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The Boy from Tandale: The Rise of Diamond and his Wasafi Record Label
9 min read.
An in-depth look at Bongo Flava's most well-known artist, and the talents and business acumen that led to the astronomical success of his record company.
Darius Okolla
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Tandale estate is a solid flood-prone flat pan stacked amidst patterned limestone shacks at the heart of Dar es Salaam, just north of Kwa Mtogole and south of Kijitonyama and 7 kilometres from Dar's famous Coco Beach. It's also home to a former clothes vendor, Naseeb Abdul Juma and Raheem Rummy Nanji from Iringa.
Raheem, a budding musician, would alongside Tanzanian youthful celebrity Hakeem 5 earn the Nyamwezi-sounding moniker Vijana Sharobaro from the versatile all-time hit-maker Dully Sykes, who then worked under Dhahabu Records. In christening them Sharobaro in the 2000s, Sykes, then a popular bongo musician, seemed to have infused their budding careers with long-sought street cred just as the industry panned out to new sounds and styles.
The clothes vendor Naseeb was meanwhile stuck in blue-collar trade, first in freelance photography, then as a filling attendant, and also had a stint in gambling, while pursuing the ever-elusive money for studio fees. Meanwhile Raheem, now famously known as Bob Junior, would go on to establish Sharobaro Records, a hole-in-the-wall recording studio built for its time, and weirdly successful for its stature.
Back in Tandale, Naseeb's dalliance with talent manager Chizo Mapene didn't yield much professional or economic outcomes despite lots of initial prospects after which Naseeb hooked up with producer Msafiri Peter, aka Papaa Misifa, in 2009. Naseeb linked up again with Raheem of Sharobaro Records from where he recorded his first major hit, Nenda Kamwambie. The year 2010 looked promising, and with this debut album, the young Naseeb was introduced to Tanzanians and the East African region.
The album is mushy, existential, soulful, with heart-tugging reflections. It is borderline whiny, yet relatable and includes songs like Kamwambie, a dedication to his unrequited love, and Nitarejea sung alongside the ailing star Hawa. The latter is about a love that his foray into the city for work won't quench despite the distance.
With the three hits – Kamwambie, Mbagala and Nitarejea – Naseeb, now known by his stage name Diamond Platnumz, harnessed the supple fluency of the local Kiswahili dialect and the poetic idioms of street slang to hog the limelight and introduce himself to the world.
In a region where the wider creative economy largely apes – and where possible solicits – the stature, money and alliances with global (and mostly American hip hop) for traction, Diamond Platnumz's success has defied the odds both in style, sound, reach and influence. It's in his 2017 interview with Forbes magazine where he would credit the traction that enabled him to consistently cash in on his musical talent as the mark that transitioned his music from a passion to a career.
No doubt his ability to craft a cultural Bongo Flava moment owes credence to legends like the 1990s Radio DJ Mike Mhagama. Mhagama coined the term Bongo Flava as a distinctive buzzword for the yet-to-be-defined musical genre that arose after the advent of private radio stations in Tanzania in the mid-1990s. Bongo Flava originated in Dar and is derived from a variety of musical genres, including American hip hop, reggae, R&B, afrobeat, and traditional Swahili musical styles, such as Taraab. The phrase, which was meant to delineate Tanzanian hip hop from American hip hop, anchored itself in the country's showbiz lexicon as a tell-apart and defining tag for Tanzanian pop.
Naseeb's best contribution to the East African artistic scene is through his WCB Wasafi Records platform, for which the wider public has rewarded the company monetarily and brand-wise due to its astute combination of edgy production, track-for-track hits, balanced quality music, and commercial success. These, coupled with entrepreneurial vision, and unyielding versatility, reminiscent of Bigg's Roc-a-fella or Irv Gotti's Murder Inc inevitably centred Wasafi as an East African cultural project.
The 2012 Lala Salama album shifted the recording company from soulful and heart-felt tunes to a flashier Afropop that saw the label pan its wings and doggedly pursue partnerships with Africa-wide celebrities and global brands such as Ishmael 'Omarion', and American hip hop star Rick Ross.
Back in Bongo, the musical fan base and their gladiatorial instincts fuelled supremacy wars akin to the imagined rivalry between Ronaldo-Messi in football, or Dar musicians' Dudu Baya-Mr. Nice's tiff. The online infractions saw the Wasafi Records founder Naseeb aka Diamond unwittingly pitted against his fellow star and erstwhile rival Ali Kiba. None seemed too pleased by the fan base warfare, which they've repeatedly admitted they are unable to quell or contain.
Lizzer Era
Diamond's 2013 performance in Burundi not only linked the Wasafi founder to Burundian star Lolilo, but also led to a chance encounter with the then Burundi-based influential producer, Kigoma, born Siraj Khamees and stage-named Lizzer Classic.
When Diamond started Wasafi around 2014 – the origins of which came in the midst of a fast-rising career – the Tanzanian music scene had hit a lull after the heydays of Matonya, Mr. Nice and Ray C. His creative and business acumen seems to have chanced upon the realisation that the market yearned for a new sound and style.
From the get-go, reservations arose regarding Lizzer's sampling of Burundian sounds into Tanzania's Bongo Flava music. Lizzer, who had fled the 2010 state-sponsored electoral clashes in Bujumbura to Kigoma, was unrelenting and convinced there was place in the Tanzanian market for an updated version of Bongo Flava. He would take his first shot with Rayvanny's Kwetu, a mushy-tinged serenade whose popularity gave legitimacy to Lizzer's cross-border musical style.
In the working partnership between Lizzer and Diamond, a rising star met international experience; a mercurial duo akin to the then young Shawn Carter's co-directorship with the steely Kareem "Biggs" Burke, and the colourful Damon Dash back in 1995.
Wasafi's rise, like any other cultural moment, exists at the confluence of historical accidents, chance encounters, demand for new sounds, and huge individual effort just at the point where Dar's audio-visual culture boomed, primarily on YouTube and Vimeo. As Odipodev clarified, the combination of local relatable content, proliferation of smartphones, and YouTube algorithms often helps generate a self-perpetuating model of proliferation and popularity onto what the viewers have already deemed to be superior content.
Lizzer, in his interviews with Bernard Mpangala at the WCB Wasafi offices, modestly remarked that their outsized commercial and cultural success wasn't anywhere near monopoly, given that lots of their musical stars still work with other producers besides them in producing their albums.
Even then, he'd opine that at least 50 per cent of the album would be produced by Wasafi. Lizzer attributes his updating of Bongo Flava music from its widely varied days in the 2000s to the influence of Korean and Chinese music, of which he is an ardent fan.
The Korean influence on the updated Bongo Flava sounds can no doubt be gleaned from the storylines, the colourful Oriental dressing, and the unsynchronised dance moves of the Korean pop crew BTS in their hit song DNA. The same can be seen in the Chinese pop hits in the strain of NGirl's Goddess choo choo choo and the Chinese songstress Feng Timo's sleek improvisations and animated dramatisations, with their parallels in Salome, Zigo, or Mwanza Nyegezi.
Wasafi's rise, like any other cultural moment, exists at the confluence of historical accidents, chance encounters, demand for new sounds, and huge individual effort just at the point where Dar's audio-visual culture boomed, primarily on YouTube and Vimeo.
Lizzers' signature tune Ayo Lizzer is a drop by Diamond edited to obscure his easily recognisable voice. Lizzer claims the tune allows the production team to dissuade artistes from mentioning him in the lyrics while still acknowledging his creative contribution.
Lizzer's career's steep ascend in late 2000s in Burundi drove him up the ranks and roped in big regional artistes like Sat B, Big Fizzo, Lolilo, Rally Joe and Emery Sun. Even then, it's Rayvanny's Kwetu that earned Lizzer acceptance in Tanzania, and the updated rendition of Saida Karoli's Salome that set him up as a new sound in East African production.
Let's make money
The Wasafi ecosystem hit its golden age from 2015, with Rajab 'Harmonize' Kahali, their newest signee chugging hit after hit with dizzying commercial success. Then came Mwanajuma 'Queen Darleen' and Raymond Shaban 'Rayvanny' in 2016, and Richard Martin 'Rich Mavoko', Juma Idd 'Lava lava' and Yusuph Kilungi 'Mbosso''s hits in 2017. Wasafi became a Foxconn of music in which insane work schedules blended with keen and demanding producers, and ever inventive back stage casts.
Director Diamond, as well as managers Babu Tale, Sallam SK, Said Fella, Joseph King, and producers Lizzer and Tuddy Thomas capitalised on the new sounds to feed a frenzied and ever-expanding fan base, while revitalising production wherever their music was heard. The rising popularity, combined with commercial astuteness and a growing band of talented artistes, saw the label dabble in top-selling ringtones, pricey and sold-out concerts, Wasafi Festival tours, royalties, product lines, club and TV appearances, and brand deals.
The Tanzanian record label pursued a multimedia model with the music streaming service wasafi.com launched first, while Wasafi TV and Wasafi FM further widened their reach and offering. This Wasafi ecosystem's unprecedented savviness also earned them brand endorsements from Vodacom, Red Gold, DSTV, and Coca Cola.
The litany of commercial streams rewarded their work ethic and ingenuity. And while Wasafi's market capitalisation is fuzzy and its transactional records remain inaccessible, Diamond's estimated $4.5 million net worth is astronomical by any measure.
Curiously, the Wasafi ecosystem's numerous rags to riches stories within its ranks is easily traceable to a policy of working with talents from poor backgrounds, something the directors admit to be true and deliberate. The ecosystem's big acts, Konde boy Harmonize, Chibu Dangote Diamond, and Vannyboy have morphed from bootstrapping a half a decade ago to commanding fees in excess of $10,000 to $70,000 per show and earning upwards of $25,000 from streaming apps monthly.
This outsized influence has come with its own fair share of challenges. For instance, Baraza la Sanaa Tanzania (BASATA) took a moralisng stance against the artistes' song Mwanza over what it dubbed explicit content. In 2018 BASATA put a leash on two of the label's defiant big stars, RayVanny and Diamond, who in the end called for a truce owing to the risk of commercial losses that came with the ban.
Mr Kayanda, the agency's interim executive secretary, brought down the full force of regulatory coercion, which elicited the age-old question of who deems what is explicit and triggered a moral debate in artistic expression. BASATA's move amounted to predictable flexing, given President Magufuli's wider crackdown on dissent, including clamping down on media personalities and political dissidents.
Despite lacking a clear social cause, the Wasafi ecosystem has latched onto Dar es Salaam's goal of providing 100,000 additional desks in its primary school classes as part of plugging the 1.4 million desks deficit. Their overall social cause and focus has, however, not been noteworthy outside of scouting for talent among the lowest socio-economic strata. The politically-conscious musician Roma Mkatoliki of the Rostam crew, who is a former teacher, and a dozen other artistes have also jumped onto the donation bandwagon.
The waning years
WCB Wasafi's ecosystem has managed to inspire a cultural moment, and an ardent fan base, and has surpassed the mere tag of a label or a brand. However, for this ecosystem, achieving collective success has been the easy part while handling individual flaws, infighting, substantial talents, and an ever-growing team and fame has proved to be a challenge.
Rommy Jones, the founder's kin, who is also Wasafi's DJ, reckons that the artistes' love lives and their relations with the female fan base are the main source of trouble for the organisation. In recent months, Diamond publicly fell out with his partner Zari Hassan and hooked up with video vixen Hamisa Mobetto, and then moved on to Tanasha Donna, while Rayvanny has a long talked-about dalliance with a Kenyan socialite.
Meanwhile, Harmonize dumped his lover after an alleged romp with a Caucasian female acquaintance. Rommy faced sexual assault allegations during Diamond's April 2016 tour of Sweden, which led to Diamond cutting short his performances.
Besides trouble with the national arts council (BASATA), artistes' exit from the recording firm could either be viewed as them having grown too big for one platform, or as the road to the demise of what's still the most popular and competitive recording company in the region.
The record company first sign-up, Harmonize, has exited the label while the prodigious Richard Rayvanny is allegedly also on his way back to his former Tip Top Records, citing dissatisfaction with his contract. Mbosso's manager, Ms. Sandra Brown, checked out, and so did Mr. Joel Vicent Joseph, who complained of poor pay and workplace harassment from one of the big name singers.
In a move reminiscent to Roc A Fella's 2002 fallout in which Shawn 'Jay Z' Carter and co-director Damon Dash, while enjoying huge creative success, were grappling with behind-the-scenes squabbles, Rayvanny felt relegated to third place as Harmonize took second spot.
Mtwara-born Harmonize, it is said, was unhappy with Chibu's public revelations of his personal matters. He was also displeased with regards to his contractual obligations, which eventually led him to exit and form the Konde Gang label.
WCB Wasafi's ecosystem has managed to inspire a cultural moment and an ardent fan base, and has surpassed the mere tag of a label or a brand. However, for this ecosystem, achieving collective success has been the easy part while handling individual flaws, infighting, substantial talents, and an ever-growing team and fame has proved to be a challenge.
Because it is still patronised by great talent managers Babu Tale and Tudd Thomas, and producer Lizzer's innovative knack, as well as a huge financial chest, and street smarts, the Wasafi ecosystem may survive much longer than the naysayers imagine. Through this ecosystem, Naseeb, the boy from Tandale, has managed to morph local music into likable and popular music, earning it both regional appeal and international stature.
The record label's rise though has put it at crosshairs with Clouds Entertainment, who though coming in later into the Tanzanian arts scene after DJ Mhagama had launched Bongo Flava, views itself as the bona fide curator of Tanzania's youthful cultural revolution. The late Ruge Muhataba and Joe Kusaga seemed unamused by the rise of a new media ecosystem outside of their patronage and capacity. This worsened after the altercation between a Wasafi staffer and two journalists from Clouds Media in February 2018 after which Cloud banned all Wasafi music and arts from their platforms.
The ultimate test for the five-year-old Wasafi platform will be managing Harmonize's transition from the ecosystem since he co-owned Zoom Production Inc with Diamond. Zoom is one of the biggest cogs in the ecosystem and in charge of most of its video productions.
As they straddle between sizeable successes, an insatiable fan base and internal fallouts, the Wasafi ecosystem, ironically, risks getting cannibalised by a cultural moment that it was instrumental in creating.
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By Darius Okolla
Darius Okolla is a researcher based in Nairobi.
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The Colston Four and the Lawful Excuse: Toppling Imperialist History
Peaceful social change starts with landmark actions that receive international attention and change public perceptions.
Lotte Hughes
The so-called Colston Four, young white British activists who were prosecuted for vandalising the statue of seventeenth century slave trader Edward Colston and throwing it into a harbour in Bristol, England, in 2020 have been acquitted of the charges in a landmark case.
The accused were charged with criminal damage. They did not deny toppling the statue, but argued (among other things) that their actions were justified on the grounds that Colston's crimes were so horrific the continued presence of his effigy on our streets was offensive, abusive and distressing. Its presence was a hate crime; by removing it, they were preventing a more serious crime. To widespread surprise, the jury accepted "lawful excuse" as a defence.
The verdict has prompted uproar among Tory voters, Tory MPs and the right-wing media, outraged (as they see it) that this is a victory for so-called "wokery", the Left, and mob rule. Prime Minister Boris Johnson even waded in to say that people should not "go around seeking retrospectively to change our history".
On the Left, the verdict has been hailed as a triumph for morality, people's justice, and a partial payback for historical crimes.
Millions of British have learned more about their nation's dark history and heritage in a few days than they ever learned in years at school. The very fact that the issue has sparked furious public debate is a significant step on the road towards decolonization. Media that would not normally cover history and heritage has devoted pages, and hours of airtime, to discussion of the toppling and subsequent case. Predictably, some say the verdict has "ignited culture wars". In fact, these were pre-existing – fomented by Johnson's government, which even has a culture wars unit within the No. 10 policy unit (ironically led by a former communist), and stoked incessantly by right-wing newspapers like the Daily Telegraph, whose online comment threads went into meltdown after the verdict.
I will describe the initial event before going on to discuss the trial and its wider significance.
The toppling of the statue
At a Black Lives Matter (BLM) demonstration in Bristol on 7 June 2020, following the murder of George Floyd, the bronze statue of Colston was ripped from its plinth and thrown into the River Avon. Colston was a shareholder in, and (for a while) deputy governor of, the Royal African Company, responsible for enslaving and shipping to the Americas an estimated 84,000 Africans, of whom some 19,000 died en route. He was also a philanthropist who used his tainted wealth to benefit Bristol, and this was why the statue was erected in his honour in 1895. Schools, hospitals, churches and other buildings bore his name. All have since been renamed.
For years the people of Bristol had complained about the statue, and asked the council to remove it. When all appeals failed, some decided to take matters into their own hands and pull it down. The effigy found a fitting resting place in the harbour from which Colston's slave ships had sailed. The council, led by black mayor Marvin Rees (who, incidentally, supported the prosecution), arranged for it to be dredged up, and the red paint-spattered statue ended up on its side in a local museum, alongside educational materials explaining the wider historical context, and BLM placards from the protest. In response to those on the right who angrily called this "an attack on history" and the attempted "erasure" of history, Bristol-based British-Nigerian historian and broadcaster David Olusoga declared, "This toppling is not an attack on history. It is history." Olusoga was called as an expert witness for the defence at the trial.
The accused chose trial by jury in order to have their day in court. The alternative was to appear before a lower magistrates court, as some of their fellow protesters had done. (They were found guilty and lightly sentenced to community service.) As is usual in jury trials, a presiding judge can direct the jury to come to a particular decision, and give guidance on points of law. The judge told jurors they must decide the case on the basis of the evidence before them. He expressed concerns that undue pressure was being placed on them by defence barristers.
