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Introspection of Capitalism (by Kelvin "Khaysi" Canada, NABPP-PC)
March 8, 2016 | Filed under: United Panther Movement	and tagged with: United Panther Movement
The parasitic and predatory system of capitalism has been debated and argued over by plutocrats and other elitist bourgeois advocates of exploitation since modern capitalism was birthed into existence from the demise of the mercantilist system in the 18th century: claiming that capitalism is a democratic system that provides liberty and economic opportunities to all people equally, regardless of race, class, nationality or gender, and communism is an authoritarian system that suppresses liberty and these economic opportunities and the social progress of all peoples. What makes this contention so comical (and sad) is that so many of the oppressed people actually believe it is true.
But capitalism is no "white knight in shining armor" that is going to rescue us from poverty, class oppression, and environmental destruction. Capitalism is responsible for all these problems. People got to get over their denial and snap out of their hypnotized trance. The "rags to riches" dream they sell on TV and in the movies and magazines is intended to keep us working hard and making the rich richer. Dreamers spend their whole lives chasing this "carrot-on-a-stick" chimera with the hope of being the next Tyler Perry success story.
Because they are transfixed on "making it" via capitalism, they are oblivious to the reality that less than 1% of the poor and oppressed will ever experience this "rags-to-riches" transformation because the 1% of rich people already own all the wealth, and the super-rich .001% suck up most of the wealth society produces. This leads me to my next point, that if only 1% of the world's population are benefiting from a system that purports to offer equal opportunity to everyone, don't we have to call this a failed system?
In order for capitalism to even exist, it has to suck and exploit the blood, sweat and labor out of somebody, and that somebody is always the working class, known politically as the proletariat, who can only survive by selling their labor power to a capitalist (for less than it is worth). The labor of the proletarians makes commodities (i.e. cars, clothes, TV's, toothpaste and so on) that the capitalist sells on the (so-called) "Free Market," for a profit. Those who produce the wealth, the workers, get mere crumbs, just enough to keep them working, while the capitalist pockets (privatizes) immense wealth for him/herself.
Let's say a capitalist owns a computer company in which he pays the workers $10 an hour for 8 hours a day, five days a week. Collectively, the workers produce an average of $2,400 a day each in value, but they only get paid $80 a day in wages. After paying off the operating expenses, like rent, materials, machinery and shipping, the rest of the profit belongs to the capitalist. He/she can put it in the bank to earn interest or invest it somewhere else to make more profit. The workers have to spend their wages on food, rent and utility bills and live paycheck to paycheck.
So you can see why Brother Malcolm X said: "SHOW ME A CAPITALIST AND I'LL SHOW YOU A BLOODSUCKER!"
Capitalism is historically proven to be parasitic and predatory. All around the world it has killed, tortured, robbed and enslaved masses of people in its pity-less pursuit of profits. The founding of Amerikkka was the blood-soaked birth of capitalism. For the indigenous people of this continent and the Afrikan masses kidnapped, enslaved and transported here against their will, the whole history of this country is abominable. The "Founding Fathers" were oppressors, rapists and murderers.
So, when you hear elected puppets like Obama make statements like: "I'M ON A MISSION TO SAVE CAPITALISM," you know who is pulling his strings.
Many people falsely believe that slavery derived from racism, but it did not. It derived from capitalism, and racism was used as justification and to keep the oppressed from uniting, and it is still used for that by capitalism today. Capitalism initiated genocide against the indigenous peoples and slavery and racism. And it perpetuates racism and class oppression to this day. Likewise, it is destroying our eco-system in its greed and irresponsibility to make quick profits.
It is irrefutable that capitalism is to blame for 1. Slavery, 2. Ecological destruction, 3. Genocidal wars, 4. Mass poverty, 5. Racism, 6. Sexism, 7. Hunger and mass starvation, 8. Fratricidal gang wars, 9. Mass incarceration, 10. Homelessness. So it takes pro-capitalist puppets like Barack Obama who said, "I'M ON A MISSION TO SAVE CAPITALISM," to try to "white wash" this system that has been responsible for so much social injustice.
The oppressed masses will not be able to transcend these social ills without overcoming capitalism. Robert Carson of C.O.R.E. was correct when he said: "There cannot be any negotiation with industry and capital. Since capitalism is the reason U.S. Black people are in our current predicament, we feel capitalism should be destroyed." (cited in Black Awakening in Capitalist America, by Robert Allen). What Robert Carson is emphasizing is that given that capitalism is the creator of slavery, racism, sexism, poverty, oppression and class inequality, why should the oppressed be expected to adhere to the principles of capitalism when struggling against the ills which capitalism has caused and is still perpetrating upon us?
More and more capitalism is relying on its "bought and paid for" mouthpieces to promote a reactionary world view because the number of people – including white middle class people – who still believe in capitalism's "American Dream" has greatly dissipated. This is what ignited the Occupy Wall Street protests of the 99% in which both middle class and working class people – and particularly youth – jointly directed their anger at the growing disparity in wealth, corruption and high-handed dictatorship of the billionaire bankers. Even though Occupy Wall Street grew into a global movement, it didn't evolve into a global revolutionary movement to address and redress the problems it pointed to.
Today's phony "Make America Great Again!" rhetoric is not only being propagated by the "Fat Cat" industrial, agricultural, political and entertainment capitalists but by religious capitalists as well. You have religious evangelists like; T.D. Jake, Jake Van Impe, John Hagee and Pat Robertson, etc. on TV, radio and from the pulpits. They are preaching capitalism to their followers and congregations which totally contradicts the teachings of Christianity. There was nothing about the life of Jesus Christ, which Christianity is supposed to be based on, that justifies lynching, raping, murdering, plundering, letting poor people die of hunger and preventable and curable diseases, causing people to become homeless, instigating wars to plunder natural resources and all of the many crimes of capitalist exploitation.
The Bible says: "One thing thou lackest; go thou way, sell whatsoever thou hast and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasury in heaven; and come, take up the cross and follow me …." (Mark, chapt. 10, verse 21). This clearly implies that God as well as Christianity was intended to inspire helping the poor. Jesus was supposed to be so sympathetic to the poor that he fed 5,000 from just two fishes and five loaves of bread.
So to have evangelists on TV and on the pulpits glorifying a system that contradicts the principles Christianity was founded on is simply blasphemous. Jesus didn't starve the poor he fed them. II Corinthians, Chapt. 8, Verse 9 says: "You know that our Lord Jesus Christ was kind enough to give up his riches and become poor, so you could become rich." He did this to show his rich Christian adherents how to use their wealth by example, as an instrument to help the poor even if it makes you poor too. Which is why he said: "Those who gathered too much had nothing left. Those who gathered only a little had all they needed …." (II Corinthians, Chapt. 8, Verse 15).
Jesus emphatically made it clear throughout that rich people will not enter into God's Kingdom and being rich is not within the laws of Christianity. Read James, Chapt. 1, Verse 9 through 11: "Any of God's people who are poor should be glad that he thinks so highly of them. But anyone who are rich should be glad when God makes them humble. Rich people will disappear like wild flowers scorched by the burning heat of the Sun, and their beauty is destroyed. That's how the rich will be destroyed as they go about their business…" Now of course you have many rich Christians who try to justify ignoring this by saying there is nothing in the Ten Commandments that says it is a sin to be rich, but it doesn't say it's a sin to sell drugs either.
Jesus' condemnation of the rich continues in James, Chapt. 5, Verses 1 through 3: "You rich people should cry and weep! Terrible things are going to happen to you. Your treasures have already rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. Your money has rusted, and the rust will be evidence against you, as it burns your body like fire. Yet you keep on storing up wealth in these last days …." Jesus knew even in the Biblical epoch that privatizing wealth was destructive towards the poor and opposed anyone who stored/privatized their wealth. These same Christian principles should still be applicable in today's epoch and applied to condemn capitalism, because it is a system that is totally predicated upon victimizing the poor, exploiting the masses and privatizing the wealth the workers create.
In Mark, Chapt. 10, Verse 25 it says: "It is easier for a camel to go through an eye of a needle, thencefore a rich-man to enter into the Kingdom of God." You can't call yourself a Christian and practice capitalism. Jesus did not preach one thing and practice something else.
"The Lord said: If any of your people become poor and unable to support themselves, you must help them, just as you are supposed to help foreigners who live among you. Don't take advantage of them by charging any kind of interest or selling them food for profit …" (Leviticus, Chapt. 25, Verse 35 through 37). Capitalism is strictly about making profit, especially from the poor, so to have these Christian evangelists trying to convince the oppressed Christian masses that capitalism is good and socialism and communism are bad is ludicrous.
These liars even make statements such as: "What Hitler did to the Jews during the Holocaust was based on a communistic and/or socialistic ideology." Hitler was not a communist or socialist but a capitalist serving the interests of the big monopoly capitalists. He hated Communists as much as he did Jews. In a 1922 speech he said, "My feelings as a Christian points me to my Lord and Savior as a fighter […] who […] recognized these Jews for what they were and summoned men to fight against them…" In a 1928 speech, he said: "We tolerate no one in our ranks who attacks the ideas of Christianity … in fact our movement is Christian."
He called his party the National Socialist Workers' Party to appeal to "blue collar" voters and hide his connections to the big bankers and industrialists. Like many of today's Republican Party presidential hopefuls, he claimed to be "chosen by providence" to "make Germany great again." Elected Chancellor in 1933, he became president a year later when Hindenburg died. Once his power was secure, he showed his true motivations by rounding up millions of Jews, Communists, Socialists, Gays, Atheists and others into concentration camps and ultimately mass executions. He rebuilt the German military-industrial complex and aggressively promoted imperialist ambitions. Every German soldier had "Got Mit Uns" (God With Us) on his uniform belt buckle and the churches all displayed Nazi flags.
Socialism is a political-economic system where the resources and productive capabilities of a society are socially owned (as opposed to private capitalist ownership), where the people and the state consciously plan and coordinate production to meet the people's needs and overcome the inequalities of capitalist society. The goal of socialism is to revolutionize every aspect of society so that society can evolve into communism, or stateless, classless, egalitarian global society. Communism is the culmination of socialist reconstruction on a global scale.
Communism is people working and struggling together for the common good of all of society, where everyone contributes what they can to society and gets back what they need to live worthwhile lives, where there are no upper or lower classes. So you can see why the upper classes go to extremes to vilify communism and demonize communists.
Putting the interests of the people ahead of profits and socializing rather than privatizing socially produced wealth to eliminate poverty, hunger and homelessness, to properly care for the sick and the elderly, to give everyone free access to higher education and everything socialist revolution is about is just common sense from the perspective of the common people. But the capitalist mouthpieces like Sen. Joe McCarthy, who terrorized Amerika in the 1950's by labeling his political opponents as "socialists" or "communists," still have some people intimidated.
Back in the 50's and 60's, during the "Cold War," the ruling capitalist class went all out to propagandize the Amerikan people not only portraying socialism and communism as slavery for the masses of people but also to convince them that their lives would keep getting better and better under capitalism – the "American Dream." Real concessions were made to raise wages and benefits for the workers, and the GI Bill enabled WWII vets to go to college tuition free and buy new homes with low-interest loans, while factories ran three shifts around the clock. "Cold War Liberalism" combined with rabid anti-communist propaganda and fear mongering shaped public opinion among masses of people in Amerika.
The Communist Party in this country had sold out back in the "New Deal" era, and during the "Cold War" period they were hard to find, so the McCarthyites had to ferret them out for "blacklisting" and persecution. In Hollywood and the unions, anyone who ever publically supported anything progressive, including civil rights for Black people, was branded a "communist" or "socialist fellow traveler." The irony was the "communists" were mostly just liberal Democrats and the "anti-communists" were the fanatics and authoritarian bullies they accused the communists and socialists of being.
Still this is the image that was fixated in public opinion for many years. As late as the 2008 presidential race, "red baiting" was a factor as the Republican vice-presidential candidate, Sarah Palin, labeled Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic Party's candidate for President, a "socialist," a charge her "Tea Party" supporters have continued to make throughout his presidency, as well as "Communist" and "Muslim." Since most Americans haven't a clue what these terms mean, it not surprising we now have a candidate running for President calling himself a "Socialist."
What is comical (and sad) about Sarah Palin and her crowd calling Obama a "Socialist" is that during the Housing Mortgage Crisis of 2008-2009, when hundreds of thousands of poor and middle class homeowners were losing their homes and being made homeless, the so-called "Socialist" Obama took billions of the people's tax dollars to bail out the crooked banks and lending companies who caused the crisis and did nothing for the poor victims. How socialist is that? Obama has even outdone his predecessor, George Bush, Jr., in proving himself a faithful servant of the Wall Street elite.
Joe McCarthy and Sarah Palin going around mis-explaining what socialism and communism are about are part of the legacy of ignorance and confusion we must clear up. It is basically a question of who owns and controls the basic means of production. Either they are privately or publically owned. Any fool can see that public ownership is far more democratic. I am not claiming that all the social ills of capitalism will instantly disappear once socialism is initiated. What I am proclaiming is that true socialism and communism are the basis for creating a society based upon equality and social justice for all.
Along the way we must struggle against and defeat phony "socialism" which represents the last line of defense for capitalist-imperialism. Phony socialism or revisionism is a trick. It is a "bait and switch." Because capitalism irrefutably does not meet the basic needs of the masses of people. In the early stages of socialism, there are a lot of carry overs from capitalism that can't be just abolished overnight. There will still be classes, and class privileges, wage inequalities, advantages for those who do intellectual work or skilled labor over manual labor, and there will be sharp struggle over every attempt to restrict these privileges and expand the power of the people. Phony socialism will try to hold back these changes and accuse the real socialists and communists of "going too far" and trying to change things too fast, and given the opportunity, the revisionists will try to rig up a return to capitalism and make themselves a new bourgeois ruling class.
We have seen this happen in the former Soviet Union and in People's China and elsewhere. Likewise, the struggle to end inequalities between ethnic groups and national minorities can also be set back along with inequalities between men and women, and between city dwellers and rural communities and so on. In the past, the "Socialist Bloc" was surrounded by the more powerful imperialist powers who waged the "Cold War" to force them to divert a huge percentage of their resources to national defense and maintenance of a military-industrial complex of their own as well as a powerful state apparatus with police, prisons and all that entails.
Only in the higher stages of socialism, when capitalist-imperialism has been overthrown as a global system, can society advance to eliminate all the vestiges of class exploitation and create a truly classless society, where the state will wither away and the advance to communism will be possible. Aiming for this and staying focused on it is what makes true communists what we call "all-the-way revolutionaries." The United Panther Movement (UPM) is all about training comrades to be "all-the-way revolutionaries." This means combating nationalism, racism, sexism and petty-bourgeois prejudices and opportunism within our own ranks as well as society at large.
