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The Fan Meta Reader
"[Sherlock] Season 3: The Mirror of the Troll," by cantadora_09 (translated by pennypaperbrain)
Curator's Note: This week we're very pleased to be featuring that rarest of meta within English language fandom, the non-English meta. Given the global popularity of BBC's Sherlock, it is perhaps unsurprising that both are related to the show: today is a wonderfully complex look at the most recent third series by Russian fan cantadora_09, in which the author interrogates the reasons for their own dissatisfaction with it.
Translator's Note: This meta was written by cantadora_09, and published on the Russian livejournal Sherlock community. I (pennypaperbrain) asked permission to translate and post it here, with a link. Please don't repost it anywhere without the original attribution.
This is the most interesting critical meta I've seen on Season 3 I think… and I hope it's survived my attempts to import it into English. Mistakes, misunderstandings (my Russian comprehension is adequate but far from native standard) and blurrings of meaning are mine.
Original Russian text here.
Somewhere deep in the background I always knew that I was two persons. One was the son of my parents, who went to school and was less intelligent, attentive, hard-working, decent and clean than many other boys. The other was grown-up – old, in fact, – sceptical, mistrustful, remote from the world of men, but close to nature… and above all close to the night, to dreams. – Jung
I think with trepidation of what significant changes I delayed or didn't allow, because of my need to interpret them… If we are only able to wait, the patient and psychoanalyst come to a creative understanding, always an insanely joyful one, and now this joy brings me greater pleasure than I ever got from feeling myself to be a clever person. – D. V. Winnicott.
Like many fans of Sherlock, I was very uncomfortable with Season 3. Until now I haven't been able to formulate why. But I think I've worked it out. I was helped by a feeling I got after Season 1, that grew with Season 2 and finally crystallised with Season 3. It was a feeling of… weariness. I'll try to explain what I mean. One night around 3am I couldn't sleep and was trying to understand how Mary Morstan deceived Sherlock and John and how this affects her arc in Season 3, and I realised – it's too much. Overkill. Not in the sense of my interest in plot events or intrigue, but in terms of intense thought. I was tired of thinking. Most of all I felt that to think so passionately and hard wasn't something I wanted to do, but nor could I stop. Something literally compels me to think, to the point of obsession.
What's the problem with that?
The thing is, despite the detective story elements, I didn't want to think at all during the first two seasons. I just watched the screen and experienced everything that happened there. I didn't care what Irene Adler had in her phone, or who was behind the secret code in TBB. Or even the immortal mystery of IOU in TRF. All this was just elegant background music for a rich, deep musical theme which was emerging through an incredibly well-told story, which lived and grew by its own rules. I couldn't tear myself away from that story. You could plunge your arm into it as if into water, and feel its warmth and the soft vibrations of passing fish. It was a kind of trance of immediacy.
And what happened this time?
All through the third season, it feels as if I'm being shouted at from all sides: 'Think! Think! Think! Watch what we're doing! Follow our hands!'. And the first time I really did think and follow. But then I put Sherlock aside, had a break and then rewatched. And I noticed a remarkable thing: Season 3 is perfectly made in terms of professional competence and how to make good cinema, but from the point of view of telling a worthwhile story, it doesn't stand up to scrutiny.
I'm well aware of postmodernism, and the breaking down of the fourth wall, and even the excellent Barthes and his theories of the death of the author. Unfortunately, as far as I know, Barthes never created works of art, so he couldn't know that their creation is a completely different experience to the writing of critical articles. Like most theorists of postmodernism, his texts construed (and anyway, deconstruction soon helpfully changed the landscape), and this is not the same thing as creating texts.
A good story can't be assembled from scrap materials. A good story comes together on its own terms, and expresses itself in its own way. Dozens of authors have written about this, having experienced it at least once themselves. When you yourself become the origin point of a story, then with the best will in the world you can't consider yourself its author. The death of the author is a fiction, because the author never existed. The author was always just a channel, a messenger, a gatekeeper, who brought the story into the world and was present when it appeared. He played second fiddle, existed to fulfil the will of the story.
What does this have to do with Sherlock? Quite a lot. The thing is, it seems to me, in the first two seasons the authors were entirely relaxed and open to the story which wanted to be told through them. That's why it was so… bright, lively, warm and sparkling. So solid and powerful. The professional competence of the authors was in its rightful – second – place, debugging the narrative in order to make it flow as naturally as possible for the show's version of reality. So in the first two seasons the authors were pretty much absent, but there were heroes, plot twists, ideas and concepts which required no commentary. They had independent life.
Season 3 is flawlessly shot. With one caveat: it is over-directed. I think Mofftiss fell into the trap that catches so many talented people when they manage something truly stunning: they get tempted to claim all the credit. They decide that everything which happened in the magic lantern was entirely and unconditionally their doing, and therefore completely subject to them.
They start to concentrate on form, with such passion that it's as if they were trying to film a textbook about postmodernist theory instead of a series of Sherlock. Then you have the breaking of the fourth wall, and the borrowing of fan versions of Sherlock's survival, and ironic answers to questions, and sarcastic remarks aimed at their critics… I have to say this is done with intricate panache. But why?
Remember Mozart and Salieri? It's not a story about how the less talented but better-trained and more workmanlike composer poisoned a genius out of envy. It's about one man with competing selves that strive against each other: the rational, logical self which longs to believe harmony is like algebra, and the deep unconscious self which doesn't know it creates, and doesn't want to know how it works, but has a direct link with the numinous. Jung called these two levels of the psyche 'personality number one' and 'personality number two'. Number one knows the rules and knows how to create, and cares how people perceive its works. Number two 'knows' nothing, it simply allows creativity to happen. As I was saying above.
So in Season 3, Mofftiss have adopted the Salieri method. For several reasons. I've already explained the first. The second relates to the first: they've scared themselves. TRF lays out so many ideas, hints, allusions and references to the probable 'solution' that it seemed impossible to explain it all. Having set up a load of signs in the text, Mofftiss forgot that those signs only have meaning in a particular context – when there is akairos (Ancient Greek: a special moment with unique qualities). In drama, this is called a turning point. But the world – both real and fictional – doesn't consist of moments like that. The Greek god who gave his name to this phenomenon was capricious, moody and elusive. It's seldom seen and hard to catch. For the exceptional to happen, you have to live through daily life, and there's hardly any of that in Sherlock. So to give full scope to the potential meaning of all the signs in TRF is impossible.
There's only one way out of this situation: to try to take control of the story. In this case, by subjugating it to its form. Entrusting harmony to algebra. And instead of filming Sherlock, starting to tell us how the authors film Sherlock.
Cinematic techniques have been raining down on us from the first second of the first season. They roar like a jet plane and break the glass like Sherlock crashing through the window of Barts, all the while pushing us along, hinting and stating outright that things are only going to get cooler and we should guess all the riddles ourselves because the authors aren't going to do it for us.
But in fact they do. They show us Mycroft in Sherlock's Mind Palace, explaining that he symbolises his rational self, although this was obvious from the first episode of the first season. The whole series is built on Sherlock as a central character and other characters as reflections of different aspects of him. As if that was not enough, the authors return to a pre-used explanation and give it an additional chew in the scene where Mary shoots Sherlock, adding Molly as internal medic and loyal friend, Anderson as internal forensics man and Moriarty as internal madman. And just in case we still don't understand what's going on, we're shown Sherlock's regression into a curly-haired little boy. In tandem, we see a flashback about Mary, when in the first episode of the series it was broadcast loud and clear that we should expect a Big Surprise and Plot Twist relating to her.
