services).
What can all those movements – and Brazilian reality – bring us in terms of conceptualizing/thinking revolution/social transformation? If/how does it connect to the US uprisings?
Brazilian mutual aid actions maintain in their daily praxis a long tradition of popular solidarity and dual power in areas where the state historically has been present only through military/punitive force. Since colonial times, Blacks, Indigenous people and the working poor created and lived in autonomous territories. While they were more and more subsumed by capital, even today we have areas where the state does not penetrate very much, and self-organization is a general form.
Key examples include many Indigenous and Quilombola communities and Black communitarian organizing, especially in favelas whose history often confuses itself with urban Quilombos (although in favelas, as organized crime more and more keeps close relations with the state, this has become rarer over the years). This has happened either by communities' resistance and the possibility of keeping isolated or through the lack of a state presence as a social insecurity mediator in those communities. Right now, for example, there are self-organized Indigenous self-defense groups, such as Guardiões da Floresta (Forest Guardians), that are defending their territories in regions such as the Amazon from looting and deforestation by direct confrontation with invaders, as well as illegal hunters, lodges, gold miners, and so on.
In general, Latin America has a lot of autonomist experiences, most notably the Zapatista movement, which furnish us with lessons about how to keep police and the state out of daily life-making. Many of those autonomist experiences recover, maintain and/or preserve Indigenous, African and Specific Latin American cosmogonies, which bring to the movements' center another relationship between human beings and nature, and of the particular and the universal, where life-making is not driven by profit-making. Also present in some of those experiences is the understanding that police or state control is not only an objective institution, but also a relationship, an historical and ongoing process.
I would also like to call attention to the fact that the kind of debates raised worldwide after George Floyd's murder and the popular revolts that exploded in the US were already being addressed on a daily basis here, from defunding and abolishing the police to abolishing prisons and fighting against anti-Black genocide, to dual power experiences. Those kinds of debates are already an urgent issue, a key demand, and a part of a long-lasting reflection in the whole of Latin America. Riots with cars and buildings burning after a killing committed by the police are a recurrent reality for activists from Rio and São Paulo favelas, although almost never broadcast in the mass media, which is completely controlled by corporate or state interests.
Nor are such issues supported by the middle classes. But while the U.S. uprisings show the limits of a Black politics of inclusion and diversity, pointing in a more radicalized, anti-capitalist direction, Brazil's left strategy tends still to reinforce an old politics limited to inclusion/diversity. Can Brazil's grassroots and spontaneous mutual aid movements not only point this out, but also put forward an alternative direction?
It is not by coincidence that while the LA police department – one of the most lethal in the US – killed 601 people in the last 7 years, with just one criminal conviction, Rio de Janeiro police killed 606 people from last January to May 2020, with no convictions at all. Here, I do not bring Brazilian particularity to this debate in order to do an Othering, or simply to measure it quantitatively as worse or better than US reality. I bring it up because paying attention to the particularity of Brazil's dependent capitalism helps us understand better the deeply racialized and gendered logic of global capitalism without reifying the US imperial character and role within it.
As I mentioned earlier, police brutality and a genocidal public security policy made "staying at home" even more impossible for most residents of favelas, with constant shootings and police operations. On May 20, an 18-year-old Black man was killed during a food distribution action at Cidade de Deus. The group was stuck in the middle of the shooting and recorded everything. Jota Marques, a comrade from Frente Cidade de Deus, told a local newspaper that when they questioned the police who did not want to let them go during the shooting, a policeman shouted, "If they didn't want to be shot down, they should not leave their homes without having a Bible on their hands".
Finally, on May 31 after the brutal murder of two more Black teenagers in Rio – inside their own houses – we had our first public demonstration: "Black and Favelas' Lives Matter: stop killing us". This demonstration was organized from the night into the day, when those favela activists decided that it was impossible to continue in the way they had been. The call for the demonstration stated: "We went to the streets because they came to kill us at home." The demonstration took place in front of the governor's palace, and although it was very peaceful and lasted only 1 hour – a decision of the movements that organized it in order to diminish COVID propagation and avoid confrontations with the police – the police still reacted with brutality, leaving one injured and another arrested. One week later, on June 7, we had another, bigger and more organized demonstration, this time in Rio's downtown.
This time the police were more organized. With horses and military tanks in the streets and with a ratio of 2-3 police per demonstrator, they tried to curtail the protest, threatening civilians with their display of force and military power, arresting 40 people for no legal reason (with the excuse that they had sanitizer in their possession), forbidding the use of megaphones, making unauthorized personal searches, and encircling the protest. With the mass media covering the whole demonstration and its taking place in broad daylight, no real confrontation happened, but the police nonetheless sent a message of intimidation.
Even more concerning was the reaction of civil society to those brave and significant demonstrations. Many leftist intellectuals and activists, NGO members, artists, and digital influencers urged collectives in favelas to step back from organizing demonstrations. Their pressures included social media posts against the demonstrations. Their main argument was the possibility of those demonstrations giving Bolsonaro the excuse he needed to finally proceed with the expected military coup and formally close Congress and the Supreme Court. Others pointed to the fear that if we had more radical protests like in the U.S., we could have had a civil war, since this would give Bolsonaro reasons to fully liberate the right to carry guns in an already polarized civil society. Finally, a considerable part of the older generation of the Black movement warned that demonstrations could increase the spread of COVID in a scenario where we already have crowded hospitals and have not yet reached the peak of the pandemic, which would increase mortality within an already fragmented Black community.
All those positions revealed an incorrect understanding of the workings of political formations and the meaning of power, since they grasp political power neither as a concentrated phenomenon nor as a social relation in an ongoing, historical process. Instead, they treat power as diffuse and "the coup" as an event in search of a cause. This is further evidence for the needed retheorization of capitalism and a work of rescuing radical concepts and the diffusion of revolutionary theory within Brazilian society.
III. …but trying to think beyond capitalism: what alternative?
How to think about policing as a social relation? In a similar vein, how to put forward a call for defunding the police and reinvesting in social welfare, in a dependent capitalist and deeply militarized country? Is it possible to apply the same calls for defunding the police and reinvesting in social programs to dependent capitalist states like Brazil, considering the ways imperialist countries export their social problems and feed their welfare systems with Global South resources, blood, and sweat? What about US imperialism and the global system of militarization?
More concretely, how can we abolish the police without creating a situation where private militias and death squads – already a part of Brazilian history as the origin of the police institution itself and now as parallel organizations with deep connections with this same institution, and with the state and dominant classes in general – could proliferate, undermining even more possibilities for civil society to control and denounce abuses, thus aggravating Black and Indigenous genocide? Finally, how to understand anti-Black genocide both in Brazil and the U.S.? Do they have similar meanings and processes?
In Brazil, as in other dependent economies, the super-exploitation of labor – the lengthening and intensification of the working day and the payment of wages below the normal value of the labor-power necessary for worker's subsistence and reproduction – is systemic. This raises several questions about the character of Brazil's citizenship model and to what extent racial structural inequalities cannot be diminished. Households, communities, and favelas serve as the main site that compensate for the lack of income necessary to guarantee daily subsistence. These communities thus become crucial sites of struggle for living standards and of resistance against capitalist exploitation. As a result, they also become the target of state violence. Gender and race relations thus help produce the devaluation of certain social groups and guarantee the reproduction of exploitation and expropriation.
In this scenario, one of the most pressing needs for retheorization in light of the experience of Rio's more radical social movements seems to be the relationship between anti-Black violence and capitalism (the capitalist quest for value). An understanding of capitalism as social totality can also help us avoid a reading of racism and anti-Black genocide that reproduces a dualistic framework, according to which it happens because Black people are completely disposable for capitalism, since we constitute "surplus" labor power. Predominant in contemporary literature, these readings are not only wrong, but mystify the very workings of capitalist society, by using a functionalist explanation – Black people's so-called disposability under capitalist system – to explain anti-Black genocide. Against this, I argue: we are killed precisely because we are indispensable for this system's functioning, and it is by producing differences in the access to means of subsistence and conditions of exploitation that capitalism produces the forms of life necessary for its own sociality.
As I see it here, following social reproduction theorists, there is a contradictory relationship of dependency between the capitalist system and life's production processes and institutions: the existence of capitalism depends as much on the production of a healthy and fit global working class as on the maximum exhaustion of the individual worker within a particular nation state. In the course of the process of an inherently expansionary accumulation of capital, the capitalist class seeks to stabilize the reproduction of the labor force at a low cost and with a minimum of reproductive labor.
This means, concretely, the reproduction of human life in destructive conditions, so that capitalism builds the life it needs; it replaces bodily life, incarnated, with an alienated form of social life, through a process of abstraction such as that presented in the transformation of concrete labor into abstract labor. In this process, historically constituted along gendered and racialized lines, the level of access to resources for the reproduction of life determines the fate of the working class as a whole, also determining the specific forms of resistance of the different fractions that compose it.
Now, although there is a tendency towards the total subsumption of human labor under capital, against this continuous tendency of compression and destruction of the means of production of life, the working class, "as a unified or fragmented force in sectors in competition, strives to conquer the best possible conditions for its renewal," and thus subsumption is never total.
In this sense, all capitalist societies produce and reproduce constantly their own "Negro" and that is why we cannot combat genocide with inclusion and diversity politics, as it generates nothing but the reorganization of a social hierarchy that will produce its own new "Negro" in the future. How to think about this in Brazil, where Black people are more than a half of the total population? Here, a discussion about dependent capitalism and the specifically Brazilian social formation can be very important and illustrative, but this is rarely carried out.
I am not excluding the importance of the politics of inclusion, and even less am I suggesting that we return to a dualist debate, reviving old polemics around recognition vs. redistribution. For me it is clear that recognition is an integral part of class struggles/politics. What I am saying is that when we allow inclusion to become our only focus, guided by an idealistic U.S. civil rights model and without grasping the specific workings of capitalist social forms such as the State or Law, this politics turns quickly into its opposite. We cannot expect to combat a centuries-old ongoing genocide by idealizing a social or welfare state that never existed fully even in imperialist countries. Thus, the only way we can support, even critically, the fight for inclusion is as a tactic.
But in posing the politics of inclusion and diversity as a tactical objective, we must protect and support the most radical movements within it. Making concessions, whether morally or discursively (against looting for example) is not only to help send our brothers and sisters to death but it also buries the concrete possibility of a better future for all. Such concessions are guided by a wrong interpretation of the State and the Law: as if we could change their own structural logic by just changing chess pieces. This ignores how the structures themselves are (only relatively) autonomous under capitalism to the extent they are reproduced "on the individual's backs." By crystalizing historical social praxis, incorporating them into the state's own ideological and bureaucratic structures, these structures can easily limit even the most radical political leader or demand by individuals or groups, turning them into their opposite while adapting them to their own logic.
The systemic challenges being faced, and the multiple forms of resistance (and survival) through solidarity found within the Brazilian working class during the COVID-19 pandemic, point toward the need for a retheorization not only of a broader antifascist and antiracist struggle, but also to the theorization of a real alternative to capitalism. The present seeds of unity between antifascist and antiracist struggles in Brazil have the potential to move us toward a deeper understanding of capitalism that can radicalize current democratic struggles.
To be sure, we should keep to a formal democratic openness contra Bolsonaro, for it is fundamental to determining future modes/capacity of working-class organization. But our organizing to maintain democracy cannot be done in idealistic or narrow terms. It is not by chance that it is difficult to get the masses to support democracy when most of them have never really lived or experienced it. It's most difficult to convince people of the need to restore funding to the state when the state means only violence and corruption to many. But is this the only possibility for resistance, or there are others that can push us forward in the direction of a real social change?
As Peter Hudis points out, capitalism has already shown that all it "can offer the future of humanity are social and natural conditions that are bound to become worse than those afflicting us today." As a Black Marxist-feminist, I believe that if there is a future, it depends on the immediate social reorganization of life and production. As a Marxist-Humanist, I understand that this is only possible through the transcendence of alienation and of the form of value/social-property relations.
What can we do concretely right now towards the abolition of capitalism? I am arguing that in order to transcend alienation and the social division of labor, i.e., transcend value, what we actually need is a daily and permanent revolution. This can transpire only if we collectively raise our consciousness to the extent of being self-reflexive every second of our lives, in all of their aspects: moral, ethical, religious, questioning all our beliefs and the very way we treat people, all of this together.
Given the totality of this system, how to be anti-racist? How to be anti-fascist? How to be anti-sexist? How to be anti-capitalist? Problematize everything, doubt, and question everything. Racialize and gender all discussions. Look for information. Hear and support those who are in the frontline of the struggles. Understand your history and your own experiences as integral to a broader class experience in its diversity, in light of a global capitalist system. But this cannot be merely a self-help program; it needs to be done at the level of political organization and be constitutive of multiple positionalities without losing sense of the totality they constitute in their diversity. The pandemic, the revelation of essential workers/life-making work and the solidarity chain it raises all across the world gives us a new condition of possibility in this direction.
How can we begin to move current resistance actions further? First: we need to archive our praxis and make sense of our collective radically-built knowledge. In other words, we need to make sense of our history in a collective way, not only in a formal academic sense, but also transcending it through the voices and experiences of the "uncertified", the mass of ordinary people whose stories and lives are uncounted (independent if they had access to formal education or not), as Choudry and Vally put it. I am referring here to the radical and revolutionary political experiences of Black people, Indigenous people and the working poor in the Brazilian social formation, more specifically to the experiences of spontaneous and "uncertified" sectors of the working-class.
This must be an intra-class project, a project that, by making sense of all standpoints within the working class – through the recognition of the social totality involving all social relations of oppression and exploitation in which their form of appearance seems to be autonomous –, but with none as hegemonic, actually fights on a daily basis against attempts by the bourgeois standpoint make itself dominant, imposing already existing social forms. It cannot be intra-race, it cannot be intra-gender, but it must be intra-working-class, because although racism and sexism as forms of prejudice are deeply built into different fractions of the class, and thus of its consciousness, those oppressive relationships can be transcended only by concrete common struggle and political change over time.
On the other hand, racism and sexism as differential forms of exploitation and expropriation – i.e., oppression that impede sectors of the working class's access to their means of subsistence and production – are overdetermined by class differences that impede this common struggle itself. This is because, while the struggle ignores those deep class differences – concrete social-property relationships – the intra-race-only or intra-gender-only struggle necessarily move from common concerns to individual ones, just as property moved from common to individual, where capitalistic individual social-property relations tend to subsume the conditions of possibility of broader collective struggles for collective forms of social-property relations.
The recent post-independence history of many African countries, for example, can illustrate how new Black and Indigenous dominant classes can be easily formed even when deeply political, anti-colonial struggles are taking place. Again, this is not to make a class-first claim but to recover the idea that classes exist only in concrete terms, i.e., in a racialized and gendered way and vice-versa, both in Brazilian or any other specific forms of capitalism.
By the year 2020, we, proletarians of the whole world, have had enough working-class organizing experiences within the State and the Law to collectively make sense of this process and to advance. And for the first time, we are so closely connected that we can easily archive those experiences in a transnational way. Thus, we have no need, given all the technological advances and transnational connections we already have, to still conceiving narrow national solutions to global problems or to be constantly repeating formulas that went wrong everywhere else in the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, 1990s, because "maybe they would fit since our reality is different."
On one hand, we need to find our own ways, by analyzing our own people and their challenges – which is, as Frantz Fanon tell us, a huge challenge to the colonized, because the first and very deep issue is to recognize ourselves: "Who am I?". On the other, we need to connect and reflect those paths to a broad, transnational context, accounting for other specific paths to the same goal. Those questions can only be answered – and the solutions can only be found – by creating our future by facing the injustices of our global, common, past.
Posted August 25, 2020 Anti-imperialism, Brazil, Coronavirus, Public health, Racism by Scott McLemee
Rhaysa Ruas is a young Afro-Brazilian attorney, researcher, and social activist based in Rio de Janeiro, and a writer for the International Marxist-Humanist webzine.
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Home of the Colonels
AYP Status
Behavior Specialists
BELDEN, ALYSSA
BLICHA, AMY
BOESCH, RICHARD F
BRINK, ANNA MARIE
BRYAN, DAVID G
CONRAD, STEPHANIE A
CROSS, DAVID R
DEBIAS, NICOLE E
DEDIONISIO, CHRISTOPHER P
DELSANDRO, JACOB P
DELSANDRO, NIKKI
DILLON, JENNIFER ANN
DIXON, ROBERT E
DUDENHOEFFER, ANGELA J
FARLEY, TRISHA
FERRARE, JOSEPH C
FLAHERTY, PATRICK B
HEASLEY, RICHARD L
HOLLAND, JENNIFER A
ITALIANI, DARREN A
KOLASH, RICHARD M
KRAUSE, MICHAEL P
LARICCIA, SUZETTE
LAZENBY, TRACIE A
LEWIS, BRYAN P
MUNSON, HOLLY A
MUNSON,RYAN W
PAGANO, RICHARD M
PELLETIER, WILLIAM T
ROBINSON, JILL M
SANDBERG, GINA G
SCULLY, DANIEL P
SCULLY, VIKKI
SHAFFER, DENNIS B
SHEA, TIMOTHY F
SIGGIA, NINA C
SITEK, CHRISTINE M
SMITH, MARIA C
SPENCE, ANN M
TERRY, KATHLEEN A
THOMPSON, KRISTIN M
VANNETTE, JESSICA
TECULVER, DENNIS K
GRONDZIOWSKI, MARENA
6th Grade Boys Basketball
Coaching Biography
Ms. Giles is heading into her fourth season as the Lady roughriders coach. She is very excited about the upcoming season and has a great group of girls to make RMS contenders this year. In addition to coaching at Roosevelt, Ms. Giles presently serves as the head soccer coach at Strong Vincent. Prior to coaching at SV, Ms. Giles also coached the Central girls soccer team from 2001-2004. Before she began working for the Erie School District Coach Giles was an assistant coach at Penn State Behrend from 2004-2007.
Playing Experience
Coach Giles was a stellar soccer athlete for Penn State Behrend from 1997-2001, and was inducted into the Behrend Hall of Fame in 2010. As a player, she was a three-year captain for the Lions, Giles led her team to four consecutive AMCC titles, four straight post-season appearances, and a NCAA appearance in 2000. When she arrived on Behrend's campus in the fall of 1997, the soccer program was heading into its third year of existence as a varsity program. The franchise was about to sky-rocket into a higher level of play and Giles was at the center of it all. During her freshman year, she claimed AMCC Newcomer of the Year accolades and the team's Rookie of the Year award as one of Behrend's top scorers. Giles continued to catch AMCC attention, earning all-conference honors in 1998 and 1999. Giles' senior campaign proved to be the breakthrough season for the Lions' women's soccer program. That year, Behrend set the school record with 16 wins and won its fourth conference crown. The Lions advanced to the NCAA Division III Tournament for the first time in school history. Giles was named All-AMCC honorable mention and picked up her second Most Valuable Player award acknowledged by the team. Giles' name remains in the record books. She ranks third in career games played with 79, is fourth in career points and goals with 52 and 21, respectively. Giles also ranks sixth in assists with 10.
Ms. Giles currently teaches 7-8th grade honors Science classes at Roosevelt.
Erie , Pa 16502