Our concept of "Democracy" must go deeper than voting every four years or having the freedom to falsely accuse Obama of being a "socialist." Democracy has a class context, and for the exploited masses it means having the power to end our own oppression. We can't sit back and hope our class oppressors are going to become sympathetic to our oppression. We must elect or appoint leaders who truly represent us and will faithfully serve our interests, but we must have direct participation as well. This is what Maurice Bishop, the leader of the revolution in Grenada had to say before he was assassinated by the CIA:
"Our new constitution is certainly going to institutionalize and entrench the system of popular democracy which we have been building over these past four years in our country. Apart from the usual national elections, which will of course be there too, we are going to ensure that these embryonic organs of popular democracy continue to have a place…. Because to us, democracy is much more than just an election. To us, democracy is a great deal more than just the right to put an "X" next to Tweedledum or Tweedledee every five years …. The second principle of democracy for us is responsibilities. So the elected officials must at all times ensure that the mandate they are carrying out, if mandate it is, is the mandate the people want, and part of that responsibility means that the right to recall those we elect must be entrenched…"
Comrade Bishop further stated: "But if it is government of, for, and by the people, then it cannot be just government of the people you elect …. It also has to be for the people and it has to be by them. They have to have a way of participating – that is what the word 'by' means, and if that is absent, you don't really have a democracy…" (Maurice Bishop Speaks, page 302).
Reforming capitalism is not, and cannot be, an option because no matter how you try to put a human face on it (of whatever ethnicity), capitalism will always work to make a rich exploiting class richer at the expense of the great majority, who are kept poor and exploited. It will always be anti-democratic and oppressive, so capitalism must be completely abolished.
John Hagee, who is a well-known Christian evangelist, has written a book entitled The Death of the Dollar. In this book he is speaking about how the Amerikkkan dollar has and is being depreciated. One might ask why would an evangelist of Christianity write a book about the depreciating value of money. Well, the answer is what I've said previously, which is that Christians are now using their voices as a rostrum to get rich off of propagating Christianity. So their God becomes money. This is very sacrilegious, because Christianity teaches that you can't worship two gods: "You cannot be the slave of two masters. You will like one more than the other or be more loyal to one than the other. You cannot serve God and money." (Luke, Chapter 16, Verse 13)
"These people think religion is supposed to make you rich. And religion does make your life rich, by making you content with what you have. We didn't bring anything into this world, and we won't take anything when we leave. So we should be satisfied just to have food and clothes. People who want to be rich fall into all sort of temptations and traps. They are caught by foolish and harmful desires that drag them down and destroy them. The love of money causes all kinds of trouble. Some people want money so much that they have given up their faith and caused themselves a lot of pain." (Timothy, Chapter 6, Verses 5 through 10)
Some Christians might argue that they will be forgiven for transgressing this one law and God will let them in the Kingdom anyway, but James, Chapt. 2, Verse 10 states: "If you obey every law except one, you are still guilty of breaking them all." So supporting capitalism is a sin in every form of Christianity. The only social system that is remotely similar to what Christian ethics upholds is communism. Isn't it the sincere application of Christian values in action that is the determining factor in being a Christian or not?
No matter what spin these pro-capitalist evangelists try to put on it, capitalism is the root to the inhumane living conditions fostered on the poor and the root of all the evils capitalist-imperialism fosters on the world. I invite anyone to refute this if they can.
Kelvin Khaysi Canada
Red Onion State Prison, VA (2016)
Written by Kelvin Khaysi Canada
BOOKS BY KEVIN "RASHID" JOHNSON
Panther Vision: Essential Party Writings and Art of Kevin "Rashid" Johnson, Minister of Defense New Afrikan Black Panther Party
"The original Black Panther Party for Self-Defense challenged the prevailing socio-political and economic relationship between the government and Black people. The New Afrikan Black Panther Party is building on that foundation, and Rashid's writings embrace the need for a national organization in place of that which had been destroyed by COINTELPRO and racist repression. We can only hope this book reaches many, and serves to herald and light a means for the next generation of revolutionaries to succeed in building a mass and popular movement." --Jalil Muntaqim, Prisoner of War
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With Russell 'Maroon' Shoats, Tom Big Warrior & Sundiata Acoli
PLEASE NOTE THAT DEFYING THE TOMB IS NOW AVAILABLE FROM AMAZON AS AN EBOOK
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The Heroine Journeys Project
Exploring and Documenting Life-Affirming Alternatives to the Hero's Journey
Why We Love Journeys
Heroine Journeys
Maureen Murdock's Arc
Victoria Schmidt's Arc
Hero Journeys
Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey Arc
Christopher Vogler's Hero's Journey Arc
Journey of Integrity
Journey Examples
Drama and Film
Tag: Maureen Murdock
"Gloria: A Life": "Lead with love, low ego, high impact, and move at the speed of trust"
By guest blogger Maureen Murdock; editorial review by Nancer Ballard and Savannah Jackson.
Last year my partner, Bill and I went to a matinee performance of "Gloria: A Life, " Emily Mann's play about Gloria Steinem. The setting at the Daryl Roth Theater in lower Manhattan was arranged as if we were in a consciousness-raising group. The stage area was in the middle, carpeted with Persian rugs like Ms. Steinem's own apartment. We, the audience, sat around the stage in bleacher-style rows covered with multi-colored pillows. Six aisles allowed for non-Gloria characters to come and go as scenes changed. Images of Gloria's life were projected above the stadium seating on two opposite walls. Christine Lahti, looking exactly like the feminist trailblazer in black bell-bottoms and tinted aviator glasses played Gloria.
The first act traced Gloria's life from small town girl taking care of her mentally ill mother in Dayton, Ohio through her rise to become an icon of the Second Wave of Feminism. What was poignant is that Gloria became a journalist to get away from her mother and found out years later that her mother had been a newspaper journalist herself before Gloria was born. Her mother was then abandoned by her husband and became terminally depressed. Gloria realized, like so many of us who have had depressed mothers, that she ended up living her mother's "unlived life."
Film clips of Gloria from her time undercover as a Playboy bunny, to her early reporting on the women's movement, to her involvement in the creation of Ms. Magazine (with many others in her living room), to images of her addressing the crowd at the 2017 Women's March in Washington D. C. appeared on the walls around us as the play evolved. Other actors played many other feminist leaders such as Florynce Kennedy and Wilma Mankiller, black and Native American leaders often left out of standard histories.
When her husband of three years died of cancer, Gloria turned to Wilma Mankiller. Wilma told Gloria a story about her own near death experience in her forties which included such a feeling of ecstasy that she didn't want to return to the living when given the choice. However, she did make the decision to live and assured Gloria that her husband probably was also gifted with an ecstatic release from his suffering in death. The whole idea of death being an ecstatic experience gave me hope.
Gloria had her own #MeToo moment before the movement was named. A New York Times editor suggested to Steinem that they "discuss her work in a hotel room this afternoon"; and in 1963, when she was sitting in a cab ride in between Gay Talese and Saul Bellow, Talese said, "You know how every year there's a pretty girl who comes to New York and pretends to be a writer? Well, Gloria is this year's pretty girl."
Perhaps the most important part of Gloria's coming of age was finding her voice by listening to others in consciousness-raising groups and speaking with other women. It surprised me to learn that she had a fear of public speaking and so she always invited another feminist like Florynce Kennedy or Bella Abzug with her colorful hats to share the stage with her. "Social justice movements start with people sitting in a circle," she says in the play and that's exactly what the second act consisted of. At the end, there was a 20-minute talking circle in which we, the audience, were invited to share our own responses to what we had seen in the play or what we had lived. The guidelines were principles enunciated by Black Lives Matter projected on the walls in big letters: "Lead with love, low ego, high impact, move at the speed of trust."
The lights came up and the first person to raise her hand for a microphone was a 16-year old girl. I was pleased to see such a young woman present because most of the audience—almost all women and the few men—looked like survivors of the nineteen sixties. She said, " I'm 16 and I grew up with a mother who always told me I could be anything I want to be. I appreciate the sacrifices that Gloria made for all of us and I'm really grateful to my mother for giving me the confidence that I can be anything I want to be." Impressed by how articulate she was, we all clapped as Christine Lahti said, "There is the next Gloria Steinem!"
An older woman, sitting high up in the bleachers said, "I want to tell you what it was like in the '60s. My husband was a student at Yale and I worked in the library to support us. There was a man who worked with me in the library and I found out that he was making more money than me. I talked to some of the other women who worked there and we went to our boss and asked for a raise. Our supervisor said, "Well, he's a man. Someday he will have to support a family!" The woman replied, "Well, I am supporting a family. My husband is a student and I work to support us both." (I nodded, thinking back to how I worked on a psych ward while my first husband was in law school). Having received no satisfaction from her supervisor, she went above him to one of the Deans, who eventually gave her a raise. She interrupted our applause by saying, "Wait! There's a happy ending to that story. I got promoted and now that man works for me!" We all roared with approval.
There were a couple of men who raised their hands to speak. One man, who appeared to be in his early '50s, said, "I work for a company whose name is not important. I wanted to give a woman who works with me a 20% raise. I was told by the HR department (managed by a woman) that I could only give her a 10% raise. So I said, 'Oh, I see. She's a woman. We always pay a woman less.' We all groaned. As he gave up the mic, he said, "She got the 20% raise. It works every time." We hooted and hollered!
Another man, with thin graying hair, on the other side of the theater, took the mic and slowly said, "I have been crying throughout this entire performance. It touched me deeply." We all got quiet and the woman sitting next to him put her arm around him. He continued through his tears. "I have been thinking about how oppressed I have felt throughout my entire life." His comment surprised me.
When he spoke the word "oppressed," I thought he was going to admit to situations in which he had oppressed women and apologize. Or that in seeing the play and identifying with women, it began to dawn on him that he had been oppressed during his life as well. But he didn't explain how he felt oppressed and I began to feel cynical. This show was about how women have struggled against inequality and I felt that he was co-opting Gloria's story for himself. He continued, "I'm 72 years old and I was a feminist before any other man was a feminist." The audience sighed. I wanted to scream. How dare he claim that for himself.
Here was a man pulling on our heartstrings by comparing what he saw as his own oppression to the oppression of women we had just witnessed on stage. The principle of Low Ego had been abandoned: instead the man was inducing the audience into expressing sympathy and taking care of him. Christine Lahti could have explained that the play wasn't about male oppression, or called attention to the message on the wall. She didn't do either, at least not on this afternoon. Instead, she fell into the trap of equating men's and women's circumstances by saying–with great warmth–"Thank you so much for your courage and your tears."
He successfully hijacked the moment. But I am sure I wasn't the only one who had noticed that the self-proclaimed first male feminist hadn't grasped the concept of low ego. And a moment is not the journey. As Gloria—A Life, Gloria Steinem herself, and many of the other speakers that day showed us, when you encounter high egos blocking the way, it's a call to step around them–and keep moving.
Maureen Murdock, Ph.D. teaches memoir writing at UCLA and in Pacifica Graduate Institute's memoir certificate program, "Writing Down the Soul." She is the author of the best selling book The Heroine's Journey, which delineates the feminine psycho-spiritual journey, as well as four other books: Unreliable Truth: On Memoir and Memory; Fathers' Daughters: Breaking the Ties that Bind; Spinning Inward; The Heroine's Journey Workbook, and Blinded by Hope: My Journey through My Son's Bipolar Illness and Addiction published under a pseudonym.
You can find her blog on her website: www.maureenmurdock.com
Facing the Witch: The Aletis Heroine's Journey
May 2, 2019 November 1, 2019 Leave a comment
by guest blogger, Jody Gentian Bower; editorial review by Nancer Ballard and Savannah Jackson. Jody Gentian Bower, PhD., is a cultural mythologist and the author of Jane Eyre's Sisters: How Women Live and Write the Heroine's Story.
In the 1980s, I belonged to a women's book club. Over time I noticed that most of the novels we read featuring a female protagonist had a similar plot. Then I realized that many of the great novels by women, the established classics, followed the same plot. I found a similar plot in the biographies of many noted women.
The idea that women authors* have been telling a consistent story for centuries wouldn't leave me alone. Yet I couldn't find any discussion of this plot by scholars of literature. The Heroine's Journey by therapist Maureen Murdock, Women Who Run with the Wolves by folklorist Clarissa Pinkola Estés, and Jean Benedict Raffa's memoir The Bridge to Wholeness touched on some of the motifs I'd seen (and opened my eyes to a few I'd missed), but their approaches were not quite what I was looking for. My fascination with the literary plot itself eventually led to Jane Eyre's Sisters: How Women Live and Write the Heroine Story.
I came to call this plot the Aletis story—aletis being an ancient Greek word that means "wandering heroine." Her story is not defined by an external quest like the Hero's Journey plot. Instead, her journey takes her farther and farther away from home until at last she finds the place—both within and without—where she is able to create the life that she has always longed for. Unlike the hero, who proves himself a man by a heroic act that enforces and preserves the idealized vision of the status quo of the community, the Aletis finds her inner worth and bases her life on what she values. She doesn't ask anyone else to change, but her example often causes her community to shift out of old ways that no longer work.
I call her the wandering heroine because she keeps moving, keeps on leaving situations where she cannot be herself. For example, Jane Eyre longs for a life lived fully, with passion. She chooses to leave her adoptive, abusive home to go to school; chooses to leave Lowood School and her teaching job to become a governess for strangers; chooses to leave Mr. Rochester when he asks her to compromise her integrity; and chooses to leave the safe harbor she's found with her cousins when St. John tries to force her into a loveless marriage. Eventually, the Aletis finds (or, like Jane, builds) her own home where she can put down roots and create what she was meant to create. She provides an opportunity for others to do likewise, like Celie of Alice Walker's The Color Purple, who draws a community of like-minded creative people to her—including her own formerly abusive husband.
But first the Aletis must journey into the wild place, the place of danger, the very place her family and community have warned her against. In old tales like "Vasilisa the Beautiful," she goes from her little village into the forest where the scariest thing of all, the witch Baba Yaga, lives. In many recent stories the wild place is the big city, the center of sin and crime. The heroine has been taught all her life to fear this place, yet she is drawn to it.
In the wild place she encounters the witch. The wicked witch is often the villain of a hero story; the hero must defeat her. But in Aletis stories, the witch becomes the girl's teacher. The witch must be approached with respect; not as an enemy, but not in a craven way either. The heroine has to prove herself to the witch, and the first thing she must prove is that she respects herself too. She must stand boldly before the witch and tell her what she has come for.
The witch sniffs, unconvinced. She sets the girl a series of impossible tasks. These tasks require the girl to use discernment—to sort out the good seeds from the bad—or be diligent and unwavering as she spins the mountain of straw into gold. Her commitment provides the magic that allows the task to be accomplished. Once the girl passes the test, the witch gives her what she needs.
Miranda Priestly of Lauren Weisberger's The Devil Wears Prada is a modern Baba Yaga, feared by all who know her. ("Miranda" means "miracle" and "Priestly" evokes someone in touch with divine power.) The heroine Andrea, newly come to the big city from her small town, walks boldly into Miranda's demesne and asks for a job. Miranda sniffs, as do all the sycophants around her, but she lets Andrea stay and sets her a series of increasingly impossible tasks. After Andrea passes the tests, Miranda recommends her for her dream job, investigative journalism. Andrea will not only get to write but will have a positive effect on the wider world.
The Aletis story teaches us how to go willingly into the heart of the unknown. It teaches us that when we come face to face with those we've been taught to fear, we don't have to fight them or defeat them. Instead, we must stand firmly in our integrity as they test our commitment to learning from them. In showing them respect while maintaining our own self-respect, we often receive their respect and ultimately, their cooperation and aid.