So this is the point at which I got tired of thinking. Or rather I got tired of rationalising along with the authors, and returned to the reason I started watching Sherlock in the first place.
And I began to feel. Not in the moments when I was literally forced into Sherlock's fall to the floor and his dramatic survival climb out of his Mind Palace, but in the simplest and most insignificant of moments: John returning to Baker Street and seeing the dust lit by the sun, Sherlock as he returns looking at John, John swearing at Mrs Hudson, Lestrade hugging Sherlock… These moments when the story finds its own way, in spite of not being invited. And says what it wants.
Let me stress again that Season 3 is a highly professional piece of television, made by genuinely smart and talented people. From a professional point of view, it's outstandingly executed. But from the point of view of storytelling, it has no value. From the perspective of a film-maker's skill, the appeal to the audience is effective and clear. From the point of view of story, it's a narrative failure Because a storyteller sitting by a campfire doesn't expect the listeners to help him. He just says, 'Once upon a time there lived a king…
Speaking of the fourth wall, that too is there for a reason. The thing is, absolutely all art, and theatre in particular (as the progenitor of cinema) comes back to ritual. And ritual is a process which takes place in a well-defined space, which is not allowed to be violated. The prohibition isn't there to humiliate those excluded, but because numinous space begins inside that magic circle, and only specially trained and gifted people can withstand direct contact with the numinous. Therefore everyone else remains outside the perimeter, observers at most, but not full participants.
Theatre carefully preserved this tradition, and the fourth wall is a clear analogue of the magic circle. Breaking it means either provoking uncontrollable, often near-psychotic reactions in the audience, or dissipating the numinous. In the case of Sherlock season 3, I think the latter happened. That's why many fans saw the three episodes as a farce. But it's not a complete farce, just a farce in as far as the experience reflected the reality of a broken container (fourth wall). And it's a reminder of the great power of myths that keep warning us: you can behave as you please, but everything has its price. Burn the skin of the frog if you want, but the princess will vanish, flowing through your fingers like sand, fleeing to distant lands. Translator's note: In the Russian fairytale The Frog Princess, a prince burns the frog skin of his frog-turned-human wife, hoping to keep her human, but this only succeeds in turning her into a swan who flies away.
Surprisingly, we're back to the topic of narcissism. Mirrors in huge quantities are paraded in front of viewers by the authors in Season 3, which says something about not only the fans but about the authors themselves – such a quantity of mirrors is needed only by someone who isn't certain of his own existence. And this is the flipside of the narcissistic grandiosity which assumes that the text you 'wrote' is totally subservient to you. Is it any wonder that the third season caused an outbreak of narcissism in the fandom? Translator's note: The author is presumably referring to Russian-language fandom here, rather than directly commenting on anything specific in anglophone fandom. Maybe it's worth asking why fandom separated into two camps of ardent fans and equally passionate detractors? A text which is itself split always splits the audience. We simply reflected the grandiosity and uncertainty of Mofftiss.
Well, that's what I think. Do I like Season 3? No, I don't. Do I think it was badly made? No, I don't. I'm just certain that sometimes those things are completely separate. Maybe Season 3 turned up in my life this way just to make me realise that. As for the series as a whole, I'm sure that Sherlock as a series has ended, but there will be various stories based on the stories already filmed. Interesting, no doubt, but not for me. I wish luck to the amazing Sherlock who I was still able to see in this season, albeit intermittently, and I'm sure he will have a very interesting and full life. In the end, he never cared what was written and said about him. And that gives me immense respect for him.
"Третий сезон: зеркало Тролля" ©cantadora_09, was originally posted on Jan. 16, 2014 and translated into English by pennypaperbrain on Jan. 18, 2014
One comment on ""[Sherlock] Season 3: The Mirror of the Troll," by cantadora_09 (translated by pennypaperbrain)"
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This entry was posted on December 8, 2014 by lorimori and tagged fan criticism, fan-producer relations, sherlock.
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Sefydliad Ymchwil Cymdeithasol ac Economaidd a Data Cymru
Brexit dominates British politics – but the young are least likely to think it should
Cyhoeddwyd:
Pobl:
Stuart Fox
In recent blogs, we have explored the impact of Brexit, and the stances taken by the Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties towards the triggering of Article 50, on the political support of young voters. Those blogs showed that while there have been some small changes, for the most part Brexit has had little impact: younger voters still overwhelmingly support Labour, with the Tories in second place and the Lib Dems trailing well behind. Given the support of both Labour and the Tories for Brexit, alongside young people's own hostility towards it, this is perhaps surprising.
Something that might help to explain this is the fact that the significance of Brexit as a political issue is falling amongst the young. YouGov's surveys show that shortly after the EU Referendum in July, when asked to identify the most important issues facing the country, 56% of the under-25s identified Brexit, versus two-thirds of the wider electorate; by the end of March, just before Article 50 was triggered, this had fallen to 48%, compared with 67% of their elders. While Brexit still tops the list of political issues most young people feel the political elite should be dealing with, then, the majority do not think it is one of the major issues facing the country. Other issues identified as priorities include health (38%), the environment (22%), housing (20%), and the economy (18%). With the exception of the environment, the under-25s are no more likely to think these are the major issues facing the country than their elders, suggesting that there is not a dramatic shift in the political agendas of young people compared with the wider electorate, but the fact remains that young people are the least likely to think that Brexit is the most important issue facing Britain, and are becoming increasingly unlikely to view it as a priority.
This may help explain why the stance of the Conservative, Liberal Democrat and Labour parties is not having as dramatic an impact on the political support of young people as we might expect; many of them are focussing on the stances taken by the parties in relation to other issues. Another potential consequence of this trend, in the current Brexit-saturated environment, is that a substantial proportion of young people may become increasingly frustrated at the failure of the media and politicians to address the other policy issues they care about, something which may have a greater impact on their political support, or their assessment about the representativeness of the political process, in the future.
This post was written by Dr Stuart Fox as part of the Young People and Brexit project. Stuart is a quantitative research associate based at WISERD, Cardiff University. Stuart can be contacted by email at FoxS8@cardiff.ac.uk or via Twitter on @stuarte5933.
Tagiau Y Gymdeithas Sifil | Young People and Brexit
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Dartmoor Dreaming
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Regenerative Resistance
Grow & Share
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This is a great opportunity to learn how to raise plants from seed, tend and grow vegetables in the garden to harvest.
Growing Knowledge and Skills.
This is a unique opportunity for a group of people to take a 6 month journey together to learn about sustainable horticulture, hands on, in a broader setting of regeneratively managed land at Pondfield. The connection to the way the land is managed will be a wider learning for the group and how the rest of the site is connected to the garden (the wild bee hive and the meadow enhances pollinator abundance; the meadow provides essential mulch for beds; the hedgerows provide the structural poles for plant training/support systems; the orchard, the hedges and trees, and the landscaping of the banks, begin to provide the shelter that a garden in an open field requires for its longevity). Live tuition from an experienced grower, with guided days to ensure growers are learning from the land and each other, are a core part of the valuable learning experience on offer here.
We welcome experienced, new and novice gardeners who are itching to grow food together with others, sharing the time, energy, labour and responsibility through a community led model.
We are looking for between 8 and 16 local people (roughly aged 18-35) who can contribute 4 hours a week (ideally on a Thursday afternoon/evening) from April - September and are open to becoming a member of The Living Projects for £5 to £10 a month.
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Our community volunteer days on Sundays will still run alongside the Grow & Share scheme but will be separate as the focus of these days will be community building. (Hence the hours for the Grow & Share scheme being during the week.) You are welcome to attend both.
