richardmurray

 

Unofficial Title: I dream of
Artist: GDbee < https://gdbee.store/ >   aka Prinnay    
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Title: Little Girl Lost
Artist: Lisa Tillman Pritchard  < https://www.etsy.com/shop/ltpartllc1/ , https://www.tiktok.com/@ltpartllc>     

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Title: morning glory
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Title: Natural Order of Haircare Series
Artist: Lisa Tillman Pritchard  < https://www.etsy.com/shop/ltpartllc1/ , https://www.tiktok.com/@ltpartllc>     

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Unofficial Title: recreate from seven years ago
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Unofficial Title: recreate from seven years ago-original
Artist: GDbee

Title:    Rising phoenix - character from dr michelle spry mkerrspry-

ink from shawn alleyne -

color from gizmobunny 
Artist: shawn alleyne < Pyroglyphics Studio > OR < https://www.deviantart.com/pyroglyphics1 >   

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Title: Thank god it is friday
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Unofficial Title: Wisest Dreams
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Title:  Alexa plays lotus flower
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Unofficial Title: motherboard sword
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Unofficial Title:  Serenitea 
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Title:   aizan 
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Model/Artist:  Miss Faye Carol with Kev Choice and band
PHotographer: Ronald Reed ronwired

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Title: feel the fire 
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Any writers in here with zero or near zero drawing capability want a chance to have a complex logical process, commonly called, an Artificial Intelligence, compose a work of art for them?

I am considering making a group in deviantart for you writers. Writers who also draw, like me, your not welcome for now. For now, just the writers who can't draw

https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/Dreamupgif-937250338

I comprehend. 

If I gain fifty billion dollars tomorrow morning all mine, no tax needed. What will I say. 

Richard Murray has the most intramultiracial community of black people in the usa. 

NYC circa 2.5 million black people I am a leader of. and yes, I am also a leader of the black community in the larger usa, over night. 

Does anyone know me? no. 

But that doesn't matter. One isn't a leader because people know them or anyone says it publicly. you are a leader in any community when your resources, whether that is  fiscal wealth or government position or communal following or other gives you the ability to influence the community you are native to. 

If I am in NYC and I have fifty billion dollars, I am a leader. Is how I will lead be known? no.  

People will have the right to do to me what I do to Douglass or others and judge me on my results.

If I do nothing then anyone can say I was a poor black leader. if I leave NYC immediately and do things elsewhere a black person in NYC can say, Richard was terrible as a black leader in NYC.  

 

I quote myself

  Quote

 Frederick Douglass had an overwhelming majority in the black community, over ninety percent, that was truly monoracial in many racial ways. 

I don't see the connection to people knowing Douglass with the condition of the black community at douglass's time having an overhwhelming majority in itself. 

 

 

One point in history 

  Quote

Black population....those down South working in the fields?

Juneteenth is coming up and I think many black people or people in general in the usa really don't define reconstruction more functionally.   

At the end of the war between the states blacks in the south are happy, whites in the south are sad. And a ten year war between blacks in the south and whites in the south was waged. Black people lost terribly. Ten years after the end of the war between the states, blacks in the south are sad plus demoralized, whites in the south are happy plus invigorated. 

 That switch was so extreme that black people in the south could say they were born enslaved to whites, hated whites, were free from whites, tried to befriend or befriended some whites, went on a path of individual + communal improvement involving voting or communal activity that the black community hasn't performed as strongly since, had whites derail their entire communities improvement which is why the black community hasnt been as invigorated ever since and derail their individual lives all in one lifetime, leaving them bitterly hateful to whites with a total fear of violent action against whites. 

You said working in the fields as if most black people in the south simply continued enslaved, that isn't true, the gatherings of black people, movement of black people like the exodusters, the work of zora neale hurston  getting first hand thoughts from blacks at that time prove that is far from the truth. 

But, Black leaders led by Douglass made their choices. Remember the black church leaders had a vote on what to do, go violent or go peace, I can't provide you with exact names of who voted and no one can prove what exactly happened in the 1860s in a private meeting but, nonviolence reportedly won by one vote, and from then to today was set. 

 

 

 

A Solidarity Campaign Revisited

Everybody in Germany knows Angela Davis. At least in the GDR of the early 1970s. There, a state-organized solidarity campaign had called for the release of U.S. philosopher, feminist, and Black Power activist Angela Davis. In collaboration with the Albertinum of Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden (SKD) and the exhibition of the same name (until May 30, 2021), 1 Million Roses for Angela Davis U.S. Edition takes the postcard campaign as an opportunity to work with contemporary artists, curators, and scholars to take a look at a forgotten and often contradictory chapter of the relationship between Germany and the United States and to renegotiate questions about solidarity, activism, and ideology in changing times. Running from March to September 2021, the event series includes a reading group with texts on Angela Davis, a film program, an artistic lecture-performance, the digital exhibition of the postcard action, and several panel discussions, and a listening session.