To learn more about Jody's work or purchase a copy of Jane Eyre's Sisters: How Women Live and Write the Heroine's Journey, click here.
*And a few visionary men. Shakespeare's Viola of Twelfth Night, Charles Dickens's Lizzie Hexam of Our Mutual Friend, Daniel Defoe's Moll Flanders, and J.R.R. Tolkien's Éowyn of The Lord of the Rings are examples.
Disney's Mulan: Almost A Heroine
January 7, 2019 March 1, 2019 1 Comment
Written by Katerina Daley; ed. assistance by Savannah Jackson.
From the day Bambi first struggled to his feet in 1942, Disney has been a strong proponent of Hero's Journey plot arcs. Indeed, as explained in our blog about Christopher Vogler's "Memo that Started It All," for the past quarter century this has been a deliberate commercial decision. To respond to the contemporary demand for female protagonists, Disney has produced a number of films about marriageable but defiant princesses who engage in quests of one sort or another that culminate in a happily ever after ending without loose ends. The 1998 film Mulan, released four years after The Lion King, provides some interesting complications to the Disney Hero's Journey formula. Although the title character, Mulan, achieves great fame and honor by the film's end, her motivations are more complex than the typical hero's and at the film's end it is clear that her journey is far from over.
As in Maureen Murdock's Heroine's Journey, the movie begins with Mulan's Separation from the Feminine. Fa Mulan does not fit the traditional feminine ideal of her community, evidenced by her disastrous failure at fulfilling her role as a potential bride during her meeting with a matchmaker. Due to this failing, the matchmaker chastises her for bringing "dishonor" to her family. Following this Separation, she moves on to Identification with the Masculine and Gathering of Allies when she learns that an order has been issued for sons and fathers to join the army in the fight against the Huns. Rather than allow her aging crippled father to go to war, Mulan cuts her hair and dresses in his armor. Her ally is Mushu the red dragon, the film's stock anthropomorphic comic animal sidekick, and an alleged ancestral guide.
The final shot of the "I'll Make a Man Out of You" song number depicts Mulan as fully integrated among her fellow (male) soldiers.
With Mushu at her side, Mulan sets out for the army camp and finds herself traveling the Road of trials and Meeting Ogres and Dragons. Upon arrival at the camp, Mulan struggles to find acceptance, but she eventually makes a name for herself by succeeding at an exercise no other man can, depicted in the film's most popular song, the ironically named, "I'll Make a Man Out of You." This is the first of many times when Mulan's new (heroine) perspective permits her to creatively solve a problem that all the men around her are stuck on. After earning the respect of her captain, Li Shang, Mulan joins her fellow soldiers battling the Huns. During this crucial battle, Mulan experiences the Boon of Success by aiming a firecracker at the overhanging cliffs and creating an avalanche that kills many Huns. In this attack, Mulan is thought to have killed their savage leader, Shan Yu.
Her success is short-lived, however, and Mulan is soon propelled into Feelings of Spiritual Aridity. She is injured during the Hun attack and once the dust settles and she is treated for her injuries, her gender is revealed. Her betrayal of self was impossible to maintain and Mulan is fed up with attempting to perpetuate the lie that denies and limits who she truly is.
The sentence for having pretended to be a man would normally be death, but her life is spared since she saved her captain's life during the battle. Instead, she is cast out of the troop and left with nothing but her horse, her armor, and her animal guides, Mushu and Cri-Kee the "lucky" cricket. Left behind by her fellow soldiers, Mulan learns that Shan Yu and some of the Huns actually survived the avalanche. She realizes she must go to the Imperial City to save the emperor and her comrades.
When Mulan arrives in the Imperial City, she attempts to advise Captain Li Shang about the Huns and their plans to attack again now that the city's guard is down, but he doesn't listen to her because she is a woman. In the face of this rebuff, Mulan realizes she alone can avert disaster and is forced into Healing the Wounded Masculine. She knows that she needs to take action to save China. Ignoring Li Shang, she enlists the help of the three close friends she made while in the army who accept and trust her even knowing that she is a woman.
Mulan shows her skill at subverting gender expectations by working her society's sexist views to her advantage.
The film's rising action reaches its climax when Mulan is able to use the skills she learned training to be a soldier and her intelligence and feminine wiles to defeat Shan Yu and the Huns. In an Integration of the Masculine and Feminine, Mulan instructs her fellow soldiers to dress as concubines in order to enter the palace, since the invisibility of women will now finally work to her advantage. She also confronts Shan Yu personally, and by drawing her hair back to imitate the style she wore while posing as a male soldier, she shocks Shan Yu by revealing that he was defeated by a woman the first time, and will now again be defeated by a woman. She is rewarded by the emperor for saving China and offered a prestigious position among his staff. Mulan rejects the Emperor's offer, preferring to return home, having brought honor to her family.
Had the movie ended there, Mulan would be one of a very few heroine's journey tales aimed at children.
However, rather than endorse Mulan's family-oriented motivation to return home to an every day life to be a satisfying ending, Disney tacks on a quick and confusing love plot. Captain Li Shang arrives at the Fa family home to return Mulan's father's helmet, but he suddenly acts sheepish and love-struck. Mulan invites him to stay for dinner. Her grandmother asks if he would like to stay forever. Mulan has already fulfilled her mission of having worked for something greater than herself, but by introducing the marriage-with-Li Shang plot, Disney steps back toward the more familiar Snow White ending and sets up ground for the direct-to-video sequel Mulan II. In the sequel, Mulan becomes a political escort/body guard for the Emperor's three daughters (who are also the subjects of a series of aborted and then successful marriage plots) and a quasi-princess in marrying into the Li family. Unable to believe that Mulan's personally motivated but ultimately selfless drive could satisfy their audience, Disney has tweaked this heroine's journey tale enough to fit on the rack with their other princess stories and produce a sequel that lacks both the heart and truth of the original.
Wholeness Introduces Herself to Promises of Happiness and Success
October 18, 2018 November 1, 2019 Leave a comment
Written by Nancer Ballard; ed. assistance Savannah Jackson.
Unlike Heroines' Journeys, The Hero's Journey ends with the hero returning to his tribe, kinsmen, country, or home with the Elixir. In Hero Journey stories such as the Lion King, Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, or Wonder Woman, the hero (male, female, or otherwise) finds the treasure, restores his tribe's lost honor, learns the magic code, or discovers the key to success and is rewarded with recognition, status, and respect.
Maureen Murdock describes the heroine's quest as an "inner journey toward being a fully integrated, balanced, and whole human being." Although Murdock focuses on the integration of feminine and masculine personality traits, the heroine's journey can be understood as a quest to integrate almost any two dichotomies, binaries, opposing concepts, or ideologies. Victoria Schmidt's version of the heroine's journey concludes with a "Rebirth– the Moment of Truth" when the protagonist faces her own (and others') fear with compassion and returns to the "perfect world" or "the world seen for what it is." The reward for the journey is an integrated connection to the world and something larger than herself.
The Heroine Journeys Project team believes that the Heroine's Journey is, in essence a search to affirm and experience wholeness. By definition, wholeness necessarily includes both sides of a binary including the masculine and feminine, but also success and failure, perfection and imperfection, joy and grief, happiness and despair, respect and disrespect, glory and stunning disappointment, etc. The world and human experience encompasses each of these things, so respite from disappointment or suffering is temporary so long as life, or the story, continues.
Artist book by Nancer Ballard depicting pleasant and unpleasant aspects of creative cycle
Throughout our lives, most of us are told that loyalty, hard work, sacrifice, and some notion of universal fairness (sometimes called Destiny) will bring us Happiness and Success and eradicate our suffering, frustrations, and disappointment. We are taught that it is possible to "make it," and become our family/tribe/community leader or win a coveted personal relationship and live happily ever after…. or at least a relatively care-free comfortable life. Many of us know differently but still secretly believe in the mythical hero's journey arc because we have grown up in a binary-soaked culture and recoil from the unpleasant aspects of wholeness we have been led to believe are unnecessary.
A few months ago I was given a poem by Lynn Ungar (which she has graciously allowed us to share) that describes the kind of stories and lives that royalty and most of us commoners actually live rather than the make-believe myths we think we want to live.
I'll tell you a secret.
There is no happy ending.
Also no tragic conclusion.
The prince and princess don't
live happily ever after.
They live happily sometimes,
and sometimes they are stricken
with so much grief that they know
their hearts will explode—
which never actually happens—
and sometimes they are
well and truly and deeply
bored, and ready for the tiniest
of catastrophes to shake them awake.
They will not, of course,
live ever after. No one does.
But they might have children
who carry on the royal line,
or friends who tell the story
of how the witch showed up
at the baby shower, or maybe
they planted trees. One way
or another the story
inevitably continues.
Pray that it is some kind of
story about love.
In this poem, love is viewed as the best glue for a full evolving life rather than the reward that ends the story-life arc with flatlining good fortune. A good working definition of "love" is an enduring, positive, attentive connection between two (or more) separate beings that creates a relationship. The relationship is distinct and larger than its individual members or constituents. Love does not abolish loneliness and vulnerability, but having a positive, enduring connection with others can make the pain of being alone and being imperfectly understood tolerable. A loving connection also provides company in times of vulnerability.
In Maureen Murdock's formulation of the Heroine's Journey, the final step in the cycle is integration. Integration has several meanings. It can refer to the act or an instance of combining disparate elements into an integral whole—as in the integration of personality. But integration can also refer to harmonious behavior of individuals within a larger environment, or to the coordination of distinct previously segregated elements within a unitary system—as in the integration of a school system. In other words, integration can refer to blending or synthesizing or to the coordination of parts in which the parts retain their individual distinctness and integrity within a larger whole. Love draws upon both types of integration. Unless the individuals in a loving relationship maintain their individual selves and identities, the result is a merging of one person into another, or domination and subordination, rather than connection borne by love. Love's connection also produces a relationship which neither person can create by themselves. Their relationship, a product of their connection to themselves and each other, is a third thing that is something different than the sum of its parts—just as a story depends upon character, action, motivation, and result but is more than the sum of these elements. As in a relationship, each element in a story is necessary and significantly influenced by other elements but can still be somewhat differentiated from the other parts.
Integration of the masculine and feminine, and whatever other binaries are at stake, can involve blending, synthesis, or the coordination of separate elements that retain their individuality within a larger whole. The best stories and fullest of lives involve evolving combinations of each of these.
We appreciate Lynn Unger's allowing us to share "The Story" in this post. To learn more about Lynn Unger's work and/or purchase her book of poetry, Bread and Other Miracles, go to http://www.lynnungar.com.
The Journey of Christopher Vogler
April 4, 2015 March 1, 2019 Leave a comment
Written by Nancer Ballard; ed. assistance by Sage Calder.
While researching hero and heroine journey arcs, I came across a piece by Christopher Vogler, a Hollywood Development Executive, who claims to have played a central role in ensuring that the hero's journey narrative has dominated American movies over the last thirty years.
Sylvester Stallone in Rocky IV, an example of the Hero's Journey
According to Vogler, while studying cinema at the University of Southern California, he came across Joseph Campbell's Hero's with a Thousand Faces. Having seen Star Wars, he recognized the similarity between the plot of that movie and Hero's Journey arc described by Campbell and wrote a paper for a class theorizing that a key to the Star Wars' success was its tracking of the hero's journey. Later, when Vogler began working as a story analyst at Fox and other Hollywood studios, he applied his theory to the scripts that came across his desk. He also talked with several of his colleagues who apparently found his ideas interesting, but not earth shattering.
However, before long Vogler got a job at Disney which had a strong corporate culture under Michael Eisner's and Jeffrey Katzenberg's leadership. Vogler reports that memos were a big part of Disney's corporate identity, and everyone who worked at Disney at that time had to learn the memo art form, following the example of Katzenberg, an absolute master.
According to Vogler, the discipline of writing succinct development notes and story coverage and research memos kindled within him a desire to "once and for all" get all of Campbell's ideas down as creative principles and to use them as building blocks for constructing stories and tools for troubleshooting story problems. He took time off from his job as a story analyst and spent a week in New York with his friend, David McKenna, watching movie clips, then came back and wrote a seven page memo which he refers to as "The Memo that Started it All" and sent it to Disney executives.
At first not much happened but Vogler had faith, picturing his memo flying off fax machines all over town. And sure enough some people began to take notice. Before long a junior executive at Disney saw the memo and tried to pass it off as his own. Vogler, alerted to the usurpation by a colleague, immediately sent a memo to Katzenberg asserting his status as true owner and asked to be elevated to story development. Katzenberg immediately called Vogler and put him to work doing research and development for The Lion King. When Vogler arrived he found "the Memo that Started it All" had preceded him, and the animators were already outlining their story boards using the Hero's Journey stages. Thereafter Vogler's memo served as a springboard for numerous other hit movies, his own book, and a teaching gig at UCLA. According to Vogler, people continue to attribute special powers to the original seven-pager, and at one point, a museum dedicated to screenwriting requested a copy for a display of milestone documents and books in the history of screenwriting.
If Vogler's description of his success and formative role in American movies sounds a little contrived, perhaps its because Vogler's story of his own success so neatly tracks the steps of the tale on which he has made his fortune– complete with entry into new world (Disney) absolute master mentor (Katzenberg), enemies and allies (the usurping junior exec. and Vogler's loyal colleague), success that nearly goes off the rails twice (first when the memo goes unnoticed and a second time when the junior exec. tries to appropriate Vogler's memo), and his kinsmen's final affirmation of special powers and his place as an enduring leader of the screenwriting tribe. Of course, it's possible that some people experience life in exactly this fashion.
To be sure, the hero's journey is the narrative pattern for Disney children's movies and many American coming-of-age films and weekly television dramas. (However, many American films made prior to 1970 also follow the hero's journey pattern, and many critically acclaimed films made in and out of the United States have more causally complex or ambiguous patterns and themes. To see an analysis of Academy Award winning films that follow and don't follow the hero's journey pattern, click here.
And, you might also ask yourself, what if a woman had written the memo? And then, written another memo about what happened to her when that young junior executive passed off the ideas of a lowly female story analyst as his own? Might her second memo have plotted a different, heroine's tale?
We will never know. Instead, we have this website. We may have some catching up to do, but we are not starting from scratch– as future blogs and other pages of the site illustrate, women such as Maureen Murdock, Victoria Schmidt, Carol Pearson, and Jean Shinoda Bolen have covered much ground that we hope to expand upon. We invite you to join the conversation and contribute your stories as well.
The Heroine Journeys Project is dedicated to gathering, discussing, and analyzing literature, film, and life experiences that follow a different path than the conventional story arc referred to as the "Hero's Journey." Our goal is to help people of all ages and backgrounds to explore, understand, and give voice to personal experiences and stories that cannot be adequately expressed within the traditional "Hero's Journey" narrative arc.
Where the Story Begins
Where the Story Ends
The Post-Mythic Journey of Integrity
A Fourth Journey: The Journey of Integrity
Index of Topics
Book to Film Adaptation
Film and Drama
Hero and Heroine Journey Comparisons
Heroine Journey Interpretation