We are also awaiting news on funding bid regarding the Grow & Share scheme. If successful the scheme will be resourced and we'll be able to offer a lot more than initially shared above.
If you have any questions please email pondfield.tlp@gmail.com
Dartington, Devon, Uk


Be Afraid! Be VERY Afraid!!! How Can You Help It These Days?
But here are two questions, and I will ask you to join with your fellow readers and answer them in a fun little quiz below, which will let you see how you compare to how others who participate in the quiz are feeling.
Just how much more unsettled do all the bad and threatening stories in the news these days make YOU feel, personally?
2. Do YOU feel any more at risk, personally?
The news seems like non-stop mayhem and danger…even more than normal…and in these circumstances the Availability Heuristic causes fears disproportionate to the actual danger.
The problem is, disproportionate fear leads to risk all by itself. Studies of traveling after the 9/11 airplane attacks found that flying went down, driving went up, and so did road deaths for the 6 months following the attacks. Depending on which study you want to believe, motor vehicle fatalities rose in the immediate months following 9/11 by either 350, 1,100, or 1,800. Fear, fed by high 'availability', killed.
-- Wars or insurgencies in Syria (a quarter of a million dead, 2.5 million refugees who fled), the Gaza strip of Palestine being brutalized by Israel in response to terrorist rockets from Palestinian terrorists, Iraq (where incredibly brutal anti-western Islamic radicals have declared a new Caliphate, or state of Islam), the Central African Republic, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Afghanistan, Pakistan (Islamic extremist insurgency connected to war in neighboring Afghanistan, Ukraine (where rebels probably armed by Russia just murdered 298 civilians by shooting down a civilian passenger plane), and Nigeria (where 200 young girls were recently kidnapped by fanatic Islamic extremists.) And those are just the bigger ones.
-- Scary anti-west militancy in KGB-trained Vladimir Putin's Russia that probably contributed to a civilian airliner being shot down over Ukraine.
-- Militant nationalism in China and Japan, unsettling all of Asia, in a dispute over the Senkaku Islands, uninhabited bits of rock that Japan claims that may have underwater oil nearby.
-- Chikigunya, a debilitatingly painful, untreatable mosquito-born disease that raced through the Caribbean, has shown up in the U.S. (Florida) and is spreading. Public health experts are sincerely worried.
-- Middle East Respiratory syndrome (MERS), a new flu strain that first arose in Saudi Arabia, has shown up in the U.S.
-- Ebola is spreading in western Africa, in cities for the first time. 632 are dead. The Sierra Leone doctor heading the fight to contain the epidemic, abnd an American doctor colleague just came down with incurable disease, which has a fatality rate in this outbreak of 60%.
-- Measles and whooping cough, vaccinable diseases, are re-emerging in pockets across the U.S. and other nations in part because a rising number of people in those areas are afraid of vaccines and are refusing to vaccinate their children (chart).
 -- The ability of antibiotics continues to decline against bacteria that can mutate drug resistance faster than we can design new drugs. Serious health officials are starting to imagine a 'post-antibiotics future' in which 'normal' infections will once again kill and many standard forms of medicine, like elective surgery, will no longer be possible.
-- The Director of the CDC bioterrorism lab just resigned after his lab mishandled a deadly sample of anthrax, exposing several lab workers. That followed CDC screw ups with a deadly strain of avian influenza and the accidental discovery of misplaced samples of smallpox stranded in the back of a lab frig.
-- Climate change is no longer something we don't have to worry about until later. The U.S. National Climate Assessment, and lots of real-world evidence, says it's here now.
-- Water shortages are getting worse around the world.
-- Colony collapse is killing off the honey bees that pollinate the crops we depend on. (Environmentalists blame neonicitinoid pesticides but most neutral experts say the worst cause is probably the Varoa mite) on.
-- White nose bats are dying off, just one of many species disappearing in the fastest and what is headed to be the most massive extinction of species in the history of life on Earth.
 -- Suspicion grows, mostly based on wildlife evidence and lab animal tests, that a wide range of industrial and natural chemicals are interfering with our hormone systems (this is known as Endocrine Disruption) and damaging the impairing the healthy development of fetuses.
-- Warnings about GMOs, fracking, and the "toxic" chemical du jour, exceed what the evidence supports, but they sure make scary headlines.
Which raises the question my book asks; How Risky Is It, Really? But in this case, the specific question is, how risky does all this feel, to you?
So please take this little quiz, to help generate an idea of how much, if at all, events these days are making you more worried.
Pick any number between 1 and 10, with 0 = not at all, 5 = some, and 10 = a lot.
Enter your replies in the comments below. I'll run the numbers over the next several days and if enough people participate, I'll post something next week to let you all know what the average results were. They won't exactly be scientific findings, but maybe we'll all learn something.


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Interview with Author SJ Sindu
SJ Sindu broke into the literary scene last year with the debut novel, Marriage of a Thousand Lies, which will be released in paperback form this summer. Along with this much-lauded and awarded book–seriously, check out all of the praise–Sindu also has a chapbook out called, I Once Met You But You Were Dead, which we thoroughly love.
Sindu graciously answered our questions about writing below, and we'll be doing another follow up when the paperback edition of Marriage of a Thousand Lies comes out!
Just to introduce you to our readers who may not be familiar with your work, can you tell us how you got started writing? What were the books or who were the writers that inspired you?
I started seriously writing in college. Before that, I was writing a lot of Harry Potter fanfiction, and before that, in fifth and sixth grade, I was writing Sailor Moon fanfiction. So I've been writing for a long time, but it wasn't until college that I was inspired to write my own stories. I think of the first time I read a book and saw my experience reflected back at me—strangely, it was Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried. I'm a war survivor, and I'd never before seen war depicted like that—messy, unreliable, and gut-wrenchingly beautiful in its gore. It inspired me to write my own war stories. Eventually, I also read a host of other writers—John Rechy, Julia Alvarez, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Jeanette Winterson, Eli Claire, Audre Lorde, Junot Diaz—who also inspired me.
What was the most important thing you learned or did that improved your skills as a writer?
For a long time I never thought of writing as a practical, muscle-memory-type skill. I thought it was all about craft. But I had some great teachers in college—Jonis Agee, Joy Castro, Timothy Schaffert, Amelia Montes, Judith Slater—who taught me that writing is more than craft, though of course craft is very important. Writing is also about the discipline to sit down at your desk every day. It's about the tenacity to get back up and keep writing after a rejection. It's about having the unshakable belief that you have a story to tell, and the follow through to put it out there in the world. That was so, so important for me to learn. Being an author isn't just about learning the tricks of the trade. It's also about crafting your body and mind into the pursuit of good art.
You followed your debut novel with a chapbook, which is a medium that we're sure many of our readers are curious about. Could you tell us more about this decision?
I actually had the chapbook come out before the novel, about six months before it. It was a complete accident. When I was putting the novel on submission, I also happened to have this chapbook, so I started entering it in contests. I was shooting in the dark at everything, hoping something would hit. And a month after I signed my book contract, I found out I won this chapbook contest and that they wanted to publish the chapbook, which was wonderful. I love the chapbook form—it merges the beauty of a book with the conciseness of a short story. And traditionally, chapbooks meant poetry. But lately there have been a proliferation of prose chapbooks, and it's a great opportunity to put together work that doesn't really fit with your other stuff.
What was the process of getting the chapbook together like? How did you choose which works would go into it?
Originally, the chapbook was much longer, but then I cut out everything that didn't fit. I think it's a mistake to just put all your best work into a collection and hope it'll fit. I was very intentional with the chapbook. Every piece spoke in some way to war or gender or both. That was my criteria, and I also wanted a good mix of fiction and nonfiction. It was a long, messy process. In the end, I chose pieces that were all written around the same time—during my Master's program—a three-year period when my concerns were similar in every piece I wrote. So those pieces melded together well.