The defendants argued that they were acting to prevent the more serious crime of public indecency. Their lawyers claimed that the council's failure to remove the statue, despite 30 years of petitions and other pleas, amounted to misconduct in public office. Throughout the proceedings, observers say it felt as if Colston and the council were the ones on trial. The defendants also argued that the citizens of Bristol were the owners of the statue (since their forebears had erected it in the first place), and that the majority of citizens would support their actions. Their third main argument was that they had lawful excuse; a conviction would mean that their freedom of expression and assembly under Articles 10 and 11 of the European Convention on Human Rights had been interfered with.
The effigy found a fitting resting place in the harbour from which Colston's slave ships had sailed.
One of the defendants, Sage Willoughby, told the court: "Imagine having a Hitler statue in front of a Holocaust survivor – I believe they are similar. Having a statue of someone of that calibre in the middle of the city I believe is an insult…" Outside court, after the verdict, Willoughby took the knee.
Attorney General Suella Braverman has said she is considering referring the case to the Court of Appeal because the verdict is "confusing". But it cannot be changed. Braverman has been accused of political meddling. If the case does go to appeal, the judges will not rule on whether the jury's decision was correct, only on whether there was an error in law in the directions given to the jury.
In press coverage and responses to it, Professor Olusoga (who has won numerous awards for his work) has been the target of highly personalised attacks on his integrity and alleged "bias". One Telegraph reader, for example, wrote online, "From what I have read his evidence amounted to a diatribe denouncing Edward Colston as a mass murderer. I think his contempt for our history is evident."
The wider significance
The protest was part of the international BLM protests following the murder of George Floyd. The statue toppling was even mentioned at his funeral.
Some critics have mocked the Four for being white and having posh names that suggest they are middle class and therefore privileged (Rhian, Milo, Sage and Jake). "They should be patriotic to their race!" declared one Daily Telegraph reader, enraged at what he saw as class and race traitors. "None of the defendants were black. Rather, as you can tell from their names (including Milo Ponsford and Sage Willoughby) they were almost comically typical of a certain rah, right-on Bristol type," wrote Telegraph columnist Douglas Murray. But protesters at the rally that day included many whites, as well as people of colour and mixed heritage, reflecting the city's multicultural population. The same applied to other BLM rallies, in the UK and US, following the death of Mr Floyd. A rainbow crowd was also seen at protests in Oxford, by members of the Rhodes Must Fall movement, calling for the removal of the statue of Cecil Rhodes from the façade of Oriel College. The whiteness of the Colston Four can be seen as a positive – indicating that people of all ethnic backgrounds are uniting to call out racism, colonialism and historical injustice.
The trend towards multiracial protest is positive for the entire decolonization process. (Not that past protests, such as those that took place during the American civil rights movement, were not also multiracial.) For one of the most insidious and long-lasting impacts of colonialism was to create binary opposites rooted in race and (notional) racial difference. Both black and white are still locked into this binary opposition, to the detriment of everyone. It is part of the right-wing racist narrative to keep black and white in separate boxes, and to oppose multiculturalism and miscegenation. This was very evident in the media coverage and other right-wing reaction to this verdict.
The defendants argued that they were acting to prevent the more serious crime of public indecency.
This outcome, and the toppling that preceded it, are part of an irreversible global move to decolonise. This includes action to decolonise the curriculum in schools and higher education; the work of the National Trust in Britain to educate visitors about the tainted wealth, often derived from slavery, upon which many stately homes were built (moves much hated by the right, which has tried to sabotage the Trust's management); and the increasing trend towards the repatriation of stolen artefacts held in British museums. Controversy still rages over the question of returning the Elgin Marbles to Greece.
The Labour Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has set up a Commission for Diversity to work to improve diversity in the capital's public realm and increase public understanding of existing statues, street names, building names and memorials. It was not created, as some right-wing critics claim, to decide upon the removal of statues. The BBC has recently dropped the acronym BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) because it is "problematic" and could cause "serious insult" to people who may feel they are being referred to as a homogeneous group. After Floyd's murder, footballers, black and white, chose to kneel before games as an anti-racism gesture, out of respect for BLM and Mr Floyd. White England manager Gareth Southgate supported his players in this, and led them in kneeling before Euro2020 matches. Players from Scotland, Wales, Belgium, Portugal and Switzerland also chose to kneel. A poll of football fans in nine European countries found majority support for "taking the knee", with opposition coming only from a vocal minority. Racing driver Lewis Hamilton, who has increasingly "come out" as an anti-racist and BLM supporter, has set up a mission to empower underrepresented groups, and persuaded Formula One to become more diverse as a sport. Sportsmen and women have a proud history of using their high profiles to forge political change and raise awareness of racial inequality, from athlete Jesse Owens at the 1936 (Nazi) Olympics, to Muhammed Ali to American National Football League star Colin Kaepernick.
In Britain, all these moves are predictably slammed by many Tories as "cultural Marxism" and "wokery", which they believe is a US import along with BLM – a familiar trope that blames foreigners (especially non-whites) for all social ills and unwelcome social change. (A surprise abstainer is George Osborne, former Tory Chancellor, now chairman of the British Museum, who hailed the Colston verdict as "brilliant".) Although we have a very right-wing government, disaffected Tory and Brexit voters constantly call on Johnson – who some voters laughably regard as a socialist – to push back against "wokery", defund the BBC, and root out "woke Lefties" who are believed to have "infested" higher education, the BBC, quangos and many of our public institutions. Despite his blustering rhetoric, even Johnson is unlikely to do any of this.
One of the most insidious and long-lasting impacts of colonialism was to create binary opposites rooted in race and racial difference.
These moves towards decolonisation may seem piecemeal and minor. But peaceful social change starts with landmark actions that receive international attention and change public perceptions – often via shock tactics. Changing the public narrative can eventually forge real change in attitudes and behaviour. As for the role of historians in forging change, it is our job to repeat as many times as necessary: history is being made, remade, unmade, reassessed, re-analysed and re-written all the time. It is not untouchable and unchangeable, as many on the right would argue. As David Olusoga wrote after the toppling of the Colston statue: "It was one of those rare historical moments whose arrival means things can never go back to how they were."
Meanwhile, the value of the Colston statue has reportedly increased fifty times. As prosecution witness Jon Finch, head of culture and creative industries at Bristol City Council, says: the statue has greater cultural value than ever before, in that it now speaks to Bristol's "past, present and future".
The Politics of Street Names
Street names are political weapons. They produce memories, attachment and intimacy—all while often sneakily distorting history.
Florian Bobin
June 18, 1940 is well known throughout Francophonie: it is the date of Charles de Gaulle's famous speech calling for resistance against France's occupation by Nazi Germany and its ally, the Vichy regime. The then-governor of Chad, Felix Eboué, was one of the first political leaders to support de Gaulle; he proclaimed his support from Brazzaville, the capital of "Free France" between 1940 and 1943. To this day, in Dakar and Bamako, as in all the metropole's cities, at least one street name references the event. On the other hand, who remembers Lamine Senghor's scathing indictment of French colonialism—which he urged to "destroy and replace by the union of free peoples"—before the League Against Imperialism in Brussels on February 11, 1927? Two public addresses calling for resistance to servitude: one proudly displayed around the empire, the other pushed into oblivion.
Recent movements like Rhodes Must Fall, Faidherbe Must Fall, and Black Lives Matter have forced us all to face the political nature of odonyms (identifying names given to public communication routes or edifices), carriers of a selected and selective memory. If a street, a square, a bridge, a train station, or a university proudly carries a name, it is because someone decided it would. In Senegal, historian Khadim Ndiaye insists that "it was when the power of the gunboats defeated all the resistance fighters that Faidherbe's statue was erected in the middle of Saint-Louis as a sign of rejoicing." "Lat Dior was assassinated in 1886," he adds, "and the statue was inaugurated on March 20, 1887 . . . to show the greatness of the metropole."
To live on Edward Colston Street, Léopold II Avenue, or Jean-Baptiste Colbert Boulevard is to adopt, through time, a geographical identity based on that given name. One starts becoming accustomed to its sound, as it takes a life of its own; generating scenes of endless discussions around tea, of traffic jams on the way home from work, of bargaining with the local shopkeeper. Everything from the bakery, pharmacy, and police station to the hotel, ATM, and gas station bear its shadow. A name that produces memories, attachment, intimacy—all while sneakily erasing its backstory. Rhodes? Ah, my college years! Pike? Good times we had around that statue! Columbus? What a lovely park that square had!
Odonyms have the power of not only negating history but also distorting memory. May 8, 1945 is synonymous with both liberation and carnage. In Europe, the date marks the surrender of Germany and the victory of the Allied powers. In Algeria, for having dared to demand their liberation from the colonial yoke during the parade celebrating the end of the war, thousands (probably tens of thousands) of Algerians were killed in the cities of Sétif, Guelma, and Kherrata. Two memories face each other between the May 8, 1945 bus stop in Paris or the May 8, 1945 square in Lyon on the one hand, and the May 8, 1945 airport in Sétif or the May 8, 1945 university in Guelma on the other. Moreover, the "liberation" commemorated through the avenue running alongside Dakar's port celebrates that of France in 1944–1945, not Senegal's. This "liberation" occurred when the country was still a colony, its children subject to the Code de l'indigénat (Native Code), and its soldiers—at the Thiaroye camp, on December 1, 1944—coldly executed in the hundreds for demanding their compensation for fighting in the French army.
As sociologist Alioune Sall Paloma argues, "naming is an act of power." Odonyms can thus equally be used by officials to seize historical legitimacy over a popular figure or event. Despite being attacked throughout his life, everyone in Senegal now seems to erect multifaceted thinker Cheikh Anta Diop as an unquestionable reference. How is it, then, that the country's largest university—that happens to bear his name, on an avenue named after him, which now also hosts a statue of him—does not teach his groundbreaking work? Or that, in February 2020, five high schools in the country were renamed after authors Aminata Sow Fall and Cheikh Hamidou Kane, filmmaker Ousmane Sembène, sculptor Ousmane Sow, and revolutionary leader Amath Dansokho, all while artists barely manage to survive from their work and the political principles these namesakes stood by are today systematically scorned?
There is also a lot to say about many heads of states' obsession with "going down in history." In Cameroon, the largest football stadium in the country, built for the 2021 African Cup of Nations, honors current lifetime president Paul Biya. In Côte d'Ivoire, after only two years in office, Alassane Ouattara gave his name to the university of Bouaké. In Senegal, under the impetus of his brother—also involved in politics and at the center of a 2019 multibillion-dollar oil scandal—President Macky Sall now has a high school named after him in the capital's suburb.
Decolonization—a term increasingly abused and gutted of its meaning—supposes the conservation and promotion of Africa's multidimensional heritage. Material heritage is decolonized through, in particular, the rehabilitation of emblematic sites and buildings and the restitution of its cultural heritage trapped in Western museums. Decolonizing immaterial heritage requires the repatriation of audiovisual archives seized by foreign funds and a thorough refoundation of odonyms. Finally, human heritage is decolonized by concrete support to artists and young creative souls, so that no one can claim, when it will be too late: "They did their best, despite the obstacles. If only we had uplifted them during their lifetime."
This post is from a partnership between Africa Is a Country and The Elephant. We will be publishing a series of posts from their site once a week.
The Case for Reparations and Revisiting Colonial Atrocities
The mass atrocities of the 1899 French invasion of what is Niger today are finally being treated with the gravity and consequence they deserve in Western popular histories.
Rob Lemkin and Femi Nylander
In the spring of 1979, Moussa Ali, now 85, was plowing his parched field on the edge of a two-house hamlet in the Sahel of Niger. Suddenly, his hoe rang with the sound of metal. Intrigued, he dug down and found a cache of ancient bullets and spent cartridges. "Then I knew that the story our grandparents told us must be true," Moussa recalls.
The story Moussa heard as a child was the story of the Battle of Koran Kalgo. In July 1899, his ancestors' village was attacked by a well-armed French invasion force. If Moussa had had access to the French colonial archives in Aix-en-Provence, he would have read the terse French dispatch from that day: "Enemy held their ground despite a murderous battery. A small village of 600. Storming it cost us 2 dead, 14 wounded. All inhabitants killed, village set on fire."
He also might have gone on to read the diary of the French officer sent to find this murderous force after rumors of its atrocities had reached Paris. "Towards midday we arrived at what used to be the village of Koran Kalgo. Now it was just smouldering ruins. An old man sitting in the ashes told us the invasion force had passed through four days ago. Two little girls, about 10 years old, were hanging from a tree at the village entrance. Everywhere I saw dead bodies of men in their prime, their great shields lay alongside. Some had had time before dying to find the shade of a spindly bush."
Crowd on a hill © LemKino Pictures.
Moussa had kept the bullets for over 40 years, wanting to preserve the evidence of this monstrous history. We were the first people outside his village to ever come asking about the massacre. We were in Niger to make a BBC documentary, African Apocalypse, on the murderous invasion of 1899 and its continuing impact on people today.
We sent a photo of one of the bullets to a historical munitions expert, Curtis Steinhauer of Cartridge Corner. Its markings were clear, and we received this remarkable reply: "'4-85' means the bullet was made in April 1885. 'ART' indicates it was made for the artillery division. 'D' signifies the manufacturer, Société Électromécanique of Dives in Normandy. And 'EG' is the company that supplied the casing's metal, Eschger, Ghesquière & Cie of Biache St Vaast, near Calais."
This bullet is just one testament to a more brutal history. Paul Voulet, the French commander in 1899, is believed to have killed tens of thousands of Nigeriens as he sought to take control of Lake Chad for France before the British got there. Niger's main highway follows the exact route of his massacres. In fact, it created the colonial and still-current border with Nigeria.
Last month in New York, Fabian Salvioli—the United Nations Special Rapporteur for the Promotion of Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of Non-Recurrence—presented a report entitled "Transitional justice and addressing the legacy of gross violations of human rights and international humanitarian law committed in colonial contexts." Unrestricted access to official archives in the search for truth is one of his many recommendations.
Transitional justice might seem a strange concept in the context of century-old abuse, but, as Salvioli points out, "the colonial transfer of wealth and racist oppression have created a legacy of social, economic and cultural exclusion whose effects have been felt for generations."
Old man in doorway © LemKino Pictures.
Moussa Ali has lived that legacy. In the 1980s, he traveled to France, looking for work. He was unable to access a visa and, when discovered, he was instantly deported back to Niger. "They can come here," he says, "but we're not allowed to go there. It's shameful!" For 40 years, he has had little choice but to eke out a living in his deserted village, five kilometers from the nearest water well.
At every village along the road, we met communities who feel that the day Voulet arrived marked the first day of their impossible present. According to the UN Human Development Index, Niger is the least developed country in the world. France granted Niger independence in 1960, but only if they entered into a defense treaty which required that Niger prioritize French national security interests. Today, although a third of France's electricity is reportedly generated by Nigerien uranium, less than 20% of the country's 25 million people have access to electric power. As Ta-Nehisi Coates puts it in "The Case for Reparations," "plunder in the past made plunder in the present efficient."
© LemKino Pictures.
In our film, the Sultan of Birnin Konni states that Voulet and his men killed between 7,000 and 15,000 people over three days of rampage. "He found us rich and left us poor," he adds. In fact, the sultan believes that Voulet's actions constitute a crime against humanity. "If they occurred today," he says, "Voulet would be taken before the International Criminal Court at The Hague."
Salvioli's report acknowledges the obvious fact that given the time elapsed, prosecution of colonial perpetrators is most often no longer an option. "Given this limitation," he writes, "it is even more important that other components of transitional justice are properly developed."
Also last month, representatives of the affected Nigerien communities (with whom we worked on our film) spoke alongside Salvioli at "Racial Violence and Colonial Accountabilities," a global webinar at the New School of New York. These advocates are demanding a public apology from France accompanied by a full investigation of the truth of what happened—something neither France nor Niger has ever done. They also demand a process of memorialization with full community participation. There are monuments across Niger to French officers who died in the colonial conquest; Voulet's grave is still preserved in the village where his African troops, sickened by his excesses, finally mutinied and killed him. But there is not a single memorial to those who died resisting the bloody invasion. As Hosseini Tahirou Amadou, a history teacher and one of the Nigerien community representatives, says, "It's as if all the Africans who died were not actually human beings."
It's not just Niger, either. Also at the webinar, Professor Ousseina Alidou, a Nigerien specialist in postcolonial gender studies at Rutgers University, remarked that years later, Africa still remains "marked by coloniality and its afterlife."
The time since George Floyd's murder have shown us the urgent need for global humanity to transition out of an unjust world forged in the fires of colonialism. The communities of Niger, silenced for so long, are now beginning to play their part in making that transition a real possibility.


