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Imagining Better Gods: An Interview with Danez Smith
Talking with Danez Smith is a lot like reading his poems: an engagement with a powerfully complex and circuitous mind that is always recalibrating ...
By Isaac Ginsberg Miller
Talking with Danez Smith is a lot like reading his poems: an engagement with a powerfully complex and circuitous mind that is always recalibrating, revising, attempting to find the most truthful and specific way of describing his thoughts and experiences. There is constant energy of self-reflection, humor, love, conviction, and joy. His first full-length collection, [insert] boy, is proof of Smith's commitment to examining and unravelling the stories we tell about ourselves and each other, and imagining how we can tell those stories differently. Throughout Smith's work, there is a consciousness of the manifold ways that stories both shape and are shaped by structures of power, and a belief that telling new stories is essential to imagining a more just and joy-filled world. Smith's lyric channels an avowedly spiritual impulse and fuses that impulse with an accounting of the speaker's intersectional identities of race, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as familial, romantic, and friendship-kinship relations. In these poems there is a palpable tension between contrasting life forces—love and fear, life and death, the Apollonian and Dionysian—from which Smith's lyric emerges and is heightened.
Smith's accomplishments are remarkable for a poet still at the beginning of his career. At 26 years old, he has already received the Ruth Lilly and Dorothy Sargent Rosenberg Fellowship from the Poetry Foundation, as well as fellowships from the McKnight Foundation, Cave Canem, and VONA. After this interview took place, his collection [insert] boy won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Poetry. In poetry slam he has been a two-time Rust Belt Poetry Slam Champion, a National Underground Poetry Individual Champion, an Individual World Poetry Slam Finalist, and the festival director for the Brave New Voices International Youth Poetry Slam. He is also a founding member of the multiracial, multi-genre Dark Noise Collective. His writing has appeared in Poetry, Ploughshares, Beloit Poetry Journal, Kinfolks, and many other publications. He earned a BA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was a First Wave Urban Arts Scholar. In fall 2015 he began his MFA at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor.
Perhaps more than any other poet of his generation, Smith embodies the coming together of the worlds of literary poetry and spoken word, a convergence whose effects have yet to be fully seen or understood but that surely represents one of the most significant forces in the present and future of US poetry. In this interview, Smith moves from discussing his poetic craft and process to questions of faith, spirituality, politics, race, illness, and community. Smith's experiences as a Black, queer, HIV-positive man are fundamental to the questions and obsessions of his poems. What emerges over the course of [insert] boy (and also in our conversation) is Smith's expansive vision as a writer, thinker, and human being. I am moved and inspired by his belief in the power of imagination, storytelling, and poetry. In his words: "To imagine better gods helps us imagine ourselves as better people, and as better communities, and as better societies."
Isaac Ginsberg Miller (IGM): I'd like to start out with the idea of intersectionality in your writing. In an interview with Lambda Literary you mentioned that Chris Walker, one of your professors at UW-Madison, taught you that "we should bring our whole selves to a piece we are creating, to not attempt to segregate any part of our being from another." You said that, as a result, "When I'm creating, there is no difference between what is spiritual, religious, the sexual, racial, real, fantasy, joyous or tragic." Your comment reminded me of something the scholar and film critic Sukhdev Sandhu said, writing about John Akomfrah's The Nine Muses, that it "suggests that stories normally seen through the lens of postcolonialism could just as easily be seen in existential or mythic terms. In doing so, it invites viewers to reflect on the labels by which history—especially diasporic history—is framed and categorized."
Danez Smith (DS): I look at [insert] boy (and even how that title came about) as a miraculous book of little failures. There were a lot of things that I was attempting to do, and this is the best product I could get at the time. I think creating is often about that, the joyous little failures that happen. I still believe that I can't segregate any part of myself. Something that a lot of folks say when they're commenting on my poems, they're like, "I love how your poems take me way up here one second and all of a sudden I'm way down here." You know, there's a lot of levels to the things. That comment about the mythic is interesting. I do see the writing of self-narrative as the writing of the myth of the self, these legends that we are making through the living. When I think about myths and legends: they're cluttered. We look to Greek mythology because there's so much there to dissect. We can allow the story of Pandora's Box to be about one thing until it's not. We still have scholars who are talking about these things. You know, weird shit that Hermes might have done back in the day or whatever the hell. And that goes not just for the Greek but also for African myths. With Chris Walker I did a lot of study of Yoruban culture and the Orishas and stuff like that, why we still look to them. Or even in the biblical sense… why we still study the Bible.
You know, this book is cluttered. There are too many ideas going on in here. These poems are also in conversation with all the poems that didn't make the book, or that will be in the books to come, or the poems that I was too scared to write when I was writing this book. The sectioning is an attempt to best dissect that cluttering so that there can be some idea of a path to go through. It's sort of my best attempt at having some kind of organizational order in it, but really these poems are just like… whose essay was I just reading? Christopher Soto's essay "On Duende & Death Culture." The idea that the poems are that loud shout that you're making into the darkness. I was trying to make sense of all this chaos that I was attempting to handle in the book. And also in that chaos trying to be strategic about where I let joy come through, because joy is always there, just sometimes it's louder than other times.
IGM: Can you say more about the presence of joy?
DS: A lot of these poems deal with trauma or oppression, and I think about oppression as the suppression of joy. When I think about oppressing Black people, systems of racism, at their root, they're intended to keep people of color from being able to fully experience untinged joy. That's even a phrase I think I use in the book at one point, when I'm talking about my grandfather: untinged joy. Like, what does joy look like when it's not because of the absence of something else? Oftentimes when I experience joy, it's radical, in the sense that it's joy in spite of something else: joy in spite of the sorrow, in spite of the sadness, the fight, the struggle, whatever. So I think joy is always the underlying thing in these poems. Sometimes joy gets to sing a little bit further through and we understand that, "oh, this is a joyous poem," it's anthemic in some ways. But even in the saddest poems I think there's an underlying idea that the absence of joy is still talking about joy in some type of way. When I talk about trauma, I'm really saying: "Why the fuck won't you let me have joy? Why won't you let me be? Let me live." Which is some colloquial shit that we say as urban and colored folks: "Let me be. Let me be me. I'm grown." All these sorts of things are attempts at saying: "Let me have joy." Let me just worry about that.
IGM: I'm really struck by the idea of this being a book of little failures, because it certainly doesn't appear that way to me as a reader. It feels like a very thorough and intentional book in the way that you organized it.
DS: When I say "little failures," it's not a bad thing in my head. I think of art-making as a process of trial and error, and so even in those failures there's something to showcase or something to be proud of. Every time we come to the page or to the studio space to do work, we're trying out an idea, we're trying to flesh something out. And we fail and we fail and we fail, especially when we have a goal in mind, just to figure out what the thing can be. So even when I say little failures, there's some good there. Also, I say little failures just because I went into some of these projects with something in mind of exactly what I wanted it to be and it became a complete other beast. Or through the process the poem revealed itself to want to live in a different form.
IGM: Can you talk about what you learned from your long poem "Song of the Wreckage" that you're taking forward into your new book?
DS: Yeah, so I think what I was trying to do is evidenced in the last section of "Song of the Wreckage," where the black boys are turning into gods:
Let them cypher until their song is the new sun,
give them a joint & let them build a world from smoke.
Let them build a black boy's world. Rhythm to replace time,
water free of the blood's salt, peaches where there was once fire,
watch the boy gods care for the dark child they raised
from nothingness, how it started black & ends black.
I was trying to create this mythical land, which is what I'm working on in this long poem, which is called "summer, somewhere," an excerpt of which will be published in the January 2016 issue of Poetry. Basically what I realized, and this is referring back to the first question too… In "Song of the Wreckage," I was trying to make a myth while still holding on too much to the existing world. In this new poem I just start with the mythical. The new poem is an imagined afterlife or paradise for Black men who have been murdered. The difference is that instead of trying to start in the real world and work our way into the myth, I start in the myth. I reference the real world and the poem is trying to comment on race and American racism and colonial Western racism in some real ways. But it just starts within the mythical space, within the magical space. It embraces the magic, which is something I've been trying to do in my personal life too, just embrace the mysticism of everything and stop trying to make it fit into a "real world" construct. For that poem, I'm just like "fuckit: let's start with the crazy shit." Everything is a Black boy in this world, including that tree. You know, we're gonna deal with that. In this new poem I can comment on my lived reality but write into the myth, honestly, first, before I try to do too much about the other world, the real world.
IGM: I want to ask about the role of spirituality in your work. [insert] boy seems to be a profoundly spiritual book, so many of your poems speak of a relationship to God or the divine. I'm thinking in particular of the poem "Genesissy," which begins where the Bible's seven days of creation leave off. The God of this poem seems very much to be a Black queer God. The poem is dedicated to the death of two Black trans women, Dwayne "Gully Queen" Jones and Islan Nettles. The poem's final lines question how God can allow evil to exist, in this case in the murder of these two women: "the aunt's disgusted head shake / begat the world that killed / the not a boy-child / & stole her favorite dress / right off her cold shimmering body / & that can't come from God right?" Can you talk about these poems' relationship to spirituality?