Few East Germans over the age of fifty fail to remember the state-organized solidarity campaign calling for the release of the US philosopher, communist, and Black Power activist Angela Davis. “A million roses for Angela” was the motto of a postcard campaign in 1970-72 in support of Davis, who at the time was being held under terrorism charges. Millions of postcards were sent from the GDR to the court in California to support Angela Davis during her trial. Today these postcards are archived in the collections of Stanford University.
 
The large-scale campaign firmly anchored the activist within the cultural memory of the GDR, which — in this critical phase of the Cold War — sought to position itself by asserting its commitment to the comrade. In the GDR, the media spun Davis as the “heroine of the other America” and after her acquittal, she was welcomed as a state guest. For her part, Angela Davis had hoped for an internationalist movement promoting a socialist, feminist, and non-racist democracy — the antithesis of her experiences of violence and oppression in the USA. This moment of hope, utopia, and contradiction provides the historical starting point for the exhibition of the Albertinum (State Art Collections Dresden), which features contemporary works by international artists.
Artists focus on the issues that the now emeritus professor campaigned on at the time, which are still pressing today, and thereby initiate a discussion about the background, flaws, and unfulfilled potential of this unusual relationship between Davis and the GDR. In photographs, videos, sculptures, sound installations, and conceptual works a young generation of artists focuses attention both on Davis’ ongoing commitment to social justice and her struggle against racism and sexism, as well as on how her iconic image came to be inscribed within a global history of resistance.

In dialogue with archival materials, the exhibition opens an experimental space of encounters between the past and the present, linking the socialist internationalism of the GDR to the world-wider Black Lives Matter movement.

Angela Davis was and still is part of a global and entangled history of resistance. Through the program 1 Million Rosen for Angela Davis - U.S. Edition the Goethe-Institut and the Albertinum open up and widen the scope of the exhibition in Dresden and provide different opportunities to explore deeper this little-known chapter of relations between Germany and the US. 
 
A project of the Albertinum (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden) and the Goethe-Institut New York.
 
Organized by Kathleen Reinhardt and Deniz Sertkol
 
The exhibtiion is supported by Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Bundeszentrale für Politische Bildung, Outset_Germany Switzerland, Fundacao Calouste Gulbenkian, Stiftung Frauen in Europa, Tu Was Stiftung für Gemeinsinn, Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.
 
The catalog for the exhibition 1 Million Roses for Angela Davis at Albertinum (Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden) was published by Mousse Publishing and is available to order at your book dealer of choice (ISBN 978-88-6749-439-2).
 
Kathleen Reinhardt is an art and cultural historian and, since 2016, curator of contemporary art at the Albertinum in Dresden where she has curated the exhibitions Marlene Dumas: Skulls, Slavs and Tatars: Made in Dschermany, For Ruth, The Sky in Los Angeles: Ruth Wolf-Rehfeldt and David Horvitz and Demonstration Rooms: Céline Condorelli, Kapwani Kiwanga, Judy Radul (co-curated with Isabelle Busch). She received her doctorate from the Arts of Africa department of the Freie Universität Berlin in 2017 with a dissertation on contemporary African American art, for which she received a scholarship from the Fulbright Commission as a visiting researcher at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She has taught at Freie Universität Berlin and Technische Universität Dresden. Her writing has appeared in art catalogs as well as the magazines African Arts, Art Margins, Contemporary And, and Kaleidoscope, among other publications.

 

1 Million Roses for Angela Davis - U.S. Edition - Goethe-Institut USA

more information

One Million Roses for Angela Davis - U.S. Edition - Goethe-Institut USA

This week on the podcast we are joined by Lateefah Zawistowski to discuss all things OverDrive. As an account manager for OverDrive, Lateefah gives us the inside look at how OverDrive works, how authors can add and market their books on OverDrive, and how libraries utilize the service. She also shares some advice on pricing your books for libraries, what trends she’s currently seeing in library sales, and she discusses the impact of the pandemic on libraries.

• Lateefah tells us about her role as account manager at OverDrive and why she believes publishers and indie authors alike should consider opting their books into OverDrive
• She discusses the borrowing habits of readers and how they change based on the genre, and she tells us why the library is such a great tool for discovery, especially for backlist and midlist titles
• Lateefah explains how libraries purchase books from OverDrive, the multiple purchasing models available to authors and libraries, what time of year libraries are most likely to be purchasing books, and she gives some advice on how to price your eBook for libraries
• She gives us her predictictions for library trends in 2021 and beyond, and explains why the surge of new library users at the beginning of the pandemic, while great, isn’t necessarily enough to support local libraries
• Lateefah discusses OverDrive promotions and she explains how merchandising is essential to discoverability on OverDrive
• She explains the global reach of OverDrive and how many different markets they’re available to, from public libraries to education to corporations, and she discusses the different language markets outside of English Language books
• Lateefah talks to us about current trends in library sales, what books have sold the best during the pandemic, and she explains why genre fiction is having a big moment right now

LISTEN TO THE INTERVIEW OR READ THE TRANSCRIPT USING THE ARTICLE BELOW

KWL - 245 - Optimizing OverDrive with Lateefah Zawistowski - Kobo Writing Life

 

Happy Audiobook Month! What better way to celebrate than by uploading your audiobooks directly to Kobo! Especially because it’s incredibly easy to do.