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Audi E-Tron Ownership Lounge Area
Audi E-Tron Versus the Competition
Audi vs BMW
King J
In my opinion, E-Tron's has a serious competitor in face of BMW EV autos such as i Series. BMW has already made a great job with their electric vehicles and it will be really hard for Audi to rival with such a serious EV market player.
Considering E-Tron and 'i' models, it seems like BMW is more focused on the electric concept while Audi wants to save their original model more than fully integrate it to a future of car business. Of course, E-Tron and i models are not the direct competitors, however, both cars are aimed to hit the same price range.
Wheels Magazine has already compared Audi A3 E-Tron and BMW i3. Check it out and write your comment under:wink:
ATron
I would go with Audi simply because of how much better it looks compared to the i3. The i3 has nice pillarless doors and more pizazz, but the E-tron seems like a better daily driver and a more versatile car.
audifan
ATron said:
I'm a bit different, looks don't matter as much, but more so the cost of ownership. Living in the city it will be much cheaper to insure the A3 E-Tron than the i3, after all look how long those A3's have been produced for. That's one thing I fear with these one off EV designs.
I kinda have the same perception about current electric vehicles. More and more car makers introduce their EV models, but a lot of them look too futuristic for me. I really like electric vehicle concept, but I don't want to drive a space ship. The best option for me would be a classic design car with a battery under the hood, so I give my vote to Audi in this comparison.
King J said:
Glad to see that someone else here shares a similar view point and its that take on these cars that might have me going to BMW because right now they have plans to release 12 EV models by 2023. If you know this industry you will know that entails a lot of crossover of parts. X3 EV and 3-Series EV are a couple that should share a lot of drivetrain and powertrain components.
audifan Nov 22, 2017

