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The Return of Faraz Ali by Aamina Ahmad
A page-turning debut about power, patriarchy and politics; separation and secrets; set in late 1960s Pakistan.
Kinds of caring: Marzahn, Mon Amour & Here Again Now
Here are two books featuring different kinds of caring: the first a translated memoir about a healthcare professional who looks after people's minds along with their feet; the second a novel about an actor who opens his home to his struggling father and to his childhood friend.
Moral compromise: Mouth to Mouth & Booth
These two recent reads feature characters who find themselves in morally compromised situations, partly of their own making. The first, set in the contemporary US art world, is about a young man's relationship with a middle-aged man he saves from drowning. The second, set during a turbulent time in American history, focuses on a family of thespians, drinkers and dreamers.
Dishonourable histories: Palace of the Peacock & The Bureau of Past Management
These two unconventional novels address the difficulties of reconciliation to individual and societal involvement in the exploitation and annihilation of other communities and ethnic groups. Neither tells a straightforward story, but I struggled most with the structure and style of the first. This is a pity, as I'd like to have learned more about the persecution and murder of Guyana's indigenous people. I found the second, about the legacy of the Holocaust for contemporary Germans, an easier read.
Keeping going: The Life of the Mind & The Retreat
I was going to call this post hopes dashed, but that would be too sensational for these two lovely novels about women getting on with it after disappointment, not because they're heroic survivors but because they're ordinary flawed human beings. In the first, an untenured academic carries on as normal despite a drawn-out miscarriage; in the second, an aspiring artist continues painting despite a lack of talent and community support. Both stories unfold in elegant understated prose with touches of humour.
Science, bias and belief: The Atomics & Hurdy Gurdy
I'm struck by the similarities between these two novels, despite being of different genres and set six centuries apart. Both are about men who take pride in their knowledge and intellect yet are blind to the biases that limit their understanding, particularly in relation to women and to physical health. The first is about a nuclear physicist dosing himself with radiation, the second about a young monk's encounter with the Black Death.
The past lingers on: Ever Rest, Old Bones and This Other Island
Three short reviews of novels about how the past keeps hold of us. The first two are connected by the discovery of a body and a sleepy Shropshire village; the third novel, This Other Island, is, like Ever Rest, mostly set in London and, like Old Bones, it's about family secrets.
Novel perspectives on 20th-century fascism: Tonight Is Already Tomorrow & Widowland
Both these novels address mid-20th-century fascism from unusual angles: the first through the preoccupations of a Jewish family in Mussolini's Italy; the second through an alternative history in which Britain, instead of going to war against the Nazis, has succumbed to colonisation in everything but name.
Female friendship and kidnap: We Run the Tides & The Son of the House
Well, what do you know? I can't recall when I last read a novel featuring a kidnapping, and then two come along at once, both published (in the UK at least) on the same day (May 6). It's worth noting, however, that I wouldn't have flagged them as kidnap stories if I were posting these reviews individually. But it does distinguish them from the many other novels I might read about friendship and women's lives from childhood to middle age. The first is set in the USA and the second in Nigeria and, if either sounds like your kind of story, don't hesitate to get yourself a copy.
Interiority: The Performance & Nervous System
Let's consider two novels published this month which direct the reader's gaze towards the characters' inner lives, mentally and physically. The first, set in Australia during the recent rampaging bushfires, focuses on the characters' wandering minds as they watch a play. The second, set in the Americas, looks in on the body and outwards to the stars.
Wanderers: Salina & The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry
Salina roams aimlessly through the desert, sequentially accompanied by each of her three sons. Harold is physically and mentally unprepared for his epic journey, although he does have a specific destination in sight. Salina's story unfolds in a newly-published novella, translated from the French; Harold's in a deceptively light bestseller, published in 2012.
A woman of substance: Moon Tiger by Penelope Lively
Claudia Hampton is writing a history of the world, and of herself, but only in her head. Lying in a hospital bed, she is visited by memories of a rich and vivid life, beginning with scrambling up a cliff on a Dorset beach as a child in 1920. Narcissistic to the core, she seems to prefer her dreams to the flesh-and-blood characters who sit intermittently at her bedside: her daughter, Lisa; Jasper, her former partner and Lisa's father; Laszlo, her semi-adopted Hungarian son. But the only two people she's ever loved are dead: her brother, Gordon, and Tom, the soldier she met when she was a journalist in Cairo during the Second World War.
Sex and the consulting room: Lying on the Couch & Portnoy's Complaint
Two novels featuring sex and psychotherapy: can you guess which one I couldn't finish? The other is both entertaining and educational, so put your feet up and read on.
Aftermath: The Former Chief Executive & Little White Lies
These two novels deal with the aftermath of situations that had caught (fictional) media attention told from the point of view of a woman who tried to do her best. In the first, a political scandal has led to the titular Chief Executive's early retirement; in the second, an abducted girl is returned to her mother. Of course, the aftermath isn't quite as the protagonists expect.
Horror: Grey Bees, Witch Bottle & Faces in the Water
Only one of these three recent reads is classed as a horror novel and, although not my usual genre, it turned out to be my favourite of the three. But we don't need to evoke the supernatural to scare ourselves: there are real-life horrors in each of these stories. In the first, a translation, war has killed many and put the survivors' lives on hold. In the second, set in rural Cumbria, the spooky happenings are extra disturbing for a man with unprocessed memories of violence from childhood, as well as his helplessness in the face of his wife's agonising three-day labour. The third is a 1960s classic set in a horrific – but typical of its time – psychiatric hospital where the regime seems designed to make a bad situation worse.
No place in the American dream: Stoner & Interior Chinatown
No, I'm not going to mention the election, although I read the second of these two novels as a certain world leader screamed for the count to be suspended in some states and accelerated in others. And I wouldn't want to speculate on whether the status of these fictionalised ordinary Americans might shed some light on how half the country lost its mind. But I do love a story that upends the American dream. Where is the space for those who don't strive for success and fame? Where do the American Asians fit in the narrative? Prepare to be provoked and entertained!
Communities set apart: Three Things about Elsie; The Pear Field; Oshibana Complex
I'm sharing my thoughts about three recent reads set in communities slightly apart from the mainstream: the first two in contemporary residential care settings and the third in a dystopian future world. In genre they're also slightly apart from my usual fare: the first mass-market commercial fiction; the second, a translation (and therefore closest to my usual); the third, cyberpunk. Each offered something to intrigue and enjoy.
To and from Jamaica: Mr Atkinson's Rum Contract; Wonderful Adventures of Mrs Seacole; Augustown
When I selected my reading for Black History Month, I didn't realise that three of the four books had a connection to Jamaica. Nor did I realise that one would obscure black history as much as it illuminates. While three books are around ninety-seven short of composing a timeline, they're listed here in chronological order of the events they portray. Scroll down for links to my reviews of other books (mostly fiction) I've read in recent years.
Towards the collapse of the Berlin Wall: The Standardisation of Demoralisation Procedures & The Mussel Feast
These two recent reads evoke the cultural climate immediately before the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. The first is a zany novel about the political demise of a former Stasi agent. The second is a translation from German set around a family dinner table in dread of the tyrannical father's return.
Faith, fate and freedom: Pilgrims & The Yogini
Where once it was religion that kept the poor downtrodden, now it's capitalism as expressed in the Great American Dream, that we can all be winners if we set our minds to it. Both these novels transport the modern mind to a time and place where characters are conscious that not everything that happens is under their control. But that doesn't stop them from trying to appease the superpowers or exercise free will. In the first, we meet a group of thirteenth century pilgrims sacrificing earthly pleasures for an easier eternity; in the second, a young woman in modern secular India grapples with the ancient Hindu concept of fate.
Nannies and fault-lines: Lullaby & Latitudes of Longing
Realising I needed a stronger reason for pairing these recent reads than the alliterative letter L, I nevertheless feel shabby to have linked them through the childminder role. Okay, the nanny is the protagonist of the first, although she remains a shadowy figure, but only one of many characters in the second where it's as a mother, rather than as a parent substitute, that she advances the story. But, as was noted at the Zoom meeting of my book group discussion of Lullaby, nannies are as invisible in literature as they are in life. Rather belatedly, I also see that they're both about fault-lines: the first metaphorically, the second geologically.
Shadowed by violence: The Revolt & The Disaster Tourist
Strange bedfellows these two translations: the first an historical novel from France; the second a contemporary slipstream novel from South Korea. My excuse for linking them is an issue that was on my mind the day I finished the first and started the second, thanks to a non-fiction book I had ordered. Although women being blamed for sexual abuse and harassment is only a minor issue in these novels, it's so important I make no apology for ushering it into the limelight.
Moral issues: The Strange Adventures of H & Upturned Earth
I've recently read two historical novels about morality with surprising echoes of our current pandemic. The first is a fun story set in 17th-century London about a young woman concerned about losing the respect of her relatives when she turns to prostitution after becoming homeless during the Great Plague. The second is set in a copper mining community in 1850s South Africa, where lives are lost because the owners put profit before people.
Connected through music and literature: The Weight of a Piano & A Bookshop in Algiers
If you're reading through the lockdown, or listening to more music, you might be interested in these two books featuring dual narratives connected via an "instrument" of the arts. The second is a translated novella set in and around a real-life bookshop and publishing house; the first is about heartbreak compounded by the fear of letting go from a publisher who mostly does translations.
I'm fuming (furious, irate, incensed, enraged, seething, mad, livid, cross)
Life's changed so quickly, it's been hard to keep track. I'll admit my initial response was childishly self-centred. Woe is me, my favourite conference is cancelled; I won't be able to give my talk and sell half a dozen more books. But, soon after, I saw the point when large gatherings were banned (although it was a shame my Wednesday afternoon choir couldn't do its final concert). Next came concern for the mental well-being of those whose lives were restricted and livelihoods lost.
I felt grief when schools and pubs and restaurants were closed, despite not having much use for any of them; and guilt when a minor health issue kept me from my usual outdoor volunteering, with staffing already low as the over 70s were advised to stay at home. I welcomed the lockdown in bringing some order to an atmosphere of chaos and confusion, despite being appalled when I saw it happening to my publisher in Spain. I found a host of silver linings and even admired the most egotistical prime minister and the most extreme right wing government's management of the crisis. And then the doctors and nurses began to die.