DS: Well, for one, I do believe that there is a Black queer God, because we are created in God's image, so that means that somewhere in the sky God is a Black faggot with a whole bunch of tattoos. And is also all the other things that we are, right? God has to look a mess. [laughing] God looks a mess! It's sort of the same thing that we were talking about earlier: the poems' relationship to spirituality is through my relationship to spirituality. The speaker is very much me, in many, if not all, of these poems. My first language was a language of spirituality. I was raised in the church. I come from a religious family where my mom and my grandma very much cared about God and didn't miss a Sunday and were talking about it in the home, so that was my first language. That was the first community that I understood I was a part of, at three and four years old. So that's engrained in who I am. If you don't like spirituality then you shouldn't buy any more of the books that I'm gonna write in my life. Because it's always there. This next book has a shit-ton of spirituality in it. I have this ever-evolving, long-distance, polyamorous relationship with Jesus.
IGM: Could you say a little more about the performance version of "Genesissy?" Because I think in the erasure of the hymn that you sing there's a point where you say "I battle / God." It seems that the relationship to God in this book is a fraught one, that there are moments of struggle as well as joy.
DS: Yeah, because I think it's important to recognize that. You know, a relationship with God does not always mean that it's positive. The book tries not to ignore that, because it has to be a fraught relationship with God. For me, when I'm talking about a Christian God, our critiques of God have to be critiques of the Church. Because if I am to believe that God is who he is and that the church is a representation of God then I have to critique God's people and what they're doing and how they are carrying out his name. Especially in relationship to queerness and colonialism and all these things that are done in the name of Christ the Lord. In America, One Nation under a Christian God that murders Black people senselessly and incarcerates them in incredibly mind-shattering numbers. I have to critique God for that. I'm not interested in an inactive God, so I demand a lot out of him and I demand better of him, and by extension his people and his worshippers and his followers and institutions that are built upon his name.
IGM: I find it fascinating how you're describing this polyamorous relationship with God and the multiple facets of God. That's also a central aspect of this book, that God appears in so many different forms. For example, in "Healing: Attempt #2," it says, "I pray to each God I know." Could you talk more about the unity and multiplicity of God?
DS: I think that in terms of God as a concept, there's a reason that we've created Gods throughout our time. As humans it feels almost instinctual and in our DNA to worship something. This idea of God has manifested itself so many times across so many cultures. There's reasons why there are different myths that look the same in a lot of different cultures. Sometimes I think we have a common thing. Maybe it's just because we have a limited number of things to make gods out of. In terms of my God, most likely when I'm talking about God, I'm talking about a Judeo-Christian God. But also I recognize the multiplicity of that comes from recognizing the power of all these other gods that have existed, or that exist. And I think part of my personal faith is accepting that any of those might be right, because I mean, my family worships a book that some dude sat in a room and edited. And I'm supposed to accept that. And that's cool. You know, I love the Bible. I love Jesus, that's my homie. But I have to believe that if there is some afterlife or some greater power, then that power would allow many different paths to come to it. If Jesus is the only door, then I'm not necessarily sure I want to go through. But the many gods of how we connect as people, I think I accept a lot of those. I don't know, is that Unitarian? Is that what those people do? Maybe I'm Unitarian [laughing].
IGM: In "Poems In Which One Black Man Holds Another," you have the line "I believe God wasn't real until we made him so." It sounds like part of your poetic project is about that—the idea of creating God and creating a relationship to God.
DS: I believe in God, but God only has as much power as we give Him. I've been having a lot of conversations with friends and family about atheism. That's the exact opposite of what I believe. I believe in too many gods. There's another kind of power in us not being able to wrap our heads around, "How can anyone not believe in God?" But it's what you have the power to do, to deny that. To imagine better gods helps us imagine ourselves as better people, and as better communities, and as better societies. We have to imagine a greater thing that we worship. [To himself] That's radical. That's radical, Danez. [laughing] That's a thought. I'm gonna marinate on that.
IGM: I want to ask about the relationship between the political and the aesthetic. I read a quote by you that said: "Poetry can and has been used to fight, celebrate, heal, to love, to bury, to resurrect, start wars, end wars, keep the fires burning." Do you believe that poetry has a responsibility to be political? What do you say to those who consider art and politics to be incommensurable?
DS: I think poetry is inherently political. Even the most apolitical poem. There's a politics behind being apolitical. We can't run from the politics. It's that same phrase, "the personal is political, the political is personal." That has to be true. I think there's a responsibility for us to talk about injustices and to not shut up about those things but I also think it's important for art to imagine the next step, the better, the possibility of the tomorrow of it all, as well. And also to warn of the possible destruction of it all. Especially in my work, something's always burning down and something's always growing from the dust. That's important, for us to both dismantle and reconstruct in poetry. I think that's an enormous responsibility. I think poets from marginalized backgrounds feel that the most. I've had a lot of conversations… I've heard it all: people wanting to be more political, people wanting to be less political, people wanting to be able to be political without being pigeon-holed into being "political poets." I often see that in the ways that my work is talked about too: "Danez Smith talks about Black death." And I'm like yeah, that's a topic, but that's not it. What is actually a poem about joy or some more complex feeling just becomes the poem about the dead Black boy. Long story short, to anyone who finds poetry and politics to be incommensurable I say: "Shut the fuck up." Stop being dumb and let people do the work that is necessary. Thanks for being over there, I will see you never [laughing]. Good luck writing your super boring shit and adding nothing to this world besides crap.
IGM: I'm curious how you've negotiated writing about family. That has been a recurring topic of conversation with many writers that I know, asking each other: "How do you do that? What does that look like?" Would you be willing to share your experience?
DS: Yeah. Never show them your poems. That's my suggestion. Never, ever show them your poems. I don't know, my family has been interesting. It's weird, because I love my family. When I write about them I try to balance the moments of joy outnumbering the terrible shit. Alright, "Let's write so much about how much we love them and then let these five lines be complicated. Let these five lines hit at something else." Especially with my grandfather in the book. At my book release my grandma and my aunt had a pretty strong reaction to me writing about our father, husband, grandfather in a way that wasn't blindly praising him. He was a good dude. He was also a man of the 1960s in a lot of ways, and a man who learned some really terrible, poisonous, violent, patriarchal ways to be a man in an age when it was super easy to learn that and where there weren't a lot of counter-narratives about being better to women and to society. I can't ignore that. That's a manhood that a lot of families know. That's a patriarch that a lot of families know and still love, but it's harder for folks to see themselves in that light. I think my grandma especially, which I feel bad about, just because I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to relive her trauma. And so me writing about it is super weird and probably fucked up, but it also felt important for me to write about it personally, because the violence in your family is your violence and is your lived experience. And so, for selfish reasons, I put that work out there and wrote those poems. But my family is super complicated in other ways. I have family members who'd rather that I don't talk about being queer out loud or about being HIV-positive out loud, but I do. So I think there comes a certain point where you just have to chuck the deuce to your family's concerns about the work. And that line is always murky. It just comes down to: "When and when not?" And I think it has to be a personal judgment call. Later on I'm not sure I always make the best choices, but in the moment they feel like the right thing to do, and maybe that's important.
IGM: In writing about your grandfather, it seems like there's a theme of the speaker caring for the body of a man who hates the speaker's relation to other men's bodies.
DS: I think it's me talking to myself. My grandfather never knew I was queer before he passed away. He might have had his ideas, but I never actively came out the closet to him. We didn't talk about it, we just talked about women. And yeah, I knew he was super homophobic so I kinda already knew what he might have said about it. It was even a thing of my mom saying, "Don't tell grandpa. Please don't do it." The little family secrets that we all still have… That I write about, and then just keep people away from the books (and off the internet). So that was a lot of me reconciling with myself, I think, and talking about his body but also talking about his misogyny and homophobia and stuff like that. But also to engage his body in ways that felt real. Not erotic, but sensual. How we engage with the bodies of our ancestors, especially in sickness. Like there's the poem "Shit," where I'm cleaning my grandfather in his last couple days and those moments feel real, negotiating the male body in those ways. Especially negotiating his body in ways that he never would have negotiated it until he had no other choice but to let another man touch him there.
IGM: Thinking about the ways that an illness or medical condition can affect personal identity, have you felt since learning that you are HIV-positive that there are changes in how you act in the world?
DS: I think so. Mortality used to be something that I could talk about very loosely, but now it has very real implications for me. And also the way I live my life, sort of a caution and a fearlessness that I've gained with it. Caution in terms of wanting to live longer and wanting to take care of myself but also a fearlessness in being like, "All right, this is a thing that is typically seen as a marked death so now I want to live my life forward." If I now know that a thing that can possibly kill me is within me then let me go ahead and just live the way that I'm trying to fucking live and not be scared of shit. Let me just do it. Because I might not be able to do it. So yeah, it's made me more alive, in a lot of ways.
IGM: How has that affected your writing?