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We adapted this recipe from Carmen's cookbook "Alquimias y Atmosferas Del Sabor." Her original recipe features mackerel, but since it's not readily available in the States, we've substituted halibut.
Scoop the halibut into a small bowl and pour in the lime juice. Stir to coat, then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour, stirring several times to ensure the fish cures evenly. Drain the halibut and discard the lime juice.
Transfer the halibut into a large bowl. Gently fold in the tomatillos, olives, onion, jalapeno, avocado, cilantro and olive oil. Season with salt and the ceviche is ready to serve.
Rick, this recipe really knocked it out of the park! You have the lush fish, the citrus and sour of the lime juice, the wonderful acidity, smoothness and crunch in the onion, tomatillo and avocado and then, of course, the pleasant bitterness from the olives. Absolutely one of the best Mexican ceviches I've ever had!


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Around the Nets
Around the 'Nets: Get Buckets
Happy Monday. Here's the latest Nets news and notes from around the 'Nets:
The Nets signed D-League leading scorer Sean Kilpatrick over the weekend. Kilpatrick is a confirmed buckets-getter, now signed to a team that produces a general lack of buckets-getting. Above, you can watch Kilpatrick get buckets at the D-League showcase en route to 35 points. He's now got ten days to get enough buckets to get another contract. Given the Nets' bucket issues and roster situation (they still have one open roster spot), it wouldn't be surprising to see him get buckets in Brooklyn for the rest of the year.
It ain't that expensive here. According to Bloomberg's Scott Soshnick, the Brooklyn Nets are expected to cut average ticket prices by about 24 percent next season, with some seats closer to the action cutting by about 11 percent, even if a person has already bought a multi-year ticket commitment.
Joe Johnson, who took his talents to South Beach over the weekend, scored 12 points in his Miami Heat debut en route to a 98-81 victory over the New York Knicks. Johnson said it was his friendship with Heat players (now teammates) that resulted in his decision to travel south. After the game, Dwyane Wade revealed his pitch to Johnson: "Live in Miami, man. Live in the best place."
Meanwhile, the post-Johnson Nets are undefeated in his absence, winning back-to-back road games for the first time this season. Their win over the Jazz was called by a Jazz blogger the "Most Damaging Loss of the Season."
One nice thing about the road: Nets players can visit their alma maters. Case in point: Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, who had a chance to swing by University of Arizona, where he played college ball for the last two years.
Brooklyn Nets: Then and Now
Nets escape with preseason victory over 76ers
The Consequences of the Nets Rebuild
Rondae Hollis-Jefferson talks his NBA fashion likes and dislikes