Four revolving bamboo constructions were installed over a distance of 40 m in the shoaled valley of the Pai River. The circle forms painted into the sand this way are partly overlapping with their concentric inner circles and have a diameter of 12 m each. They emerge from turning the bamboo racks around their static axes. Each visitor can draw those sand circles afresh repeatedly.


I took this picture at the Tidal Basin when the cherry blossoms where in bloom at sunset. The cherry blossoms are wildly popular every year when they are in bloom. There's even a website that tracks the blooms and predicts when they will be in full bloom.
Purchase the Cherry Blossoms Sunset at the Washington Monument print.


Now There is a Router for Your Bluetooth Devices Too!
Access all of your Bluetooth devices and gadgets from a greater distance with Cassia Hub, the Bluetooth router. Working much like a Wi-Fi router, this hub extends the range of your Bluetooth connection up to 1,000 feet in open air and through up to three walls. No more moving your favorite speaker from room to room – you can access it from all over the house. Amazingly, the Cassia Hub can connect up to 22 Bluetooth devices simultaneously. Because it also connects to your Wi-Fi router, the Cassia Hub allows you to control your Bluetooth device and gadgets even when you're out of the house. The Cassia app bridges the physical gap between you and your devices by acting as a control panel for each one. Redefine your Bluetooth access with the Cassia Hub.
4.9 in.; Height - 7.8 in.


How to Find Your Power & Create Your Impact!!! | Transmute Your Destiny!!!
How to Find Your Power & Create Your Impact!!!
How to make an impact within a short amount of time in your organization, or at home?
The number one skill that can help you optimize your gifts and impact starts first with the most basic skills that wise men have shared for millennia-self-knowledge and self-awareness.
The oracle at Delphi, The Ancient Greek aphorism "know thyself" is not a coincidence, indeed it's the source of our power in term of influence and impact. As we reviewed last week, our identity is what allows us to explore this world with our senses.
In order for us to "function normally", our brain help us and is designed to "reduce" and filter information from all the billions of data coming at us. It is necessary for our survival.
That combination and necessity give us a subjective perspective on events around us; therefore the concept of human cognitive bias.
When we communicate with each other, it's really both our filters communicating to each other.
Based on what we have acquired since childhood and throughout our growth, certain set of filters that can be qualified as beliefs, shape our filters etc….
Here, what I wanted to address is a set of tools that I recently discovered and that helped me become more deliberate and impactful in my dealings both professionally and personally; I'm hoping that the sharings below will help you too.
If you want to let loose your power for about ten minutes and learn more about yourself, then read on below.
There are many tests out there that suggest our profiles about who we are, and what motivates us, so forth and so on. Initially, I had found Myers-Briggs, very helpful; Kolbe test, or even the six human needs from Tony Robbins is very helpful; just to name a few.
Recently there's a perspective that I find very useful, quick to handle and that will allow you to take charge quickly.
It's the view from David McLellan from Harvard University. It's the Learned Theory or the three needs Theory. The model was developed in the 1960s soon after Maslow's hierarchy of needs in the 1940s.
I personally found this very powerful and simple. In case you're not familiar with it, let me briefly share it.
The need for Power, The Need for Affiliation and the Need for Achievement. Each of us has different variation and degree of these needs obviously.
As we find out more about ourselves, we could identify our motivation in each situation we enter and therefore we can predict our own motivations and behavior ahead of time.
The power of anticipation is powerful.
If we can anticipate a group behavior ahead of time, it's powerful leverage in any situation.
I found this grouping very simple, but very practical as well. With a direct and "honest "self-analysis", you can know what are your top two needs. Therefore you can also "decipher" people in your surrounding very quickly.
If you are in customer service or in product management, this view is so helpful and almost priceless and most importantly in leadership position. The 3 needs are- the needs for achievement, power, and affiliation affect people's actions.
People with achievement-motivation are primarily driven by results and outcomes and the motive to master tasks and situations.
People with affiliation-motivation are primarily driven by the desire to connect, create and maintain social relationships. They love belonging to a group and want to feel loved and accepted.
People with power-motivation are primarily driven by the desire to influence, teach, or encourage others.
Obviously there's not an answer that fits it all, but I hope that within couple second you have been able to guesstimate your top two needs?
How about if you knew the top motivators of your partner? Your managers, your associates, your top clients?
Certainly it would be very useful.
As NLP suggests there are two types of motivation- We're either moving away from a motive or we're running toward a motive.
So with those 3 motives revealed above(power, achievement and affiliation), a practical use of these is to find out if we're subject to or more incline to move away or running towards.
There's no wrong answer, from coaching clients, what I found useful is that we all have a small dose of each.
The moving away is more urgent and more pressing usually, it's always a good way to "jump start" the movement (from a long status quo state). The moving away reveal our perception of the need for survival in one or another. As you can imagine that is a good start but that cannot be sustained.
The moving toward a goal produce more consistent and pleasant feeling and refers more toward our need to grow and reproduce.
Now To be effective, in our communications, in our dealing with even ourselves, a superior idea, would be to mix and match.
First initiate with moving away framing on the top two needs (example if one value is power) and then follow up with moving toward framing.
For example if your partner is primarily driven by let's say "power".
And moving toward could be like- being the leader, building the vision wanted and maintaining the status.
In that way, you can easily make an impact within a short amount of time in your organization, or at home.
Without a doubt, you would have found Your Power, and you would have Exercise It, and you would have Created Your Impact!!!
Previous PostThe Most Successful People Ninja Tricks.Next PostHow To Tap Into the Secret of Your Emotions?