We love the stories in the chapbook but "Playing Princess" and "Husband Hunting" stand out for us because of the complexity of love, relationships, obligations, and even violence that bind and divide the characters from each other. What was the genesis of these two stories?
"Husband Hunting" was written when I was very, very angry at the world. My family had started pressuring me into an arranged marriage, and I was even being taken to all these cities to meet eligible young men. My repeated answers of "no" weren't being taken seriously, and my pleas of "never again" were dismissed out of hand. I was angry. I was furious. And I learned a lot about the kind of pressure cooker that women in the South Asian community can be put into when they reach a certain age. So I wrote "Husband Hunting" from those experiences, and I think you can feel the energy there because of how strongly I was feeling it at the time.
"Playing Princess" came about a little differently. It's based on an experience I had as a child in Sri Lanka—only I was the bully in that instance. I was quite a little bully when I was young, because in Sri Lanka I had a lot of privilege relative to other kids that I was around. My parents had college degrees and government jobs. We were of a relatively high caste. And I was a very light-skinned, very cute kid. That got me a lot of leeway with adults. I was spoiled rotten and a brat. This story was partly about me reckoning with those experiences—particularly because they were so short lived. When I was seven, I moved to the U.S. and quickly became the target of bullies for the rest of my K12 education. So to me as an adult, there's a lot of interesting tension between my little bully self and the bullied kid I was later in my childhood, thanks to immigration. I also wanted to put this story of personal violence on top of this backdrop of the violence of war, how all these undercurrents shape kids and their interactions with each other.
One of the things we've noticed in the publishing industry is that there are two different types of pressure on POC writers: some writers are pressured to add white characters–or only write about white characters–in order to appeal to a wider market and avoid being placed in a POC niche while on the other hand, other POC writers are pressured to exotify their stories, to add details and elements that support an Orientalist narrative of their cultures. Have you experienced with this and how did you deal with it, if so? And do you have any advice especially for young or emerging writers about navigating this?
I've felt both kinds of pressures. On the one hand, there were editors asking me who was going to read my stories if there were no white protagonists at all. Then on the other hand, if I was definitely going to write about brown people, then there were editors telling me I should add more spice, or add recipes, or set the story in Sri Lanka or India instead of the U.S.
It's also important to note that a lot of times, the pressure is subtle. I don't write the kind of lush, multi-generational Jhumpa-Lahiri-like or Arundhati-Roy-like stories that South Asian women are often expected to write. My prose style shares more in common with Hemingway than it does with other South Asian writers. It's definitely masculine, whatever that means when applied to voice. And that's hard for people—most people tend to devalue writing that flaunts their expectations.
It's a difficult place to be. I struggle with these contrary expectations still. But what I do know with certainty is that I'm not going to change my voice or my content—the things that are the most important core of my writing—to bow to these pressures. I tend to be thick-headed about these things. I'd probably have an easier time if I wasn't.
My advice to emerging or aspiring writers is this: if you're like me, if there are some lines you just can't or won't cross, then be tenacious. Stick to it. I'm going to paraphrase a Captain America movie and say that you should plant your feet like a tree, and refuse to move. But on the other hand, if you don't mind acquiescing to hegemonic pressures in order to be published, then do it. Just make sure that you can live with your decision, whatever that is. Know yourself. And make sure that whatever path you choose, you can make peace with it.
Some writers are also afraid to reveal their sexual orientation or gender identity for fear of further marginalization. What are your thoughts on the and how have you dealt with this?
Again, I'm pretty thick headed. I never feared further marginalization, though perhaps that has to do with my other privileges—I'm able-bodied, educated, and even though I'm queer and genderqueer, I am read as a cis het woman. This affords me a lot of safety in my day to day life, though my brown female body is endangered in other ways. I came of age as a young queer in a small radical community with lesbian liberation lavender menace dykes as my mentors. I read Eli Clare, Gloria Anzaldúa, Angela Davis, Judith Butler, Cherrie Moraga, Audre Lorde, Chrystos, Pat Parker, Adrienne Rich, tatiana de la tierra, Elana Dykewomon, Jewel Gomez, Leslie Feinberg, Jack Halberstam, and Lillian Faderman. I was forged as an adult in the politics of queer activism, so staying in the closet in my writing was never an option for me.
My fear of revealing had more to do with the backlash I knew would happen for me from my family and for my family from their communities. So the years I was working on my novel, I knew that once it came out, it would also pull me out of the closet in a big way. Once I signed the book contract, it all became very real. As the release date drew closer, I gritted my teeth and prepared myself. And for a little while, it was painful. The backlash of course happened. My family to this day pretends (or doesn't know, for the extended family) that I even wrote and published a book. It's still painful. The novel was named a Stonewall Honor Book, and was a finalist for both the Publishing Triangle Awards and the Lambda Literary Awards. It was painful to not even be able to share this good news with my parents, and even if I did, that they wouldn't be able to share it with their friends and community members—and that this would hurt them. So I just don't share the news. I try to spare them the pain.
It's very complicated. I think white queer culture has venerated the coming out process as the end-all be-all of coming of age as a queer person. But for people of color and immigrants, this coming out isn't always possible. It's hard to just cut yourself off from your family when the alternative is to try and make a chosen family among a still-often-racist, ableist queer culture—especially when queer culture is based on white culture and if you're a person of color, you can find yourself at odds with or just isolated from entry. Coming out is an individual decision and the only person who gets to make that decision is you.
About SJ Sindu:
SJ Sindu was born in Sri Lanka and raised in Massachusetts. Sindu is the author of the novel Marriage of a Thousand Lies, which is a finalist for the Lambda Literary Award and the Publishing Triangle Award, and which was selected by the American Library Association as a Stonewall Honor Book. Sindu is also the author of the hybrid fiction and nonfiction chapbook I Once Met You But You Were Dead, which won the Split Lip Press Turnbuckle Chapbook Contest. A 2013 Lambda Literary Fellow, Sindu holds a PhD in Creative Writing from Florida State University, and currently teaches at Ringling College of Art & Design.
American Books LGBTQ Sri Lanka
About M. Paramita Lin
M. Paramita Lin writes about pop culture, food, and travel and her work has been nominated for Best of the Net. She used to do promotions and marketing in the music industry but has since regained the ability to feel empathy. She has just finished a kids' wuxia book set in an alternate-reality Hong Kong and China about a society that's turned its back on the modern world and is ruled by martial arts clans. She is now working on a novel about a triad doctor and his reincarnated-demon sidekick as they follow the trail of a serial cat-killer in Hong Kong.
View all posts by M. Paramita Lin →
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Raymond's Brain: My Baachan #2, Birthplace Japan
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Before Jeremy Lin, There was Yao Ming
Interview with Swati Teerdhala
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New month, new beginnings, new goals and most importantly, new plans to put on the food agenda. The dining scene in Auckland is dominating this April with the change of season initiating changes on the menus of various restaurants and cafes (see our round-up of the best autumnal dishes for more). Menu tweaks are just the beginning for what's ahead this month, however, with pop-ups and culinary events taking place and venues being upscaled and renovated as we speak. Here is everything you need to know about Auckland's dining scene this April.