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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Motion lodged in the Scottish Parliament - French Nuclear Missile Test Failure
Published on Tuesday, 07 May 2013 14:13
Yesterday the French Navy tested a strategic missile of the new generation M51 (launched from the submarine "Le Triomphant"). The test was a failure and the missile was destroyed briefly after its launch.
http://tinyurl.com/French-Nuclear-Missile-Failure
In response, Bill Kidd MSP lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament.
Motion Number: S4M-06488
Date Lodged: 07/05/2013
Title: Nuclear Missile Test Failure
Motion Text:
That the Parliament notes with concern the news of the French Navy's failed test of a M51 missile in the Bay of Audierne, off the coast of Brittany; understands that the missile malfunctioned during a test launch on 5 May 2013 and had to be destroyed while in flight; further understands that the M51, a missile designed for submarines, is 12 metres long, weighs 56 tons and has the capacity to carry nuclear warheads that are 60 to 80 times more powerful than the bomb that destroyed Hiroshima in 1945; is relieved that there were no casualties as a result of this failed test and that the missile was not carrying nuclear warheads at the time; believes, however, that this malfunction serves as a reminder of the tens of thousands of nuclear weapons that it believes are held in the arsenals of nine countries that rely on technology that it considers continues to be proven fallible; is concerned that this incident was not reported more widely, especially as the consequences of such a malfunction of a missile with nuclear warheads in the same vicinity would have had a devastating impact on the nearby shores of England and many other bordering areas, and calls on the UK media to provide appropriate coverage of such events to make the public aware of the risks faced in allowing nuclear technologies to be pursued.