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Albina and Robert Young lead a pretty quiet life together these days.
When a visitor dropped by their apartment recently at the Bentley Manor Assisted Living facility in Dallas, the couple was friendly, welcoming and as unassuming as two people can be.
Robert, 95, and Albina, 99, are celebrating their 75th wedding anniversary Sunday. The staff is hosting a big celebration, complete with live entertainment and family members flying in from all over the country.
Robert also makes little of the fact that the Red Cross will attend the party and present the Youngs with a special gift for their 60 years of volunteer work. Albina, who can't see or hear as well as she used to, remains quiet, smiling softly.
According to the Red Cross website, Albina began her volunteer work for the Red Cross during World War II, when Robert was in the Air Force. In 1955, she started running the production department for the Dallas-area chapter, sewing thousands of baby clothes, finger puppets and hats for newborns at area hospitals.
"Albina's love and generosity toward her fellow man is sewn into every stitch that she makes," the Red Cross noted on the site.
According to a 1996 article in The Dallas Morning News, Albina started knitting sweaters and toe socks for soldiers wearing foot casts in WWII. By the '90s she was still hard at work, cutting each piece of fabric by hand.
"We send some of what they need, but not all they need," she said of the hospitals' wish lists. So she continued to work from home as well, once knitting 40 pairs of adult slippers in two months.
Robert's role was to transport supplies to other volunteers, pick up finished products and deliver everything to several hospitals.
In 1997, the Youngs were presented with a Savvy Award, which was sponsored by Foley's department store and The News. By that time, they'd volunteered more than 85,000 hours to patients at Parkland.
The couple now have a permanent legacy in Dallas. The Albina and Bob Young Lifetime Achievement Award is considered the "premier local volunteer award," according to the Red Cross.
The Youngs don't say much about the time they met, or what they saw in each other way back when.
The couple adopted their son, James, now 62, when he was 18 months old. While Robert operated his car-repair shops and volunteered, Albina devoted her time to family and volunteering.
Those countless hours of giving back to people in need are over now, but mementos fill their apartment. There are framed newspaper articles on the walls about the couple's volunteer work, along with plaques in their honor.
Robert says Albina is "an unusual woman to put up with me for that long. With most women there'd be all this fussing and griping, and most of the time she didn't.
When asked about her own memories of her life with Robert, Albina struggles for the right words. Robert gently puts his hand on the arm of her wheelchair, as a show of support. But she doesn't answer.
"She used to be very talkative," he says.
If you have a story of True Romance, send an email to Darla J. Atlas at darlajatlas@yahoo.com.