A local favourite, Madame George on K'Road is coming into April hot with a one-night-only fried chicken pop-up. Tonight (Tuesday, April 2nd), the fryers will be switched on full heat by Madame George's chef, Patrick Schmitt and Pasture's Tatsuya Shinkai, a power duo the like of which we rarely see. Crispy Nagoya-style wings will be made in limited amounts, able to cater for up to only three seatings. And although walk-ins are welcome, we recommend you call ahead and save your spot as this collaboration is not to be missed. For those who cannot attend, not all hope is lost as this is just the beginning of many collabs — the next one including the former Madame George chef, William Cook taking over the kitchen on the 27th of April.
It has been five years since Judge Bao first hit the streets of Auckland, making waves with its freshly, handmade bao buns and premium quality fillings. Over time, the stall has evolved, rebranded and has recently become a food truck, ditching the signature red for royal blue. The menu has also undergone a few tweaks with the addition of a pineapple bun with the char siu pork. Keep an eye out for Judge Bao's ever-changing locations as it wheels around town.
Six60's Chris Mac bid farewell to his Kingsland bar, Flight 605 and has reinvented the space to become 605 Morningside Drinkery. The era of the aircraft-inspired fit-out has come to an end and is being given a more mature look, boasting blue velvet, plush couches and a refined menu. Despite the renovation being a work in progress, it isn't stopping 605 from keeping its doors open. Anyone and everyone is welcome to come inside and grab a smashed burger and pint of craft beer as they watch Flight 605 evolve to 605 Morningside Drinkery.
Speaking of burgers, save the date on Thursday, 4th April and get amongst the burger food truck festival at La Cigale in Parnell. The line-up of food trucks only features the best, including The Hungry Swine, Dixie BBQ, Double Dutch Fries, Peach's Hot Chicken and the newest addition to the food truck family, JoBros Burgers. Vegetarians and vegans are also welcome to the event with JoBros able to whip up meatless magic and the OG vegan burger joint, Wise Boys also on hand to serve its infamous plant-based burgers on the night.
On the 3rd of April, Ostro is introducing brand new dishes onto its menu. The restaurant is already touted as one of the best in town by Auckland foodies and the new Head Chef, Josh Shields and Executive Chef Josh Emett are pushing the culinary boundaries even further. The dishes showcase the freshness of New Zealand produce and the quality of our meat and seafood. The crispy pork belly is given an autumnal twist with brussels sprouts, black pudding, sweet sherry caramel to elevate the richness of the pork and aromatic sage. Other additions to the menu include tender lamb with Roman gnocchi and market fish with squash purée, just to name a few.
Our favourite modern Korean restaurant is not only a go-to spot for dinner but also in the middle of the day, with Chef Min taking the lunchtime offerings to new heights, creating a line-up of deliciously unique dishes. Our favourite would have to be the K Bowl which comprises a mix of four different grains — buckwheat, brown rice, quinoa and black rice —to achieve multi-layered flavours and textures in the dish. Creamy avocado mousse is dolloped on top along with a slow-cooked egg to thicken the consistency of the grains. The final touch of kimchi-cured gravlax is a game-changer as the fattiness of the salmon is balanced by the acidic and fermented kimchi.


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Обзор прессы -
05 February 2019 |
| Обзор прессы	|
Lombard Odier, the Swiss private bank headquartered in Geneva, plans to open an office in Abu Dhabi in the first half of this year – its second in the UAE – to better serve its local client base and expand its Middle East operations.
The bank, the oldest in Switzerland, wants the region to account for 10 per cent of its global business within the next three to five years, group managing director Arnaud Leclercq told media on Tuesday. The regional business is currently steered from Lombard Odier's 10-year-old representative office in Dubai.
"The Middle East is one of our key strategic markets and we felt it would be interesting to have an office under a second jurisdiction in the UAE, while remaining committed to Dubai," said Christophe Lalandre, managing director of Lombard Odier Dubai, who will head up the Abu Dhabi office in the emirate's financial free zone, Abu Dhabi Global Market.
Lombard Odier has received an advisory licence 'in principle' from ADGM's financial services regulator and hopes to secure the remaining approvals needed to open the office by April and, if not, within the first half of this year, the senior executives said.
The office will serve as Lombard Odier's regional hub to service the Arabian Gulf and Middle East, and is in part a response to demand from high-profile client families in Abu Dhabi and neighbouring Al Ain to be in closer proximity to their advisors.
It is also an opportunity to expand the bank's services, capitalising on high forecast growth in personal wealth in the Middle East. The region accounted for the largest share of investable assets in the world in 2017, rising by 11 per cent year-on-year to $3.8 trillion, according to a Boston Consulting Group report published last year.
Of that, the UAE is projected to lead the way, with total personal wealth held in investable assets set to grow by 7 per cent per year to reach $590 billion by 2022, driven by an uptick in equities and investment funds, BCG said. Investable assets are cash and bank accounts, equity, bonds, securities and investment accounts which can be readily converted into cash.
Lombard Odier, which has $276bn of assets under management globally, has seen 15 per cent year-on-year growth in the Middle East since the Dubai office opened. It hopes the new hub will help it to exceed this in the coming years, Mr Leclercq told reporters.
The bank will focus on tapping into rising appetite among clients for sharia-compliant wealth advisory services, which it launched in Dubai in 2012. Securing an advisory licence in Abu Dhabi will enable it to directly provide these services to local clients.
The bank has previously said it plans to start offering products such as sukuks (Islamic bonds), and direct equity investments through Islamic indices.
Another focus for the new office will be the creation of bespoke investment portfolios for clients. "Regional clients are increasingly wanting to invest outside their home base – particularly in the last few years [of low oil prices and sluggish economic growth] when there have been fewer home assets available," said Mr Leclercq. "Those clients are increasingly wanting a bespoke solution where they can determine what they are exposed to, rather than taking a blanket approach."
Global economic growth is projected to slow from 2019 due to trade uncertainty, geopolitical tensions and other headwinds, according to the International Monetary Fund, and regional clients want a highly diversified investment approach across different funds and geographies, Mr Lalandre added.
Lombard Odier's Abu Dhabi office will launch with an initial five staff transferred from Dubai, while the Dubai office will be replenished to bring it back up to its current size of around 10 employees.
The new hires will include a managing director for the Dubai office to replace Mr Lalandre. That person has been appointed but not yet named.
The National News, UAE »
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Is There Really a Hell?
Home Is There Really a Hell?
, May 27, 1995 May 31, 2020
Rick Rood discusses the biblical teaching on hell, as well as the practical effects of this belief for
Christians.
This article is also available in Spanish.
The story has been told of C. S. Lewis listening to a young preacher's sermon on the subject of God's judgment on sin. At the end of his message, the young man said: "If you do not receive Christ as Savior, you will suffer grave eschatalogical ramifications!" After the service, Lewis asked him the question, "Do you mean that a person who doesn't believe in Christ will go to hell?" "Precisely," was his response. "Then say so," Lewis replied. (1)
This story illustrates something that most Christians know, but few articulate: that of all the doctrines of the Christian faith, the one we feel most uncomfortable discussing is the doctrine of eternal punishment or hell. And it is not difficult to understand why this is so. The doctrine of hell is offensive to unbelievers, and contradicts the emphasis on tolerance and on human potential that dominates our times. Who of us enjoys alienating our friends by speaking of eternal judgment for sin? For many of us, the doctrine of hell is also difficult to reconcile with the the love and grace of God. Furthermore, we are well aware of Christians who have misused the doctrine of hell by using it to manipulate and control other people. In seeking to distance ourselves from the abuse of this doctrine, and to avoid appearing intolerant and uncaring, many of us have eliminated the word "hell" entirely from our vocabulary (making our belief an entirely personal matter).