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Weyl semimetal (WSM) can be classified into type-I, which respects Lorentz symmetry, and type-II, which does not. In a type-II WSM, the Weyl cone exhibits strong tilting so that the Weyl point appears as the contact point between an electron pocket and a hole pocket in the Fermi surface. Recently we have predicted the layered transition-metal dichalcogenides MoTe2 as the material candidate of type-II WSM . Soon after our prediction, MoTe2 has been verified as the first type-II WSM by ARPES experiments from several independent groups [2-7].
Sun, Y., Wu, S.-C., Ali, M. N., Felser, C. & Yan, B. Prediction of Weyl semimetal in orthorhombic MoTe2. Phys. Rev. B 92, 161107 (2015).
Deng, K. et al. Experimental observation of topological Fermi arcs in type-II Weyl semimetal MoTe2. Nature Physics 12, 1105–1110 (2016).
Huang, L. et al. Spectroscopic evidence for a type II Weyl semimetallic state in MoTe2. Nature Materials 15, 1155–1160 (2016).
Jiang, J. et al. Signature of type-II Weyl semimetal phase in MoTe2. Nature Commun. 8, 13973 (2017).
Tamai, A. et al. Fermi Arcs and Their Topological Character in the Candidate Type-II Weyl Semimetal MoTe2. Phys. Rev. X 6, 031021 (2016).
Liang, A. et al. Electronic Evidence for Type II Weyl Semimetal State in MoTe2. arXiv:1604.01706 (2016).
Sakano, M. et al. Observation of spin-polarized bands and domain-dependent Fermi arcs in polar Weyl semimetal MoTe2. Phys. Rev. B 95, 121101 (2017).


text:
3rd Party 22.99
Release Date: August 21st, 2012
Review Date January 3rd, 2013 by M. Enois Duarte
Overview - Pablo Larrain's follow-up to TONY MANERO is another unnerving look at one man's psychosis set against a country's political and moral turmoil -- here, a lonely morgue clerk whose infatuation with the burlesque dancer next door plays out against the violent chaos of Chile's 1973 military coup.
Technical Specs: BD-25 Single-Layer Disc
English Descriptive Audio: Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Subtitles/Captions: English
Special Features: Still Gallery
Movie Studio: Lorber Films
Set during the onset of the 1973 coup d'état in Chile, 'Post Mortem' is the strangely sardonic drama with a macabre sense of humor about a life disordered by love and war. That last bit is a common sentiment many can probably relate to on a personal level, even if the war aspect is only meant figuratively, and the plot is a familiar theme seen in a variety of movies. But here, Chilean filmmaker Pablo Larraín, who also wrote the screenplay, approaches the story with a matter-of-fact delicacy that maintains emotions and moral judgments at arm's length. It's a curious but skillfully executed tactic for a tale that grows from small pockets of optimism and lots of lively activity to an air of disenfranchisement and alienation.
Detached and indifferent yet absorbing and melancholic, the film is told in the distinctive style of Italian neorealism, where the emphasis is on ordinary life seen through a consciously aware documentary lens. This conscious decision-making can be seen in the highly-unusual choice of filming in the CinemaScope 2.66:1 aspect ratio. Carefully working with director of photography Sergio Armstrong, the ultra-wide frame creates a uniquely impersonal cinematic experience, awash in heavy gray overtones and almost completely drained of color. Several times, especially during mid-shots and medium close-ups, Larraín allows his actors to move around in and out of our visual space. Wide shots are from such a distance that the amount of empty space becomes unavoidable.
One brilliantly constructed sequence making splendid use of the aspect ratio is also the narrative's turning point and the moment when the life of our protagonist, the lowly and very lonely civil servant Mario Cornejo (Alfredo Castro), becomes more complicated. Living a very ordered, plain and routine existence, the assistant coroner is showering while the neighborhoods of the Santiago capital erupt into war, which happens off-camera. We hear the muffled noise of bullets, helicopters and explosions in the background, but the water hitting the top of his head drowns out the mayhem for the oblivious Mario. It's all done in close-ups with the actor bobbing around the frame. By the time, he takes notice and runs out the front door, we have a very wide shot of Mario staring across the street at his neighbor's house. It's a harrowingly biting but equally grim scene, showing the sudden lifeless silence of the neighborhood.
The neighbor's house belongs to Nancy Puelma (Antonia Zegers), a cabaret dancer recently fired for being underweight, which, possibly unintentionally, brings attention to some divergent cultural differences. Then again, it could be deliberate since Nancy is a miserably complex individual with deeply sorrowful, puppy-dog eyes, who suddenly breaks into tears in the middle of dinner. Nancy is the object of Mario's affection, which in this story means a depersonalized ideal of beauty. Just as their neighborly relationship grows more romantic and intimate, the military coup that overthrew President Salvador Allende interrupts, manifesting an unavoidable gulf between them. This fated gap is suggested by that wide shot of Mario standing across the street, facing a forsaken life of loneliness which he willfully ignores and chases after nonetheless.
The film commences as a kind of warped deadpan comedy with a strange quirkiness that brings more smiles than laughs. The second in a trilogy about the 17-year military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, 'Post Mortem' unfolds in a fascinatingly organic manner with a focus on the most trivial moments of life. In the days immediately after the war, those same little events and actions suddenly carry more weight and importance. And for Mario, a broken heart, the shattering of a hopeful, optimistic future, is more demoralizing than the endless pile of corpses of innocent people littering the halls and stairs of the coroner's office. As the title hints at, this is a portrait of life after death, when war has subsided and love seems forever lost.
Kino Lorber brings 'Post Mortem' to Blu-ray inside a blue, eco-lite case. At startup, the Region Free, BD25 disc goes straight to the main menu with a full-motion clips and music playing in the background.
BD-25 Single-Layer Disc
Spanish DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1
Still Gallery
Presented in its original 2.66:1 aspect ratio, which is the CinemaScope ratio and highly unusual for a black comedy, 'Post Mortem' arrives to Blu-ray like a cold corpse on a slab. The intentionally bleak and melancholic photography of Sergio Armstrong is well rendered on this AVC-encoded transfer, but it doesn't offer much of a pretty picture to look at, which is precisely the point.
Contrast is heavily subdued and bland, creating a miserably gray overcast although whites remain clean. Colors are affected by this creative choice, as secondary hues seem dull and lifeless while primaries are noticeably wanting yet surprisingly accurate. Black levels, on the other hand, are rich and true with deep shadows and strong delineation in poorly-lit sequences. Fine object and textural details are good for a majority of the time, but there are several soft, blurry scenes the creep up. This could also be related to the photography and not a fault of the encode, along with the sickly pale complexions of the cast.
In the end, it may be faithful to the filmmakers' intentions, but it's not much of a looker on Blu-ray.
Much more impressive than the video is this great DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack.
Making excellent use of the surround speakers, the design allows for a variety of random sounds to spread throughout and bring the small Chilean neighborhoods to life. Dogs barks in the distance and echo all around; traffic noise and the chatter of crowds fill the room with endless activity; and during the second half of the movie, it all noticeably disappears, replaced by the bangs of bullets, soldiers marching, helicopter's flying overhead or the complete silence of empty streets. It's not a thrilling immersive experience, but with excellent directionality, it's striking nonetheless and works beautifully with the narrative.
The front soundstage delivers well-prioritized vocals amid a superbly balanced channel separation. The mid-range is detailed and extensive, generating a wide and spacious imaging. Low-frequency effects are generally lacking, given some of the action sequences, but overall, this lossless mix of a very dark dramedy is pleasantly satisfying.
Still Gallery (HD) — A short collection of photos from the film.
Trailers (HD) — A small assortment of theatrical previews for other films in the Kino catalog.
The second in a trilogy about the 1973 coup d'état in Chile, 'Post Mortem' is the strangely sardonic drama with a macabre sense of humor. Through a distinctive 2.66:1 lens of neo-realism, director Pablo Larraín delivers a unique oddball film that follows a civil servant's routine, indifferent existence suddenly disrupted by love and war. The Blu-ray arrives with a picture quality that's a bit on the unimpressive side but likely faithful to the intentions of filmmakers. The audio, on the other hand, is excellent and satisfying. Supplements are definitely the weakest part, but overall, fans of dark offbeat films will want to give this a watch.