Where can I find good rearsets for the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R (16+) in GP Shift?
Re: Where can I find good rearsets for the Kawasaki Ninja ZX-10R (16+) in GP Shift?
Attack Performance also make accessories for the Ninja series of motorcycles.
I have a friend that works there. Check them out!


text:
"Naming Rights"
Client: Little Caesars
Product: Little Caesars
Title: Naming Rights
Media: Social, TV, OOH, Direct
Date Of Campaign: 2/17/22
Background: The year Little Caesars became the Official Pizza of the NHL for the 2020/21 season was a little different, to put it lightly. With no fans in the stands at arenas across Canada, we needed a sponsorship idea that would move beyond the expected rink-board logo. Combined with a limited budget and a desire to amplify the effort through earned media, we found a way to connect with pizza-loving hockey fans in a unique and authentic way right in their own dens, family rooms, living rooms, and sports caves. And, at the same time, increase delivery with people stuck at home.
Idea: Companies spend millions of dollars on the naming rights to arenas. And since fans weren't allowed in the stands this season, as the official pizza of the NHL, we decided to buy the naming rights to where people were actually watching - their living rooms. Introducing The Little Caesars Naming Rights Deal: all the excitement of the NHL arena experience - brought to your home every Wednesday night.Fans were invited to sell the rights to their living rooms by signing a "not-legally-binding contract" on pizzanighthockey.ca. Once they officially changed their rooms' name to the Little Caesars Hockey Room, they gained access to exclusive Wednesday deals for the rest of the 2020/21 NHL season. But the naming rights weren't enough. We wanted more brand presence in their homes and asked our new partners how much pizza it would take. That's when the live negotiations began and things got spicy.
Results: Thanks to featured NHL games every week on Wednesday Night Hockey, Little Caesars saw a 21% increase in store traffic on Wednesdays, a 15% increase in sales on Wednesdays, and a 10% increase in sales for delivery. We drove over 10 million impressions across both traditional and social media. On Little Caesars social media channels, we saw an astronomical increase of 8.6x in follower growth and an incredible 17.7% of overall engagement on our platforms. And, for the first time in Canada, fans got to speak with the brand in real time, loving every minute of it. And, as a nice feather in any Canadian marketer's cap, the successful kick-off of Little Caesars Naming Rights Deal in Canada resulted in it being adapted by the Little Caesars U.S. team.
Ambient / Guerilla / Out of Home
Happy Hunting
More than the colors of its flag
Havas Creative Dubai
Liquid Billboard
AMVBBDO
Mars Pet
Hope Reef
The Social Distancing Prayer Mat
Jung von Matt AG / Hamburg
Hyundai Global
The Bigger Crash
Unilever - Axe
Get Axeinated
IKEA Co-worker For The Day
MTV Lebanon
#WeAreUnbreakable
TheOr London
Vagina Museum