DS: Well it's definitely a topic in the writing. I think maybe the range of joy and sorrow has gotten that much wider. Now it's some real sorrow but also some pretty unbridled joy that's coming through in the writing and also in my life. More intense sorrow because I think being able to touch death a little easier makes that sorrow a little deeper, and being able to touch death a little easier makes the moments when you're not touching death that much more joy-filled. And even now, finding joy in mortality, which is a newer conversation in the last couple weeks that I've been having with myself: "Where is the beauty in passing on?"
IGM: Can you speak about the role of community in your writing practice? In particular, your involvement in the Dark Noise Collective, and how that has affected your work.
DS: Community has always been a part of my work. Especially coming into poetry as a youth through spoken word, and things like Brave New Voices. Even before that my first love in terms of art-making was theater, and so -from the beginning- art has always been about collaboration for me, and has not been possible outside of community. I mourn for poets who are coming from the opposite end where they write in seclusion for so many years and then come into a writing community. I've never not had a writing community. I've never not had an art-making community. And so art equals collaboration for me, at all times. I'm collaborating with something, either my nostalgia for other people, my lived experiences with other people, or the actual art-making process with other people. With Dark Noise, it's powerful to have this active community, an intentional community. To have those folks who are still at the emerging stage of writing with each other is very powerful. Folks do a lot of stuff in different genres, but we all come back to poetry. It's great having a crew to experience the murk of this emerging stuff with, that also care about the world in similar ways that I do. It's beautiful and necessary. I'm grateful for it. I'm also part of this group called Sad Boy Supper Club, which is me, Sam Sax, Hieu Nguyen, and Cam Awkward-Rich. Which is kind of accidental, we're just some friends that became a slam team and had a name and it was like, "OK, cool.
IGM: How do you see the internet affecting your poetry? Since your poems exist over multiple social media platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter, how do you feel about that relationship? Is it an entirely positive one or are there downsides to it as well?
DS: I don't know. Sometimes it's weird. Especially for more personal work. To just be like, "Look how many retweets my trauma has. Look how many people have watched me cry on YouTube." I think that can get weird, but it also comes with just being an artist. You have to be okay with putting it out there and with it staying out there. I think it's a little bit easier nowadays to be reminded that people are engaging with the work. Before the age of Twitter, you would just write your book and I guess people had to write you letters, if they were so inclined, so that you would know that they read it. I can search my name on Twitter and see how many people have said something about me, which is weird. It can be interesting and it can also be detrimental because I think there have been times when I've been like, "Okay Danez, you need to stop looking at what people are saying on this YouTube video." Just calm down. Calm down. Especially during times of flare-ups, especially with Black Lives Matter, that whole movement (I hate the fact that we have to call Black Lives Matter a movement, because we should just always matter). The last couple months it's been interesting to see how my work has been there for people, how certain poems get shared a lot. I don't know what I necessarily feel about that. It's nice to know that the work is able to be there for people when they need it and that it does have an effect on folks.
IGM: So speaking of having an effect on folks, I'd like to ask you about the influence of Jericho Brown. You posted on Facebook recently about how your copy of Jericho's book Please finally gave out after what, like six years?
DS: Yeah, I put that book through a lot. I think Jericho was the first person I read that talked about Black queer masculinity in a way that I felt seen in the work. In some powerful ways. Even with James Baldwin… Baldwin was talking about Black male queerness, but it was often in relation to white men. And Langston talked about it in some really masked ways. So I found Jericho before I found, like, Essex Hemphill. But when I found Please I was just like, "This is my life! On the page. What do I do with this?" You know, I loved a lot of other folks but I had never read a Black queer male author who I felt like was talking to me. I felt like that's what some Black women feel when they read Toni Morrison. I love Toni Morrison, but when you hear some people's reaction to like a Sula or The Bluest Eye, and like, "That was me on the page," I had never been able to have that moment. I'd been able to have something close to that moment by recognizing certain people half-way, like some Black male characters, but they weren't really queer in that way, and then [claps his hands]: there were Jericho's poems! It opened so much. It was like reading my own diary. The New Testament is still like that. I don't know where my work would be without Jericho Brown and what he's done. We got lunch yesterday. He was like, "What are you doing? Come to lunch with me." And I was like, "You're Jericho Brown!"
IGM: How do you feel that the field of poetry is shifting? Particularly around who is writing and receiving recognition in terms of race, class, gender, and sexuality. How do you see it shifting and how do you want to see it shift?
DS: It's shifting a lot. It's not a good-old-boys club anymore. It's not just white males being rewarded for being white males and writing about, you know, pastures. I think we see that with a lot of the book award nominations and wins and even a lot of these fellowships. They're going to a more diverse group of poets. There's more of a presence of Black authors, of Asian authors. I think we still have a long way to go in terms of visibility for Latino/a poets, indigenous poets and Trans poets, particularly Trans female poets and non-binary poets. They're out there but I think we finally just have to embrace them more as readers and as fellow writers. We have to make sure that they're there as we start to hold positions of power. I think the writers of poetry are incredibly diverse right now and that's beautiful. I think also of the people behind the scenes: the editors, the foundation heads, the readers, the judges. I would like to see the publishing industry now become more diverse, as the people who are publishing become increasingly diverse. It's ridiculous how behind-the-scenes at those presses it's still, what, some ridiculous figure, 89 percent white in the mainstream publishing industry. Saeed Jones just wrote a really good essay on this that was on BuzzFeed recently, "Self-Portrait Of The Artist As Ungrateful Black Writer." There's been, of course, tons of other things written about this. That's the reason something like the VIDA count has to happen. As the writers of poetry become more diverse, the infrastructure around that also needs to become more diverse.
Featured image: Danez Smith. Photograph by Travis Chantar
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[insert] boy
Danez Smith
YesYes Books, 2014

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The famed Marshlands of Mesopotamia, hailed by many as the location of the biblical Garden of Eden, once covered some 20,000 square kilometres. They were almost completely drained by Saddam Hussein in the 1990's, and now, after more than a decade of reflooding efforts, they are drying out again.
The Central Marsh, pictured above, used to be full of water and life. Now, many locals have been forced to migrate from the cracked, bare earth that surrounds their villages. This time, climate change, poor water management, and dams further upstream are among the culprits.
Forget the Palestinian issue. That's a joke compared to what's coming. Water is life!
Mr Alwash has led reflooding efforts in the marshlands, and he warns that without proper management, the situation will present "the next crisis" for Iraq after the fall of the Islamic State.
The marshes were completely dried almost 30 years ago by Saddam because they were a natural haven for political resistance. It is our Sherwood Forest [Robin Hood] — it is where rebels went to hide and Saddam was afraid the opposition would be used by the West to undermine his rule. As such, he went about depriving the marshes of their source of life, building thousands of kilometres of embankments to hold the waters of the Euphrates away from the marshes."
It took Saddam five years to drain the vast wetlands back in the nineties, but the environmental impact is predicted to last for generations.
The drying caused the temperature of the region to increase by 5 per cent, dust storms increased, birds migrated to other countries, and fish died off. The marshlands previously supplied around half of the fish consumed in Iraq.
By the fall of Saddam in 2003 after the launch of the Iraq war, refugees of the area began to return to break down the embankments, but by this point, dam projects up north in Turkey were reducing the amount of water reaching the area.
The biodiversity of the marshes are driven by the natural flood pulses of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers that deliver 60 per cent of their water in the spring — the dam systems stopped those pulses.
While reflooding was possible, the water quality had irreversibly deteriorated meaning only the more hardy fish and animal species could survive in the new marshes.
The marshes had gone down to zero so there was no way but up. But the fact is we have been unable to restore the marshes. We reflooded a large portion, but the biodiversity had changed.
This year, the marshes begun drying again. In some areas, locals say, the water level has been reduced by 50 per cent in just three months.
Jassim Al Asadi, pictured above, was born right in the centre of the marshes. His mother gave birth on a boat while collecting reeds for the family's herd of water buffalo. He now works for Nature Iraq monitoring water quality and conditions in the marshes. He says this year water levels and salinity have reached critical levels.
Mr Asadi says fires are also taking a toll.
Buffalo breeders and reed collectors burn the dry reeds traditionally to allow space for new growth in the spring when the water levels rise. But this year there is no water to control the blaze. Many are burning out of control.
Low water levels have stunted transportation which is largely carried out by boat. Reed collectors can no longer reach the good reeds which are used to build houses, feed buffalo and make fishing traps and other items. Mr Asadi says salinity levels have now reached five times the drinkable level, meaning buffalo herders need to travel up to 25 kilometres daily by boat to purchase fresh water for their families and their flocks.
It affects the health of the buffalos and the price of the buffalos. Disease is spreading among the herds because of the quality of the water. Many have died.
Mr Asadi says fisherman are also suffering. The quantity and quality of water has reduced fish numbers and sizes.
The income from fishing is now too low for a family to survive on. Many have left the marshlands for other areas of Iraq higher along the Euphrates.
Buffalo breeders are also migrating to areas that have water. Mr Asadi says some villages are now almost empty.
Every economy related to the marshes are affected by drought. All the people are affected.