Candy Match 2 is a match-puzzle game. Make a row or column of three or more candy of the same type to make them disappear. Break all the candy in time to complete the level. You have 2 bonus candy (bomb and horizontal line disappear).We prepared for you 15 hard levels. Enjoy our latest candy game!


This ground has not hosted international cricket, but has a rich history of producing international players. It is the home of some of Sri Lanka's finest, including Aravinda de Silva, Kumar Sangakkara and Ravi Ratnayeke. The honours board in the pavilion highlights the success of the club in producing high quality players. The ground itself is picturesque, with plenty of room to wander around the boundary and an impressive pavilion. The ground is dominated by two large radio aerials at the same end which backs onto the SSC. The indoor nets are some of the best in Colombo and popular with local club sides as well as professional teams.


Bert's firm can meet all your accounting needs. From bookkeeping, GST return preparation though preparation of financial statements, and compilation or review engagement, he can manage it all. In addition – to finish it off – he'll prepare the required corporate and personal income tax returns.
Bert has chosen to dedicate his strengths to 'Accounting Standards for Private Enterprises,' as opposed to 'International Financial Reporting Standards,' because his clientele all work in the private sector.
"Lots of money can be made very quickly in the hospitality industry. But that money can be lost even quicker without the right internal controls," says Bert.
Through his longstanding relationships with clients in this challenging industry, Bert has learned that the key to success is managing very strict internal controls. You can't afford to have your profits walking out the kitchen door, which is unfortunately the case with many businesses in this sector.
business to fall short. Bert offers a completely "worry-free" approach to construction accounting services. Just provide him with the essential financial information from your business and let him take care of the rest. Your part is as simple as it gets.
contracts and maybe even getting a little down time at home. "Worry-free" only works when you know your money is in good hands.
If your company is such that you do not have the work for a full time administrative position, Bert's firm is well equipped to do the day to day work for you, from invoicing your customers to recording you sales, bills and expenses, to doing your payroll and writing the cheques for your suppliers. This can either be done at your place of business or at Bert's office. Moreover, to finish it off, he can do your GST returns, financial statements and tax returns.
This is Bert's special niche. He started his career learning the basics of US taxation procedures and hasn't lost any of that knowledge over the years he's been practicing. You can trust him to get it done right the first time. US citizens are obligated to file returns with the IRS, as well as report their foreign bank and investment accounts annually. Moreover, the IRS is clamping down on any expatriates who have not been filing their US returns. Don't miss out on breaks you're entitled to – and avoid any potential issues with the Canada Revenue Agency (or the IRS).
We're here to help with your accounting needs. So give us a ring or send us an email and we'll get right back to you.
Find out why clients like you put so much trust in this European-born professional's approach to timely and prompt accounting services. You'll be surprised how easy your part is.


The primary area of a Smart View, on the left side of the window.
The anchor card displays graphs of the most important metrics of the anchor entity over a period of time.
The primary subject of a Smart View, shown in the anchor card.
A logical group of Collection Zone services that gather availability, performance, or model data about devices.
Collectors use generic protocols (ICMP, SNMP) or customized protocols (API calls) to gather data.
The value of a metric at a specific time.
A query that uses a specific protocol to request one or more metrics from a device or application.
For example, to gather system uptime from a Linux host, an SNMP data source requests a specific OID, and an SSH data source runs the uptime command.
A physical or virtual system, or a virtual or cloud infrastructure, from which a Collection Zone gathers availability, performance, and model data.
Example systems include servers, routers, storage systems, and switches. Example infrastructures include Amazon Web Services, VMware vCloud, and Microsoft Azure.
The base set of properties that characterize a group of devices. A device may belong to only one device class.
Device class properties identify the data to collect and the protocol for collecting data.
Resources that belong to a specific device, or processes that run on a specific device.
For example, file systems, applications, and network interfaces are device components.
The process of identifying device components.
The results of discovery are used to populate the model.
A system, process, or feature for which Zenoss Cloud gathers or is sent data points.
A message that is sent to the event processing service.
External events are solicited (for example, through ZenPacks) or unsolicited (through SNMP traps or syslog). Internal events are created in response to failed pings, threshold violations, and other occurrences.
A named set of properties that define a category of events, and a set of event rules.
A Python expression that the event processing service uses to determine whether to change the class of an event.
For more information, see Event class mappings.
A diagram of the relationships among data points, thresholds, or both, over a specific period of time.
A metric that is analyzed with anomaly identification algorithms.
A measurement that quantifies an entity property or phenomenon.
Example metrics include input/output operations per second (IOPS), CPU utilization, network interface throughput, and the amount of free space on a block device.
A schematic description of a device and its components.
A named object that associates data sources, thresholds, and graph definitions with a device or device component. For devices, a monitoring template also includes a device class.
Monitoring templates define what and how to monitor, and how to present data points.
A named object that associates one or more triggers with an action.
Example actions include sending email to a list of recipients and running a command.
An implicit or explicit way to group devices.
Device classes are implicit organizers. Explicit organizers enable arbitrary groupings of devices and device components in the Collection Zone interface.
For more information, see Using organizers.
Smart View is a visual representation of the most relevant available information about an entity, the entities that it depends on, and critical events that affect the entities.
For more information, see Using Smart View.
Data that does not necessarily have a model associated with it before it comes into Zenoss Cloud.
Zenoss Cloud normalizes streaming data, builds models from inferences about the data, and records data points.
NOTE: The streaming data collection feature of Zenoss Cloud is not available in the current release.
A named object that specifies the boundary criteria for the data points of a metric.
Collection Zone services consider thresholds when data points are received and create events when a data point violates one or more criteria.
A named set of rules (Boolean expressions) that the event processing service uses to examine events.