YES: The desire to nurture and establish an entrepreneurial ecosystem like Silicon Valley is not necessarily a bad idea, but in the attempt to 'copy and paste' a Silicon Valley we ignore what our inherent advantages are in Africa. We need to have the knowledge and understanding of the 'best practice,' but we have to build a 'best fit' ecosystem.
Silicon Valley has been 50 years in the making. It's the product of Sputnik-induced competition, a 1960s-induced cultural renaissance and an open-minded, risk-taking approach where failure is accepted.
The advantage of Silicon Valley is the concentration of talent innovators, startups, funders and established technology companies. Africa, on the other hand, has a large pool of entrepreneurs hence the need to capitalise on an existing base and teach growth from survivalist to scalable technology entrepreneurship.
We do not have a large pool of venture capital or angel networks, but in lots of African countries we have crowdfunding in its purest forms. A million people investing one dollar into a company gives the company a million dollars in funding.
We cannot be a 'cut and paste' Silicon Valley but we can create entrepreneurial ecosystems that enable a critical mass of entrepreneurs and affect our economies in positive ways.
NO: The African Silicon Valley is a reality. The key is to not compare it to its Californian counterpart because the African startup scene is evolving against a very different set of dynamics.
These dynamics, driven largely by a bulging youth population, have leapfrogged many African economies into the tech era. From Nigeria to Kenya, Egypt to South Africa, we are seeing the emergence of technology-based economies.
The African Development Bank projects the ICT market in Africa to be worth $150 billion by 2016, creating demand for highly-skilled professionals. Kenya in particular is poised to drive these developments and set the bar for an African Silicon Valley, or 'Silicon Savannah' as they're calling it.
As a mobile technology economy, it is fast becoming the continent's tech hub. Already global heavyweights like Google, Intel and IBM have set up shop here. Sooner or later, by synthesis, these developments will be seen elsewhere in Africa.
Infrastructure-sharing initiatives are reducing the costs of internet access and mobile telephony. International bandwidth and data networks have become more widely available. Unlike the West, where populations are ageing, Africans are less averse to adopting new technological trends, changing the way they bank, trade, farm, learn and consume services. So while there may not be a structure likened to California's Silicon Valley here in Africa, a hybrid version is well under way.
NO: I believe in the IT industry in Africa because we have been able to address a number of African challenges using innovative technological solutions. This includes access to financial services and information that helps people from both rural and urban areas improve their standards of living.
These solutions cut across different sectors, such as farming, education and the environment. With increase in internet access across Africa and mobile phone usage, there is potential for more innovative solutions across Africa.
Countries in Africa are also investing in IT skills development through training programs in primary, secondary and tertiary levels. This will provide the workforce needed to turn Africa into the next Silicon Valley.
However, there is still much work to be done in improving Africa's infrastructure and advance the skills we have to support emerging innovations in Africa.
NO: I believe that the essential requirements for Africa's version of Silicon Valley to become a reality have already started materializing.
The basic requirements for this to happen are the presence of ambitious entrepreneurs with a good eye for technological solutions to implicit and explicit market needs – these entrepreneurs will become founders and CEOS, who will need to be assisted on their path by funding from investors who share the vision.
Africa will need to collaborate within itself and with established tech ecosystems outside of itself to bring itself up to speed on the status quo as far as tech is concerned, and that is currently happening rapidly at an inspiring rate.
I believe that tech founders, companies and affiliates need to treat the knowledge base as an open system, a cistern where no one acts in isolation. Solutions to problems should be shared and everyone should be willing to borrow tech from a different but related sub-sector within the tech industry to fine-tune their own products to spec.
I believe, ultimately, that the building blocks are already being laid. Currently, Kenya is considered the epicentre of the 'African Silicon Valley' due to its interesting gravitation towards a mobile-based economy, and South Africa has shown great promise as well.
In Nigeria, we are seeing the upsurge of a technological boom that can only mean good things for the country and the continent as a whole.