How easy, you ask? You can upload your audiobook in only ten steps (and one of those steps is signing into your account)! Here’s how:

Log into your Kobo Writing Life account here: https://www.kobo.com/writinglife

Select the Audiobooks tab on your dashboard. Don’t see the audiobook tab? Send us an email at writinglife@kobo.com and we can activate it for you!
Click “Create new Audiobook”. Once on the audiobook uploading page, you can start inputting your audiobook information. You will first be asked to describe your audiobook. This includes: the title and subtitle (remember to only include text that appears on your book’s cover!), the series name and number if your book is part of a series, the contributors including your narrator, your synopsis, publisher name and imprint, your publication date and release date, your ISBN (this must be a unique ISBN and cannot be the same as your eBook or print book!), and finally the language of your audiobook and whether it’s abridged or unabridged.
You will then be required to enter the categories for your title. These categories will determine how your audiobook is labelled and categorized in the Kobo Store. We recommend selecting three categories for each book to ensure that customers who are browsing through our store have a better chance of finding your titles.
Next, you will need to upload your cover image. We accept cover images in .png, .jpg and .jpeg file formats. We recommend the minimum size of audiobook cover images be at least 600px by 600px. Covers for audiobooks should be square; if they are not, they will be automatically adjusted. Please note: cover images cannot exceed 5 MB in size.
Now you are ready to upload your audio files! You can drop files directly from your computer into the Upload Audio Files section or select the folder on your desktop that contains your audiobook files. We only accept audio files in .mp3 and m4a formats. An individual file cannot exceed 200 MB in size and all files combined cannot exceed 2 GB in size. Please wait for your audio files to be completely uploaded before moving to the next step. You will know when files have been successfully uploaded when the “Listen to confirm content” prompt appears .
Once your files have been completely uploaded, you can then start to make your Table of Contents. The Table of Contents organizes your audiobook to make sure it is in reading order. You can move the files up and down to ensure they are in the correct order and provide the chapter title for the file under the “Name of Content” section. Please note: What you list in the “Name of content” section will appear in the Table of Contents customers use to navigate your audiobook on our apps.
You will then be asked to provide the geographic rights for the title. Please select the countries you own the rights to sell your title in. 
The final step is to set the price for your title. Please input the price of your title in all the available currencies. Audiobooks pricing is slightly more complicated than eBooks. The royalty percentage thresholds are as follows:

35% royalties for audiobooks priced $2.99 or lower
45% royalties for audiobooks priced over $2.99

Please note: If a customer redeems a free trial token for your audiobook, the royalty amount will be 0. If they redeem using a paid token, the royalty amount will be 32%. Otherwise, the royalty amount will be the values displayed above.
Once all steps have been completed you can then select publish! If you have missed any steps, you will receive an error message. Otherwise, your audiobook is in good hands and has been sent for processing. It will soon be available on the Kobo store in 24-72 hours. 
Be sure to let us know when you’re publishing new audiobooks so we can add them to our audio new release calendar! < https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdy1Hzav1WCotnQqd9zOmrUYj5OMcQcqQ-YJl_erliV6apuYQ/viewform > 

 

Happy Audiobook Month! - Kobo Writing Life

 

See the video at the following link, the transcript is beneath the following link

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/video/star-chasers-of-senegal/

 

Star Chasers of Senegal

PBS Airdate: February 8, 2023

NARRATOR: About 400-million miles from Earth, an asteroid hurtles through space. Meanwhile, scientists in West Africa train their telescopes on a distant star, anxiously hoping to catch the fleeting moment when the asteroid crosses in front of it, blocking its light.

MARC BUIE (Planetary Scientist, Southwest Research Institute): If you don’t get the data at the right second, you don’t get the data ever.

NARRATOR: They are part of a NASA mission that could revolutionize our understanding of the very beginnings of our solar system, and take the African nation of Senegal one step closer to an ambitious goal, to establish its own space agency.

MARAM KAIRE (Astronomer, Africa Initiative for Planetary and Space Sciences): Space belongs to everyone, and it is open for everyone.

NARRATOR: Star Chasers of Senegal, right now on NOVA. Senegal, on the west coast of Africa: one scientist wants to change the fortunes of his country by looking to the stars. His name is Maram Kaire.

MARAM KAIRE: Ever since I was a child, I have had a passion for astronomy. And now, I am taking part in a NASA space mission to help solve mysteries about the origins of our solar system and our planet. This is a dream come true. But I have a much more challenging mission here on Earth, to build a space agency in Senegal. I must prove to my people that science can change their lives.