Together Housing was "a life saver"
Agnieszka, a tenant on the Colliers Estate, a new development built by Together Housing in partnership with Wates, has been speaking of how Together Housing saved her and her family in their time of need.
Agnieszka moved from Poland to England in the summer of 2015 so that her husband, who had recently graduated, and her could find work and so her son, who has a diagnosis of Aspergers syndrome, could get the support he needs in school.
After having to leave her first home because the landlord was moving back in, she moved into a home owned by a private agency.
"I thought everything would be OK," she said, however she was to be proved wrong. She told how she felt that the conditions were 'absolutely dreadful' and she was left scared of getting a shock from the faulty electric shower. She didn't want her family to live in a home where they were frightened to take a shower and where dirt on the walls had not been cleaned but simply painted over.
Fortunately, Pauline Collingwood, a Neighbourhood Officer from Together Housing, was there to help, support and guide Agnieszka and her family through the process of finding a home quickly during that troubling time. Pauline told Agnieszka that she could get one of the new houses that were being built. "Pauline was a life saver," she said.
Agnieszka moved into a new scheme called the Colliers Estate which had been built by Wates on behalf of Together Housing Group near Wakefield. The community includes 64 brand new general needs homes, bungalows and a 67 bed Extra Care scheme, with easy access to local amenities.
Now, settled in their South Elmsall home, both Agnieszka and her husband work in a warehouse where they both enjoy their jobs and the security of a long term tenancy. Agnieszka can now enjoy her hobbies of crafts and cooking in the comfort of a clean, new and affordable home. "It's wonderful to have a home that we can settle in and make our own," she said.
Related to: Wakefield, West Yorkshire.


text:
Taobao opens largest store in Malaysia to extend customer reach
By Dzof Azmi December 11, 2019
Customers visit physical store but order through their app
E-commerce giant seen to be reaching out to late adopters
IN A time when Malaysian brick-and-mortar retails stores are coming to terms with what it means to "go digital", the Alibaba Group has gone in the opposite direction by opening the largest Taobao store in Malaysia at MyTOWN Shopping Centre, promising goods by local manufacturers, warranties and - perhaps most surprisingly - the same prices as what's available online.
"Profit is not always our main concern," said Jess Lew, Tmall World Malaysia marketing manager. "The best shopping experiences are always our goal." And by the "best shopping experiences", Lew explained they they want to "teach customers how to Taobao."
Officially named the Taobao Store by Lumahgo, Lew said that part of the objective is to make real for customers the range that is available online. "What you see in this store are many of the best-selling (products), the most quirky and creative ones that we want to introduce to Malaysians."
Specifically, shoppers visiting the store will be able to physically examine the goods on offer, and then use the Taobao app on their phones to order and pay for them, even if the store doesn't have the products in stock. In that case, the goods will be delivered directly to the home, or customers can collect them at a later date from the store.
The store is in fact literally a physical storefront for an online shop. Even the electronic price tags are automatically updated to reflect the prices that are available online, both in Malaysian Ringgit and Chinese Renminbi.
Indeed, the fact that Taobao is a China-based company is not just accented by the price tags, some of the descriptions seem to only be in Chinese, and the Taobao app itself is not currently available in English. In that case, Lew said that shop staff will be on hand to help translate descriptions and order goods.
Regardless, there is no clear indication when an English version of the app will be available. "We are happy to explore that," confirmed Lew, "But not right now."
Brand visibility and acquiring customers
"It's about brand visibility, and to also acquire customers," said Kendrick Wong, the founder and chief executive officer of Omnilytics, an online shopping data analytics company. Specifically, he was referring to customers who take some persuading to go online. "These are the people who are late adopters. They want to feel the physical product, they want to see the product in action," he explained.
In fact, these are customers who may never actually be persuaded to go online. "(Some) customers want to see a thing offline, tell the kids this is what they want... and then the kids will buy them online!"
To him, it's not a surprise that Taobao are willing to take a hit in profit to reach a wider audience. "It's cheaper to acquire a customer offline, (although) not making any money or profit from the customer, but (instead) getting the retention of the customer," he clarified.
Wong gives an example of a fashion company in Thailand that sets up small pop-up stores even though they mainly sell online. "They want the customer to wear their product once, understand the product, and then they will buy it."
He also believes that Taobao are not too concerned that their app and signage appeal to only one demographic of the public. "It's the clientele they're going after," he said, presuming "for Taobao, it's about the Chinese population."
Malaysian-made goods on offer
But perhaps apart from customers, Taobao also wants to reach out to Malaysian retailers and manufacturers. Among the new lines that will be made available in the shop are selected items by Malaysian electrical companies Khind, Panasonic and KitchenAid, and furniture companies Natural Signature and Lorenzo. Additionally, warranties will be offered for selected electrical appliances by participating brands. These items will also be made available through the online Taobao shop, opening a global market (including China) to these manufacturers.
Lew makes no bones that understanding (and presumably retaining) the customer is key to their strategy. "Whatever you purchase through the app is already on the algorithm, based on your previous order history."
As to whether Taobao plans to open even more such outlets in Malaysia, she is a little more cautious. "We are happy to explore, but currently let's just focus on this store."
Malaysia Week 2019 exceeds targets, open doors for SMEs to China's booming e-commerce market
Digitising retail: Merging online and offline to create something new
Alibaba repositions into platform to support brands from all over the world
Jess Lew
Kendrick Wong
Natural Signature
Lumahgo
Tmall World
Dzof Azmi
Alibaba Cloud and Sena Traffic Systems partner to end Malaysian traffic woes
By Digital News Asia May 29, 2019
Advotics secures US$2.7mil in seed funding led by East Ventures
iflix secures new round of funding
By Digital News Asia July 22, 2019
Amidst uncertain times, the Honor 20 launches in Malaysia
Astro sees 1Q19 net profit rise 0.8% to RM176mil
By Digital News Asia June 25, 2019
Jet Commerce expands to China and Philippines


Balneotherapy Explained: Can it Boost Your Immune System?
Long before the advent of medicines and advanced therapies, man looked to nature for the answers to some of his most troubling health concerns. One of these is bathing in mineral-rich waters or hot or mud springs. While the term balneotherapy is relatively new, the practice of immersing one's body in mineral-rich waters and hot springs has been going on since the 9th century BC and perhaps even earlier. And while there are now increasing numbers of scientific literature exalting the many benefits of balneotherapy including dermatologic, metabolic, and chronic musculoskeletal health, one question remains: can balneotherapy boost your immune system?
Before we can answer this question, it is important to understand the basic principles behind the practice of balneotherapy or simply the process of bathing in a specific type of water. These can include the use of hot or cold water, the presence of certain minerals, the application of massage, and the goal of either relaxing or stimulating the body.
Majority of those who undergo balneotherapy do so using hot springs that are typically rich in minerals like sulphur, selenium, and radium. The effects of hot water in the body are one of dilatation and relaxation. When heat is applied, the blood vessels increase in diameter allowing blood to flow more efficiently.
Science now shows that head-out, whole-body immersions in warm or hot baths can increase the total number of cytotoxic or killer T-cells, known as CD8+ lymphocytes, as well as natural killer (NK) cells. Cytotoxic (CD8+) T-cells are important in the neutralisation or killing of cancer cells and cells that are infected by viruses as well as those cells that are damaged through other processes. Natural killer cells, on the other hand, are important in the rejection of virus-infected cells and tumour cells. What this means is that immersing one's body in hot water can help improve the function of these immune system cells that have specific roles in cancer and viral infection management.
For individuals who use cold water for balneotherapy, the effects are generally the opposite of hot immersions. The blood vessels decrease in diameter, making the blood to flow a lot faster as a means to compensate for the perceived reduction in the volume of blood. This can lead to an increase in heart rate and blood pressure.
As for its effects on the immune system, science reveals that cold water whole-body immersions, albeit briefly, can lead to an increase in lymphocytes, granulocytes, monocytes, and natural killer cells. We have already mentioned the role of natural killer cells in cancer cell and virally-infected cell management. Lymphocytes are important in the release of antibodies and the killing of infected cells. Monocytes produce cytokines, present antigens to antibodies so they can be inactivated or killed, and engulf and destroy pathogens themselves. Granulocytes contain substances that are toxic to microorganisms, thus killing them.
It is further noted that, if cold balneotherapy is to be observed daily for up to 6 weeks this can lead to an increase in tumour necrosis factor-α and interleukin-2. Interleukin-2 helps regulate the various activities of leukocytes or white blood cells. Tumour necrosis factor-α is typically a product of macrophage activation. It can also be brought about by stimulation of the other cells of the immune system such as eosinophils, CD4+ lymphocytes, neutrophils, and mast cells. In other words, TNF-α regulates the different cells of the immune system while also inhibiting the formation of tumour cells and the replication of viruses.
That being said, it is safe to say that cold balneotherapy can potentially lead to an enhancement of immunity against tumours.
While it is true that one can achieve similar results using conventional cold water or warm water immersions, one should not forget the other component of balneotherapy – minerals. These minerals can have a host of physiologic effects that can also translate to an overall improvement of the immune system.
Sulphur, for instance, is well-known for supporting the proliferation of T-lymphocytes while also protecting the body against oxidative stress. Selenium is also a very potent antioxidant which can further enhance the function of the immune system.
The combined effects of either hot or cold water and the addition of antioxidant and immune-boosting minerals should help improve one's immune system.