Recent surveys have revealed some very interesting facts about current attitudes toward hell. A survey conducted by George Gallup in 1990 revealed that just under 60% of Americans believe there is a hell (down over 10% from 1978), though only 4% believe that hell was their own personal destination. A survey in the mid-1980s of American evangelical college and seminary students revealed that only one in ten believed that the first step in influencing unbelievers for Christ should be to warn about hell. 46% of seminary students believed that to emphasize to non-believers that eternal judgment would be a consequence of rejecting Christ was "in poor taste." A survey conducted in 1981 revealed that 50% of theology faculty believe in the existence of hell (61% of Roman Catholics, and 34% of Protestants)! (2)
In spite of the prevailing current attitudes toward hell revealed by these surveys, however, it is still apparent to most Christians that the doctrine of hell is firmly grounded in the teaching of Scripture. All but one of the letters of the Apostle Paul mention the wrath or judgment of God on sin. And of the twelve uses of the word gehenna (the strongest word for hell) in the New Testament, eleven come from the lips of Jesus himself! In fact, the Savior taught more about hell than He did about heaven! Of the more than 1850 verses recording the words of Christ, 13% pertain to the topics of judgment and hell. Of the 40 or so parables uttered by Jesus, more than half relate to God's eternal judgment on sin. Surprisingly, the much beloved "Sermon on the Mount" contains some of Jesus' most straightforward words about hell!
What Does the Bible Teach About Hell?
In his book simply titled "Inferno," Dante Alighieri describes in great detail his imaginary tour through nine levels of hell. Dante's book makes for fascinating reading. But to learn what hell is really like, we must turn to another source: the Bible.
As we begin reading through the Old Testament, we find frequent references to "sheol" (the world of departed spirits) as the abode of all the dead (cf. Deut. 32:22). As we continue reading, we find also that a day will come when the bodies of all who are in sheol will be resurrected: some to "everlasting life" but others to "everlasting contempt" (Dan. 12:2).
The common belief of godly rabbis during the intertestamental era that sheol was divided into two sections is reflected in the New Testament, which refers to the abode of the righteous as "Paradise" (Lk. 23:43) or "Abraham's bosom" (Lk. 16:22), and the abode of the unrighteous as "Hades" (Lk. 16:23). After Christ's resurrection, it appears that those who resided in Paradise were ushered into the presence of God in heaven where they await the future resurrection of their bodies. But those who are in Hades await a resurrection to a different destination– hell.
The word that is used most frequently in the New Testament for hell is Gehenna. Gehenna is a reference to the Valley of Hinnom located on the south side of Jerusalem, which served as the city's "garbage dump" during Jesus' time. The fires that burned here never went out.
As did his contemporaries, Jesus referred to Gehenna as the place where "the fire is not quenched" and where "their worm does not die" (Mk. 9:48). Whether He implied a literal flame and a literal worm is not of great importance. Jesus also described hell as a place of "outer darkness" (Mt. 22:13). But it is clear that He meant us to understand that hell is a place of continual deterioration and suffering for those who inhabit it! Jesus also referred to those who were cast into hell as being "cast outside" (Mt. 8:12), or as Paul simply puts it "away from the presence of the Lord" (II Thess. 1:9). Hell is a place of exclusion and loss of every blessing that comes from God. Hell is described as a place of "contempt" by the prophet Daniel (Dan. 12:2)–where every person is despised by every other inhabitant. As one writer has put it: "Sinners in hell will have company but no sympathy" (3)
Jesus said hell will be a place of "weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Mt. 13:42). The weeping no doubt speaks of terrible remorse and grief. But the gnashing of teeth speaks of intense anger–anger at oneself, anger at Satan, anger at God. Paul speaks of hell's inhabitants as experiencing "wrath and anger … trouble and distress" (Rom. 2:8-9).
The Bible also tells us that in hell not all will be judged alike. Jesus made it clear that there will be degrees of judgment in hell. He said that the one "who knew his master's will and did not … act in accord with his will, shall receive many lashes, but the one who did not know it, and committed deeds worthy of a flogging, will receive but few" (Lk. 12:47-48). But though not all will be judged equally, all will be judged with certainty. Exodus 34:7 tells us that though the Lord is "compassionate and gracious, … yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished."
Why Would a Loving God Send People to Hell?
Does the Bible teach that hell is a place of eternal conscious punishment for sin? One alternative proposal is that for many (if not all) a second opportunity will be given after death to respond to the grace of God. Appeal is usually made to the statement in Peter's first letter that "the gospel … has been preached even to those who are dead" (4:6). William Barclay states that in this passage we find a "glimpse of nothing less than the gospel of a second chance" (Commentary on the Epistles of Peter). Yet, the context makes clear that he is speaking of those to whom the gospel was preached during their lifetime, but who now were deceased! There is no indication at all that a "post-mortem" opportunity to repent exists.
In John 8, Jesus says that for those who "die in their sins" there is no possibility of joining Him in heaven (vv. 21,24). In contrasting the expectation of the believer of being reunited with loved ones in heaven, he says that unbelievers "have no (such) hope" (I Thess. 4:13). These statements are difficult to reconcile with the belief that the deceased are offered a second opportunity after death. Hebrews 9:27 says that "it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment."
Another proposal, that is gaining a wider acceptance today, is that unbelievers will simply be snuffed out of existence or "annihilated." Support for this belief is often sought in statements throughout Scripture that describe sinners as "perishing" or being "destroyed." The psalmist says, "May the wicked perish before God" (68:2). The same word, however, is used in Isaiah 57:1 to refer to the righteous: "The righteous perish and no one ponders it in his heart." It is clear that in the latter case, the word implies "severe suffering." It could not possibly mean that the righteous are "extinguished." There is, therefore, no reason to believe that the opposite is the case when the word is used to describe the fate of sinners. To "perish" or be "destroyed" means to "suffer ruin," not to be "annihilated."
That the Bible teaches eternal conscious punishment for sin in hell, is the only deduction that can be reached from the fact that the most emphatic words available to the biblical writers were consistently used to describe hell's endless duration, as well as to describe the duration of heaven, and even the eternal existence of God! Just as Jesus described the destiny of the righteous as "eternal life," so He described the destiny of the unrighteous as "eternal punishment" (Mt. 25:46). Just as John described God as the one who "lives forever and ever" (Rev. 15:7), so He described the fire of hell as lasting "forever and ever" (Rev. 14:11).
Sometimes it is said that the Greek word for eternal (aionios) really means "age lasting," implying that at the end of a series of ages God will empty hell of all its inhabitants. Those who hold this interpretation, however, fail to recall that while this present age is finite in duration, it was the common understanding among Jesus' listeners that the "age to come" was eternal!
In reference to the fate of Judas, Jesus said: "It would have been better for him if he had never been born" (Mt. 26:24). If indeed it is as terrible a fate as these words suggest, and if it is eternal in duration, why would a loving God send people to hell? If God is a God of love, why would He consign anyone to an eternity as terrible as the Bible describes the fate of those whose destiny is hell?
Perhaps the biblical doctrine of hell can begin to make more sense to us when we reexamine our understanding of two other teachings of Scripture: the nature of God, and the nature of man and of sin.
One of the wonderful revelations of Scripture is that God is a God of infinite love and grace. Who of us is not refreshed when we read the words of the psalmist: "But Thou, O Lord, art a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth" (86:15)? Yet it is the same God who is also described as the One who "will by no means leave the guilty unpunished" (Ex. 34:7)! The God who loves the sinner is also the God whose "eyes are too pure to approve evil" and who cannot "look on wickedness with favor" (Hab. 1:13). The psalmist quotes God at one point as saying, "You thought that I was just like you" (50:21). But we are in need of the realization that just as God's love is far beyond our own, so the purity of his holiness exceeds all our conceptions! When Isaiah was granted a vision of the Lord on his throne, he was shaken by his impression of his holiness (Isa. 6:3)! For sure, God is a God of indescribable love, but He is just as much a God of absolute holiness and righteousness! When we gain a vision of the holiness of God as it is portrayed in the Bible, we begin to understand the reasonableness of the doctrine of hell.