NARRATOR: For Maram, that begins with helping his community to understand astronomy’s deep roots in their culture, roots that Maram is about to discover go back even further than he realized. Just off the coast of Senegal’s capital, Dakar, lies an island symbolic of a dark chapter in Africa’s past. Maram Kaire comes here to feel that history and to imagine a brighter future.

MARAM KAIRE: This is the “house of slaves,” in Gorée Island. And from this place, millions of African people were taken, by boat, across the ocean, as slaves, to America. And this is the doorway of no return. And we can imagine them just turning back and seeing this door, as maybe the last link between them and their continent. It was the last thing they have to see when they leave their land.

NARRATOR: Now, across that same ocean, a spacecraft called Lucy is getting ready to launch. Maram Kaire has been asked to help that space mission succeed. Lucy’s mission is to explore what astronomers call “Trojan asteroids,” leftovers from the time our sun and planets first formed. These ancient rocky remnants cluster in two distinct groups, trapped in Jupiter’s orbit around the sun. The spacecraft will fly by eight of them, looking for clues to better understand the birth of our solar system, about four-and-a-half-billion years ago. The asteroids are like fossils, so scientists named the mission Lucy, after a fossilized early human ancestor found in Ethiopia.

MARC BUIE: Just as Lucy teaches us about the origins of humans on Earth, Lucy the spacecraft is going to teach us about the origins of the bodies that make up our solar system that ultimately led to the Earth.

NARRATOR: But even though Lucy’s flightpath has been calculated to precisely reach its target asteroids, the probe is entering a region of space that has never been explored. It will fly past each of the target asteroids at about 15,000 miles per hour, giving scientists very little time to conduct their observations. To help guide Lucy’s approach, they’ll record events called “stellar occultations.” A stellar occultation occurs when a celestial body passes in front of a star and blocks that star’s light. At sites around the world, observers will record Lucy’s target asteroids as they eclipse stars beyond our solar system. And from the data they collect, scientists can estimate an asteroid’s precise dimensions. The occultation team is led by planetary scientist Marc Buie.

MARC BUIE: At the beginning of 2021 I noticed, “Oh, look at that. There’s one of these events, a really good one, with a nice bright star, and it goes right over Senegal.” And I’ve already worked with the people in Senegal to do two previous occultations. My first thought was I need to call Maram.

NARRATOR: Marc Buie has asked Maram Kaire to lead the mission to record the occultation of one of Lucy’s target asteroids, called Orus. His task is to coordinate a team of astronomers from Africa, Europe and the U.S. This will be his third NASA mission. In these boxes are the tools to capture an occultation: telescopes, cameras and laptops, shipped from NASA. But even the best equipment cannot guarantee success, if the sky clouds over.

MARAM KAIRE: We are crossing fingers to have good weather, also, maybe, praying just to have all the team safe and in perfect condition at the end of this mission.

NARRATOR: Maram is an internationally recognized advocate for astronomy in Africa. This occultation mission may take him one step closer to his dream of taking Senegal to space. To view the event, the team must travel three hours outside of Dakar.

MARC BUIE: I don’t get to pick which objects come up, where they go, where we need to send crews. That’s all dictated by celestial mechanics and how these things are moving around the sky.

NARRATOR: Marc needs to know the exact position and speed of Orus as it orbits, around 400-million miles from Earth, and the precise location of the distant star he predicts it will pass in front of. He estimates the event will last just 3.2 seconds. Maram and his team have only one chance to record it.

MARC BUIE: With occultations, if you don’t get the data at the right second, you don’t get the data ever.

NARRATOR: Timing is critical. By chance, Lucy is due to launch almost eight hours after the occultation.

MARAM KAIRE: And what we are doing now, with NASA, is very important, you know? By dealing with these occultation missions, we are training a young generation here in Senegal.

MARIE KORSAGA (Astrophysicist, University of Ouagadougou): Seeing this collaboration is a proof that science, especially astronomy, is collaborative and inclusive. This is very important for the development of astronomy in Africa.

SYLVAIN BOULET (Planetary Scientist, University Institute of France): Maram is a cornerstone of this event. It shows that, for 15 years Maram creates, really, a nice astronomical association in Senegal. He knows how to motivate people, and there are more and more people loving astronomy in Senegal.

NARRATOR: Maram’s passion for astronomy began with an event that shocked the world.

MARAM KAIRE: The first contact with space started with the tragedy of the space shuttle Challenger. It was the first time that I received information about space. And it was very sad to know that we lost seven astronauts with this tragedy. And I started to read books and getting out to observe the stars, constellations. I was 12, and I decided to start to build my own telescope. And this is how things began and never stopped. It’s our first training night, so each team will have the opportunity to set up his telescope.