In June 2006, Isabel Soria Garcia, member of the Delos Initiative, visited the Holy Island of Arran in Scotland. There she stayed in the Centre for World Peace and Health, one of the two centres of the Island, which is the place for interfaith work and retreat.
She interviewed a series of people of several backgrounds; various stakeholders –such as representatives of the Scottish Natural Heritage and the Council of Arran–, religious leaders, persons in charge of the management of the Island, environmentalists, landscapers, volunteers, visitors etc. In addition, she interviewed the participants of the various activities she had the chance to get involved with (such as an initiation to meditation activity, gardening and forestry). This enabled her to gain a deeper view to the relation of sacred issues with the environment. The sharing of firsthand experience and the exchange of knowledge became easier for her.
The first impressions from this mission were that people are quite positive to an initiative like Delos, which concerns sacred sites in technologically developed countries; they were friendly and ready to provide information. The place emanates a sense of deep spirituality.
Her mission became possible with the support of the University of Edinburgh, her supervisor Mr Alastair McIntosh, while WWF International provided the financial assistance for the project: The spirituality of urban and rural regeneration in Scotland.


The u13's A team were declared champions of their league this weekend.
The u13's A team where the stars of the show this weekend after they thrashed Betis Florida by a convincing win of 0-5 although they had already been declared champions the week before. As for the rest of the youth teams the u11's won 7-2 against Soneja and the under 9's won against Tonín 1-7.


text:
Important writings you may have missed
Volumes > 2010 - Volume LXXVII
2010 – Volume LXXVII
The Church's Warfare of Exorcism... Is It Time to Dump the Term 'Pro-life'?... Which Side Are You On?... It's Always the Family... The Kennedy Legacy Continues... The Proof of God's Existence... To Penetrate, to See... The Heretical Mind Finds a Home... Two Theologians on the Development of Doctrine... Manchester, Disunited...
2010 January-February
Enter the Belgian Ratzinger... Traditionalism's Proving Ground... The Validity of Homosexual Vows of Chastity in Religious Life... The Undeserving Poor... The Undeserving Poor... My (Somewhat Crooked) Path to the Monastery... The Spiritual Toll of Pervasive Occultism...
The New Rite of Exorcism: A Potent Weapon Is Weakened... Global Population Control: Not Dead Yet... The Silent Spectre of Religious Cleansing... Free Will & Freedom of Choice... Waiting on the Past... John Paul II: A Character Study... The Anatomy of Conversion... At Mass in Latvia... Tosca: A Travesty... Ralph McInerny (1929-2010)...
Not Over the Hump Yet... The Smoke of Satan in the Vatican?... The Timing Is Just Too Perfect... On the Plausibility of God... Welcome to the Relativism Factory... The Realm of Reason... The Energy of the Universe Flows Around the Bishops' Blockage... Seven Degrees of Demonic Persecution...
The Demon of Child Sacrifice & the Valley of Slaughter... The Double Life of Marcial Maciel... The Devil Laughs When Children Die... The Future Ain't What It Used to Be... If Only the Anglicans Had Listened... The Holy Eucharist & Salvation By Faith... Flannery O'Connor & the Representation of Mystery...
The Devil's Fingerprints... City of Confusion - Part II... It Can't Happen Here, Can It?... In Turkey, the Church Officially Does Not Exist... The 2010 Easter Offensive... Two Dubious Anniversaries... Three Victorian Morality Tales... Four Sins that Cry to Heaven... Vital Works, Revivified...
2010 July-August
Another Victim of Institutional Coddling...The Marketplace of Ideas -- Comand-Economy Style... A Permanent Scandal to the World... Roman Catholic Political Philosophy... The Realm of Faith... Whither Goeth the Reform of the Reform?... An Apologia for the Local Parish... Forget Your 'Good Thoughts,' Send Us Your Prayers...
Another Revolution in the Church! (Yawn)... Shrewd as Serpents, Innocent as Doves... Get Married, Save the Economy... Newman's Call to Authentic Discipleship... Meet the Urban Monk... Dirge for a Shaman... The Virtue of Reverence & Respect for Life... A Litany of Repentance for the U.S. Church... What DNA Has to Tell Us About the Origins of Life...
Cardinal Newman: The Urban Legend... Power, Money & Mind Control... A Showdown for the Ages... The Impossible Wonderland... Bishops: Think Twice Before Taking Psychiatric Advice!... The Rise of the Abortion Party... A Defining Step Toward Authentic Liturgical Reform... Chesterton's Journey to Orthodoxy... Swords About the Cross...
What Lies Beneath... Zero-Tolerance Policy... Outrage Alert!... Exodus & Bloodbath: Christians in the Middle East... The Last Acceptable Prejudice... The Christian Art of Christmas Spending... Rules for Happiness... In Praise of Weakness... Mary Tudor & the Dawn of the Counter-Reformation... Blowing the Cover Off the Austrian 'Cult'


This entry was posted in observation and tagged Lotseninsel, mussel, teacher training on August 31, 2017 by mglessmer.
Here is something else I filmed during teacher training at Lotseninsel: how some flatfish (that the other group caught close to the island) digs itself into the mud. Pretty cool to watch!
This entry was posted in observation and tagged flatfish, Lotseninsel, teacher training on August 29, 2017 by mglessmer.
It's not so super common that I get to see seals in the wild, so bear with me today: I have to share some pics!
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Lotseninsel, seals on August 25, 2017 by mglessmer.
It's one thing to know that waves build up as they run from the open ocean over the shelf onto a beach, and that they build up as the water gets shallower and shallower. But we are so used to seeing exactly that (because that's what the sea is supposed to look like!) that we don't really notice it any more, at least most of the time. But below is an interesting case: Waves are running onto the beach, but there is also a headland going out into the sea. So in addition to running onto a beach, there is also a depth gradient along each wave crest (do you know what I mean?).
Watch the movie below to see that there are hardly any waves visible when you look at the open water on the left, but that the crests and troughs become clearly visible as soon as you are close enough to the headland where the water is shallow enough: One and the same wave crest builds up a lot more the closer you look to the headland than it does in open water.
This entry was posted in observation and tagged amplification, Lotseninsel, waves on August 23, 2017 by mglessmer.
Of course I did not only take pictures of lighthouses and instructional activities during the teacher training at Lotseninsel last week. I also took TONS of pictures of water! Some of which I'll share with you now.
For example below you see where the Schlei flows into the Baltic Sea. This is actually a fairly narrow outlet, and you can see the strong current and the eddies that are formed where it flows into the Baltic Sea! It had been raining a lot previously, so there was a lot of water trying to get out of the Schlei!
A similar pattern can be spotted at the outlet of the marina, but in this it's mainly wind-driven.
And very nice here: Long swell and short wind waves on top of it.
Oh, and reflections. Isn't it super pretty how the mast gets reflected with all these little twists and turns?
And then we had some shielding from the wind, and waves only appearing after a certain fetch.
Btw, that's the house we all — and all the teachers — stayed in.
Here we see waves being dampened by some algae stuff, and being deflected downwind of those patches.
Here is another view of the strong current going out of the Schlei and the distinct separation between the two water masses.
And now the same thing in combination with the sailboat's wake. So pretty!
When we were on our way home, the wind had picked up substantially and we saw lots of foam stripes! Langmuir circulation, nowhere near the coast line.
Here we get a last glimpse of the house we had stayed in… And more foam stripes!
And then in Maasholm, we see the waves arriving upwind of the pier and then the tiny ones in the sheltered area. You can see a gust of wind somewhere in the foreground to the right, where there are all those small ripples in a darker patch.
And just a couple of pictures of water, because I love water.
This entry was posted in observation and tagged Baltic Sea, diffraction, foam stripes, interference, Lotseninsel, Maasholm, refraction, waves on July 8, 2017 by mglessmer.
This entry was posted in Uncategorized and tagged Baltic Sea, lighthouse, Lotseninsel on July 7, 2017 by mglessmer.