If nothing is done, Mr Alwash says "agriculture is going to die in the land where it was born".
Iraq's culture has been built on an abundance of water for thousands of years. Our problem has been flooding not lack of water. Suddenly over 25 years — or one generation — our problem converted from floods to arid conditions. Culture does not change that fast and that is the problem. Our culture has not caught up with reality. And it's gonna be a shock.
The cities of Iraq can not handle the demands of a growing population. Agriculture, energy and other services are lacking. People are already demonstrating in the streets, Mr Alwash says.
Three to four million people who are currently dependant on Iraq's agriculture will have to migrate out. If you think Syrian migration was a huge problem for Europe, wait until the migration from the farms of Iraq starts.
But Mr Alwash believes this crisis presents an opportunity.
I want to build on top of this crisis a cooperation [between nations] to create management for the waters of the region.
Iraq loses about 8 billion cubic metres of water to evaporation as a result of flood control structures, including large shallow lakes built to control the floods. Mr Alwash believes this water can be saved by storing it in Turkey. He says strategic water and energy management between Turkey, Iraq, and in turn the wider region would not only solve the water crisis, but could lead to peaceful cooperation in a region long plagued by war.
Water is life! You can't drink sea water, you can't drink oil — you have to find a solution.
Europe is facing a growing threat of tropical disease outbreaks, as rising temperatures linked to climate change cause illnesses brought by travellers to spread more easily, health experts warned.
This summer has seen a sharp spike in West Nile virus infections in Europe, following soaring temperatures, compared with the past four years. Until the middle of August, 400 cases of the disease, which is carried by mosquitos, were recorded in Europe, with 22 fatalities, according to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC). Countries affected include Italy, Greece, Hungary, Serbia and Romania, all of which have recorded cases of the tropical infection in the past.
The spike was due to an early start to the transmission season, caused by high temperatures followed by wet weather, conditions ideally suited to mosquito breeding, according to the World Health Organization's regional office for Europe.
Semenza, who studies how climate change and other global environmental changes, such as the rise in international travel, affect public health, said higher temperatures make it easier for disease-carrying vectors, such as mosquitos, to transmit disease.
This year, which has seen extreme weather and wildfires create havoc in Europe and beyond, has also seen increased numbers of tick-borne encephalitis in central and southern Europe. Last year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found rising temperatures, a rise in international travel and more people living near wildlife were linked to a rise in illness from mosquitos, ticks and flea bites in the US, including West Nile and dengue.
Researchers predict the risk for transmission of dengue fever, Chikungunya and the Zika virus, could also rise in Europe as a result of climate change. All three, normally carried by Aedes aegypti mosquito, can also be transmitted by a different species,such as as the Tiger mosquito, increasingly found in European countries, including Italy and Spain and other Mediterranean nations.
The increasing prevalence of the Tiger mosquito allows for the possibility of local infection from unknown pathogens brought into Europe by travellers.
Southern France and Italy experienced an outbreak of Chikungunya in 2017. Semanza said there was concern about the rapid spread of the disease at the time, as it had happened in Rome, but the outbreak was contained.
He and his team have developed models to predict the highest risk of imported diseases like dengue and to avoid "catastrophic" events or outbreaks where they are unprepared. They found the risk is worst in August, September and October, when many people travel, and that 50% of passengers from areas where dengue is prevalent travel through Rome and Milan airports.
Rachel Lowe, an assistant professor in infectious diseases at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, who has studied the effect of climate change on disease transmission in mosquitos, has found unexpected effects.
https://www.deltares.nl/en/ A new study (in Dutch-google translate does a great job ! https://www.deltares.nl/nl/nieuws/deltares-brengt-mogelijke-gevolgen-van-versnelde-zeespiegelstijging-voor-nederland-kaart/) indicates "we" may have to prepare for a sealevel-rise of up to (possibly) 3 meters by 2100. Main reason is the expected (sharp) increase of melt of Antarctica land-ice after 2050.
DJ-In my opinion climate chaos is already a very major problem NOW !!!
Drought already is effecting rivers here-so logistics by ships is getting harder. Raising funds to deal with costs for better sea-defenses will only get harder.
We have this year a record breaking number of "warm-days"(+20C), 2018 already will be in the top 10 of warmest years ever.
DJ-Arctic landice-loss is underestimated. Both in Greenland, Canada and Siberia ice is on the move high-speed.
4 disturbances in the Atlantic..
A report showing Australia is failing to rein in its greenhouse gas pollution was sat on for nearly two months by the Federal Government, before being released late on a Friday afternoon of a long weekend when footy finals fever and banking royal commission findings were dominating headlines, the ABC has learned.
The delay is revealed in documents obtained under freedom of information laws by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF).
The Government has released this quarterly report under similar circumstances in the past, leading to calls for it to be controlled by an agency and not politicians.
"There is a clear trend here that the Government is hiding climate data from Australians," ACF chief executive Kelly O'Shanassy said.
A spokesperson for Environment Minister Melissa Price told the ABC, "Ministers routinely and appropriately consider briefs for a period of time".
The latest report — the Department of Environment's quarterly Update of Australia's National Greenhouse Gas Inventory — showed, after adjustment for seasonal variation, in the three months of this year Australia had the highest levels of carbon pollution since 2011.
It also revealed a continuation of the trend of upward annual emissions since 2013.
And excluding controversial data about emissions from tree clearing and regrowth, Australia's emissions reached an all-time high in the 12 months to March this year.
The documents show on August 9 — seven weeks before the data's release — it was sent to the offices of both the current Environment Minister Melissa Price, in her role as assistant minister, and the then-environment minister, Josh Frydenberg, along with a ministerial briefing.
"Gday. Not sure how busy you are this week … but attached is the quarterly update."
Later that month, there was a cabinet reshuffle after Scott Morrison took over as Prime Minister.
The Australian Parliament has proven itself unable to reach consensus on climate change policy, even when the parties are close enough to touch. It's a familiar tale, writes Annabel Crabb.
And on September 6, the Department of Environment sent it again to the office of the new minister, Ms Price. Three weeks later, on a Friday afternoon, the report was publicly released.
That day was a public holiday in Victoria and preceded a long weekend in several other states marked by celebrations for the NRL and the AFL grand finals.
It was also released immediately after the banking royal commission handed down its interim report.
A spokesman for Ms Price said: "The Department of Environment and Energy provided the Minister for Environment with advice on the Quarterly Update of the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory on September 3, 2018."
In a press-release published a few days before the report was released, the Climate Council anticipated it happening at a time that would minimise attention on it.
"This has become a worryingly familiar scenario," Climate Council acting chief Dr Martin Rice said.
"The Federal Government not only delays releasing climate information, it also tries to bury it. We've seen emissions data quietly released on Christmas Eve, or on a Friday evening, at a time it's least likely to attract attention or scrutiny."
Ms O'Shanassy said it was time to take the release of the data out of politicians' hands.
"We think climate data should be treated like jobs figures and GDP figures that are released by a government agency, not politicians, so they can't hide it.," she said.
"You can imagine the uproar if they hid jobs or economic figures. But hiding climate figures is reckless because climate change is here now and affecting every Australian."
After the report was uploaded to a government website, the office of Ms Price sent out a media release with the subject line: "Australia on track to meet emissions targets" and headlined "emissions intensity at lowest levels for 28 years".
The release did not mention emissions had gone up, but instead focused on comparing the current figures to those from 2005 and 2000 — years when emissions were higher than they are now.
It also focused on emissions per head of population, which have declined.
Two days later, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was asked about the emissions data on the ABC's Insiders.
"I know people will want to use that one figure and ignore the fact that emissions per capita are at the lowest level in 28 years," he said.
"So people choose and pick their figures to make their political arguments. We're going to meet those in a canter, our 26 per cent target."
But the documents released under FOI laws show the "key points" highlighted by the experts at the Department of Environment and delivered to the Minister also focused almost exclusively on the rising emissions.
Ms O'Shanassy said the total figure was the only one that mattered.
"The climate doesn't care if you're pumping out less pollution per population or relative to GDP," she said.
Is Australian on track to meet Paris deal?
On Insiders, Mr Morrison repeated his earlier claim Australia was on track to meet its commitment made at the Paris summit to reduce emissions to 26 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030, "in a canter".
"All of the issues are pointing to that outcome so I'm comfortable with our 26 per cent," he said.
He was reiterating comments earlier in the month made on the ABC's 7.30 program.
"What we're seeing though is a business-as-usual approach, a technology-driven approach, which will see us, I think, more than meet our targets out to 2030," Mr Morrison said.
That view is at odds with the Government's official projections, last updated in December 2017, which show under business as usual, emissions will increase steadily all the way to 2030.
"Emissions are rising and there's no national plan to turn it around," Ms O'Shanassy said.
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that if we don't have a plan, we're not going to meet our emission target.
"They're kicking the can down the road for the next government but in doing so they're putting lives at risk because climate change is dangerous."
Ms Price's spokesman said: "The 2017 review of climate change policy said Australia has the right mix of polices and improvements in technology.