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Kanada nahm an den Olympischen Winterspielen 1976 in Innsbruck mit einer Delegation von 59 (38 Männer, 21 Frauen) Athleten teil. Der Skirennläufer Dave Irwin wurde als Fahnenträger für die Eröffnungsfeier ausgewählt.

Teilnehmer nach Sportarten

Ski Alpin

Bob

Eiskunstlauf

Eisschnelllauf

Rodeln

Ski Nordisch

Langlauf

Nordische Kombination
Herren:
 Kurt Sjolund
 33. Platz

Skispringen
 Kim Fripp
 Normalschanze: 54. Platz – 175,9 Punkte
 Großschanze: 53. Platz – 125,9 Punkte
 Donald Grady
 Normalschanze: 55. Platz – 164,9 Punkte
 Großschanze: 48. Platz – 149,5 Punkte
 Richard Grady
 Normalschanze: 48. Platz – 192,6,8 Punkte
 Großschanze: 46. Platz – 153,3 Punkte
 Peter Wilson
 Normalschanze: 56. Platz – 149,4 Punkte
 Großschanze: 39. Platz – 159,6 Punkte

Weblinks

Länderkader bei den Olympischen Winterspielen 1976
Winterspiele 1976
Wintersport (Kanada)

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


The Long Beach Police Department is once again asking for the public's help with information regarding the July 21, 2018 murder of Fred Taft, which occurred at Pan American Park in Long Beach, and a composite sketch of the suspect is now being released.
Additionally, on November 27, 2018, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors extended their $10,000 reward for information leading to the apprehension and/or conviction of the person(s) responsible for Mr. Taft's murder, and the Long Beach City Council's $20,000 reward is also still in place.
Detectives are hoping someone may recognize the individual in this sketch and come forward with information.
Anyone with information is strongly urged to contact LBPD Homicide Detectives Michael Hubbard and Adrian Garcia at (562) 570-7244. Anonymous tips may be submitted through "LA Crime Stoppers" by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), downloading the "P3 Tips" app to your smart phone (available at the Apple App store and Google Play), or visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.
The LA County Board of Supervisors ($10,000), and the Long Beach City Council ($20,000), have jointly issued a $30,000 reward for information leading to the apprehesion of the person(s) responsible for the murder of 57-year-old Fred Taft. On 7/21/18 at approx. 4:26 p.m., Fred Taft was shot and killed while in a restroom at Pan American Park in Long Beach by an unknown male suspect, who then fled the park on foot.
Detectives strongly urge anyone with information regarding this murder to contact LBPD Homicide Detectives Michael Hubbard and Adrian Garcia at (562) 570-7244.
The Long Beach Police Department is seeking the public's assistance in identifying the suspect or suspects responsible for the tragic murder of Fred Taft. We are asking anyone with information about this crime to please come forward.
On July 21, 2018, at approximately 4:26 p.m., Fred Taft was in a restroom at Pan American Park when he was shot and killed by a male adult suspect. After the shooting, the suspect fled the park on foot. The only description of the suspect thus far, is a male White adult in his 50's, 6′ tall, medium build, and was possibly wearing dark shirt, light shorts, and a hat.
This murder took place at a time when numerous people were in the surrounding area of the park. Detectives believe there are individuals who might have information regarding this incident but have yet to come forward. Although this appears to be an isolated incident, the motive for the murder has not been determined and remains under investigation.
Solving this murder and ensuring public safety is of paramount importance to the police department. Efforts to identify the suspect and ensure the safety of our community will continue through increased patrols in and around the area of Pan American park. As with all investigations, the police department will continue to evaluate and assess other crimes that could be related to this murder.
Detectives strongly urge anyone with information regarding this murder to contact Long Beach Police Homicide Detectives Michael Hubbard and Adrian Garcia at (562) 570-7244. Anonymous tips may be submitted through "LA Crime Stoppers" by calling 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), downloading the "P3 Tips" app to your smart phone (available at the Apple App Store and Google Play), or visiting www.lacrimestoppers.org.


Jibril Mohamed, director of SomaliCAN, says the organization will launch a civil leadership training program.
In 2008, state lawmakers promised Ohio's growing African immigrant population a commission to address their needs. The New African Immigrants Commission, which would have an 11-person board, was supposed to start up the next year.
Eight years later, those seats are empty: No member has ever been appointed to the group.
"It would have provided a channel through which we could, you know, give our opinions and our concerns to elected officials from the governor through the mayor and everybody in between," says SomaliCAN director Jibril Mohamed.
Now, an organization that advocates for Somalis is taking matters into its own hands.
SomaliCAN announced they would launch a civic leadership training program this July. The exact date has not been determined yet.
Mohamed says the program is necessary to get Somalis more involved in political conversations.
"Providing them advocacy skills, connecting them with leadership through political parties and elected officials and city council, the state house, you know, congresswomen, congressmen," Mohamed says.
Ten people in the community will participate in the program and learn how to identify community issues and present them to key decision-makers. Mohamed says the training will help the Somali community study its challenges and determine the best paths to improvement.
According to data from the U.S. Census, Ohio has about 110,000 immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa. That's up from around 75,000 in 2005. Currently African immigrants make up 14 percent of all foreign-born residents in Ohio.
At the Abubakar Assidiq Islamic Center on the Columbus's West Side, over a hundred people from around the city gathered for Friday afternoon prayers. The themes of the sermon? Communication between parents and their children, and the issues of radicalization and Islamophobia.
Immigration advocates in Ohio are protesting what they say is stepped-up deportation enforcement by the federal government.
Columbus Council Considers Immigration Protections, But It's No "Sanctuary City"
An executive order from Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther back in January condemned arresting or denying public services to people based on immigration status. On Thursday, Columbus City Council held a hearing to consider turning that order into law.


Former Prime Minister John Patrick Amama Mbabazi has urged Ugandan across political divide to unite and work together.
"I wish you all and especially the Christian family a joyous Christmas Day," Mbabazi said in his December 24 message.
"Amama Mbabazi kindly share so that some people can learn to forgive, rekindle friendship after elections," Juna said.
"How did you get past your political opinions and came together to celebrate? Some people can't talk to each other since LC1 elections?" Becky asked.
Mbabazi was sacked as the Secretary General of ruling ational Resistance Movement party after the president learnt that he was nursing political ambitions and was planning to contest against president Museveni in 2016 general elections.