NARRATOR: On the night of the occultation, 10 telescopes will be precisely aimed at the star that Orus will pass in front of. For just a few seconds, when Earth, asteroid and star perfectly align, Orus will block the star’s light, casting a shadow on the Earth that is the asteroid’s exact shape. By estimating the path and width of the shadow, scientists can determine where to place the telescopes. To guide the teams, Marc Buie computes a set of lines designed to cover the predicted region where the shadow will pass. Each observation team is given one of these lines, and they must find a location somewhere along it, where they can safely set up. If they can record the occultation from their vantage points, Marc will have the data he needs to determine the asteroid’s shape and size, vital information for Lucy’s flyby of Orus in 2028.

MARC BUIE: It’s one thing to say, “Put your telescope on this line,” and it’s quite another to translate they’re actually standing somewhere. The last thing you want to do is to be dealing with an angry farmer right at the time of the occultation.

NARRATOR: Every observation site must be surveyed so there are no surprises after dark.

BAIDY DEMBA DIOP (Astronomer, Association of the Promotion of Astronomy in Senegal): (Dubbed) I told them that we would be back Friday night with telescopes to observe an asteroid passing in front of a star. They said ok, no problem. They understood.

SALMA SYLLA (Ph.D. Student, Cheikh Anta Diop University): (Dubbed) You see what can happen. That is why it is important to visit the sites before we bring all of the equipment out on the night of the occultation.

MARAM KAIRE: This occultation is crucial for NASA’s Lucy mission, but it is also part of a much larger, more challenging mission, to build a space agency here in Senegal. I believe space is for everyone.

NARRATOR: For 15 years Maram has lobbied politicians to embrace these words, to convince them that Senegal’s development challenges can be addressed with space science. Many African nations have launched their own small, inexpensive satellites called Cubesats. These “eyes in the sky” have proven to be vital for communications, weather forecasting and the prediction of natural disasters. Maram believes they could be life-changing for Senegal’s large rural population, now at the mercy of unpredictable climatic events. To build and launch these satellites will take a new generation of scientists. And Maram Kaire has another goal.

MARAM KAIRE: My country is 95 percent Muslim, and many traditional Muslims are hesitant to embrace modern science. Near the end of Ramadan, our holy month devoted to prayer, contemplation and fasting, I have an opportunity to demonstrate how astronomy can help Islam. There are many people interested in learning astronomy at these events. I can show them where the crescent will appear by using astronomical calculations. I’m really nervous. It’s always the same, because we are all waiting for this moment.

NARRATOR: Time is extremely important for Muslims. Islamic law states the motion of the sun should dictate the timing of prayers. The Islamic calendar is based on the phases of the moon. The new crescent moon marks the beginning of every month and important events like Ramadan. Maram’s passion for modern astronomy inspires many Senegalese people, but Muslim authorities here only accept crescent moon sightings observed with the naked eye.

MARAM KAIRE: The Islamic tradition is to observe the moon using the naked eyes, it comes from a recommendation of the prophet. This can cause major confusion. If the crescent is not seen here tonight, because it is too thin or the skies are cloudy, the end of Ramadan will be delayed for a day. But what if it is sighted somewhere else in Senegal, where there are no clouds. When should Ramadan end? This is a centuries old dilemma that could be easily overcome with modern science.

NARRATOR: Tonight, in a compromise, the committee of imams responsible for calling an end to Ramadan have given Maram permission to use binoculars.

MARAM KAIRE: It’s just wonderful, because we were not expecting to get it, because the crescent was very, very thin. And, fortunately, we have the opportunity to see it. And maybe we will also have other information from the country. So, we have informed the national committee that the crescent was sighted here in Dakar. They have the final word to decide that the celebration will be tomorrow.

NARRATOR: Imam Diene of the National Commission for Consultation on the Lunar Crescent declares that Ramadan has come to an end.

MARAM KAIRE: Everyone is celebrating the end of fasting. I have been invited to be part of a three-hour discussion about science and Islam at our national broadcaster, R.T.S. Well, I don’t think that astronomers are celebrities. I’m not just feeling like a star or, maybe people really appreciate the kind of information we are sharing with them about astronomy, because practicing their religion depends on this kind of information.

NARRATOR: Tonight, Maram has the opportunity to talk astronomy with Imam Diene who has just called an end to the fast. In front of an audience of millions of Muslims, the Imam agrees modern science may well be the most accurate way to sight the crescent. Maram sees this as a major win.

MARAM KAIRE: To see this important person saying that it is possible now to use astronomical data is an important step in what we are doing to find a solution. Eid al-Fitr marks the end of the fast. We give thanks with a special morning prayer. Prayer is at the heart of Islam.

NARRATOR: The type of Islam practiced in Senegal is Sufism. Maram belongs to the Mouride Sufi Brotherhood, which is centered in his ancestral home, the holy city of Touba.

MARAM KAIRE: I am drawn here today by a very unusual invitation. A family of Muslim scholars would like to demonstrate their astronomical practices to me.