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Home Cannabis Mike Rizzo of LA LGBT Center on how Fentanyl Testing Strips Save...
Mike Rizzo of LA LGBT Center on how Fentanyl Testing Strips Save Lives
Albert Serna Jr
Facebook Screen Grab
WeHo Times contributor Albert Serna Jr sat with Manager of Addiction and Recovery Services, at Los Angeles Gay & Lesbian Center, Mike Rizzo, to discuss The Center's efforts to promote the use of fentanyl testing strips and the impact they have on the LGBTQ community with pride season fast approaching.
At a regular council meeting in April, the city of West Hollywood voted unanimously to fund fentanyl testing strips for the LA LGBT Center in an attempt to prevent more overdoses of the deadly opiate.
Mike Rizzo
WeHo Times: Mike, thanks for taking the time to speak with me. Can you tell us how long you have been at the center and some more about your department?
Rizzo: I've been here at the center for 12 years and originally, we were exclusively crystal meth recovery services. And as that grew, we decided that we would expand, and crystal meth recovery services were no longer appropriate because we were doing other substances as well. It's kind of a sub department.
In your time here, what have you noticed as far as the rates of crystal meth use in WeHo or by your clients?
So, 40 percent of our clients in mental health have a substance abuse diagnosis. Our top four drugs are Crystal meth, Alcohol, nicotine and then Marijuana. I am often surprised when I get calls from media asking me 'can you talk about the resurgence of crystal meth in the gay community,' and my response is, 'What resurgence? It never went away.' I think part of the problem; well, drugs can be cyclical if you think about it. In the 60s it was pot, LSD, and in the 70s, we continued with that. The 80s were about cocaine, and then the 90s, meth sort of showed up and now we're dealing with an opium problem. The opiates are not a big problem in the gay community. Only about six percent of our clients here at The center have been identified with an opiate diagnosis. So, there was a drop a Crystal Meth use in L.A. county and I think that the perception was that things are better, making headways with that and so people moved away from that. L.A. county is broken into what we call service provider areas, or SPAs, and when you look at the numbers overall there has been a drop in Crystal meth use with the exception of two SPAs. That would be SPA seven, which is the Latino community and SPA four which is West Hollywood, Hollywood, Silverlake, Loz Feliz; primarily the gay community. That makes it difficult because there is not a lot of focus on it and again, a lot of the funding is for opiate use. Those are kind of the trends we are seeing in regard to crystal meth use. It's still 80-90 percent of the clients in our programs are dealing with Meth.
At point did the deadly use of fentanyl get in your radar?
It was not on our radar until last year, and last year we lost one of our employees to an accidental overdose of fentanyl that was cut into the cocaine that they were using. Gilbert [Valenzuela] was not an addict. They were celebrating someone's birthday, and they were casual users. I think that's really one of the more startling things for me, is that again, they weren't using opiates. There is a percentage of people that use fentanyl as their drug of choice, but that wasn't what had happened. They weren't aware that there was fentanyl in the drugs that they were using. When that was sort of reported, or it was sort of like said that they think that died of an overdose of fentanyl and like what's that? So, I started looking it up and it really became quite startling for me and the primary thing is that the people don't know that it's in there.
What's the biggest danger about Fentanyl?
Fentanyl is 100 times more potent than heroin. Individuals may not know they are using it. The normal dose of Narcan, which is the medication that will stop an opioid overdose, may not be affective. You kind of need twice the dosage. And the other thing that's really important to mention here that I think that [West Hollywood Council Member John Duran] mentioned the other night was that if I'm using a stimulant—usually people tend to use the drug that they like, so that people that use cocaine and meth like to be stimulated, like to be activated, like to be up and aware and that kind of thing. People that use opiates and pot and that kind of thing like to mellow out a bit. So, if I've got some cocaine, I'm expecting to be up, and I think people may not know that they are about use an opiate and certainly will not have the intervention tools they may need in case they were to use too much of it. Obviously, the gentlemen that died last year did not have Narcan on them, they wouldn't have known to have Narcan on them. The important thing to note is that you don't hear about a lot crystal meth overdoses. It's usually in combination with another drug. A few years ago, that was GHB, and GHB is still around but nobody overdoses and pure meth.
What is fentanyl normally used for?
It has a medicinal purpose. it's used for pain relief and certainly when it's produced by pharmaceutical companies you get a pill. Nobody has that much Fentanyl. It's mixed with other stuff and is an appropriate dosage. So, Fentanyl that is on the street is just put into it. I can guarantee you the dealer is not a scientist and doesn't know exactly what he is doing. He's putting lethal doses of Fentanyl into stuff. It's fascinating because if first responders feel like Fentanyl is present, they'll go in wearing hazmat suits because even touching it you can feel the effects of it and even OD on it. So that's how serious it is.
When did The Center start looking into Fentanyl strips? Was it after your colleague Gilbert died of a fentanyl overdose?
There were a couple of things. In my research, I was finding that although it had been a bigger problem on the East Coast, it was just now hitting the West Coast. Gilbert died in May, right before pride season and I was like wait, there are a lot of casual users that may be using during the Pride season and not knowing that what they're about to use may kill them. And so, I was really kind of freaked out about that and then somebody in The Center said, 'Do we have Fentanyl test strips?' I said no, and I went and looked into it.
When Lorri Jean, our CEO and and Darrel Cummings, our Chief of Staff, reported to the board that this had happened, they were really upset about it, and each of our board members donated $100 for the purchase of the strips. So, we were able to buy 1000 strips immediately with that money.
Then we talked to the county substance abuse prevention and control and they gave us another $5000 to purchase strips and then we had some money in our MAP budget that we spent. So, we initially bought about 7000 strips and during L.A. Pride we probably gave away 2000 of those strips and subsequently gave the rest of them away throughout the center. They are located in every one of our locations; Center WeHo, the Village, they are at the Youth Center. They are located throughout health services, if you go ask for Fentanyl strips in the pharmacy the pharmacist comes out and talks to you about Fentanyl and what that means.
How do the fentanyl testing strips actually work?
As a harm reduction tool, they're really affective. Basically, what happens is that you take a little bit of your product, you dilute it, you put the strip in…I usually have a couple boxes, but I gave them out. You dilute a little bit of the product and the thing about the Fentanyl test strips is that they are test strips that are used in treatment centers to test people's urine. People go, 'oh, do they pee on the stick?' No, they don't pee on the stick. What you're doing is turning your product into liquid, testing it. If there is one red stripe it means that [the product] is positive for Fentanyl and if it is two stripes, it is negative.
These innovations are really great, however for the casual user who is maybe going into a bathroom at a club and is just doing a bump, how do get these people to dilute, test, wait and go, to make sure that they are not taking Fentanyl?
We give the strips before they've even bought their stuff and hopefully what they do is test it before they go out. At Pride what we did last year is we purchased those—you know Smart & Final is great—we purchased those little cups where you put condiments in and when we gave the strip out, we also gave them a little cup. If they're drinking water or whatever they could slip into the port-a-potty and test it there. We gave them everything they needed to test the product immediately if that is what they wanted to do. And certainly, at Pride there are enough discreet areas that they could do that without being noticed.
Does the Center currently have a budget for Fentanyl strips for LA Pride?
We have a medically assisted treatment program which is about using suboxone as an opiate replacement and within that there is a budget for client services. We've been able to purchase them through our MAP program, so we do have a budget. Initially we had about 9,000 and we gave those away, and then in January, we purchased another 20,000. The city of West Hollywood approved [$5,000 for fentanyl strips], so what was really interesting and very exciting. They weren't supposed to vote on it they were just supposed to discuss it. Obviously, something happened in that moment where [West Hollywood Mayor] John D'Amico said 'wait, wait, wait, let's just put this on the consent calendar. So, John just moved it immediately to the consent calendar and got it approved… so, we have a supply and I have a feeling we are going to go through those quickly as well because what we're doing is, we're going to outreach and we're going to be available to distribute those strips before each of the pride events that are happening. We'll be in West Hollywood and we'll also be here at The Center just tabling and giving out the strips. It's going to be Long Beach, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, then we're going to go into Leather Week in San Francisco in September, Folsom Street, and then Palm Springs in November. We're not going to be in San Francisco, we don't have the budget to actually go to these events but what the plan is, is that people here in L.A. can access the strips before they go.
Has there been any backlash from the community or otherwise about providing these Fentanyl strips, any concerns?
The overall response has been really positive, and a lot of people have been like, 'oh my God I didn't know about this.' So not only are we distributing it but we are educating. We've had a number of people that have said, 'you know I have some friends that are using, let me get some of these,' and have passed them on to their friends. We've had even staff members who have gotten strips for their friends and some people have come back and said, 'I just really need to thank you for this because my friend tested his stuff last night and it tested positive for Fentanyl.' So as a harm reduction tool we really are saving lives because people can again make that decision.
How has the sober community reacted to these kinds of practices like using Fentanyl strips and harm reduction?
Honestly, I'll speak from my stand point. I was against harm reduction when I first got sober. I was like, 'Oh you're just giving them permission to use and blah blah blah,' and I was wrong. Very wrong. And then I really started to study harm reduction and really came to the realization that harm reduction can be really useful as the person moves towards abstinence. The reality is that everybody that gets sober goes through a period of harm reduction. They realize they have a problem, I got to tell you very rarely does someone say, "oh I have a problem I need to stop." They sort of do, 'ok I'm gonna drink less, I'm gonna use less, I'm only going to use on the weekends, I'll limit, I'll use once a month,' all of that is harm reduction they just don't label it that way. Harm reduction is just not using less, there's a lot of things that can fall under the umbrella of harm reduction.
Why not send a message to stop doing drugs, instead of start doing drugs less frequently?
We can either shake our finger at people using drugs and say, 'Bad. Shame." You know, all of that stuff. Or we can sort of say 'Look, we know this is going to happen, so let us help you use safer. Let's make sure you don't accidentally OD on this,' because honestly we're not going to win the war on drugs. We can have all the DARE campaigns we want, but drugs are going to exist. They've existed for centuries and they're going to continue to exist, but we can win a lot of battles one at a time. For me, as an addiction counselor as well as a therapist, my battles have become one-on-one. If I've got a client that's struggling with substance use, that's my war at the time. It's like, 'How can I help you to stop. And if you're not going to stop or while you're trying to stop, if I can help you not die from this, then that's my battle.' One of the things that's really important for me to mention is that with addiction recovery, the success rates, the absolute success rates are not great. Less than 10 percent of people that try to get sober stay sober, and that's even lower with crystal meth. And so how we measure success from a treatment standpoint is are we lengthening the periods of abstinence and shortening the periods of using. So, if I've got a client that sort of uses again every 30 days and is out for a couple weeks. if I can help them get to 60 days and then shorten the period, maybe they're just out for the weekend and they come back, that's success and then we build on that. So, "oh my god you got 60 days this time, that's great lets for 61" and really just try to continue to evaluate what the triggers are why they relapse and then teach them healthier coping skills so they can continue with their abstinence.
For more information on the LA LGBT Center's distribution of fentanyl testing strips, visit lalgbtcenter.org.
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Albert Serna Jr. is a nationally award winning investigative journalist from the San Gabriel Valley. He covers issues of human welfare, race, politics and the intersectionality of being queer and chicano in America. His work has appeared in various publications such as the Huffington Post and he's been published in several countries and in different languages. He lives at home with his partner, two dogs and cat.
jimmy palmieri
Folks, Mike Rizzo will have thousands of these test strips at #sizzle the sober carnival destination that is FREE at our annual Pride celebration. If you know anyone who is using either regularly or even casually., grab a couple of these test strips. They could save the life of a loved one, friend or neighbor. Harm reduction (damage control) is the way to go. "Just say no" the ineffective method of the Regan era was never helpful with the war on drugs. There will be booths, with games, fun and info at #Sizzle. come and join us. Have fun and… Read more »