"The Government's policies are scalable and will enable Australia to meet the 2030 target."
At least you have targets to miss.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBLOSSV_Bu0 Yes, minister-still reflects the way politicians "solve problems" by kicking the can down the road...."we have to STOP the growth of co2"(=we go on the way we used to).
If you thought summer had started early in Queensland this year, you were right, with temperatures hitting high 30s and into the 40s last month sending records tumbling.
The heatwave that has been gripping the state for the last several days smashed monthly records, with one city — Cairns — sweating through its hottest-ever November day, twice.
The mercury hit a scorching 42 degrees Celsius in Cairns two days in a row.
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) climatologist Tamika Tihema said it was "significant" to see the record broken in such a way.
"It has never gotten above 42C … but to get two days in a row at that temperature was quite extraordinary," she said.
The BOM said last month was the fourth-warmest November they had recorded on average.
The heatwave caused trouble for firefighters around the state who were battling more than 100 bushfires.
Among the other towns to break their November temperature highs was Townsville, which reached 41.7C, beating its previous record of 41C, which was set in 1971.
A smokey beach on Stradbroke Island.
Innisfail also recorded 41C, compared to 38.8C in November 1992.
Mount Stuart logged the highest temperature across the state for November, reaching 45.2C, on November 26.
Proserpine, Cooktown and Mackay also topped their highest recorded temperatures.
While extreme heat was bearing down on the east, the rainfall across the area was well-below average.
Ms Tihema said it was not the typical conditions they were used to at that time of year.
"You tend to see a lot of onshore flow, so you do see eastern Australia pick up some reasonable rainfall totals, but we saw the opposite this month," she said.
She said that while Queensland did get showers, they were well below what was expected this time of year.
A drop in wind and temperature overnight has helped firefighters battle the bushfire, which has burned through thousands of hectares on the popular tourist island.
Replacement crews have arrived on North Stradbroke Island to relieve firefighters who have battled to keep a large blaze within containment lines.
BOM senior forecaster Michelle Berry said there were overnight storms to the west of Mackay, where fires are burning, and more rain was coming.
"We are expecting some rainfall for a number of our fire sites today so hopefully that goes some way to alleviating some of the fires that we have for the state at the moment," she said.
"We could even see some of that activity getting down to the south east tonight over that Stradbroke Island area where there's a fire continuing as well."
Ms Berry said Tropical Cyclone Owen, which is about 1,200 kilometres off the coast of Cairns, is expected to weaken from its category one status over the next 24 hours but could still bring much-needed rain.
"It should weaken into a low or trough and it may move west towards the east tropical and central coast later this week," she said.
"We may see some heavy falls developing about that east tropical coast in particular through Friday and into the weekend.
"It could be quite heavy if it does move far enough west towards the coast — but if it remains further offshore we won't get that moisture."
A an orange and yellow sunrise over Brisbane.
Meanwhile, a slight change in conditions has seen the fire danger in central and eastern Queensland ease.
Two watch and act alerts remain current for Captain Creek and Lowmead south west of Agnes Water, but the overall threat has dropped in many areas ravaged by fire over the last 10 days.
Fire authorities will assess the possibility of allowing Baffle Creek and Deepwater residents, who have been evacuated from their homes for more than a week, to return home.
Gladstone Mayor Matt Burnett said the Local Disaster Management Group would discuss the issue at a meeting on Tuesday morning.
"After the aerial inspection last night and then the inspection this morning, again we're hoping for safe re-entry for residents and you can't put residents back into an area where fires can continually break out because of really strong winds that are moving embers and creating really strong fires," he said.
More firefighters from Canberra are also headed to Queensland later this week to help with the efforts.
-Extreme low waterlevels in many rivers cause transportation difficulties; petrolstations have to rise prices for logistics-and some of them run out of fuel.
-Low groundwater is causing the foundation of over 1 million buildings in the Netherlands to get instable. So you get cracks in walls etc.
-drought itself did effect harvest, union, patato etc is down sometimes up to 60%.
In combination with other policies https://www.moonofalabama.org/2018/12/the-french-people-reject-macrons-policies-how-long-can-he-survive.html# politics may get effected. Putting the bill to the poor while making the rich even more rich is creating unrest.
Because the consequences are so far-reaching, it is necessary that consideration is already being given to the choices that the Netherlands must make if international climate policy fails. That is what various experts say about sea level rise in Vrij Nederland.
If the world fails to prevent greenhouse gas emissions and the Paris Climate Agreement is not observed, the earth will heat up more than 1.5 or 2 degrees. This will cause the sea level to rise further and further.
"The experts have one shared concern: in the Netherlands too little thought is given to a plan B, for when the sea level rises faster than what we take into account in the Delta Program", says Vrij Nederland. A social debate about this is lacking, experts say, while it is necessary because important choices have to be made. "Not in the future, but now."
The global sea level rise has been accelerating for a number of years. The Delta Commissioner also pointed this out in a report that was sent to the House of Representatives six months ago. That report was about the consequences of sea level rise for the Netherlands. But where there is already plenty of discussion about climate measures to reduce CO2 emissions, and there is also thinking about our dikes, there is no mention of the possibility that this together is too little.
The sea level is rising faster and faster; the ice loss on Greenland and Antarctica is increasing and satellites are accelerating global sea level rise. The speed of that increase in the 20th century was below 2 millimeters per year, after the year 2000 it was around 3 millimeters and in recent years it has risen to 4.3 millimeters per year. How much that acceleration will continue is uncertain.
"We have to consider a controlled withdrawal over time," says polar meteorologist Michiel van den Broeke of Utrecht University. His colleague Roderik van de Wal: "In the Netherlands there is a lot of attitude that we will solve the problems with adaptation, which is a misconception." Not that accelerated sea level rise will lead to major problems in the coming decades. But for the term after that, there is a lot of uncertainty.
Glacologist Michiel Helsen, working as a climate change teacher, thinks it's time for a social discussion. "In the long run, it is possible that we can not keep the West Netherlands in. It seems to me to be useful for society to discuss which parts of the Netherlands we want to defend at what price." Roderik van de Wal adds: "If we continue like this, a large part of the Netherlands will have to be abandoned, and moving to Germany should be a topic of discussion."
The experts are all convinced that compliance with the Paris Climate Agreement is crucial for the future of the Netherlands. "For its survival, the Netherlands is directly dependent on the success or failure of the current international climate policy." Nevertheless, it is currently very uncertain whether the agreements will be truly observed worldwide.
The Minister of Infrastructure and Water Management Cora van Nieuwenhuizen also believes that the fate of the Netherlands is more or less dependent on global climate agreements. She told the NOS during the last international climate conference in Poland. The minister responded to concerns that are living in Zeeland about rising sea levels.
Nevertheless, the experts think that politicians do not think enough about the long-term effects of sea level rise. "As far as I know, the government does not think much about alternatives to coastal policy for the long term, other than sand reclamation and raising dikes," says Caroline Katsman, senior lecturer in physical oceanography at TU Delft.
While that is important, Marjolein Haasnoot of Deltares and author of the aforementioned report on the consequences of sea level rise for the Netherlands. For example, in the case of very large infrastructural works, a potentially large sea level rise must be taken into account.
"Time is needed for all measures, now is the time to think about it and to make a good plan. (...) When it comes to sea level policy, you have to deal with uncertainties You can not wait until you get exactly know what's going to happen, and if you're sure, it's already happening, and it could also go way too fast. "
With politics trying to start another (oil)war, it is getting clear that "we" have to change the way politics work.
The NOS (Dutch BBC) article above suggests that moving 17.2 million Dutch to Germany trying to escape from rising sealevel has anything to do with reality.
We are already in exponential sealevelrise. There is so much heat in the oceans we can not escape from major global disaster. With http://www.thebigwobble.org/2019/02/a-glimpse-of-our-future-heatwaves-in.html etc. only being the beginning.
is giving a very clear message: our time is up !
damage-control, making priorities on how to deal with the coming crisis.
Dutch Josh, the problem is that nations such as the Netherlands and Tuvalu are feeling the impact of climate change and yet they are small countries with little influence so can do nothing about it. The large countries that are only feeling the impact in certain area, aren't motivated to make changes because it's not affecting them enough to justify the social upset of change and the huge economic commitment that change requires.
As you say, the momentum is already there and climate change can't be stopped completely and in reality, I'm sorry to say, the most likely scenario is that certain bits of land will have to be abandoned, and most probably, large tracts of Holland will be part of that, particularly if sea levels keep rising.
I know that NZ is expecting to welcome the Pacific Islanders who have to abandon their islands due to rising sea levels. We are their nearest large country, so it makes sense that they come to us. I'm not sure where the Dutch will go.
As for poor old Australia, it's becoming less and less inhabitable by the year with severe temperatures, awful bush fires and a general water shortage. Unless the Aussies all move to Tasmania, I'm not sure what else they can do. But so long as they have electricity then they'll muddle through, because without aircon they'd have to leave. Temperatures were recently pushing 50 degs - that's unbelievably hot. I'm writing this in 30 degs here in NZ and it's really hot, at temps in the 40's I don't know what I'd do.