National Research Council. 1962. Detection and Measurement of Nuclear Radiation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. https://doi.org/10.17226/18670.
Click here to obtain permission for Detection and Measurement of Nuclear Radiation.


Infomir will sponsor the international IT conference Black Sea Summit, which will take place in Odessa, Ukraine, on 19th September.
Odessa is a city of entrepreneurship, creativeness and innovations. This is the place, where lots of huge outsourcing companies are based alongside with famous IT companies and successful start-ups.
The themes of latest innovations and global IT trends will be thoroughly discussed at Black Sea Summit. The main purposes of this event are creation of the conditions for productive communication and search of new opportunities in Ukraine.


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Fresh Out of Tokens Archive
I Need Diverse Games
February 20, 2017 February 20, 2017 cypheroftyr Contributor Post, Diversity, I Need Diverse Games, Mental Illness in Games, original content
Not Your Plot Twist by @sammmtastic
My Monster is #NotYourPlotTwist:
Examining the Exploitation of Stigma in Horror Games
By s.b.r.
This article contains discussion of many aspects of mental illness that some readers may find triggering. It also contains spoilers for The Park and Until Dawn.
Obviously, I can't speak for every mentally ill person out there, gamer or not. The experiences and opinions expressed here are my own.
"OMG, this weather is so bipolar today, idk what to wear, ugh."
"God my ex-girlfriend is such a crazy bitch. Hot, but psycho. Never date crazy girls!"
I am "crazy."* I am a person. I can hear you.
I've found that when most people think about mentally ill people, they seem to sort us into two categories: ill but functional enough that it can either be ignored or seen as a noble struggle against adversity, or so crazy it's uncomfortable to talk about. Or look at. Or acknowledge. The truth of the "scary" illnesses, the things beyond your standard (but equally valid) anxiety and depression, aren't spoken about. Sometimes someone like Carrie Fisher (RIP, wonderful human), exists and speaks out honestly about living with bipolar disorder. Even then, there's mostly silence. The reality is that these people are still people who experience the same emotions and daily joys and trials, simply to different degrees and effects.
Spoiler alert: people with mental illnesses can like horror games, too. I for one love horror, and I live with a long list of illnesses. I can even handle a jump scare or two if I am warned beforehand that they'll occur. I enjoy being scared when I know what to expect. That may sound counterintuitive, but if I know ahead of time that a game contains x or y mechanic, I know I can trust the game not to throw me something I can't handle. I may not like Five Nights at Freddy's, but I know what to expect from it. I can let loose and have a little fright.
The likelihood of a game actually telling me what to expect, however, is slim to none, especially when it comes to one of my biggest triggers: the demonization of mental illness.
You've probably heard the word "triggered" somewhere on the internet in the past couple years. Triggers and being triggered are, shockingly, not memes-they are the sort of language used by survivors of trauma and mentally ill people to describe things that can bring about, or trigger, episodes. These episodes (panic attacks, flashbacks or reliving a traumatic event, etc.) can range in type and severity from mild to debilitating, and vary from person to person. I and many of my friends have rather severe triggers that dramatically affect our lives. So when I see someone write LOL TRIGGERED about a trivial matter, and watch everyone in chat LUL along, it's like having someone repeatedly jab me in the side with a sharp stick. "Hey, your experience? Doesn't matter as much as my humor xD". People will excuse it with "Hey, it's the internet. What can you expect?" Maybe people behaving like people and showing a modicum of empathy, but I suppose that's too much to ask.
As for this particular trigger of mine? I can't handle lazy, stigmatized portrayals of mental illness, and they are everywhere. Outlast? Lazy violent asylum jump scare haven, albeit the most nuanced of the bunch but not enough to redeem it in my eyes. The Evil Within? Lazy violent escape-the-asylum story. Layers of Fear? Lazy environmental storytelling with a clearly generically-"crazy" protagonist that lasts about eight years too long once you've figured out the "twist." Alan Wake throws around the word "crazy" so much I thought about turning it into a drinking game and then realized I'd die of alcohol poisoning. Amnesia literally has a sanity meter and while I understand the Lovecraftian influence, it's not like Lovecraft's work was all about destigmatizing mental illness.
The two games I was most disappointed and rather blindsided by? The Park and Until Dawn.
I hadn't heard much about The Park, only that in a post-P.T. world it would offer a similar vibe (it doesn't), was wrought with environmental storytelling (it's not), and looked promising (it isn't). As a streamer I like to play games blind, but am cautious about horror games. When I went looking for other playthroughs or even a synopsis on the game's Wiki page, I found very little. Based on what I saw and read, the game seemed pretty straightforward: mom loses kid in park, goes to find him, explores scary park after hours in the dark, experiences things that go bump in the night. Maybe some jump scares, maybe some chase sequences. After reading horribly long notes meant to further the plot and experiencing a couple genuine scares, I was having a pretty okay time-a little on edge, but not in the danger zone. The game had established its rules, and I understood and accepted them.
Then without warning I was dumped into a rapidly degrading asylum hellscape, suddenly surrounded by a world of taking meds and padded cells and being strapped to gurneys racing through door after door-it was too much. I was blindsided and triggered. I had to pause stream for at least twenty minutes to talk myself down from a panic attack-twenty minutes of convincing myself I could still breathe, that I was okay and valid and alive, that nobody was conspiring to throw me into a mental hospital against my will despite all my efforts to be "normal," that my life and my experience were real and mattered and valid. When I returned, I closed the game and uninstalled it. Yet another piece of horror throwing the stereotypes of my experience around with reckless abandon, and without even having the decency to warn me.
On the other hand, Until Dawn seemed very upfront about its scares. I decided to play that one before I streamed, so it was almost like watching a really fun movie. I jumped and laughed at birds and other "gotcha" moments, tensed up at chase scenes, but was very unsettled by the therapist-style scenes (Shattered Memories, anyone?) in a way I wasn't sure was intended. Regardless, I wanted to keep going because the game was fun even though the characters seemed like cardboard cutouts (I've been told that was the point?), and I was having a pretty good time…until they revealed Josh was the horrible evil mastermind all along, out to prank his friends! What a twist! Josh's behavior is, of course, inappropriate, but he openly says he never meant to hurt or kill anyone, and there's no moment of recognition from any other character that his actions stem from his blatantly clear illness which was either brought on or aggravated by the mean-spirited "prank" his friends played that resulted in the horrific disappearances-assumed-deaths of his twin sisters. There's no moment, once Josh is neutralized, where anyone recognizes his pain, or takes responsibility for being a part of what brought him to this point. There is simply no humanity. There is even a choice to punch him, depending on how you've played. And then, of course, he's left to wander, in some of the most disorienting moments of the game, and left to most likely die at the hands of the creatures that used to be his sisters. "Reunited." I get that it's supposed to be this cheesy how-many-characters-can-you-keep-alive game where everyone has to fulfill an archetype, but I returned it once I finished it. Josh, the only mentally ill character in the game, the only one really portrayed as hurting, deserved more, especially when he wasn't even the real villain.
I've talked about this issue I have with horror games with a lot of gamers and streamers. The majority of them say, "So what?"
So, these games mock the existence of me and people like me.
As Dan Olson would say, every text is inherently political. When we're playing a game and the villains are "crazy," we want to avoid "crazy" at all costs, because if we come into contact with "crazy," we die. "Crazy" becomes associated with the worst thing possible, with death, with fear. This chain of associations directly furthers unconscious stigma regardless of the developers' intent. It's easy to write a game that buys into the current accepted stigma, because its acceptance means the game will probably sell pretty well. The same can be said of film-if you've seen The Visit or the trailer for Split you'll know M. Night Shyamalan has decided to make stigmatizing mental illness his personal cash cow, but that's a rant for another day. The way "crazy" is portrayed in the media is incredibly far from the "crazy" who lives and walks among you. It is easy and lazy to write an antagonist whose only defining feature is that they're a psychopath. "What's their motivation? I dunno, they like killing for sport? Cool." Sometimes they're a little more nuanced, like with Until Dawn, but even then they leave Josh in a place without room for redemption, and without empathy from any other characters. He is a set of mashed together symptoms from various "scary" illnesses, when in reality, he deserves all the empathy the player (and sometimes viewer) can muster.
Again, why is this a problem? This is the only form of representation we mentally ill folk have in the horror genre, and I personally can't think of a horror game that involves mental illness and doesn't villainize it to death. Outside this genre we have the honorable Depression Quest, but games and experiences like that are few and far between. In horror, all we have is stigma, and a deep-seated fear of "crazy" because it is dangerous, evil, unknown.
I don't know if it's possible to make a good horror game about mental illness. I believe Josh in Until Dawn was the closest shot we had at having a real conversation about mental illness, and they chose the easy, stigmatized route. I believe horror games that include mentally ill characters who-gasp-aren't the villains can exist, and can be good. But that would require effort. And thoughtful storytelling. Which is a rant for another day.
The stigma created by various forms of media, misinformation, and a general lack of information is slowly being broken down by opening up conversation about mental illness, but there is a great deal of awkwardness and unwillingness to do so, from both the mentally "healthy" and mentally ill. Stigma against anxiety and depression are well on their way to being torn down, but those are not the illnesses the media teaches us to fear, not the ones portrayed in horror games. These are not the "scary" illnesses. I have personally opened up recently about my experience with my mental illnesses on Twitter, and will discuss or mention it if it comes up on stream. It has been received primarily with awkward silence, "choose happiness" and other platitudes, or metaphorical pats on the shoulder. In real life and online, simply calling myself bipolar kills conversation, and that's without getting into the other illnesses I have in my bag of tricks. There is no empathy, only silence. It leaves me with a cold, sinking feeling that I will remain alone and without a community. It limits my professional progress, and the games I can stomach.
Nobody knows how to talk about mental illness because, well, nobody talks about it. The only way to learn is for people like me to talk, and for other people-perhaps you-to listen. I for one will continue to yell about my experiences from my tiny homemade soapbox that includes the ultra vulnerable and cathartic art I am making primarily for myself. I will do what I can to shine light on people with "scary" illnesses who speak out so bravely in a world that seems so indifferent to us. I will keep looking for horror games I can actually play, because I do love being scared-when I know I'm not the poorly executed plot twist.
*Why do I put "crazy" in quotes"? Because I don't believe it's a word that should be used, to describe actually mentally ill people or colloquially to mean ridiculous or absurd.
s.b.r. is a queer mentally ill gamer, writer, and artist. She currently works with Persephone's Daughters as a prose reader and a judge for their film division, Girls Don't Cry. She is also documenting her experience with mental illness through a photo project called thepit. You can contact her via Twitter @sammmtastic.
Tagged Contributor Post, Mental Health in games, queer gaming, s.b.r
Published by cypheroftyr
Tanya DePass is the founder and Director of I Need Diverse Games, a non-profit organization based in Chicago, which is dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. I Need Diverse Games serves the community by supporting marginalized developers attend the Game Developer Conference by participating in the GDC Scholarship program, helps assist attendance at other industry events, and is seeking partnership with organizations and initiatives. Tanya is a lifelong Chicagoan who loves everything about gaming, #INeedDiverseGames spawn point, and wants to make it better and more inclusive for everyone. She founded and was the EIC of Fresh Out of Tokens podcast where games culture was discussed and viewed through a lense of feminism, intersectionality and diversity. Now she's a co-host on Spawn on Me Podcast. Along with all of that, she's the Programming Coordinator for OrcaCon, she often speaks on issues of diversity, feminism, race, intersectionality & other topics at multiple conventions throughout the year. Her writing about games and games critique appears in Uncanny Magazine, Polygon, Wiscon Chronicles, Vice Gaming, Paste Games, Mic, and other publications.	View all posts by cypheroftyr
5 thoughts on "Not Your Plot Twist by @sammmtastic"
Allec Guire says:
Honestly wanting to play horror games while hating stigmatizing representations of mental illness is … rough, to say the least. Thank you so much for writing this, especially because you put into words why Josh from Before Dawn made me uncomfortable even though his illness wasn't being used for "scary villain" necessarily. Thank you!
Amber Skye says:
Thank you for writing this. As someone who suffers from acute psychotic episodes, this really needs to be said more often and louder. I find that an easy fix for the "sanity meters" of Lovecraft inspired games is to replace them with a "terror meter" (ex. Sunless Sea). because you can be scared senseless without being "crazy". Fear can make you believe horrifying things -jump at shadows etc- but sanity is something more nuanced than a little green dipstick that you stick in your ear and tells you that you need to refuel in your brain by candle-light.
personofcon says:
I agree with your comments about Until Dawn. I felt like it got close in some places to doing something different–like establishing, for example, that Josh's condition predated his sisters' death, that he didn't just "go crazy"–but fell short. It seemed like there were parts hinting that Josh would at least have a shot at redemption (Literally, "I hope for your sake Joshua, that you can find redemption") but there's no choice at all. He ends up a monster or dead, and that's it.
It doesn't help that most of the material that even hints at alleviating circumstances–Hannah's diary entry concerning his hospitalization, Josh's medical records, Sam's comment that Josh is "crying out for help"–only happen if you do something special, like turn to a hidden page or avoid capture in ch 5. Circumstances framing Josh as a human over a monster should be more than bonus material.
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redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