We are also helped when we allow Scripture to more fully inform us in our comprehension of the nature of man and of sin. The emphasis in our generation on the value and dignity of the human person has been a welcome corrective to a past overemphasis on the depravity of man. Yet it is easy for us to lose sight of the fact that though we are indeed created in the image of God and of very special value in His eyes, nonetheless we are also deeply and indelibly stained by sin in every area of our being. The God who knows every thought and motive of every human heart, said that it "is more deceitful than all else, and is desperately sick; who can understand it?" (Jer. 17:9). Jesus himself said that "from within, out of the heart of men, proceed (all manner of evil)" by which we are defiled (Mk. 7:21-23)!
When Ezra learned of the disobedience of the people of Israel in marrying unbelievers, he said, "I tore my garment and my robe, … and sat down appalled" (Ezra 9:3). When the Apostle Paul saw the city of Athens filled with idols, "his spirit was … provoked within him" (Acts 17:16)! Is it possible that we have lost something of the sense of the seriousness of sin that seemed to grip the heart of these two men?
Some have objected that while sin is certainly worthy of punishment, a "finite" sin is hardly worthy of the "infinite" punishment of hell. But that our rebellion against God should be considered "finite" in nature is not entirely clear.
When we consider that the One against whom we have rebelled is the One who gave us life, who is the source of every good thing that we know in life, and who has extended his love by giving his own Son as payment for our sin, how can we possibly measure the gravity of our sin or the punishment it deserves? When we consider too that there is no indication that those in hell will ever experience a "change of heart" in attitude toward God, perhaps we can see that God's judgment is entirely just.
The Doctrine of Hell: What Difference Does It Make?
We want to focus on three areas of life that should be impacted by our understanding of the biblical doctrine of hell.
The first is our attitude toward sin … particularly our own. A number of years ago, Dr. Karl Menninger wrote a book entitled Whatever Happened to Sin? In it he challenged the popular notion that all of our thoughts and actions can be accounted for by factors beyond our own personal control, that we are rarely responsible for our own conduct. For sure, there are "mitigating" factors in most of our lives that influence our character and conduct to greater or lesser degree. And God is not unaware of these things. "He knows our frame, that we are but dust" (Ps. 103:14). He knows as well that we are born with a sinful nature that is beyond the power of human will to overcome (cf. Rom. 7:14-25). But He also knows that the choice is our own as to whether we approve and condone the fruit of our sinful nature, or whether we turn to Him for grace to hold in check our sinful impulses and to learn to follow his will. In his book The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis said that there are two kinds of people in the world: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, "Thy will be done." The choice is ours as to which kind of person we will become.
When we realize that we are responsible for what we choose to do about our sin, and that it is more than merely an act that may result in unpleasant consequences for ourselves, but that it is also a disposition of rebellion against God, that requires his holy judgment, we cannot help but become more sensitive to its presence in our lives!
The second result of a biblical understanding of hell is a much greater appreciation for the grace and salvation we have received from God! Our appreciation for the immense value of this gift is greatly enhanced when we fully comprehend the nature of that from which we have been delivered. Our perception of the awesomeness of salvation is determined in large measure by our perception of the awfulness of hell!
Finally, a biblical understanding of hell should move us to include in our proclamation of the gospel a clear warning about the consequence of failing to respond. We need to be more forthright than the preacher whom Charles Spurgeon reported as saying, "If you do not love the Lord Jesus Christ, you will be sent to the place which it is not polite to mention." (4) C.S. Lewis once said: "If Christianity only means one more bit of good advice, then Christianity is of no importance. There has been no lack of good advice for the last four thousand years. A bit more makes no difference." (5) If there really is a hell, then Christianity is far more than one more bit of good advice!
In his book Our Guilty Silence, John Stott recounts how the seventeenth century Jesuit missionaries to China, not wanting to offend the sensitivities of the Chinese, excluded the cross of Christ and other details from their message. Quoting Hugh Trevor- Roper, Stott says, "We do not learn that they made many lasting converts by the unobjectionable residue of the story." (6)
There is little question that the doctrine of hell has at times been abused. But as one writer has well put it: "May its misuse not result in its disuse" in our efforts to lead people to Christ.
1. Larry Dixon, The Other Side of the Good News, Wheaton: Victor Books, 1992. p. 13
2. Dixon, pp. 10-13; Jerry L. Walls, Hell: The Logic of Damnation. South Bend: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992, pp.2-3.
3. John Blanchard, Whatever Happened to Hell? Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 1992, p. 146.
4. Quoted in Ajith Fernando, Crucial Questions About Hell. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1991, p. 171.
5. C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity. New York: Macmillan Press, 1960, p. 133)
6. John Stott, Our Guilty Silence. London: Hodder & Stoughton, nd, p. 45.
Recommended Resources on the Subject of Hell:
Blanchard, John. Whatever Happened to Hell? Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 1992.
Dixon, Larry. The Other Side of the Good News. Wheaton: Victor Books, 1992.
Fernando, Ajith. Crucial Questions About Hell. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 1991.
Lewis, C.S. Mere Christianity. New York: Macmillan Press, 1960.
Morey, Robert A. Death and the Afterlife. Minneapolis: Bethany House, 1984.
Stott, John. Our Guilty Silence. London: Hodder & Stoughton, nd.
Walls, Jerry L. Hell: The Logic of Damnation. South Bend: University of Notre Dame Press, 1992.
© 1995 Probe Ministries.
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Rick Rood
Rick Rood is the former director of publications at Probe Ministries, and now serves as a hospital chaplain. He is a graduate of Seattle Pacific University (B.A., History) and Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M.). He has pursued Ph.D. studies in theology at D.T.S. and has served as pastor, been a seminary instructor, and has worked for a number of years in ministry to international students. Rick and his late wife Polly are the parents of two young adults.


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ST. LOUIS (Dec. 15, 2016) – Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which is owned by the world's largest car rental company, Enterprise Holdings Inc., has received MetLife's first-ever Sustainability Products & Services Award. The award recognizes suppliers that go above and beyond in their sustainability efforts and provide MetLife with innovative and impactful sustainable products, services and partnerships.
Plus, Enterprise's rigorous vehicle maintenance program benefits both business and the environment by lowering costs, diverting waste from landfills and reducing reliance on non-recycled materials. This includes working with partners to re-refine more than 5 million gallons of engine oil to be reused in the Enterprise fleet.


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Which MBA? » Articles » Management ideas » Academic view: Lest we forget
Academic view: Lest we forget
The faster the world changes, the more important it becomes for firms to stem collective memory loss. But this is easier said than done says Peter Bryant, an entrepreneurship professor at IE Business School, and his collaborators Nathalie Lazaric and Moustapha Niang of Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis
FOR today's business leaders, change is relentless. New markets open and expand rapidly. Established ones are more contested. Firms must continually adapt and innovate in order to remain competitive. At the same time, customers churn and employees turn over more frequently. Loyalties shift, teams fragment and people forget. As a result, collective memory and employee commitment become fragile. We see these effects every day. In our research, we are investigating how a series of mergers and restructuring led to the loss of collective memory and a sense of alienation among workers within a large public sector organisation.