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Grand-Bassam, Ivory Coast
Photo: Ministère de la Culture et de la Francophonie du Côte d'Ivoire
New Orleans and Québec City. Hanoi and Hội An. Luang Prabang and Vientiane. You have a thing for French Colonial architecture. You love the pastel colors and the high ceilings, the wide porches and the wrought-iron balconies. At times, it may be hard to grapple with the history that goes along with them, but the buildings themselves are lovely and picturesque.
Though you're most familiar with the cities in Asia and North America, French Colonial architecture is found all around the world. The French began colonizing North America in the early 17th century. They expanded to Africa and Asia shortly thereafter. Many of the Asian cities have been restored and protected in the last few decades. Africa has only recently realized the importance of preserving these historic spots.
Grand-Bassam, along the Gulf of Guinea, is one of those places. The French built the city, around the fishing village of N'zima, as the first capital of the Ivory Coast in 1893. It only lasted a few years. When yellow fever spread in 1896, it was abandoned. Bingerville was turned into the capital. Nearby Abidjan took over as the area's major seaport. While Grand-Bassam became a ghost town and was forgotten for nearly a century.
Today Grand-Bassam is being revitalized. Tourists started returning to Ancien Bassam, the former French settlement along the southern side of the Ébrié Lagoon, in the 1970s. Locals, looking to escape city life in Abidjan, descend on the golden-sand beaches on the weekends. Plus UNESCO named the historic center a World Heritage Site in 2012 due to its late 19th- and early 20th-century colonial architecture. After being neglected and inhabited by squatters for decades, the buildings were in rough shape. But the faded facades, the arched galleries, the sagging verandas, and the overgrown gardens are still charming.
When you arrive in Grand-Bassam, you cross Pont de la Victoire, a bridge over the Ébrié Lagoon, from Nouveau Bassam, the former African servants' quarters turned main commercial center, to Ancien Bassam. The Palais de Justice, the Cathédral Sacré-Cœur, and the Musée National du Costume, in the former governor's palace, are among your first stops. The Monument aux Morts, which commemorates the victims of the yellow fever epidemic, and Mairie, the town hall that acts as your directional marker as you wander, are after that. But it isn't the grand buildings that fascinate you the most. You find yourself stopping and staring at the smaller houses on the quieter streets. For brief moments, you truly feel like you've stepped way back in time.
Posted in Africa, Ivory CoastTagged Comoe, GrandBassam, Lagunes, SudComoe, WestAfricaBy npreseaultLeave a comment
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Accompanying the first major survey of Cindy Sherman's work in the United States in nearly 15 years—curated by Eva Respini for the Museum of Modern Art, New York— this publication showcases approximately 180 photographs from the mid-1970s to the present. Respini provides an overview of Sherman's career and Johanna Burton offers a critical re-examination of Sherman's work in light of her recent series. A conversation between Cindy Sherman and filmmaker John Waters provides an enlightening view into the creative process.