Daggy Man does it again with another beautiful ever-lasting song.
Only Kindness fills us with an electrifying sense of completion.
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Marilyn will leave no one indifferent, inside and out.


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text:
Hannah Fidell, née le  à Washington (États-Unis), est une réalisatrice, productrice et scénariste américaine.

Biographie

Hannah Fidell grandit à Bethesda, dans le Maryland, une banlieue de Washington.

Filmographie

Au cinéma

Comme actrice
 2010 : We're Glad You're Here : Sarah

Comme réalisatrice

 2010 : We're Glad You're Here
 2011 : The Gathering Squall
 2013 : A Teacher
 2015 : 6 ans
 2016 : The Road
 2018 : Casual
 2018 : The Long Dumb Road

Comme productrice

 2010 : We're Glad You're Here
 2011 : Man & Gun
 2011 : The Gathering Squall
 2013 : A Teacher
 2016 : The Road
 2018 : The Long Dumb Road

Comme scénariste

 2010 : We're Glad You're Here
 2011 : The Gathering Squall
 2013 : A Teacher
 2015 : 6 ans
 2016 : The Road
 2018 : The Long Dumb Road

À la télévision

Récompenses et distinctions
 A Teacher
Champs-Élysées Film Festival 2012 : prix US in Progress Official Selection
 Festival du film Nuits noires de Tallinn 2013 (Just Film Award) : nomination au Best Youth Film
 South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) 2013 : prix Emerging Woman
 Festival international du film d'Oldenbourg 2013 : nominations au German Independence Award et au prix du public
 6 Years
 South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) 2015 : nomination au grand prix du jury pour le long métrage narratif
 Champs-Élysées Film Festival 2015 : nomination au prix du public du Meilleur long métrage américain
  Hannah Fidell: Awards, sur l'Internet Movie Database

Notes et références

Liens externes

Réalisatrice américaine
Productrice américaine
Naissance en octobre 1985
Naissance à Washington (district de Columbia)
Scénariste américaine de cinéma


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Derniers rayons de soleil et couleurs vives pour un flash back années 90 qui repousse l'hiver.
Last rays of sun and bright colors for a flash back in the 90's years that repels winter.
Veste Ralf Lauren, Pull Uniqlo, T shirt COS, Ceinture Maison Martin Margiela, Short Promod, Collants Wolford, Guêtres Le Bourget, Boots Zara, Collier création personnelle.
Ralf Laurent Jacket, Uniqlo Sweater, COS T shirt, Maison Martin Margiela Belt, Promod Shorts, Worlford Tights, Le Bouget warming Spats, Zara Boots, Necklace of my own creation.