Similar challenges emerge as companies operate more globally. Within a multinational enterprise, employees belong to multiple cultures, have different historical memories and identities and perceive different futures for their families as well as careers. In such a world, it is difficult to build a common sense of belonging and commitment to the organisation.
Yet a sense of collective commitment and purpose is important. In these times of constant change, companies need loyal and committed people who are ready to go the extra mile and take the initiative, even if many will not become long-term employees. This creates a dilemma for executives. On the one hand, they must encourage greater flexibility, agility and mobility. On the other hand, they need to build strong commitment to the company and its goals. How can this be done?
Part of the solution is to reinforce a sense of shared history within the organisation, leveraging human psychology. Studies show that people have deep memories of personal and collective experience. These memories include such experiences as being an engineer or parent, the years spent in college and such events as annual celebrations. By transcending the everyday flow of events, they form an important foundation for identity, social relationships, cultural values, personal goals and motivations.
Memories of working and organisational life are also an important element of autobiographical memory. Indeed, in contemporary societies, these are central to human experience. Managers can harness them by supporting the integration of shared memories and personal memory. Memories of life within the company then become a more central component of autobiographical memory itself—and employees become more deeply attached to the company.
Studies of autobiographical memory suggest techniques to achieve this goal. First, communicate and celebrate the company's history. Companies can display pictures and symbols of the company's history in both physical and virtual environments. Carl Zeiss, the German optical products manufacturer, does exactly this. On their website's home page, for example, visitors can browse the Carl Zeiss archives which document the company's history and achievements stretching back over 150 years (the picture above shows a Zeiss factory floor in the early 20th century).
Secondly, companies should, in particular, remember critical periods in their history. Ducati, the Italian motor cycle company, did this by creating a corporate museum that chronicles the company's heritage in motor racing right next to its main manufacturing facility. The museum became a major draw card for customers and a symbol of the company´s renaissance.
Thirdly, honour the company's heroes and their achievements. For this reason, Hewlett Packard (HP) restored its most famous piece of real estate: a garage in Silicon Valley where its founders had started the company. The HP mantra "Invent" draws directly from this early stage of the company's history. An online museum complements the physical site.
Fourthly, companies, even relatively young ones, can project the future as a continuation of the past. Google, for example, explains that its mission to organise the world's information is a continuation of its founders' research at Stanford University. In the same spirit, Google's engineers are given one day a week to experiment and explore new ideas. This weekly routine connects their work experience with the company's roots.
Memory may also be exploited as an asset. Professor Lazaric studied this process within Arcelor steel in France. Before its merger with Mittal, Arcelor accumulated deep memories and know-how in the steel industry. After merging to form Arcelor Mittal, the combined group leveraged its shared identity and memories in steel making to support global integration and growth.
Using these techniques, a company's values, purpose, and strategic direction acquire more enduring meaning. They turn personal. Collective memories of the company become part of employees' autobiographical memory. This underpins a sense of shared identity, goals and motivations. Employees gain a deeper, more personal stake in the company's goals and purpose. This helps to anchor the organisation and its people, particularly when times are tough and winds of change are blowing. In short, by banking on memory, companies can strengthen employee commitment.
Peter Bryant: Professor of entrepreneurship, IE Business School
Nathalie Lazaric: Professor and Director, French National Centre of Scientific Research, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis
Moustapha Niang: Doctoral student, Université de Nice Sophia-Antipolis
Reader comments are listed below. Comments are currently closed and new comments are no longer being accepted.
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tXhy7D5dPX Jan 24th 2012 1:15 GMT
Family owned businesses are enterprises which often naturally exemplify the strong commitment to the company and its goals. Patient capital, a multi-generational perspective, strong sense of identity, clarity of values and shared memory are "best of class" characteristics of family owned firms which have been successful over generations. For example, Mars, Bechtel and S.C.Johnson all have a history of ownership, experience, and strategic direction which has created enduring commitment, motivation and success.
kneo Jan 19th 2012 8:23 GMT
A fundamental disconnect, elaborated as follows:
Today's environment is indeed fast-changing and demands an ability to adapt. However, most self-changes done by organisations build on their existing skill sets as the critical stepping stone. That's what makes these changes and the organisations that implement them successfully, sustainable. Organisations are made up of people, so, by extension, the latter also move along the 'change continuum' based largely on their existing skill sets.
Therefore, to assume that the changes are so radical as to create such a fundamental contradiction between 'was' and 'will be' that it leads to alienating the employees seems a far-fetched premise, and contradictory to the change process.
Nirvana-bound Jan 18th 2012 20:58 GMT
Isn't collective (convenient) amnesia also known as 'mass denial'??
DC Diogenes Jan 18th 2012 18:28 GMT
Working to establish the autobiographical memory is indeed an appropriate and potentially highly effective way of linking employees to their employer. However, if the current actions, policies and culture of the firm are inconsistent with the that depicted in the history of the firm, employees quickly see through the effort as being simply window dressing and an insult to their intelligence. Without management connecting the brilliant history to its current operating schema, much less any projections of the future, efforts to establish an identity for the organization that will resonate with the employees will fail to produce results. "what have you done for me lately" is as much a mantra for employees as it is for Wall Street analysts.
JohnDunk Jan 18th 2012 17:27 GMT
We have greatly undervalued the institutional knowledge of employees. Some have attempt to capture this mechanically in initiatives to build internal online knowledge bases, but the fundamental problem is that exactly the knowledge that we don't know to ask about now that is the most valuable. In the software world (where I work) a great example is when a company loses talented long-term engineers and then tries to do a rearchitecting of a product, then runs into all sorts of deep issues that only that senior engineer would have known how to navigate. The result is an expensive, overdue, or canceled revision to the product - results that can bring down small to medium size companies. Companies which are experiencing downturns, M&A, restructurings, or poaching of talent from other firms need to include this value in their planning. Keeping those holders of institutional knowledge engaged, vital, and upbeat is more critical to success than many managers realize.
Chikki in reply to JohnDunk Jan 19th 2012 5:04 GMT
The first problem is for the manager even to acknowledge that the other person knows, because, many managers live by hijacking the credit for work done by others. Secondly, they may not even know that there is such a thing as a specialised knowledge acquired through hardwork and experience. And yet people talk a lot about Expert systems to be built by those who have to give away their hard earned knowledge wothout even an acknowledgment of its value
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I received vision that I would be gov – Oyetola
Osun State Governor, Adegboyega Oyetola, has said he received a vision from God that he would be Governor long before he joined the race.
He said this while addressing a congregation at a service held to commemorate the second anniversary of his administration at the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Osun Province 1 Headquarters, Osogbo, on Sunday.
Oyetola explained that after the divine encounter he had in his dream, he could only remember the last line of the song that was revealed to him.
He said, "I am ordinarily not one who sees visions but on two occasions, I had a strange encounter. Imagine the son of an Imam, receiving a Christian song in a dream. That was my encounter.
READ ALSO Adamawa APC inaugurates caretaker committee
"All I could remember on both occasions was the last line of the song which says 'IleriOluwa ni lati se'. Outside of that dream, I had never heard the song before. When the impression was heavy on my heart, I called one of my friends to ask him about the song, and he told me the song was the Track 2 of Timi Oshikoya's album.
"He went out and got me the album and immediately I started listening to the track, my consciousness was restored and then I had an understanding of what God was saying to me. That revelation has continued to give me confidence of victory each time I am faced with legal and political battles since becoming governor."
READ ALSO Obasanjo reveals why Atiku's alliance with Ekwueme collapsed
Earlier in his sermon, Pastor Joshua Olujinmi, urged the governor to remain focused and always strive to serve humanity through life changing policies.
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