Some Australian areas made 50*C according to our news, KiwiMum. Those kind of temperatures are more in keeping with equatorial areas.
In my opinion, things are due to get worse.
Oz could prepare for this - but it would cost a fortune. All the inhabitants would need to be costal; their houses air-conditioned and the power supplied by huge solar power plants in the hot interior. Australians are "can-do" people.
But as always,BIG MONEY runs things, not people, so it will not happen.


When evaluating the future of business payments, we're finally starting to see a reflection of the same digital transformation that has impacted consumer payments. The industry can envision what business payments could and should be in a digital world; now it's a matter of developing the technology, regulations, and processes necessary to make a truly digital exchange of business payments and associated information a reality.
Why has this evolution in business payments lagged behind consumer payments? Complexity. Compared to consumer payments, business payments involve significantly greater scale and detail. If someone sends money to a friend via a P2P payment app, the recipient is unlikely to question what the payment was for. But if a business is receiving thousands of payments from around the globe each week, it needs accompanying data and systems in place to reconcile what was paid against what was owed. That's why the majority of businesses still pay by check; it's the least optimal form of payment, but the processes, people, and skill sets are in place to handle it. The remittance information is attached to the paper check.
While trends and technology like Open Banking and the cloud will help drive the digital transformation of business payments, the expectation of the customer will be the most important factor.
Think about how people used to rent a movie, call a cab, book a place to stay, or even order a pizza. Companies have upended the way we, as consumers, hear about, investigate, select, buy and pay for products and services. Today's corporate payment professionals have become accustomed to doing things differently with technology in their personal lives, which means business payments must digitally transform—prompting the need for solutions that meet higher expectations of convenience, speed, flexibility, and intelligence. Corporate finance professionals might not have consciously decided that the payments they manage at work should follow a similarly streamlined approach to the payments they exchange in their personal lives, but it is up to the innovators in payments technology to show them that this is possible to do in an elegant and secure way.
Solutions are one thing. Security is quite another. Nothing else matters if you can't ensure the security of the payment — full stop. Short of a new cyber security governance force that operates outside of current law enforcement agencies, right now it's up to the banks, payment platforms, and business customers to ensure the security of business payments. To that end, the future of business payments is going be as focused on securing the payment as it is on enabling it.
For example, a future business payment platform will use machine learning to analyze the validity of a payment request against metrics like how the payment has been made in the past, if the payment is consistent with what the person initiating the payment usually does, and even the grammar of the person supposedly ordering the payment.
Right now, a significant element of security is human. Business rely on employees to identify business email compromise and avoid clicking on suspicious emails. Fraudulent insiders may only be identified when another employee notices discrepancies. In both cases, the money or identity information stolen may be long gone. Imagine instead that we get to a point where technology alone can defend against malicious actors, flagging suspicious activity before it happens, and removing the weakest link in the security chain — the reliance on employees to notice, prevent, and not commit fraud.
Despite the industry being at the cusp of a digital inflection point, finance departments are not going to adopt new technologies and automate more of payment processes unless their needs around information, system integration, and security are met. It's up to the next generation of payment platforms to ensure that solutions are truly compelling, not just incremental to the status quo. The right technologies will make the choice to adopt an obvious one, with the promise of clear and significant improvement.
Download The Future of Business Payments to learn what global industry thought leaders say about the opportunities and obstacles facing the digital transformation of B2B payments.
As CEO, Rob drives the development of business strategy, culture, and executive leadership to delight customers and deliver growth for Bottomline Technologies. Under Rob's guidance, Bottomline has become a leading provider of innovative payment, digital banking, invoice and cyber fraud solutions, delivered across multiple geographies and markets globally.


You may not be aware that the airlines calculate their freight charges based on the size of the traveling kennel that is used, therefore it is imperative that you measure your pet correctly, as even a 5cm discrepancy can potentially result in a difference of hundreds of dollars in freight charges. Please see the below diagram on how to measure your pet. How to Measure your Pet.
You may not be aware that the airlines calculate their freight charges based on the size of the traveling kennel that is used, therefore it is imperative that you measure your crate correctly, as even a 5cm discrepancy can potentially result in a difference of hundreds of dollars in freight charges. Please see the below diagram on how to measure your crate.


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Publick Playhouse
Cheverly, Maryland : Metro Washington DC Area
'Legends of the Silk Road'
Celebrates Eastern Cultures
Washington, DC. The myths, legends and history of Central Asia came to life as the Silk Road Dance Company (SRDC) celebrates 3,000 years of women
rulers, deities, warriors, martyrs and lovers. From fierce Amazons to the heroic Queen Esther, from a Mesopotamian goddess to celestial Buddhist maidens, the ensemble presents an enchanted evening of mystical adventure. Highlighted by breathtaking costumes and compelling music, the Legends program at the Publick Playhouse on November 8, included rare dances of Iran, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and the Caucasus Mountains.
Under the artistic direction of award-winning choreographer and costume designer Laurel Victoria Gray, Legends of the Silk Road draws inspiration from the feminine power and beauty of women's dance of Silk Road cultures.The first half of the program evoked long lost civilizations and pre-Islamic traditions -- paganism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Buddhism -- while the second portion presented Turkic and Persianate dance traditions of Muslim cultures.


SEOUL — Heavily wired South Korea is policing its Internet in new and aggressive ways, giving citizens less room to say what they want about their leaders, their society and, in some instances, their combative neighbor to the north.
The tactic reflects a government that has trained itself to stay on guard for threats. Officials here describe South Korea as a democracy in perpetual defense mode, needing special measures to maintain order on an ideologically divided peninsula — one that becomes even more volatile after North Korean leader Kim Jong Il's death.
"We need to preserve social order," said Han Myeong-ho, an executive manager at South Korea's Internet watchdog commission.
For South Koreans, 80 percent of whom use high-speed Internet, government meddling has long been a part of Web surfing: Anybody here who tries to visit an official Pyongyang Web site, for instance, will be redirected to a warning message, explaining that the site is blocked by government regulations.
But in several recent cases, critics say, South Korea has gone too far, cracking down on speech that wouldn't draw attention in most democracies.
This week, South Korea's Supreme Court upheld a ruling against one of the country's most popular political commentators, who co-hosts a podcast that criticizes President Lee Myung-bak. The court said Chung Bong-ju, 51, was guilty of spreading rumors about Lee's connection to an alleged stock fraud. Chung faces a one-year jail term.
Largely, the conservative South Korea tightened regulations by using existing laws — ones that previous administrations found little use for — in more heavy-handed ways.
South Korea's Internet watchdog, the Korea Communications Standards Commission, was created in 2008, empowered to patrol the Web for obscenity, defamation and anything that threatens national security. It's technically an independent organization, but its nine members are appointed by the president.
The KCSC doesn't directly carry out the blocks, but its recommendations are almost never rejected; Internet service providers face large fines if they don't comply, and message board operators can be jailed.
Three years ago, South Korea blocked some 2,000 Web sites on the grounds they threatened national security; it now blocks more than 80,000.
Just weeks ago, the KCSC created a team to monitor social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. After Kim's death, some South Korean Web users posted tweets wondering whether they'd be punished for expressing condolences. The Justice Ministry said such messages would not violate the law.
South Korea has become particularly sensitive about criticism of its politicians, as shown in the case of Song Jin-yong, 41, a financial worker in Seoul. In June 2010, Song created a Twitter account that he used almost exclusively to ridicule the president. The account's name was part of the attack: It coupled Lee's nickname ("2MB") with a sound-alike reference to a common Korean curse word.
But this year, the KCSC blocked access to Song's Twitter account, saying the account's name "disgusts the general public." Police took up the case, alleging, in one report, that Song used his account to "harm Lee Myung-bak's social reputation." Song faces an $850 fine.
Song had long considered himself apolitical, but with Lee in office, he became frustrated with some of South Korea's most talked-about problems: a widening income gap, rising household debt, government corruption. He told as much to the KCSC panel several months ago, when he headed to a meeting room at its headquarters and officially appealed the decision to block his account.
The account name, Song told the panel, was a "creative" reference to a swear word — but not a swear word itself.
"I think everybody has the right to mock the president and criticize," Song replied.
The KCSC denied Song's appeal. Only one member expressed concern about the decision.
By most measurements, South Korea reflects one of the world's most successful — and rapid — transformations, moving in 25 years from a military dictatorship into a model democracy. Almost half of its 48 million people own smartphones.
But the country's older generations follow the codes of their youth: Criticism of the country's decision-makers remains almost unheard of. South Korea's three dominant national newspapers skew conservative, the difference only in degree. The government meddles in the hiring of some television executives, whose networks follow a similar line, media experts and politicians here say. The result is that South Korea's mainstream news media provide one narrative about the nation, and Web surfers embrace an opposite one — a more critical one — online.
In Song's case, the restrictions on his Twitter account only brought him more attention. The KCSC has the authority to block domestic Web surfers, but it cannot block access through smartphones, so Song can tweet with his iPhone. He has more than 23,000 followers, many of whom access his tweets via cellphone. These days, he says, he targets more of his criticism at the KCSC than the president.