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Earliest Invasive Cancer Found in 3,000-Year-Old Skeleton
A 3,000-year-old skeleton from a conquered territory of ancient Egypt is now the earliest known complete example of a person with malignant cancer spreading from an organ, findings that could help reveal insights on the evolution of the disease, researchers say.
By Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Contributor
Cancer is one of the world's leading causes of death today, with numbers more than doubling over the past 30 years. However, direct evidence of cancer from ancient human remains is very rare compared with that from other medical conditions. This suggests the disease could mainly be a product of modern factors such as smoking, diet, pollution and greater life expectancies.
To better understand the apparent rising prevalence of cancer over time, scientists want to investigate signs of cancer in ancient humans. Past research had often discovered evidence of tumors in skeletons — but they were benign ones that lacked the ability to invade neighboring tissues.
However, until now, there were just three tentative examples of malignant tumors predating 1000 B.C. — cancers that can metastasize, or spread to distant parts of the body. (Most people who die of cancer nowadays do so when it metastasizes, as tumors are typically more treatable before they spread.)
Now scientists have found the oldest known complete example of a human skeleton with metastatic cancer — remains unearthed in a tomb in northern Sudan in northeastern Africa. [ See Photos of the Ancient Skeleton and Cancerous Tumors ]
"The most important implication is that cancer did affect people in the past, too," study lead author Michaela Binder, a bioarchaeologist at Durham University in England, told Live Science. "People have suspected that but again there is very little proof for that."
The skeleton was discovered at the archaeological site of Amara West, located on the left bank of the Nile River, about 465 miles (750 kilometers) downstream of Sudan's modern capital of Khartoum. Aside from a narrow strip of shrubs and trees on the riverbank, the area is now largely desert.
The researchers said the skeleton belonged to a man they estimated was between 25 and 35 years old when he died. He was buried on his back with a faded blue-glazed ceramic amulet in what is now a badly deteriorated painted wooden coffin, alongside 20 other people, perhaps his family.
Life in ancient Nubia
The ancient settlement at Amara West "was founded around 1300 B.C. as the new administrative capital of Kush, the province of Upper Nubia, which was occupied by the ancient Egyptian empire between 1500 B.C. to 1100 B.C.," said Binder, who excavated and examined the skeleton in 2013. Pottery recovered from the skeleton's tomb suggests it dates to the 20th Dynasty of ancient Egypt, or about 1187 to 1064 B.C., when Egypt had conflicts with Libya and while pharaohs such as Ramses III were being buried in the Valley of the Kings. [ In Photos: The Mummy of King Ramses III ]
Archaeologists are investigating the site because "many questions about the time period of Egyptian occupation of Nubia are still open — most importantly, what was it like to live in occupied Nubia," Binder explained. She said that Amara West is incredibly well-preserved, permitting "a very rare opportunity to not only draw a really comprehensive picture of what life in ancient Nubia was like, but also how it changed over time," Binder said.
At this site, local Nubian peoples lived according to Egyptian standards. For instance, the architecture of this skeleton's tomb is evidence of a hybrid blend of Egyptian elements such as painted coffins and burial gifts alongside Nubian elements such as a low mound to mark the tomb.
"From footprints left on wet mud floors to the healed fractures of many ancient inhabitants, Amara West offers a unique insight into what it was like to live there — and die — in Egyptian-ruled Upper Nubia 3,200 years ago," study co-author and project director Neal Spencer at the British Museum said in a statement.
The main hazard of working at Amara West "are the nimiti, small black flies that are a pest that usually befalls the area between January and March for about six weeks," Binder said. "They produce painful bites; on bad days, we can only work covered in mosquito nets. There are also quite a lot of crocodiles in the area; we see them from the boat when we go back from [the] site around lunch time, but they usually don't attack people."
Still, "the work at Amara West was one of the least difficult and most enjoyable research projects I've ever worked on," Binder said. "We live on a small island of about 300 inhabitants near the site in a traditional Nubian mud brick house amidst a group of other vividly colored Nubian houses. The people are exceptionally friendly."
Ancient bone lesions
To examine the skeleton, researchers used X-rays and a scanning electron microscope. They developed clear images of lesions on the bones, evidence of metastases on the collar bones, shoulder blades, upper arms, vertebrae, ribs, pelvis and thigh bones. They suspect these resulted from cells that spread from a tumor in a soft organ. [ Image Gallery: Ancient Corpse Reveals Medical Oddity ]
"This is the oldest complete skeleton with this particular type of cancer — bone metastases spreading from cancer in an organ," Binder said.
The scientists can only speculate on what caused this cancer. They suggest it could be the result of genetic factors, or environmental carcinogens such as smoke from wood fires, or infectious diseases such as schistosomiasis, which is caused by parasites. Schistosomiasis plagued inhabitants of Egypt and Nubia since at least 1500 B.C., and is now recognized as a cause of bladder and breast cancer s in men.
Future research could help pinpoint the cause of this ancient cancer by analyzing this body's DNA to look for the mutations that might be to blame for the disease.
"What is important about such pre-modern findings in humans is the fact that they can help us understand what factors lead to cancer before the onset of modern living conditions," Binder said. "It could be possible to see if and how the human genome changed and what factors made us susceptible to cancer. Together with a sound historical background we could then also understand what factors led to these changes. This could help predict developments in the future and may be useful for medical research in developing new ways of research or therapies."
Unfortunately, DNA is not always preserved, so it is possible such research would not be successful, Binder said. Another problem scientists in Sudan face is the increasing destruction of sites there.
"At Amara it is currently a race against time, because on one hand there is increasing looting by real tomb robbers — we had two large chamber tombs completely destroyed between the seasons 2013 and 2014 — and on the other hand there are plans to build new dams along the Nile. One of them, if it's going to be built, would entirely destroy the cemeteries of Amara West," Binder said.
The scientists detailed their findings online March 17 in the journal PLOS ONE.
Follow Live Science, &. Original article on .
14 Oddest Medical Cases
Image Gallery: Amazing Egyptian Discoveries
In Photos: 'Alien' Skulls Reveal Odd, Ancient Tradition
Charles Q. Choi, Live Science Contributor


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Britney Spears Denise attends Kid Hudson's 36th birthday party over the weekend
Muhammad 3 weeks ago 3 min read
Britney Spears set the record straight that she didn't attend client Cady Hudson's 36th birthday party over the weekend, despite reports she was in attendance.
While many believed she was present at a star-studded bash in Santa Monica on Saturday, after boyfriend Paris Hilton posted a selfie with her and the birthday boy, the singer, 41, explained that the photo believed to have been taken that night was "years ago."
"I haven't been to a birthday party in forever!!!" She captioned a video of herself dancing in a red Coca-Cola crop top and matching mini skirt at home.
Just a throwback! Britney Spears set the record straight for not attending client Cady Hudson's 36th birthday party over the weekend, despite reports she was in attendance.
In the caption, she said she found it "kind of creepy and weird that nobody talks about" how the shot was actually a throwback.
in time, TMZ She reported that Spears and Hilton, 41, "were together all night" at the celebration, which was held at The Park and was sponsored by Craig.
The outlet also claimed that the guest list included Robert Pattinson, Rachel Zoe, Suki Waterhouse, Hayden Panettiere, Billy Eichner, Emma Roberts, Darren Criss, Ashley Benson, Tiffany Haddish, Demi Lovato, and more.
"I haven't been to a birthday party in forever!!!" She captioned a video of herself wearing a red Coca-Cola T-shirt and matching miniskirt
That's not the case: At the time, TMZ reported that Spears and Hilton, 41, "were together all night" at the celebration, which was held at The Park and sponsored by Craig's.
See also "Everything, Everywhere, At Once" Leads 11 Oscar Nominations: Live Updates
The outlet also claimed that the guest list included Robert Pattinson, Rachel Zoe, Suki Waterhouse, Hayden Panettiere, Billy Eichner, Emma Roberts, Darren Criss, Ashley Benson, Tiffany Haddish, Demi Lovato and more.
When fans first saw the Grammy winner's photos with Hilton, many took to the comments section that Spears looked like she was posing in the photo.
The Simple Life star was roasted by her social media followers, who accused her of including "AI Britney" in a bunch of photos.
Hilton's slideshow included multiple photos of her and Hudson — who is a CAA agent — hanging out with a group of their famous friends.
In the caption, she said she found it "kind of creepy and weird that no one talks about" how the shot was actually a throwback (it was shot at another event "years ago," according to Spears).
But Spears stood out from the rest, and for all the wrong reasons.
One follower commented, "This is not Britney."
"Is this Britney AI??" Another skeptical phishing. "Look at her fingers!!!" WTF Paris? You're getting more and more shady to me and I've been loving you, dude.
And the skeptic's comment continued: How dare you get involved in everything that's going on with Bret? This will not end well for you! And if you delete my comment, it will solidify my thoughts about you.
The fiery accusation set off a string of controversial responses, fueling speculation surrounding the photo with more allegations of the Photoshop failure popping up all over Hilton's comments section.
See also Lindsay Lohan and Badr Shammas were spotted for the first time since an intimate wedding
Although Hilton does not want dignity [the allegations] Refund", eventually jumping to the epicenter of the controversy with an explanation.
To everyone who asks. Some of these photos were taken on an iPhone so they ended up being blurry. So they used this app called Remini to make it look blurry and sometimes the Ai distorted the photos,"
Colleagues: Paris is a longtime friend of the famous pop star and was one of the few guests who attended Britney's intimate wedding in June last year
In response to the comments section, the Stars Blind star blamed a photo app called Remini for the incident.
Paris wrote: "For everyone asking. Some of these photos were taken on an iPhone so they ended up being blurry. So they used this app called Remini to make it look blurry and sometimes Ai distorted the photos.
She added, "I didn't even want to honor this with a refund." "But some of these conspiracy theories are absolutely ridiculous."
Paris is a longtime friend of the famous pop star and was one of the few special guests who attended Britney's intimate wedding in June last year.
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February 7, 2020 News + Announcements
Ph.D. Candidate Denisa Jashari has received the Richmond Brown Award for Graduate Student Scholarship from the Southeastern Council of Latin American Studies for her paper, "Containing Unrest, Charting a Geography of Violence: Modernization and Authoritarianism in Chile's Late Twentieth Century."
Colin Johnson's 2013 book Just Queer Folks: Gender and Sexuality in Rural America as been named a 50th Anniversary Title by Temple University Press. According to TUP, the titles that appear on this list were chosen because they "represent the strengths of our past and in turn lay the groundwork for our next 50 years." They're also currently 50% off when you use promo code TUPLANV. Excess inventory reduction scheme? Colin thinks that's a real possibility. But the list also includes books such as Kathy Peiss' Cheap Amusements and George Lipsitz's The Possessive Investment in Whiteness, so he's choosing to take it as a compliment.
Mark Roseman was interviewed in the Podcast Series of the Athenaeum Review, University of Texas. Entitled "Rescue and Resistance: A Conversation with Mark Roseman", the Podcast is accessible at https://creativedisturbance.org/podcast/rescue-and-resistance-a-conversation-with-mark-roseman/
On Thursday January 30, Ellen Wu lectured on "How Asians Became America's Model Minority and Why That Matters" for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo's Office of University Diversity and Inclusion Distinguished Speakers Series. She participated at the invitation of Dr. Damon A. Williams, a leading expert on strategic diversity leadership.