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Dealing with a vision impairment diagnosis
There are several signs to look out for if you think your child may have a vision impairment.
Follow these articles for steps towards a diagnosis and hear stories from parents and young people who have been through it.
Spotting vision impairment in a child and what to do about it
You may have some indications from birth that your child has a vision impairment, or you may notice signs as your baby grows.
You think your child is vision impaired - steps to a diagnosis
If you think your child is visually impaired, follow these five steps to help reach a diagnosis. Video to help you support you if your child might have a blind or vision impairment diagnosis.
Dealing with a vision impairment diagnosis: Julia's story
Watch Julia talking about her daughter's sight impairment diagnosis at her 8 month check, and how her family have dealt with Myla's condition since then.
Watch Julia's video
Dealing with a vision impairment diagnosis: Matt's Story
Watch Matt and his dad Mark as they talk about dealing with Matt's sudden sight loss at the age of 23.
Watch Matt's video
Dealing with a vision impairment diagnosis: Natalie's story
Watch Natalie talk about how she coped with her child's vision impairment and cerebral palsy, following a premature birth.
Watch Natalie's video
Getting a Certificate of Vision Impairment (CVI)
What is a Certificate of Vision Impairment and how do you get one?


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OTHER PLAYS IN CHICAGO
Toni Stone
The Comedy of Errors Event homeBuy ticketsCustomer reviews A Soldier's PlayWuthering HeightsThe Comedy of ErrorsToni StoneThe Snow Queen
March 2023 March 2023April 2023
March 10 - April 16, 2023
CHICAGO SHAKESPEARE THEATER
Wuthering Heights (Until Feb 19, 2023)
Chicago Shakespeare Theater Please selectVenue homeLocation and directionsPre-theatre diningNearby parkingOvernight accommodationSeating maps Wuthering Heights (Until Feb 19, 2023)
Navy Pier, 800 East Grand Ave, Chicago, IL 60611
Please note: The term Chicago Shakespeare Theater and/or The Comedy of Errors as well as all associated graphics, logos, and/or other trademarks, tradenames or copyrights are the property of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and/or The Comedy of Errors and are used herein for factual descriptive purposes only. We are in no way associated with or authorized by the Chicago Shakespeare Theater and/or The Comedy of Errors and neither that entity nor any of its affiliates have licensed or endorsed us to sell tickets, goods and or services in conjunction with their events.


Living Cheap in NYC - The Street Food Challenge!
The Ultimate DUBAI $1 STREET FOOD TOUR!
Living Cheap in NYC - Dollar Meal Challenge!
DELICIOUS!! $.26 Cent TACOS!! - MEXICAN STREET FOOD - CHEAPEST Street Food EVER!! – So INCREDIBLE!!!


• After you finish your meal in a restaurant, you need to ask for the bill before they bring it. Just say 'La Quenta Por Favor' to the waiter or waitress.
• In the state of Jalisco it is illegal to Smoke inside Restaurants.
• All Beaches in Mexico are public property, and are open to everyone to the high tide mark.
• Main Highways have kilometer markers along them, usually measured from state to state south to north or between costal and mainland cities.
• Public Washrooms are seldom Free. You usually have to pay a few Pesos. Some even have attendants who dole out toilet paper. Most restaurants will let you use their bathrooms if you purchase a meal, coffee or snacks.
• Mexicans are very conservative regarding daring bathing suits or outlandish clothing. Be courteous and conscious about what you wear in public, especially at the beach.
• Don't get burned: The C on water faucets stands for Caliente (hot) and the F stands for Fría (cold).
• Businesses usually close between 2 & 4 pm each afternoon. This is not 'Siesta Time', but time for the largest meal of the day (La Comida).
• Good Maps of towns and areas are hard to come by locally. If you want to explore bring one with you.
• Street Addresses are sometimes hard to find. Street names are on signs (usually ceramic tile) on corner buildings, not on signposts. Many homes, stores and shops do not have address numbers, and if they do the numbers do not necessarily run consecutively. Adresses without numbers are labled s/n which means sin/numero.
• Noise is a fact of life in México and music is normally enjoyed at high volume levels. When you add in barking dogs, crowing roosters, loud vehicle exhausts, honking horns, you sense the awareness of real México.
• Busing is the primary means of transport for the average person, as cars and fuel are very expensive, and many people live at or near the poverty level.
• Mexico is under Napoleonic law, which means you are Guilty until Proven Innocent. You Will go to Jail for any serious crime or Drug offence! As a tourist visitor, you have the same rights as a Méxican citizen amd are protected under law.
• The Average Temperature in the Costalegre is 26 degrees Celsius.
DID YOU KNOW? The word México is derived from 3 words in the Nahuatl language. ME - Metztli (moon), XE - Xietli (navel) and CO - Co (place).


Works very well though not like its described. The screenshot 2 shows that the tracking info comes up on the order history page. However, it actually opens up a new window to show the tracking info on the Aftership website.
The topic 'Works Great' is closed to new replies.


Mission Shakti successful India becomes 4th country in the Elite space club. LEO satellite. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, today, made an announcement that India's anti-satellite missile system has taken a successful test against a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite, which has been codenamed 'Mission Shakti'.