"I am trying to enjoy the fight," he said.
Special correspondent Yoonjung Seo contributed to this report.


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Home/Tech/Looking for $600 cardigans or $220 bee venom-infused face serum? Head to this San Francisco street, where expensive everyday items are the norm.
Looking for $600 cardigans or $220 bee venom-infused face serum? Head to this San Francisco street, where expensive everyday items are the norm.
Admin December 22, 2019 Tech, Technology 16 Views
Fillmore Street runs north to south through San Francisco's Pacific Heights, a neighborhood known for housing tech bigwigs and old-moneyed families.
There's clearly a market for high-end shops full of high price tags, and a six-block stretch of Fillmore Street consists of exactly that.
We took a stroll, weaving in and out of the upscale retailers, and found everyday items at sky-high prices.
If there's going to be a concentration of high-priced luxury shops nested together in San Francisco, it might as well be near the Pac Heights neighborhood.
It's one of the most prestigious districts in the city, and where a good portion of San Francisco's tech billionaires live. The median real-estate value is $2.02 million, but that doesn't mean homes aren't listed well above that — a $27 million mansion a block away from the city's "Billionaire's Row" is currently for sale.
So there's clearly a market of shoppers with cash to burn within walking distance of Fillmore Street.
The roughly six-block stretch isn't the only nest of upscale retail shops in San Francisco, but it's the main shopping district for the Pac Heights neighborhood.
Brands like Ralph Lauren, Intermix, Reformation, Frye, and Rag & Bone are just some of the hot shops dotting the district.
We took a jaunt down the street to find out what lurks within the glistening shops and found, among other things, $600 cardigans, bottles of bee venom-infused face serum for $200 a pop, $1,184 pairs of jeans, and $30 face massagers.
SEE ALSO: Inside San Francisco's Presidio: A 1,500-acre former US Army base where the 'Star Wars' creators and a Facebook board member's VC firm are neighbors
Fillmore Street runs north to south from the water's edge in the Marina neighborhood through the Fillmore District and into the Lower Haight.
The Fillmore District south of Pac Heights has a long-standing reputation for its music scene, with the annual Fillmore Jazz fest specifically being a city favorite. Banners for the event are strewn up and down the street.
The hills on the north side of Fillmore street were once home to the city's working-class citizens. Then the 1906 earthquake hit, and the wealthy took the neighborhood for their own and never looked back.
Read more: Inside San Francisco's most exclusive neighborhood, where old money rubs elbows with tech billionaires
Pac Heights has been a hotspot for old-moneyed families and tech bigwigs ever since.
Apple's former design chief Jony Ive and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison are just some of the industry's big names that call the neighborhood home.
The median real-estate value for the Pac Heights 'hood is $2.02 million, according to Zillow.
There's even what's known as "Billionaire's Row," a block from which a $27 million mansion currently sits for sale.
Read more: A $27 million 'trophy' San Francisco mansion a block away from 'Billionaire's Row' is now for sale — see inside
And so the residents in those homes have some cash to burn, which is something retailers are most likely aware of.
There's a growing trend in San Francisco that's seeing retailers skipping over Union Square — what has historically been the hot place to set up a brick-and-mortar store — and instead snagging space in elite neighborhoods.
Source: San Francisco Business Times
The controversial Gwyneth Paltrow-founded Goop is the latest example of that.
The wellness titan recently opened its fourth retail location in the country on Fillmore between Sacramento and California Streets.
The brand has been known to sell products that critics say skirt the realm of pseudoscience. And yet, wealthy self-care members of Goop's loyal following continuously eat them up.
Inside were vibrators, $15,000 necklaces, "psychic vampire repellent," and $600 cardigans.
And no, those vaginal eggs were nowhere to be found when we visited (Goop settled a lawsuit related to the health claims of the eggs for $145,000 in 2018).
Read more: The $250 million wellness titan Goop opened a new store in San Francisco, complete with $600 cardigans and 'psychic vampire repellent.' Take a look inside.
There's a wide range of skincare shops, clothing stores, cafes, and restaurants in the area, but they most certainly have one thing in common: high price tags.
In one space, startups Garin and Seabedee sell $300 cardigans and topical CBD oil and gummies, respectively.
Rothy's, the sustainability-centric shoe startup selling flats made from recycled plastic, was packed when we passed by.
Its shoes are machine washable and retail for $125 and upward.
In another, a shop named Aday, is clothing made from a material that's a mix of cotton and spandex.
This mustard short-sleeve shirt was $75. It was supple and soft.
And this long-sleeve number cost $135.
A bit further down was Sage, a Canadian-based chain selling aromatherapy products. There was oil designed to mitigate period cramp pain and diffusers.
The diffusers came disguised as what could be home decor statement pieces fit for the illustrious Pac Heights homes surrounding the shop.
These nasal inhalers are $18 a box, with two included that collectively will last about a year, according to a sales associate. They came in different scents like "Brainstorm" and "Stress Release."
There was a face massager for $30, which also came bundled with a face toner.
A few storefronts down was 45R, a Japanese store. French music was playing when we walked in.
These caftans, priced at $410 each, were hanging on their own display. In their defense, they had pockets.
Most of the denim pants were $300-$400, but one pair, which was dyed in true Japanese indigo, cost $1,184.
A store called Cotelac was chock-full of funky eccentric bursts of colors and fabrics. A pair of wool-looking yellow socks with glittery gold heels cost $40. A measly-looking, sheer black knee-length dress was priced at $410. A cerulean blue scarf? $155.
And finally, at SpaceNK were finds that would make any self-care addict giddy.
There were Oribe hair products and a hair brush for $75.
An entire section was devoted to "High-tech skincare."
Among its collection were yellow bottles of bee venom super serum by Rodial for $220 each. A warning on the back advised avoiding use if you have a bee-sting allergy.
My takeaway? There's a price to pay for beauty and luxury.
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Put in a word for Slavic character...
Having read Dostoevsky, it became really interesting to me, what the Slavs differ from the Europeans. All the time we are imposed that Europe is educated. But … In medieval England the people were hung up for the smallest thefts and in large numbers. Only in London region Tayburn in the reign of Edward VI annually on the average 560 people were executed.
In France, in the XIX—XX centuries the public executions occurred in boulevards or about prisons where the big crowd always gathered. In the states of Germany traditionally cut the head. In addition there were also other executions in the Middle Ages. In the United States the culture of execution was borrowed from Great Britain. Later "pupils" considerably overtook the transatlantic "teachers". Except the official death penalties it was widely applied (especially concerning the black) the so-called Lynch law, even in the XX century: in 1901, 130 people were subjected to lynching. On December 26, 1862, during the Civil war, in the State of Minnesota thirty eight Indians were hung up on one gallow.
In 1913 there was Leo Frank's noisy case: on the basis of doubtful proofs the condemned he was sentenced to death, then pardoned, stolen and hung up by the group of prominent citizens. In the Middle East the means of execution which are using since ancient times take place: beating by stones, beheading with the help of sword and hanging. At the time of the Ottoman Empire the putting on a stake was extended.
In the Koran it is spoken about that the believers feared Allah who is very strict in punishments. According to laws of Shariah the persons who have committed a premeditated murder, paedophile, homosexuals, married women and the married men who have made adultery, have to be executed. The death penalty isn't applied for unintentional murder and material compensation can be appointed to a family of the killed. Moreover, the relatives of the killed can forgive the murderer instead of material compensation and the court replaces the death penalty with other type of punishment.
In the territory of London and the county Middlsex relating to it, 2 755 people were executed in 1810-1826. Gallows were one of the sights of the British capital. The main of the gallows of Britain had 21 loops on unequal height and worked 500 years running without any stops, prior to the beginning f the twentieth century.
In the same time, for bigger term 25 years, in days of Alexander's I board, from 1801 to 1825 twenty four persons were executed in all Russia already! Can you imagine?! One per year! It is one person from two million per year!
However, it is already in 1300 times less, than executed in the educated London. How the culture was high in Britain! Certainly, seeing as the British capital has fun and sings at the sight of the hung-up eight-year-old boy for theft from a barn.
Peter Dmitriyevich Boborykin, the Russian writer: "Who lived in Paris long as I am, that knows what it was the disgust: the public executions occurring about La Koquette prison. It was impossible to imagine more dirty, more mean than that! Thousand people, from secular vivers and the first-class cocottes to rabble – procurators of women, street chippies, thieves and fluent convicts spent all night long in neighbouring bars, drank, sang the obscene songs and from the dawn directed to the cordon of soldiers surrounding a platform where "justice trees" rose as officially were called this disgusting device. From a distance it was impossible to see properly, but all this weight felt in admiration only because that it "was on execution", so dashingly and cheerfully spent the night waiting for such captivating show..."
The testimonies of the Dutches remained who saw Stepan Razin's execution in 1671. While the executioners cut the extremities to the criminal, the people were silent, women only sobbed and were christened. And at once, without waiting the death of "rakish ataman", the people began to disperse silently. So the Russians did who came to execution of Yemelyan Pugachev in 1775.