NARRATOR: Maram is about to discover something that will profoundly change the way he perceives astronomy in his country: an enclave of scientists who strive to perfect the measurement of time, in the service of Islam.

CHEIKHOUNA BOUSSO (Islamic Scholar, Islamic Institute of Guédé Bousso, Touba): (Dubbed) When you are interested in astronomy, you will become passionate about the universe. You will become a fan of observing what happens in space.

MARAM KAIRE: I am here to learn about the work of Cheikh Mbacké Bousso, a highly respected astronomer who lived around the turn of the 20th century. The Bousso family wish to show me a sundial which they have built in the courtyard of their mosque. It’s based on one of Cheick Mbacké Bousso’s designs. They still use it every day to find the exact prayer times here in Touba.

NARRATOR: Because the official time on a watch is not accurate enough for their needs. Official time is tied to the world’s 24 time zones and is uniform across a region, sometimes even an entire country. But there’s another type of time, true solar time, which is tied to the sun’s position in the sky at a specific location. Even travelling a short distance east or west, there’s a time difference. Only true solar times gives Muslims the accuracy they need to pray on time, wherever they are. The best way to find true solar time is to measure the sun’s shadow as it changes throughout the day. Many of us have now lost the connection between time and what happens in the sky, but not the Bousso family.

MARAM KAIRE: They are not just trying to use time like we use it in modern astronomy, but they need for a precise, accurate local time, based on the position of the sun. All the life of the Muslim are depending on this kind of information for doing things at the right moment. To build an accurate sundial, Cheick Mbacké Bousso needed to understand basic astronomy, and he needed to mark the trajectory, position and length of the sun’s shadow hour after hour.

CHEIKHOUNA BOUSSO: (Dubbed) What he used to do, every morning for 33 years, facing east with paper and ink, was to write down the times of sunrise and sunset in a notebook.

NARRATOR: And using the data collected from his observations, Cheikh Mbacké Bousso calculated the Qibla, the direction to Mecca. The Great Mosque of Touba was built to his specifications. It’s almost noon, solar time. At the precise moment the sun’s shadow is at its shortest, it will be 12 p.m. Midday is the most accurate reference point throughout the year. The muezzin sets his watch by the shadow, continuing a long tradition of finding time.

MARAM KAIRE: How did Cheikh Mbacké Bousso come to learn the basic astronomy he needed for his tasks? Cheikhouna Bousso tells me he consulted centuries old Islamic astronomy books, written in Arabic. It comes as a surprise to me that this family of Muslim scholars still practice astronomy developed in medieval times. They tell me they would like to learn about modern astronomy. We have taken different paths, but when we look to the skies, we ask the same question. Where is our place in this universe? They watch the daily movements of the sun, moon and stars to perfect their lives on Earth. I watch for the blink of a star lightyears away, to help NASA’s Lucy mission reach asteroids that may unlock the secrets of our solar system and, ultimately, our own planet.

NARRATOR: Maram thought he was bringing astronomy to Senegal. The Bousso family have shown him it’s already here. Maram has many questions. From where did Cheikh Mbacké Bousso get his books? How did other Islamic astronomers advance their knowledge of celestial events? Istanbul was the center of the powerful Ottoman Empire and the hub for all Islamic sciences, from the 15th century right up until the 1800s. Great scholars gravitated to this place to live and work. With them they brought astronomy books written in Arabic, like the ones Cheikh Mbacké Bousso may have studied. Maram has come to Istanbul to meet Taha Yasin Arslan, an expert on the history of astronomy in the Islamic world.

TAHA YASIN ARSLAN (Historian of Science, Istanbul Medeniyet University): Starting from ninth century, scholars in the Islamic world accumulated knowledge from Greeks, Persians and Indians, and, using Arabic, created new scientific knowledge. And that knowledge could be used, without changing, for a thousand years, all around the Islamic world. I study astronomy in the Islamic world using astronomical instruments and timekeeping. The main reason I make these instruments is to understand the mindset of the people who were actually using or making them in the medieval times. I learnt and I understood that science in the Islamic world was not something to be left behind, because astronomy represent all the developments in mathematical sciences, in geometry, in geography, in trigonometrical calculations. It is a preparation for the modern science to build upon.

NARRATOR: Taha has invited Maram to view rare books on Islamic astronomy, written centuries ago. These may be the type of books Cheikh Mbacké Bousso had in his library.

MARAM KAIRE: Hi, Mr. Taha.

TAHA YASIN ARSLAN: Hello.

MARAM KAIRE: Nice to meet you.

TAHA YASIN ARSLAN: Very nice to meet you, too. Welcome to Istanbul.

MARAM KAIRE: Thank you. You have a very nice city.