At the heart is the indignation expressed that the alliance party, Internet Mana, could have an electorate and list presence in the House on the basis of a win in a Maori seat. All parties aspire to win electorate seats and to attract enough party vote to bring a number of their party colleagues in on the list. In 2011 every party that is currently represented in Parliament stood candidates in electorate seats. In the very first MMP election in 1996, NZ First had 17 seats in Parliament with just 6 electorate seats – Tauranga and the 5 Maori seats. And we all know about the numbers of ACT MPs that owed their Parliamentary experience to a win in Epsom facilitated by a nod from National.
What we have seen is a romanticised notion of the Maori seats and a less than subtle threat that future retention of the Maori seats is somehow weakened by this alliance. These utterances expose a lack of historical knowledge and are disrespectful of those who choose to be registered on the Maori roll.
The Maori seats came into being as a result of the Maori Representation Act 1867 which was introduced by the MP for Napier, Donald McLean. McLean was the land purchase agent responsible for dealings that gave rise to many Waitangi Tribunal claims in the Whanganui, Rangitikei and Hawkes Bay regions. In 1856 he was appointed Native Secretary and as Maori resistance to land sales grew, McLean became more devious and made secret payments to certain chiefs to effect sales. McLean was single-handedly responsible for the war that broke out over the Waitara purchase. He never took responsibility for his actions and instead blamed it on the King movement. In 1863 McLean was made General Government Agent in Hawke's Bay where he owned large sheep runs and then took an active role in the East Coast wars in the 1860s. McLean believed that European dominance was inevitable and desirable and advocated for full assimilation of Maori.
The Maori seats were seen by McLean as a temporary measure, needed only for 5 years until Maori had fully adopted the English legal system of land ownership. However Maori did not co-operate with that time-frame and because of resistance the seats were extended and in 1876 they were made permanent. A study of history would show that the Maori seats provided by the government occurred only after Maori had been unable to progress their own political autonomy through the King Movement and Te Kotahitanga. At the time of the introduction of Maori electorates Maori owned significant tracts of land and paid significant taxes and it was agreed that a temporary measure to give Maori representation was a necessary obligation. The seats encouraged individualisation of title paved by Maori Land Acts and a subsequent increase in land sales meant that by 1900 Maori were almost landless. It is also a fact that the Bill establishing Maori seats was introduced on the same day as a Bill creating 2 further South Island miners seats. Maori representation was a trade off to retain the balance of North Island and South Island seats. Both bills taken together created 3 North Island seats and 3 South Island seats – retaining the status quo while allowing for increased representation for South Island miners.
And so to today. It would be wrong to idealise the introduction of Maori electorates as born out of some benevolence toward tangata whenua. Maori believed they had autonomy but were excluded from political participation. A controlled and convenient vehicle was put in place, largely to accommodate land sales and miners representation.
It is generally accepted that the contemporary need for Maori seats is strongly supported by Maori. That is why Labour supports retention of the Maori seats until Maori choose through the Maori electoral option that they are no longer necessary. ACT, National and NZ First have all advocated for the abolition of Maori seats. All three have benefitted from MMP and the ability for others to come into Parliament on the basis of what may be just one electorate seat. That is the electoral system we have and any change on that basis was rejected by the National Government and its Minister of Justice. It is nothing short of insulting for media commentators to now suggest there is some difference in the operation of MMP because some list MPs might come into Parliament on the basis of a win in a Maori seat. Those are the rules – they cannot just apply when it suits those in power. After all that's how we got the seats in the first place.
This is officially the only response from a Labour MP to any part of the Internet-Mana alliance which makes any sense and is in any way progressive and constructive. Standing ovation Louisa, you've bucked the trend of the old dinosaurs within Labour and your young male colleague, and one new colleague, for a torrent of deafening imbecelic outbursts. Congratulations.
Its also worth noting that under First Past the Post the Maori seats could create a small gerrymander in favour of the right, as it meant there were less left-leaning voters in the general electorates. With MMP this small advantage for the right was removed. Is it really a surprise there has been greater whinging from the right about the existence of the Maori seats since New Zealand adopted a fairer electoral system in 1996?
It is nothing short of insulting for media commentators to now suggest there is some difference in the operation of MMP because some list MPs might come into Parliament on the basis of a win in a Maori seat.
Which media commentators have taken this angle?
I don't read everything but I haven't seen any take this angle. Can you point me in the direction of media commentators who have taken this angle?
Good summary Louisa, pity your male colleagues who have been whinging and criticising their main opportunity to get rid of this evil government together with their bootlicking associates can't keep their comments to themselves.
We need to see more support from Labour, hope you are not the only one who is seeing sense with this forthcoming election.
Labour needs the left parties to all co-operate to change this present government. There is not much time left. The working class can't take another term with National pulling the strings.
Kia kaha Louisa. A few more representatives such as yourself and I'd think of giving Labour a vote.
Would the Labour Caucus care to tell that small group of ageing Labour MPS (plus one hanger-on) to stop undermining leader, David Cunliffe with their intemperate and ill advised public mutterings so close to an election?
And I would argue, it must be accepted that also Maori parties, or part Maori parties, that may align with non Maori parties, with a wider reach, have a right to contest any Maori seat, as long as there is some interest in representing Maori and Maori interests.
It was a bit "rich" by some in the Maori Party, and even in Labour, to accuse the Internet Mana Party of kind of abusing the Maori seats for their own ends. Labour stands in Maori electorates, so do other parties, and they represent wider interests, not just Maori.
Why is it then unacceptable to have IMP stand in a Maori seat and contest an electorate?
while you represent Maori, and while many Maori are dependent on social security, some or many also suffering sickness and disability, what is your position on this?
I would think that Labour has a position and would raise a voice for the weakest and downtrodden, not just sole parents and poor with children, also the sick and disabled, and stand up for their RIGTHS.
We hear NOTHING from Labour on this.
So it is perhaps encouraging what you write about Maori seats here, but I am missing a hell of a lot from you and your caucus MPs on the dishonest, abysmal and draconian treatment of the sick and disabled on benefits in New Zealand. We have our dignity taken off us, and Labour is silent on this.
Where is YOUR voice on this, also for Maori, who are disproportionally suffering, and who often do not even speak up, just for fear and for false understanding of "dignity"?
I am a witness to a case in point where designated doctors are involved. I wrote to the Min of Social Development but she passed on my letter to the CEO. After waiting without a reply, I initiated a complain to the Human Rights Commission. And all of a sudden, the local Link Centre made changes, but they are themselves confused with conflict of interests and ethics. This is a mess and needs investigation, but all political parties turn a blind eye.
Thanks for sharing this, Peter. I know that the Ministry is operating as if nothing had changed, and they apply the tough rules to most. Where complaints are pushed to higher levels, they do in individual cases compromise, but the rest of "clients" still get treated the same abysmal way.
I can confide to you that a recent assessment was handled in the usual manner, the despicable manner, and it remains to be seen what will come out of it. In that case, a complaint was made at the highest possible level years ago, but they reverted to treat the client as if nothing had happened.
Sick and disabled are re-assessed all the time, and no matter how permanent their conditions are, often WINZ seem to believe that "miracles" happen, and that such clients are suddenly "fit and healthy" and "able to work".
The system stinks, it is evil and pushes people to the extreme, it is a wonder we have no reports of suicide, but I suspect that coroners will not blame WINZ, and rather attribute death to other causes.
Maori need to wake up to the serious of this issue and treatment of our peoples which has been going on for near a 180 years now which is the deliberate and sustained genocide of our people which we now see apprent by the loss of elders with few Maori reaching pension age. This latest cut to sickeness and invalid beneficiaries is just another tax upon their crown grant account opened soon after birth and credited with the value of gold in birth/berth wieght ounces on open the market that day as published in the London Times. A system introduced throughout the commonwealth in return for subject to the reigning monarchy in return for one land and mineral assets etc. The commonwealth means eactly that so their is no short age assets to support the creation of money to alliviate povery worldwide. What we have is the tyranny of the majority here in NZ which has roughshod over the Maori people since first coming here. The purpose of the grant system which I believe was first introduced by Catherine the Great was to avoid another uprising by the pesants which happened as a result of them being uneducated and slaves of local armed tyrants who often brainwashed them into uprising agains the Monarch because the could not read or understand to introduction of readind and writing. The object of the excercise was and is brilliant, provide a small investment for every citizen born which is then invested in the secure state infrastructure and trading investments for the term or their lives the investment further offset via insurance via Swiss insurers. The Banks World Bank IMF UN etc have squander vast sums on projects of little benefit to mankind, time for serious look into these matters which are affecting us Maori negatively decade upon decade which ARE being driven by a REAL GENOCIDE mandate. Maori today own about 2.5% of total land area of NZ. Time to push back if we are to survive and enjoy the fruits of regeneration technology and other miricles. Lets not allow ourselves to be persecuted by these imposter false prophets.
Thanks Louisa – after a week of incredibly disappointing posts and tweets etc by some of your collaleagues, your intelligent response above came as a much-needed breath of fresh air!
In light of the fate of Mr Banks, the Maori Party must be fearing the after effects that is their reality come September 20. The lesson follows, 'go to bed with National and wake up criminal!
As usual, the right score 100% for hypocrisy. On one hand they chuckle with quiet delight about how easy it is to stich up alliances with rednecks and criminals to try and keep in power and then go ballistic when the left form any kind of alliance to attempt to get into power. When it comes to the old question of whether we need separate Maori seats or not, the answer is very simple: ask Maori. Hold a referendum and ask Maori voters if they want separate seats or not. That is the only way to get a straight answer.


text:
Body recovered from Lake Travis during search for missing swimmer
By Steven Sarabia
According to the Travis County Sheriff's Office, the swimmer was reported missing on April 17.
AUSTIN, Texas - A body was found In Lake Travis after crews spent the weekend searching for a missing swimmer.
"A body was found in the area of Devil's Cove where the man was reportedly seen," said Kristen Dark with the Travis County Sheriff's Office.
According to TCSO, the swimmer was reported missing on April 17. This week an autopsy is being done to see if the body they found this weekend matches that the missing swimmer as well as the cause of death.
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This marks the first body recovered from the lake so far this year. "The number of people who go missing on Lake Travis every year varies. It correlates with the lake levels when the lake is very full or people are out on it and more accidents happen," said Dark.
Last year, five swimmers went missing, and in 2019, four went missing. In all these incidents everybody was recovered, though sometimes this isn't always the case. "Unfortunately there are times we're not able to uncover the missing person and we hate that. We want to bring closure to the families we don't ever want to have to abandon the search," Dark said.
Lake Travis Dangers
Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit Lake Travis.
In 2018 Manuel Salas was last seen swimming in the lake. According to TCSO, recovery can be difficult at the lake because of what lies below the water.
"The area is basically a flooded canyon everything that was there is still there there's a full pecan orchard. There are full-grown 90-foot trees there, are houses down there and docs, there's a cement manufacturing area from when they built the dam, there's all kinds of stuff at the bottom of that lake that make it perilous," Dark said.
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While there are crews out in the lake to assist those in need, Lake Travis is large and it could take time for help to arrive. The sheriff's office recommends swimmers take the proper steps to ensure their safety.
"When things go wrong in Lake Travis, it can be deadly and one thing that can almost guarantee that you'll have a better outcome is to wear that life jacket," said Dark.


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Polskie filmy zgłoszone do rywalizacji o Oscara w kategorii filmu nieanglojęzycznego – kategorię "film nieanglojęzyczny" wprowadzono po raz pierwszy do 29. edycji Nagród Akademii Filmowej, której ceremonia odbyła się w 1957 roku. Wcześniej, na przełomie lat 1948–1956, ośmiokrotnie nagrodzono filmy zagraniczne Oscarem honorowym lub specjalnym. Statuetka wręczana jest zawsze reżyserowi, aczkolwiek za oficjalnego zdobywcę nagrody uznaje się kraj, z którego pochodzi zwycięski film.

Dotychczas polskie produkcje znalazły się w gronie nominowanych trzynastokrotnie – pierwszy raz w 1964 roku (Nóż w wodzie Romana Polańskiego), ostatni – w  2023 roku (IO Jerzego Skolimowskiego). Film Ida z 2013 roku Pawła Pawlikowskiego jest pierwszym polskim filmem i jak dotąd jedynym, który zwyciężył w tej kategorii.

Lista polskich filmów zgłoszonych do rywalizacji w poszczególnych latach

Zobacz też
 Nagroda Akademii Filmowej
 Polskie Nagrody Filmowe
 kandydaci do Polskich Nagród Filmowych
 kinematografia polska
 lista polskich filmów fabularnych nagrodzonych przez Międzynarodową Federację Krytyków Filmowych (1959–1989)

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