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Fashion reconstructed: the dress in Van Eyck's Arnolfini portrait
Posted 12 Jun 2019, by Amber Butchart
Painted by Jan van Eyck in 1434, the 'Arnolfini portrait' is possibly the most debated portrait in European art history.
Portrait of Giovanni(?) Arnolfini and his Wife 1434
Jan van Eyck (c.1380/1390–1441)
Speculation over the subjects of the painting has raged for hundreds of years, and there are extensive theories behind the purpose of this enigmatic double portrait. These debates have been outlined most recently by Carola Hicks and Jenny Graham, and an exhibition at The National Gallery traced the long-lasting influence of the Netherlandish painting on the work of the Pre-Raphaelites, 400 years after it was painted.
Lucrezia Borgia 1860–1861
Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882)
You can see a direct nod to Van Eyck's work in Dante Gabriel Rossetti's watercolour of the Italian Renaissance noblewoman Lucrezia Borgia – note the convex mirror in the background.
Edward Burne-Jones even called the Van Eyck painting 'the finest picture in the world'. Some of the latest arguments suggest the couple in the picture are the Italian cloth merchant Giovanni di Nicolao Arnolfini and his wife Costanza Trenta (who had died the year before), at their home in Bruges.
Amber Butchart wears the reconstructed dress in 'A Stitch in Time'
A BBC Studios production for BBC Four
Examining the clothing in the portrait can help us glean new insights into this much-theorised artwork. What is undeniable is that the luxurious garments on display speak to the subjects' vast wealth. Medieval Bruges was a centre of commerce, with strategic links to northern European and Mediterranean trade routes, an area which has been called the cradle of capitalism.
As merchants, the Arnolfinis were at the vanguard of shifts in society that saw an element of mobility begin to develop. Riches could be achieved through trade and not just by accident of birth, which led to sumptuary laws in many European countries at this time. These laws were used to denote status in a society where mobility was feared, to clearly demarcate social standing as well as encourage domestic industry. Fur-lined, exquisitely dyed in vivid green, blue and deep black, the colours and fabrics on show all indicate the affluence of the Arnolfinis. The gown cascades on the floor in an ostentatious display of abundance. The fabric is a high-quality wool, the type of material that could even cost more than silk.
It was the intense green of the dress, along with the complexity of the painting and the virtuosity of its rendering, that drew me to choose it for the BBC Four series A Stitch in Time. In the series we used an experimental archaeology approach to history, using the expertise and skills of historical tailor Ninya Mikhaila and her team to recreate garments from artworks to gain new insight through the process of making, while I explored the social history and context.
Thanks to The Mulberry Dyer I also got to try my hand at medieval dying techniques using weld and woad plants to create the sumptuous green colour – a process which is certainly not for the faint-hearted or scent-sensitive!
Amber Butchart and The Mulberry Dyer
Despite her appearance, the myth that the woman in the painting is pregnant has been debunked, and this is one of the key areas I was keen to explore. In 1841, the year before the Arnolfini portrait was bought by The National Gallery, a critic in literary journal The Athenaeum perpetuated the idea of pregnancy by implying a shotgun wedding, noting the woman has, 'one hand on her stomacher like a lady who had 'loved her lord' six months ere he became so'.
In her book on late Gothic European dress, the historian Margaret Scott explored the idea that the distended stomach was not a marker of pregnancy, but instead was an idealised female body which was present in contemporary images of saintly virgins as well as secular portraits.
Eve from the 'Ghent Altarpiece'
c.1420s–1432, oil on panel by Hubert van Eyck (c.1385/1390–1426) and Jan van Eyck (c.1380/1390–1441)
The unclothed idealised body can be seen in the image of Eve in the Ghent Altarpiece (also by Van Eyck, 1430–1432), as well as the depiction of the Garden of Eden by the Limbourg brothers (1411–1416).
'The Garden of Eden' from the Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry
1411–1416, tempera on vellum by the Limbourg brothers (Herman, Paul, and Johan, active 1385–1416)
That women have been objectified and idealised throughout art history is nothing new. Art critic John Berger's book Ways of Seeing, based on his 1972 TV series of the same name, remains required reading at many art schools and universities. In it, he writes: 'Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. This determines not only most relations between men and women but also the relation of women to themselves. The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed is female. Thus she turns herself into an object of vision: a sight.'
This oft-quoted passage chronicles the relationship between the gendered production of art and representation, an idea which crossed into film theory with Laura Mulvey's influential essay 'Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema'.
But the silhouette on show in these late medieval artworks appears unusual to our contemporary eyes, which are more accustomed to seeing the unattainable airbrushed bodies of fashion photography and advertising, and pictures on social media retouched with apps. Art historian Kenneth Clark drew aesthetic parallels between the 'long curve of the stomach' seen in fifteenth-century images, and 'the ogival rhythm of late Gothic architecture'. Scott calls this silhouette the 'Gothic ideal', placing it at odds with classically proportioned bodies, exemplified in art history by the Venus de Milo: a Hellenistic interpretation of classical Greek beauty.
Venus de Milo (after a cast)	1922
G. B. Wilson
UCL Culture
Wearing the recreated Arnolfini gown reinforced the notion that the woman in green is not, in fact, pregnant. The weight of the swelling swathes of fabric make it difficult to walk freely, and holding the material up high – as she does in the painting – helps with balance and creates the stance that has become so recognisable from Van Eyck's portrait.
Before the industrial revolution, textiles were some of the most expensive, prized possessions a family could own. Re-made, re-worn or worn-out, they were bequeathed in wills and passed down through generations or on to servants. Parading such excessive fabric is a clear indicator of fortune and fashion, but crucially it does not indicate aristocracy – there is no precious cloth-of-gold, no expensive embroidery – this is not courtly splendour but mercantile riches transposed into fabric. As such, the painting is a masterclass in showcasing the wealth and status of the merchant Arnolfinis.
Amber Butchart, fashion historian, author and broadcaster
Art Matters podcast: decoding fashion in paintings
Double portraits: what do they reveal, and what do they conceal?
Reflections: Jan van Eyck and the Pre-Raphaelites
From Boucher to bodices: finding art in fashion
From doublets to vests: how Charles II changed men's fashion
Art Matters podcast: when Beyoncé goes APES**T
Art Matters podcast: let's talk about erotic art
Artists putting women 'in their place': from the Victorian adulteress to Serena Williams
The naked muse: to see or be seen?
In the beginning was Eve... by Rodin
E. H. Gombrich and 'The Story of Art' revisited
A celebration of women's hats in art
Jan van Eyck's works at The National Gallery
Glamour of the glove: a brief art history
Dante Gabriel Rossetti's 'Regina Cordium'
Women's fashion: friend or foe?
If the shoe fits: the gendered connotations of footwear in art history
Medieval women unveiled: fashion, gender and piety
Royal fashion: the Hanoverian kings
Art Matters podcast: beauty and power in art
Ruffles, frills and smoking-hot suffragettes: the art of Edwardian fashion
To have and to hold: a visual history of handbags
Madame de Pompadour: Rococo style icon
Dead pretty: the perils of Georgian beauty regimes
Elizabeth I's Tilbury speech: the birth of a warrior queen
A closer look at codpieces: the swagger and thrust of sixteenth-century men's fashion
Portraying pregnancy: from prehistoric art to Jacobean portraiture
From Kyoto to London: keeping up with the kimono
Gable hoods and Spanish lace: navigating the world of Tudor women's fashion
From canvas to catwalk: how art history inspires contemporary fashion
The return of the power brooch: coded jewellery in art history
Reflections on the mirror in art
Spectacular vision: the symbolism of glasses in art
The art of adornment: eye miniatures, mourning jewellery and other sentimental gems
Venus de Milo 1922


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text:
Bennet: Investment in Aurora School-Based Health Centers Will Help Keep Kids Healthy, Focused in Classroom
Aurora Public Schools to Receive $475k to Boost School-Based Health Centers
Colorado U.S. Senator today applauded an announcement made today by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) that the Aurora Public Schools (APS) District will receive $475,000 to boost school-based health centers (SBHC's) and keep students healthy. Bennet, a former school superintendent, has long been a champion of school-based health centers and the services they provide.
"Colorado's school-based health centers play an invaluable role in keeping our kids healthy, in the classroom and ready to learn," said Bennet. "This funding will help ensure Aurora Public Schools have the resources they need to provide critical medical care and attention to our kids."
School-based health centers typically provide students a combination of primary care, mental health care, substance abuse counseling, case management, dental health, nutrition education, health education and health promotion activities.
The health centers at Crawford Elementary School and Laredo Elementary School allow students in all of Aurora's preschools and elementary schools to have access to health services. This grant will allow the Aurora School District to continue and expand on-site, primary health care services, delivery and outreach for medically underserved students by moving to a permanent, sustainable location outside the school building.
Bennet has long been a champion of school-based health centers. In 2009, Bennet introduced a bill to ensure SBHC's are properly reimbursed for their services by the federal government following a school visit to Adams City School. He also fought to ensure funding for these important medical centers was included in the Affordable Care Act.
The funding is part of a $14 million grant made possible under the Affordable Care Act aimed at improving school-based health centers in schools across the country.
Permalink: https://www.bennet.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/2011/12/bennet-investment-in-aurora-school-based-health-centers-will-help-keep-kids-healthy-focused-in-classroom


For the record, I am definitely over 18. I'm married, have a strange reading addiction, and I'm a bit of a grammar snob. I am also available as a beta reader, with expertise in spelling, fictional and non-fictional grammar (yes, there's a difference, expecially when it comes to dialogue), and general story flow. You can ask my college lit professor about the time I argued that I didn't deserve the top grade she gave me, I'm that dedicated to making writing not only have good content, but also making sure it reads well.


Steam is used across many industries and plays an important role in a variety of industrial processes, including everything from atomization to propulsion and sterilization. This presentation will explain the uses of steam, the problems that can potentially arise, and the solutions to these problems.
Receive exclusive access to the downloadable slide presentation and pre-recorded webinar, by submitting the form.


text:
package watson.db;

import java.util.Calendar;
import java.util.Locale;

// ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
/**
 * Centralises common code for time parsing and deals intelligently with the
 * lack of a year on timestamps in LogBlock output.
 */
public class TimeStamp
{
  // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
  /**
   * Convert a given month, day of the month, hour, minute and second into
   * milliseconds since epoch.
   *
   * Since the time components passed as parameters to this method originate on
   * the server, in a different time zone, the resulting timestamp is not the
   * actual local time of the event, but it will convert between the two forms
   * consistently.
   *
   * @param month the month, from 1 to 12.
   * @param dayOfMonth the day of the month, from 1 to 31.
   * @param hour the hour of the day, from 0 to 23.
   * @param minute the minute from 0 to 59.
   * @param second the second from 0 to 59.
   */
  public static long toMillis(int month, int dayOfMonth, int hour, int minute,
                              int second)
  {
    // Try assuming that the year is the same as the reference.
    _time.set(_reference.get(Calendar.YEAR), month - 1, dayOfMonth, hour,
      minute, second);

    // If the resulting time is more into the future than the reference, then
    // we guessed the wrong year (assuming the LogBlock retention is NOT 51
    // weeks).
    if (_time.getTimeInMillis() > _reference.getTimeInMillis())
    {
      _time.add(Calendar.YEAR, -1);
    }
    return _time.getTimeInMillis();
  } // toMillis

  // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
  /**
   * Convert a given year, month, day of the month, hour, minute and second into
   * milliseconds since epoch.
   *
   * Since the time components passed as parameters to this method originate on
   * the server, in a different time zone, the resulting timestamp is not the
   * actual local time of the event, but it will convert between the two forms
   * consistently.
   *
   * @param year the four digit year.
   * @param month the month, from 1 to 12.
   * @param dayOfMonth the day of the month, from 1 to 31.
   * @param hour the hour of the day, from 0 to 23.
   * @param minute the minute from 0 to 59.
   * @param second the second from 0 to 59.
   */
  public static long toMillis(int year, int month, int dayOfMonth, int hour,
                              int minute, int second)
  {
    _time.set(year, month - 1, dayOfMonth, hour, minute, second);
    return _time.getTimeInMillis();
  }

  // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
  /**
   * Convert a given date and time into milliseconds since epoch.
   *
   * @see #toMillis(int, int, int, int, int)
   * @see #toMillis(int, int, int, int, int, int)
   *
   * @param ymd year, month and day as integers; if year is 0, it was not
   *          specified and must be guessed.
   * @param hour the hour of the day, from 0 to 23.
   * @param minute the minute from 0 to 59.
   * @param second the second from 0 to 59.
   */
  public static long toMillis(int[] ymd, int hour, int minute, int second)
  {
    // Two-digit years, if specified, are in the 21st century.
    if (ymd[0] != 0 && ymd[0] < 100)
    {
      ymd[0] += 2000;
    }
    return (ymd[0] == 0)
      ? toMillis(ymd[1], ymd[2], hour, minute, second)
      : toMillis(ymd[0], ymd[1], ymd[2], hour, minute, second);
  }

  // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
  /**
   * Format a millisecond time into the "MM-DD hh:mm:ss" format typically used
   * in LogBlock query results in chat.
   *
   * @param millis a timestamp in the form of milliseconds since epoch.
   * @return a String suitable for use in chat.
   */
  public static String formatMonthDayTime(long millis)
  {
    _time.setTimeInMillis(millis);
    return String.format(Locale.US, "%02d-%02d %02d:%02d:%02d",
      _time.get(Calendar.MONTH) + 1, _time.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH),
      _time.get(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY), _time.get(Calendar.MINUTE),
      _time.get(Calendar.SECOND));
  }

  // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
  /**
   * Format a millisecond time into the format "DD.MM.YYYY hh:mm:ss" so that it
   * can be used as a "since" or "before" parameter value in LogBlock queries.
   *
   * @param millis a timestamp in the form of milliseconds since epoch.
   * @return a the formatted time.
   */
  public static String formatQueryTime(long millis)
  {
    _time.setTimeInMillis(millis);
    return String.format(Locale.US, "%d.%d.%d %02d:%02d:%02d",
      _time.get(Calendar.DAY_OF_MONTH), _time.get(Calendar.MONTH) + 1,
      _time.get(Calendar.YEAR), _time.get(Calendar.HOUR_OF_DAY),
      _time.get(Calendar.MINUTE), _time.get(Calendar.SECOND));
  }

  // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
  /**
   * Parse a date in the format [year-]month-day.
   *
   * This method handles LogBlock dates in the default format and adds support
   * for an optional year to be specified if LogBlock is configured for that.
   *
   * @param date a string in the form (YY(YY)?-)?MM-dd; that is, an optional 2
   *          or 4 digit year preceding 2 digit month and day.
   * @return an array of 3 ints: year, month and day. Year is 0 if not
   *         explicitly specified in the date String.
   */
  public static int[] parseYMD(String date)
  {
    int[] ymd = {0, 0, 0};
    String[] parts = date.split("-");
    if (parts.length == 2)
    {
      ymd[1] = Integer.parseInt(parts[0]);
      ymd[2] = Integer.parseInt(parts[1]);
    }
    else if (parts.length == 3)
    {
      ymd[0] = Integer.parseInt(parts[0]);
      ymd[1] = Integer.parseInt(parts[1]);
      ymd[2] = Integer.parseInt(parts[2]);
    }
    return ymd;
  }

  // --------------------------------------------------------------------------
  /**
   * A reusable Calendar instance used to interpret any time stamps found in
   * LogBlock results.
   */
  protected static Calendar _time = Calendar.getInstance();

  /**
   * Used to infer the implicit (absent) year in LogBlock timestamps.
   */
  protected static Calendar _reference;
  static
  {
    // Set the reference timestamp to the client's local time, plus one week
    // into the future.
    _reference = Calendar.getInstance();
    _reference.add(Calendar.WEEK_OF_YEAR, 1);
  }
} // class TimeStamp


text:
The Spacebubble Event – Interactive Media Blog Post
By Matthew Alan Lester…It's MAL-time 🙂
This Saturday, October 21, 2017, New York City's Central Park played host to the Spacebuster, a gorgeously dented step van that houses the art project, "We Like America" (2017), at an event in conjunction with "Storefront for Art and Architecture". This event is apart of the "New Icon-i-Cities" exhibition, which is also a part of the ongoing exhibition "Souvenirs: New New York Icons". The event celebrates fifty years of Public Art in NYC Parks where participants could take part in a number of activities designed involve people in the creation of art. I, myself created a small collage from four different printouts, as the rules for the specific part of the event I contributed to, asked for each artist to select several images from various stacks of paper and then cut, draw or otherwise change the original image, after which the contributor could then create a collage from the altered pieces of artwork. Upon completion of the collage, the contributor could then tape the "icon" onto the Spacebuster bubble's interior wall. The last step instructs the attendee to snap a photo and then post it to instagram, facebook and/or other forms of social media. This is the collage that I created and posted to instagram, as well as, Facebook:
The New Icon-i-Cities project asks attendees to "imagine new icons for our cities? How do we find new ways to represent the identity of a place? How would you design a new icon for your neighborhood?" The project provides more than 1,000 images taken in the last week for contributors to create their own new icon for our city. I tried to think about what New York City means to me. It's a lonely city, for me, in a lot of ways, I feel a bit like a fish-out-of-water and that hasn't really changed much since I relocated to the area in 2013, but I'm okay with that, mostly. I've gotten used to going places solo, because I often have difficulty getting folks out-and-about with me to the types of events, exhibitions and so on that I find interesting. Some of that, I'm sure, is the hassle of travelling in, and around, New York City's whose spaghetti style subway system often closes down random lines of the weekend, contributing to travel time and leading to, sometimes, two hour treks between burroughs. Of course, part of my isolated experience in New York City, is also my own nature, where I like to be spontaneous and just see which way the wind carries me. That often means opening my front door and just walking in some random direction on the days where I get to take an adventure.
The image that I came up with, it is taken from four other images which when altered and added to one another's overall image form a collage that I feel represents, somewhat, my own experience of living in New York City. I chose a solo adventurer, small, as I myself was in youth and still am today, facing a stairway that leads up into the head of a great monster, from whose mouth a great hail of umbrellas bellows forth. It seems like a funny collage, and it is, but it means something to me and I hope it also means something to those that walk past where it is taped inside the bubble today. There is mixture of wonder, hope, despair and so much more that comes from living in New York City and this simple collage captures some of the complexity of emotions that I often find myself wrapped in while living in this densely populated city.
I found myself looking at the collage I had taped to the inside of the Spacebubble and thinking that it is perfectly fitting to my own experience and viewpoint, even in its simplicity. I love graffiti, street art, and public art in general and this is represented. I also like stairs and I find myself contemplating their meaning in regards to various belief systems, myths and stories. As for umbrellas, well, who doesn't like an umbrella at the right time and place? The solo figure, well, that is me, or others like me, alone and facing a foreboding world. It's me at the beginning of a choose-your-own-adventure book, deciding what direction Saturday should take me, where I might journey? Will I go into the lower east side, to the place where the hounds reside, breathing fire and bellowing snarls and snaps. Perhaps to the the northwestern reaches beyond the edges of paradise rectangle? To the place where the clowns always put on their shows, so often evoking laughter and happiness in audiences. Perhaps I should venture into the belly of the golden dragon where red lanterns always burn bright from the balconies overhanging so many streets? Should I go instead to the very deep south, where the ancient shard has awoken, raising before it a crystal tower,the likes of which the world has never seen before? This is the city in which I live, it's not just buildings and streets, it's more than that, much more. New York City always seems to offer me new discoveries, new places, new people, if I choose to engage with them, and so much more. The icon I created, for me, it speaks about the identity I hold within this place, New York City, where I am so often a lone adventurer seeking whatever it is that resides at the end of the staircase. There are always monsters along the way and it was necessary to incorporate both the monsters and the tools one might use to overcome obstacles of the city. Identity, it's tricky, but I think the collage that I contributed shows, at least, an impression I have of the identity in the city in conjunction with my own view of the city's identity.
The creation of not only my own icon, but also seeing so many other icons created by th various visitors to the Spacebubble, it evoked from my memory Anna Notaro's "Technology in Search of an Artist: Questions of Auteurism/ Authorship and the Contemporary Cinematic Experience". Inside the Spacebubble, on the walls, so many people have taped icons, image representations of their idea of what icon best represents the identity of this city, that we all reside within. So many different views contributing to a much larger artistic work. The Spacebubble becomes a collective work of art through the efforts of so many people, much like a film often does, perhaps a representation of the "garden of forking paths", as referred to by Notaro. Perhaps, the Spacebubble is a type of Hyperfiction, which "seems to semantically represent the looseness of the signifier-signified relation as the multiple narrative lines subvert any control by the reader and undermine the author's power to fix all contexts and therefore all meanings of the text sequences" (Notaro, 86). The Spacebubble could be said to be doing just this through each participant's use of icons to represent identity. Indeed, the narrative shown on the walls of the Spacebubble is also non-linear, there is no clear beginning or end. One could start searching at any point inside the Spacebubble for the views offered by folks about identity. This evokes what Notaro has said about interactivity being new, or linear, "for some commentators all the hype about interactivity as the new narrative is absurd: narrative never was linear, so to proclaim the discovery of non-linear narrative is absurd. In the same vein interactivity has always been a feature of any representational media, from religious rituals to painting, novels and cinema" (Notaro, 95). Indeed, as I walked around that bubble looking at the various icons on display representing people's ideas of identity, is the art placed on that artificial wall so different from the art carved into cave walls thousands of years ago. We are still people searching for meaning through our works creativity. We create, we try to understand, and then we start the process over again.
And the article that inspired my visit: https://www.timeout.com/newyork/blog/a-giant-bubble-is-coming-to-central-park-this-weekend-101817
Additional awesome images below:
Notaro, Anna. "Technology in Search of an Artist: Questions of Auteurism/ Authorship and the Contemporary Cinematic Experience", Velvet Light Trap, 22 Mar. 2006, pp. 86–97.