TAHA YASIN ARSLAN: Süleymaniye Library, in Istanbul, contains 90,000 manuscripts. And this is the largest Islamic collection in the world. One can find any book in any branches of science. For most of the scholars in the Islamic world, there is at least one copy of their book in this library. So, we have a special treat here, and the library allowed us to have this magnificent manuscript. And it is by Jaghmini who is a 13th, 14th century astronomer. The importance of this book is it is disseminated all around the Islamic world. When you have any kind of information about cosmology, it will always be related to this book. Oh, yes. That’s one of the things. This is showing the eclipses. Absolutely. This is the sun, this is the earth and this is the moon.

MARAM KAIRE: This is what we call now “basic” astronomy. So, I think that for this time it’s very impressive to have to this kind of accuracy.

TAHA YASIN ARSLAN: I like this a lot, because in some of the pages you see so many comments there. And these are specifically made by people who are studying this and not always for astronomers. That’s the key, because science is never remaining in some sort of a elite group of people.

NARRATOR: But there are also books that only astronomers would consult. This one has instructions to make one of Islamic science’s most important and complex astronomical instruments, the astrolabe.

TAHA YASIN ARSLAN: As a person who makes astrolabes, I actually use this book and the calculations in this book in my own productions, as well.

NARRATOR: An astrolabe has many uses, from identifying stars to finding daily time. It may have been developed by the Greeks, but it reached its zenith in the hands of Islamic scientists. They wanted to make better, more accurate instruments to calculate time.

TAHA YASIN ARSLAN: This is an Islamic astrolabe. This instrument is actually a mechanical computer. What you see here is the projection of the sky for a specific latitude. This is for Istanbul.

NARRATOR: Etched on the base plate is the horizon line, precise altitude circles marking the sun’s height above the horizon, and the meridian, showing midday and midnight. On top of the base plate is a moveable plate, showing stars and constellations, and a ring that represents the apparent movement of the sun throughout the year. It’s labelled with dates.

TAHA YASIN ARSLAN: It starts with one single observation. And we will actually try to maintain the position of this piece, exactly aligning with the sun. I think it’s now aligned. This is a perfect alignment. And we just read the altitude from here to here. It’s 54 degrees.

NARRATOR: That means the sun is 54 degrees above the horizon. The user now turns the astrolabe over to find the 54 degrees circle on the bottom plate. Next step, find and mark the date; it’s etched on the ring that represents the sun’s path. Then rotate the plate until the date aligns with the altitude mark. If you take a piece of string from the center of the astrolabe through the aligned points, you can read the time from the rim. The line is like the hand of a clock. It’s four minutes past two in the afternoon.

TAHA YASIN ARSLAN: Once we reach that, we can calculate any time. That is not a simple-to-use instrument but accurate enough for all timekeeping applications. For the Islamic world, time is much more important than any other religion, society or culture, because their lives are depending on the timekeeping for daily practices of Islam or yearly practices of Islam or even lifetime practices of Islam.

NARRATOR: In Istanbul, Maram has learned how medieval scientists used astronomy in the service of Islam. This knowledge is still alive in Senegal today. But was there astronomy in Senegal before Islam? Maram would like to know. He may soon discover that his country’s connection with the stars reaches much further back in time than he ever realized. Clues can be found along a vast stretch of the River Gambia, where more than a thousand stone circles have been constructed. They were built over thousands of years, right up until the 16th century. Many human remains and artifacts have been excavated at the sites. Scientific research has mainly focused on the burial practices and rituals of the builders. That is about to change. Maram wants to look at them through the eyes of an astronomer.

MARAM KAIRE: The first time I heard about these places, I was just asking myself if we can have the same configuration, the same set up between the sample of Stonehenge and these stone circles here in Senegambia.

NARRATOR: They are one of the largest concentrations of megaliths so far recorded in the world. But the stone circles are not well known outside of Senegal, and some of them are difficult to find. There are not many signs showing directions to the sites, and the roads and tracks are like a maze. But the local villagers know exactly where the stone circles are located. Maram is joined by archaeologist Aimé Kantoussan and planetary scientist Marc Buie, who is also curious about humanity’s ancient connections to astronomy. They will look for evidence of astronomical alignments at the sites.

MARAM KAIRE: You have some megaliths, there on the right.

MARC BUIE: The quest that Maram laid in front of me was to somehow show a different and new aspect to these stone circles than had ever before been realized and, specifically, to say, “Is there a direct connection to astronomical phenomena?”

NARRATOR: They will begin their survey at Sine Ngayene, the largest stone circle site. It is inscribed on the World Heritage list as a place of universal value. Neither the local people nor visiting archaeologists know who built these circles.

AIMÉ KANTOUSSAN (Archaeologist, Museum of Black Civilizations): There is no connection between the people who build these kind of sites and the people who are living here right now. It’s just like they built this kind of site, used them, and they just disappeared.

MARAM KAIRE: Aimé tells us that the circles have marker stones facing east. There is a solitary stone that catches my attention. I think it’s important, because there are other stones nearby that may align with it.