Here what the Russian scientist of the XVIII century Andrey Bolotov wrote in the notes about Yemelyan Pugachev's execution: "The depressed people started dispersing right after execution, without wishing to look at beating by whips of accomplices of the rebel". Really, these Muscovites were the barbarians. Why not to have fun and to dance?
The special measure of punishment (death penalty) admitted in the Old Testament. There are no instructions on need of its cancellation in the Holy Writ of the New Testament. At the same time, the Church often assumed a debt of a sorrow to the secular power about condemned on execution, asking for them favour and mitigations of punishment. Moreover, the Christian moral influence brought up the negative relation to the death penalty in the consciousness of people.
In Russia from the middle of the XVIII century before revolution of 1905 it was applied extremely seldom. The human life doesn't come to an end with corporal death for orthodox consciousness. In Europe in the Middle Ages the presence in a public execution was some kind of leisure for the adult. In Europe the execution was like entertainment, a show. The people met and gathered on execution as on theatrical representation, carried the wives and children. It was considered as a good form to know the names of executioners and with a type of experts to argue how they do. And the gallows and cruel tools so tenderly were called in all countries of Europe – "Small Mary" (in London), "Lean Gertrude" (in Konigsberg), "Fast Albert" – a cruel axe of the chief executioner in Augsburg.
The children were accustomed to look quietly at atrocities from infancy. In Britain there was a custom: if the baby touched the handle with the hand, so it is for fortunate, also the chips from the gallows were used as a toothache medicine. In Germany there was a belief that the rope of the hung up brings the happiness in the house and in Flanders – that the hand of the hung up can help to become the invisible being.
Public executions on Grevskaya Square in Paris caused surge in emotions – the crowd roared, had fun, sang, exulted. And when the gallows was changed for a guillotine, there were many dissatisfied –it became badly visible the death agonies of the executed!
In our century the public moral which hasn't grown to universal abolition of the death penalty, nevertheless grew to cancellation of public rituals of its execution (but not in all countries)". And how the prudish Germans, British and French can get on with Muslims who "come in large numbers here" with their love to "beating by stones"?
It is enough to have a look at the picture "Morning of Streletsky Execution" to understand the abyss dividing the Slavs and the "educated" Europe.
Author: Mikhail Stulov
Publication date : 31 December 2012 01:00


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Sonja reveals the moment that touched her the most during the reunion.
I am so proud of my fashion, swimwear, and jewelry line Sonja Morgan New York, and I was so touched that Andy congratulated me at the final reunion. It is so fulfilling to see my hard work paying off and my dreams coming true. I hope that you all enjoyed my Sonja Morgan New York dress at the reunion. You can see more of my collection at www.sonjamorgannewyork.com. I actually put some pieces on sale that I wore for the cover of Social Life Magazine. By the way, I am honored to be featured with them again. I have three covers with them!
Ramona is always doing something inappropriate, but I was still shocked that she fell asleep at the reunion. It was too funny for words. That's what happens when you have three glasses of wine at lunch when you are under stress and at a reunion. LOL.
The girls all party just as much (if not more) than I do, and they need to stop pretending that they don't. I am glad that many of them apologized for their hurtful comments, and of course I will forgive them, but it doesn't erase the words. We just have to see next social season who gets the hard-partying wrap. Its always someone.
At the end of the day, I love these women, even with our arguments. I don't know what I would do without them. It's been a great time, and I can't wait to see what else is in store for all of us this fall. Thank you for all of your love and support, and may you all have success in every aspect of your life, keeping in mind that family and friends come right after your health.


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The San Diego State tackle wants to prove his worth
Offensive lineman Tyler Roemer out to prove himself right and critics wrong
Cody Stoots
Former SDST tackle Tyler Roemer. Photo by Cody Stoots/SportsMap
Tyler Roemer sat at a table at the combine with former San Diego State teammate Ryan Pope. It was mid-afternoon and Roemer's second day going through the combine grind. He had slept just a few hours the night before, thankful to rest after what he described was an intense 18-20 hour day on Tuesday.
As if he hadn't answered enough inquires about himself in the previous marathon day, the first question he was asked at his NFL scouting combine media availability was about preparing for interviews. He detailed a near-daily regimen of preparing for the combine interviews including one session that lasted over six hours destroying his workout schedule for that day.
It paid off. Roemer said most of the questions he's been asked he prepared for in the lead up to the combine. But how did he sound like himself when he had rehearsed?
"It still just comes from the heart," he said. "It's your past experiences. It's what you've done in your life. There should be no buffer in what you're saying it should always be pure and natural."
Past experiences, like being suspended indefinitely from the San Diego State Aztecs last season.
Another question about it and he answers the question. Roemer explains he doesn't get asked why or how as much as he is asked to tell the whole story. Again and again. Through formal meetings, he's met with the Eagles, and many informal ones so far.
He will tell the teams. And just the teams.
"When I did my interview prep I told them that I would tell any team that's willing to talk to me that I would tell them personally because I don't feel like it is something that needs to be discussed publicly."
It wasn't a failed drug test he said. In fact, he explained no one in the media has correctly guessed why he was suspended with two games left and ultimately removed from the Aztecs roster.
"It was just a difference of opinion with my coach," he said simply.
Another question, this time about the incident and moving towards NFL football. It was behind him the moment he left he said.
Finally, football.
When quizzed about his abilities, Roemer explained he knows what he needs to work on already as he tries to prove himself worthy of a selection in just over a month's time. He mentioned defending inside rushers and making sure his pass sets are at the right depth.
Roemer played high school football, obviously, but he also wrestled, swam, and played basketball. He credited those things making him successful as a blocker. The multiple schemes SDSU runs helped too, he says. Gap schemes. Zone and power. They opened his eyes to something some tackles in this draft don't or can't enjoy.
"Running the ball, there's nothing like it," he said. "It's probably the best part of the game. It really takes kind of an animal. There's a switch that you have to flip. You have to change from your social mindset to your work mindset and really just dominate on the field. It takes a character to do that."
Another football question. This time a chance to sell Tyler the tackle. What are one of these 32 NFL teams getting when they turn in a card with his name on it?
"They're getting the best player. The best offensive tackle in the draft I believe."
It's almost a challenge.
"I think I have the ability to do it and it's on them if they want to take that chance."
The next question is still about Tyler, but not Tyler the tackle. The blocking-loving mauler who can flip a switch in various styles of offense to get his job done.
This question is about Tyler Roemer. Just him. Not football. What did he want people to know about him outside of football?
"I'm a good person," he said.
It isn't pleading. It's the same confidence when he was asked about his on-field ability. He explains the interviews are finished so quick he hopes people start to understand him. He explains an Eagles fan, his only formal visit in the first couple of days was with Philadelphia, has been a fan of his and conversing with him. The fan's daughter has a rare disease. Roemer pulls back his sleeves showing off a bracelet from the daughter. Just to show some support for them he said.
As for him, he mentioned the interviews have to come from the heart. No surprise a 6 feet 6 inches tall, 312 pound man has a big heart. But he isn't talking about the actual dimensions in his chest.
"For the people who think that I have a bad character. I'm a good person. I have a large heart. I love my family. People don't take the time to get to know another person like they should."
Time's up as fast for the media as it is for the teams. The interview session is over. It's off to more football. And interviews. Likely about Tyler the tackle, but hopefully about Tyler Roemer.
More on Tyler Roemer
I'm tellin y'all, his rotational strength is mighty impressive. He's tossing dudes left and right. Nice hand placement and grip strength displayed here too. pic.twitter.com/hdZRQEFzhG
— John Owning (@JohnOwning) February 14, 2019
Nice communication and mental processing displayed by Tyler Roemer here. Notices the DE signal the blitz, communicates it with the LG and once the ball is snapped, he easily picks up the blitz. pic.twitter.com/QKqYJxgah6
Love how Roemer fires out of his stance with force through the ground. Strong inside hand allows him to initially widen the DE before vertical displacing the DE. Roemer impressive grip strength to sustain blocks when he can get a clean latch. pic.twitter.com/8de6EXY7Gc
tyler roemer nfl nfl combine
Report: Michael Brantley won't be playing for the Blue Jays after all
ASTROS FREE AGENCY
Castro is back! Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images
MLB.com's Brian McTaggart is reporting that Jason Castro will rejoin the Astros after agreeing to a two-year deal with Houston for $7 million which also includes 2 million in incentives. Martín Maldonado and Castro will split the catching duties, which gives the Astros lineup flexibility by having a right-handed and left-handed hitting option at catcher.
Castro was drafted by the Astros 10th overall in 2008 and left in free agency after the 2016 season. Last year, Castro hit .188 and is a career .230 hitter. Keep in mind, Maldonado's contract will be up after this season and Castro could be the main catching option for the Astros in 2022 if they don't bring him back. Plus, the Astros drafted catcher Korey Lee with the 32nd overall pick in 2019 and Castro is a nice safety net if Lee is not ready for the majors next season, which seems likely.
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