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Hannah Graf MBE
Hannah is a retired Captain of the British Army. She commissioned in 2010 and since that time has commanded soldiers across the world including in Germany, Canada, Kenya and Afghanistan. Currently she works for a global bank combating financial crime.
Hannah is also a transgender woman and her personal story of transition captured the imagination of the nation in 2015. A true advocate for equality, she used her public profile to promote a realistic portrayal of transgender individuals in the UK, becoming an inspiration to many.
She and husband Jake were the subjects of hit Channel 4 documentary 'Our Baby: A Modern Miracle' in 2020 and the couple have appeared on 'Made in Chelsea' and feature regularly on British television.
Hannah is a patron for Mermaids and an ambassador for LGBT Sport in Wales. Her work in diversity has won her several accolades including Cosmopolitan Woman of the Year, an honorary fellowship from Cardiff University and in June 2019, an MBE for her work updating LGBTQ policy in the British Army.
I was first lucky enough to be introduced to the Mermaids family in 2014 and I was immediately inspired by everyone involved! My experience of transition has been very positive and I realise that this is mainly because of the support around me, whether that is my family, friends or my employer. I hope that by working with Mermaids I am able to provide others, especially vulnerable children, with the confidence in themselves and the acceptance around them, that is so important to enjoying a functioning place in society.
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We are delighted to introduce Jake Graf, director, writer and actor. Jake is a high-profile trans man who wants to make a difference to how trans children and young people are perceived. His mission is to tackle prejudice and stigma and help young people achieve positive outcomes in difficult circumstances.
He is a director, writer and actor based in London known for Dawn (2016), Chance (2015), The Danish Girl (2015), Dusk (2017) and Brace (2014). Jake aims to make change through the medium of film, and his first film, XWHY, which he wrote, directed, produced and starred in, was nominated for The Iris Prize. He used his own transition to depict the physical changes of the fictional trans man in the film, which was a first, and garnered much critical praise.
When I first heard about Mermaids, I remember thinking that it was incredible that an organisation like that existed for people like me, and how lucky those children were to have support, love, and acceptance from such an early age. Eager to get involved, I attended my first residential and found myself moved to tears when I saw the happy, well-adjusted and carefree children running around the place. There was such a sense of belonging and seeing the kids' smiles made my heart sing.
We're proud to have Munroe Bergdorf as a patron of Mermaids. She is a Model and Activist who uses her profile to advocate for a fairer world and to empower individuals in the fight for positive change. Munroe is an advocate for UN Women UK and has spoken at various international panels on gender, inclusivity and race from Oxford to Princeton University.
Munroe has also fronted campaigns for Illamasqua and Missguided and closed shows at New York and London Fashion Week as well as being featured in numerous global publications including U.S. Vogue and The Sunday Times Style.
Annie Wallace
Annie Wallace is an actress from Aberdeen, Scotland. A former National Youth Theatre member, she graduated from the Manchester Metropolitan School of Theatre in 2004 and has also appeared in many theatre productions. As well as being a performer, Annie writes and records music and is a skilled sound recordist and designer.
On the 29th of October 2015, Annie made history by becoming the first transgender person to play a regular transgender character in a British soap opera when she debuted as school headteacher, Sally St. Claire in Channel 4's Hollyoaks. She is a staunch supporter of transgender children, young people and their families. Her advocacy has seen her appear on Celebrity Mastermind, with Mermaids as her charity of choice.
Mermaids is the organisation we all wish was around when we were growing up… but in the 1970s things were very different! Through my association with Press for Change, I was impressed at Mermaids' work many years ago, and its been fantastic to see them bloom and grow to become the important, and award-winning, organisation they are today. I was honoured to be invited to become one of their patrons in 2016. My work with Hollyoaks, and the entertainment industry, gives me the opportunity to highlight Mermaids' good work whenever I can.
Ayla served in the RAF for 13 years, spent 7 years as an operational Search and Rescue pilot and now flies helicopters for the National Police Air Service. Ayla came out as transgender around 2010 and remained serving with her operational Search and Rescue unit throughout. The support and pragmatism from her colleagues and the wider armed forces, made that transitional time not only possible, but empowering and successful. Ayla is the professional she is today, because she wasn't forced to hide who she was.
Alongside her day-job, Ayla has worked with All About Trans, Stonewall and independently advocating for positive trans representation and role models. In 2018, Ayla was portrayed in the critically acclaimed stage production 'Still Point Turning' by the Sydney Theatre Company and features as one of many 'RAF Stories' at the RAF Museum London. She lives in a village on a hill in Dorset with her wife, Wren (an ITU doctor), their cats and numerous chickens.
Before coming out, I was so fearful of losing everyone I loved, everything I cared about and loved doing. I had no language to describe how I felt, so I buried it deep down expecting it would all work itself out in time. Looking back, I realise just how much capacity I was using, hiding who I was from the world – I never recognised that before coming out, as it was a constant necessity. I now get to use that newly-free capacity for much better things! I'm so thankful, helped by charities like Mermaids and the incredible families they support, we are now seeing trans people living openly, proudly and authentically and fully engaged in the world – as a part of everyday human diversity.
Charlie Martin
Charlie Martin is a racing driver on a mission to become the first transgender competitor in the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans – the most famous race in the world. Growing up, she dreamed of being a fighter pilot, and her love of speed and adventure grew into a love of fast cars. Since she began racing at the age of 23, she has raced throughout Europe in a variety of cars from hot hatches, to single seaters, GT cars and Le Mans prototypes.
When Charlie began her transition at the age of 30, she abandoned racing altogether, unable to see how she could be accepted in such a conservative and male-dominated sport. Since returning to the track, she found new confidence and now works as a Sports Champion with Stonewall and Athlete Ally (US) using her visibility within her sport to improve awareness of gender diversity & create positive change in society.
I want to help carve a path for others. I don't want children to go through this process of constantly questioning what they can achieve in life, just because of how they were born. I wrote to Mermaids when I was 13 years old and I can't explain how much of a comfort it was to receive a reply and know I wasn't alone. I'm proud to be working as a Patron for Mermaids and supporting the incredible work they do for trans children & their parents.
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