New Brunswick, Canadian province located on the eastern seaboard of the North American continent. It is Canada's only officially bilingual province, French and English having equal status. It was one of the four original provinces making up the national confederation in 1867. Together with Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, it forms the regional grouping known as the Maritime Provinces. New Brunswick has a roughly rectangular shape, about 210 miles (340 km) from north to south and 185 miles (300 km) from east to west. It is bounded to the north by the province of Quebec, to the east by the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Northumberland Strait, and to the south by the Bay of Fundy. The latter two bodies of water are separated by the narrow neck of the Chignecto Isthmus, which joins New Brunswick to Nova Scotia, to the southeast. To the west lies the U.S. state of Maine.
New Brunswick Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Chartered by King George III, the province was named for the royal house of Brunswick, and its capital, Fredericton, was named for King George III's son Frederick. While New Brunswick has contributed significantly to the national life of Canada, it is one of the smaller provinces and has always occupied a lesser role in the national economy. Its beautiful forests, rivers, lakes, and seashore—attractions for tourists, hunters, and sport fishermen—have remained relatively unspoiled. Area 28,150 square miles (72,908 square km). Pop. (2016) 747,101; (2019 est.) 772,238.
The land rises abruptly and in some places spectacularly out of the Bay of Fundy in the south and undulates northward in a series of rolling hills and rocky outcroppings. Plains and flatlands are limited to sea-level marshlands in the southeast, river valley floodplains, and low-lying lands adjacent to the beaches of the east coast. There are no true mountains, although ranges of rugged and sometimes steep hills run east-west a few miles north of the Fundy coast and in the north-central part of the province, where the highest elevation is Mount Carleton at 2,680 feet (817 metres).
This hilly landmass is cut in every direction by an extensive river system. The St. Croix River follows the southwestern boundary. The 418-mile- (673-km-) long St. John River, with its numerous tributaries, drains the entire northwestern, central, and south-central parts of the province. The high tides of the Bay of Fundy reverse the rapids at the river's mouth at the city of Saint John and raise the level of the lower river for up to 95 miles (150 km) inland. Additionally, a number of lake-size arms branch off the lower St. John on its eastern side, the largest of which is Grand Lake, about 60 miles (100 km) inland. The eastern part of the province is drained by the Restigouche River in the north, the many branches of the Miramichi in the north-central area, and the shorter Petitcodiac in the southeast. Spring flooding is common in many of the rivers.
The majority of soils are acidic and low in nutrients. Most of the well-drained soils are classified as podzols or luvisols. Almost all the cultivable soils have moderate to severe limitations that restrict the range of crops or require special conservation practices.
Clearly distinguishable seasons characterize the climate. Winters are snowy and cold, and summers are mild and pleasant. The fall, with alternating cold nights and sunny warm days, is particularly spectacular, as the blazing colours of deciduous foliage contrast with the solid dark greens of conifers. Temperatures at Fredericton range from an extreme low of −35 °F (−37 °C) to an extreme high of 99 °F (37 °C). In January the mean daily temperature is 14 °F (−10 °C), and in July it is 67 °F (19 °C). Temperatures are more moderate in the southern coastal regions. Normal annual rainfall is slightly above 30 inches (800 mm), and snowfall averages about 115 inches (2,900 mm); annual precipitation (which factors in snowmelt) amounts to about 43 inches (1,100 mm).
Forests cover the majority of the province, and coniferous trees commonly found in northern temperate climates—such as balsam fir, red and black spruce, pine, and hemlock—constitute the principal growth. Deciduous stands, especially along the river valleys, consist of sugar and red maple, trembling aspen, and yellow and white birch. Wild blueberries and cranberries are found commonly on thin soils, especially in southwestern areas. The forests support substantial herds of white-tailed deer, moose, and small animals such as porcupines and raccoons. The rivers and coasts lie in the eastern flyway of numerous migrating birds, best seen in early to mid-spring and late summer.
The English-speaking majority consists largely of the descendants of Scottish, Irish, and English settlers of the 18th and 19th centuries, along with those descended from loyalists who fled the American Revolution. It is concentrated in the southern and western parts of the province. The French-speaking minority, which has grown to about one-third of the population, consists of the descendants of 17th-century Acadian settlers augmented by French Canadians from Quebec, and it is concentrated in the northern and eastern counties. Descendants of the province's first inhabitants, the Indians (First Nations), remain in small numbers on federally administered reserves (reservations) along the east coast or in the St. John valley, or they have integrated into neighbouring communities. There are several thousand blacks, largely descendants of loyalist slaves, in the province as well. In the 20th century, small contingents of eastern European, Dutch, German, Italian, and Asian immigrants added a multicultural dimension, mostly in the larger urban areas. Roman Catholics outnumber Protestants, who are mostly of the Baptist, United Church of Canada, Anglican, Pentecostal, and Presbyterian denominations.
Settlement began on the coastline and rivers, where early settlers followed fishing and agricultural pursuits. Small towns tended to spring up along the river systems, which supported sawmills and general stores. Saint John, an all-season ocean port situated at the mouth of the St. John River, has been the largest city from earliest times. Moncton, in the southeast, emerged in the late 19th century as a railroad and distribution centre. Fredericton, the capital and an administrative, educational, and commercial city, is near the geographic centre of the province. Miramichi, located on the river of the same name, is an industrial city that produces paper and other forest products. Bathurst, Campbellton, and Edmundston, small bilingual cities in the north with French-speaking majorities, all developed on the basis of the pulp and paper industry. In the 1950s the Canadian armed forces established Base Gagetown, covering several thousand acres between Fredericton and Saint John, and they built the modern town of Oromocto for army personnel.
Population growth was relatively slight in the early 21st century. Many young adults, drawn by the employment opportunities and higher salaries of central Canadian cities and western oil fields, continued to migrate out of New Brunswick. Within the province, cities became the employment centres, although the common practice of commuting from rural homes or from suburban areas prevented significant urban population growth.
New Brunswick has a resource-based economy dependent largely on forestry, mining, and fishing. Tourism, agriculture, small-scale manufacturing, and a growing service sector provide balance and diversity. Real economic growth tends to be at or above the regional average for the Atlantic Provinces region, reflecting expansion in oil refining, telecommunications, computer software development, and natural gas distribution.
Only about one-fifth of the landmass of the province is suitable for agriculture, and less than one-third of that is actually under cultivation. Floodplains, which represent only a tiny percentage of the provincial landmass, possess the richest soils. They are suitable for truck farming, which is concentrated near the southern cities, notably in the lower St. John River valley. Small family farms remain the most numerous type among the province's approximately 3,000 farms, but their numbers are dwindling, and thousands of acres of previously cultivated land are returning to forest. The largest farms specialize in the leading cash crops, dairy products and potatoes, the former concentrated in south-central and southeastern areas and the latter in the upper St. John valley. Both benefit from large-scale food-processing plants in their respective areas. Poultry, cattle, hogs, eggs, maple products, and blueberries represent other significant commodities. Provincial policy focuses on soil conservation and new product development.
About four-fifths of the provincial landmass is forested, and the forest industry is the province's largest. Pulp and paper production represents the industry's largest single component; several cities and towns, mostly in the north, depend on large pulp and paper mills as their major employers. Sawmills are widespread as well, and other forest products include lumber, plywood, chipboard, fuel, and Christmas trees. The forests also provide a wide range of jobs in related fields. About half of the forested land is in the public domain, although large corporate users are responsible for reforestation and management of assigned districts. Wood supply and fluctuating foreign markets emerged as major challenges in the early 21st century.
The fishing and fish-processing industry continues to be important in the provincial economy. It employs numerous workers in the main fishing areas, including the Bay of Fundy, the Northumberland Strait, and the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Lobster, crab, scallops, herring, cod, mackerel, and a variety of other North Atlantic species make up the bulk of the catch. The industry is a volatile one, subject to seasonal and longer-term shifts in fish stocks, foreign competition, weather conditions, and credit availability; it has thus become highly dependent on government regulation and support. The development of aquaculture has supplemented the fisheries with hatcheries that produce salmon, trout, mussels, and oysters.
The discovery in New Brunswick of rich deposits of zinc and potash in the second half of the 20th century elevated the importance of mining in the provincial economy. The northeast, especially around Bathurst, produces zinc, copper, lead, silver, and peat moss. A lead-smelting operation is at Belledune, a port near Bathurst, and potash and natural gas are found near Sussex. Nationally, the province ranks high in the production of antimony, bismuth, potash, peat, zinc, silver, and lead. Coal, gypsum, and sulfur also are significant.
The provincially owned electric power utility vigorously expanded power generation in the 20th century. Hydroelectric developments along the St. John River system were supplemented by coal- and oil-fired steam-generating units and by the construction of a nuclear power station at Point Lepreau, southwest of Saint John. A power grid links the New Brunswick utility with all the neighbouring provinces and the United States and permits the export of excess capacity. A natural gas pipeline, carrying offshore gas to New England, also crosses the province.
The bulk of manufacturing industries in New Brunswick produce food products, paper, and wood products. Firms also manufacture metal goods, mineral products, and machinery. A number of small computer software companies operate in several of the province's cities as well. In the late 20th and early 21st centuries both the value of manufactured goods and production volume grew significantly. Canada's largest oil refinery, located at Saint John, experienced unprecedented growth in response to increasing demand throughout North America.
By the early 21st century the service sector employed more than three times as many people as did manufacturers. Tourism is a leading service industry, as the province's natural and cultural attractions, including many picturesque drives, draw many visitors. The province's advanced telephone system and bilingual workforce have attracted a telemarketing industry with call centres in several towns and cities. In addition, the federal government, through the work of its National Research Council, has encouraged the development of the information technology industry in New Brunswick.
Employment levels in the province are subject to seasonal variation, and unemployment rates in the early 21st century were slightly higher than the rates in Canada as a whole. Nevertheless, rates of employment showed improvement over past decades. Trends in the previous century had kept unemployment rates fairly high: a lack of diversification in the resource-based economy, high transportation costs, and a decline in manufacturing had reduced opportunities and contributed to significant out-migration.
The province derives the overwhelming majority of its revenue from various taxes. These include corporate and personal income taxes, capital taxes, a value-added sales tax, a real property tax, gasoline and fuel taxes, and a tobacco tax. The provincial budget also depends on federal equalization grants and other federal transfer payments. Such programs support the provision of economic infrastructure, such as in transportation and research, and have contributed substantially to the development of up-to-date amenities and services comparable to those found elsewhere in Canada.
At Saint John, a modern ocean port and the province's largest industrial centre, oil refining, shipbuilding, and papermaking are major employers. The city's port facilities are able to handle container ships, and they play an important role in exporting Canadian goods, especially in winter months when traffic on the St. Lawrence Seaway is curtailed. Moncton and Saint John remain major transportation and communication centres despite the reduced importance of railroads, and Moncton has emerged as an important regional distribution centre. Regional and national airlines provide regular service to all the larger cities, and a bus service links most urban centres. Heavily traveled highways link New Brunswick and the other Maritime Provinces with central Canada and the United States. The 8-mile (13-km) Confederation Bridge connects New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island.
New Brunswick possesses a technically advanced telecommunications infrastructure. Cable and satellite television services, wireless telephone service, and Internet access are all widely available. In addition, all public schools have access to the Internet.
The provincial government follows the constitutional forms of a Canadian province within the framework of the Canadian constitution. A lieutenant-governor, appointed by the governor-general of Canada on the advice of the Canadian prime minister, represents the queen and is the titular head of government. A premier and a cabinet exercise real power. The premier is the leader of the political party with the most elected members in the province's one-chamber legislature. Three national political parties are active. But although the New Democratic Party established a small foothold in the late 20th century, the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives continued their dominance into the 21st century.
The province has a network of modern hospitals, the largest of which are regional hospitals with specialized facilities and equipment. Hospital and medical care are both publicly funded and are supported by a provincial sales tax. Social services are administered by the provincial government, and the same standards apply provincewide. A provincial housing authority plans and develops projects for low-income families and for the elderly. Health, education, and social welfare programs all receive partial federal financial support.
Public education is free and includes kindergarten and 12 grades of elementary and high school. The system, unique in Canada, is administered by separate English and French sections of the provincial Department of Education and by elected school boards in a number of school districts, some French and some English. Teachers negotiate their salaries with the province, which raises and distributes funds to school districts on the basis of equality so that all areas of the province enjoy similar standards. All universities receive public funding but also rely on student tuitions and private contributions. The University of New Brunswick (established 1785), one of Canada's oldest higher educational institutions, operates from its main campus in Fredericton, which it shares with the Roman Catholic St. Thomas University; a second campus is in Saint John. The University of Moncton serves the French-speaking population from its campuses in Moncton, Edmundston, and Shippagan (Shippegan). Mount Allison University, once a private denominational college but now both publicly and privately funded, is in Sackville. There are also several trade and technical schools.
Culture is shaped by the predominance of the two largest linguistic groups, English and French. Ethnicity remains a strong determinant of cultural activity in some areas, as in the annual Irish festival held at Miramichi, the blessing of the Acadian fishing fleet at Caraquet, and Loyalist Days in Saint John. Summer festivals and fall fairs retain the flavour of the past and the traditions of the province's early settlers. Popular tastes in music include Irish, Scottish, and Acadian folk idioms and their North American country music derivatives.
The fine arts are distinguished by some outstanding work in painting, choral singing, and creative literature. Saint John artists of the 1930s and '40s, such as Miller Brittain and Jack Humphrey, produced striking social commentaries in their depictions of depression and war, while painters at Mount Allison University led the way in the 1960s in the development of a widely recognized regional group of magic realists. Divergent trends of the 20th century are represented by the works of two Fredericton artists: Molly Lamb Bobak, who painted crowd scenes and floral watercolours, and her husband, Bruno Bobak, who painted vibrant landscapes. Acadian choirs from the province, particularly the Moncton area, have won both national and international attention. Regional and provincial music festivals encourage music performance among youth, and internationally known musicians perform at summer chamber music festivals in Lamèque and Fredericton. Fredericton also claims to be the poets' corner of Canada: it is the home of the literary magazine The Fiddlehead, whose founder, the prolific poet Fred Cogswell, and others carried on a tradition first established in the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Bliss Carman and Sir Charles G.D. Roberts, arguably the founders of Canada's first school of poetry. Founded in 2000, the Northrop Frye bilingual literary festival in Moncton has attracted international participation. Antonine Maillet, an Acadian novelist and playwright from Bouctouche, achieved international recognition for her writing in French, which strikingly reveals the 17th-century idiom and structure of the language as spoken by today's Acadians.
Several institutions provide leadership in the arts. Theatre New Brunswick and the University of Moncton promote drama. The Beaverbrook Art Gallery in Fredericton houses an excellent small collection of British, Canadian, and other paintings of the past three centuries. Notable works include The Fountain of Indolence by J.M.W. Turner, Santiago el Grande by Salvador Dalí, and a significant collection of paintings by Canadian artist Cornelius Krieghoff. Several towns have public and private galleries featuring mostly regional work. The New Brunswick Museum in Saint John, the oldest in Canada, contains archival treasures from the province's past, while two historic reconstructions—King's Landing Historical Settlement near Fredericton and Acadian Village near Caraquet—depict rural life of the past century. Such historic sites as Fort Beauséjour National Historic Park near Sackville remind visitors of the Indian, French, and British roots of the province. A provincial agency fosters cultural activity and has been especially successful in developing and promoting fine crafts. Craft fairs featuring excellent work in wood, pottery, and other media are very popular in summer and fall. Scholars rely on university libraries, the archives of the New Brunswick Museum, the Provincial Archives in Fredericton, and the Centre for Acadian Studies at the University of Moncton. Municipal libraries are widespread.
Recreational activities fall into two groups, winter and summer. Skiing, hockey, and curling dominate in winter. Summer recreation focuses naturally on water: boating, swimming, and fishing flourish in a province that abounds with lakes, rivers, and accessible seashore, including miles of clean sandy beaches along the east coast. Several rivers are famous for their Atlantic salmon, while trout, bass, and pickerel also attract sport fishing. Whale watching near the western islands of the Bay of Fundy is popular as well. Other common outdoor pursuits include golf, tennis, and hunting; a regulated hunting season occurs in the fall of the year. Two national parks—Fundy National Park on the rugged coast of the Bay of Fundy (featuring the world's highest tides) and Kouchibouguac National Park on the Northumberland Strait—and several provincial parks provide camping, bird watching, and hiking. Well-maintained walking and bicycling trails have replaced rail beds in many parts of the province.
Several major daily newspapers circulate in the province. Among the leading English-language dailies are the Telegraph-Journal (Saint John), the Daily Gleaner (Fredericton), and the Times and Transcript (Moncton). The main French-language daily is L'Acadie Nouvelle (Caraquet). Television broadcasting derives mainly from the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), CTV Television Network, Global Television Network, and Radio-Québec. Cable and satellite television also are available. French- and English-language radio stations broadcast throughout the province.
The French were the first Europeans to lay claim to the province, part of a larger region that they called Acadia (French: Acadie), which was inhabited by Algonquian-speaking Indians (First Nations) of the Micmac, Malecite, and Passamaquoddy nations. The British took over Acadia in 1713, although the French claimed and defended the area that is now New Brunswick until they were defeated militarily in the 1750s. The British expelled or dispersed most of the French-speaking Acadian settlers in 1755 (many of whom eventually returned) and governed the area as Nova Scotia until 1784, when New Brunswick was established as a separate province with its present boundaries.
Seal of New Brunswick, Can. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
Coat of arms of New Brunswick, Can. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
The first English-speaking settlers, from New England, moved into the St. John River valley and founded the town of Maugerville in 1762. But it was the influx of some 14,000 loyalist refugees from the American Revolution, mostly from New York and its vicinity, that created the pressure for separate provincehood. The loyalist city of Saint John became Canada's first incorporated city in 1785, and smaller settlements were established in the St. John and St. Croix valleys.
After early problems of adjustment the loyalist communities of New Brunswick began to prosper. Underlying the improved economy was the British decision in 1808 to grant preferential tariffs to the timber resources of its North American colonies, a move made when Napoleon I's blockade cut off the Baltic supply of shipbuilding materials to the British. For New Brunswick, with its limited agricultural lands but widespread forests, this historical incident provided an opportunity that helped usher in the so-called age of wood, wind, and water, an era of prosperity based on timber exports and shipbuilding. The Reciprocity Treaty with the United States in 1854 and the demand created by the American Civil War further stimulated trade.
Politically, the province moved slowly toward a more democratic system. Government in the first generation was dominated by a loyalist elite supported by British imperial authority. Responsible home government (government in which the executive branch is drawn from, and answerable to, an elected legislative branch) was granted by Britain in 1848. Political parties, organized largely along ethnic and religious lines and prompted by the prohibition issue, emerged in the 1850s. With its economic success and political independence, New Brunswick entered confederation with Canada in 1867 somewhat reluctantly.
Confederation, however, coincided with the collapse of the age of wooden ships, and New Brunswickers found themselves scrambling over the next 100 years to rebuild their economy on a new foundation. Railroads and national tariffs helped in the development of manufacturing, such as that of cotton textiles, but the province suffered from the pull of the urban growth areas of Quebec and Ontario. By the 20th century, New Brunswick required federally subsidized freight rates, and it argued, along with other Maritime Provinces, for federal financial assistance, which, after the mid-1900s, it obtained.
Meanwhile, a modern party system emerged in which, until the 1970s, the old elements of ethnicity and religion continued to be significant. Liberals and Progressive Conservatives alternated in government at fairly regular intervals. In the mid-20th century, both parties sought economic development based on new electrical power facilities. In the 1960s a Liberal equal opportunity program revolutionized the delivery of health, justice, education, and social services by abolishing counties as administrative units and by centralizing funding and administration at the provincial level. Unique in Canada, the system met strong early resistance, but it continued under the subsequent Conservative government and won acceptance, especially in less-prosperous rural and northern areas, as a means of equalizing services in all parts of the province. Since the late 1980s, both Liberal and Conservative governments have emphasized fiscal restraint, balanced budgets, the restructuring of public services, and a reduction in dependence on federal financial support. In the 1990s and early 21st century, governments continued to pursue economic self-sufficiency.
New Brunswickers think of their province, with its two languages and cultures, as a microcosm of Canada. Moreover, the province's small size tends to promote support for Canadian federalism among members of both linguistic groups. Even at the beginning of the 21st century, the province retained qualities of its rural and small-town past.
education: Newfoundland and the Maritime Provinces.
In education: Newfoundland and the Maritime Provinces.
The purple violet is the official flower of New Brunswick.
"Spem reduxit (Hope was restored)"