MARC BUIE: You are saying this has a special orientation. And I’m measuring this angle here to the second stone, which, according to my calculations, is where the sun sets at the beginning of the summer, at the solstice. So, when I look this direction, I confirm the angle 124 degrees to that rock is where the sun would rise at the beginning of winter. So, when I look this direction, this angle is very, very close to the equinox for the beginning of spring and fall.

NARRATOR: The people who placed these stones would have observed how the locations of sunrise and sunset varied over the year. When the sun reached its northernmost point, it was the longest day, the summer solstice; at its southernmost point, the shortest day, the winter solstice. And when the sun rose directly east, the days and nights were equal in length, the equinoxes. By aligning stones to these points, the builders would have been able to track the seasons. And Marc and Maram discover that these stones may demonstrate additional astronomical knowledge.

MARC BUIE: That small stone there is exactly north of this stone.

MARAM KAIRE: That’s crazy. This one?

MARC BUIE: Yes.

MARAM KAIRE: Let me check from here. Yeah, I’m facing to the south.

MARC BUIE: So, this is a great big compass on the ground.

MARAM KAIRE: Wow. I’m smiling just because it’s incredible. Wow.

NARRATOR: There were several ways the stone circle builders could have found north. One way was by looking at the patterns and the motions of the stars.

MARC BUIE: Right now, you would use Polaris, but in the past, Polaris won’t be in exactly the right spot, but the stars will still trace out a circle, if you’re paying attention. Makes me wonder which came first, these stones or the circles? So, I’m left with the question, why did they care so much about this? What did they use it for? What was their intent in setting this up? Is it just to do the metrology for all the other stone circles, or was it just exploring the universe?

NARRATOR: And, they find the same alignments at another stone circle site, called Wanar.

MARC BUIE: So, is this what you were hoping to find?

MARAM KAIRE: Well, exactly what we were searching for. And what is amazing is to have the same information from the Sine Ngayene site and the Wanar site. And it’s incredible.

MARC BUIE: I think that the historical record for human civilization shows a connection to astronomy from the very beginning, understanding the stars, sunrise, sunset, the phases of the moon. All of that work culminates in being able to fly a mission like Lucy that has to fly through space, launched on a rocket, and end up in the right place to study the solar system.

NARRATOR: At Cape Canaveral the Lucy mission is entering its countdown to launch, while in Senegal, Maram and his team undertake final preparations before the occultation.

MARAM KAIRE: We are now loading crates with telescopes on the vehicles, and just after that, we are moving to the observation sites to watch the occultation.

MARAM KAIRE: Tout est parfait. On est à l’heure.

SCIENTIST: On y va. C’est bon.

MARAM KAIRE: Allez, bonne chance! Bye!

NARRATOR: For the last three nights, the teams have practiced setting up and aiming their telescopes at the star Orus will pass in front of. At 1:55 tomorrow morning, they will know if their preparations have been enough.

MARIE KORSAGA: To be honest, I feel a bit stressed, but I am confident.

SYLVAIN BOULE: I think that we are ready with the computer, with the telescope, but we hope that the sky will be the same during the next two hours.

MARAM KAIRE: I’m nervous. I can’t hide it. I’m a little bit nervous.

NARRATOR: The telescope is aimed at the distant star. The team needs to capture the crucial moments when the asteroid blocks the star’s light. The countdown begins.

SYLVAIN BOULE: (countdown in French) Please no more floodlights. Dix, neuf, huit, sept, six, cinq, quatre, trois, deux, un. Yes, man, we got it.

MARAM KAIRE: We got an occultation! Fantastic! Can I dance right now?

MARIE KORSAGA: I was very excited when I saw this occultation.

SYLVAIN BOULE: It’s great! You see, maybe, my eyes shining. It’s just a great moment.

MARAM KAIRE: We have the sky very good and very clear to have our occultation, and just five minutes after, the sky is getting cloudy. So, I’m so happy. And it’s fantastic.

NARRATOR: All of the data collected by the teams is sent to Marc Buie who is waiting at Cape Canaveral for Lucy to launch.

MARC BUIE: In the hours leading up to the Lucy launch, I was getting early reports from Senegal that it was successful, and a picture was emerging of Orus.

NARRATOR: Marc determines the asteroid is 31 miles high and 42 miles across. It’s elliptical in shape and with some puzzling surface features; an outstanding result, which will help NASA plan Lucy’s future encounter with Orus.

FEMALE NASA PRESENTER LIVE (NASA Lucy Live Launch Coverage/Film Clip): Lucy in the sky with asteroids. in L-minus-34 minutes, this Atlas V rocket will send Lucy on the first ever space mission to study the Trojan asteroids, which share Jupiter’s orbit around the sun.

MALE NASA PRESENTER LIVE (NASA Lucy Live Launch Coverage/Film Clip): Named after the Lucy fossil, the spacecraft will visit eight asteroids over 12 years, as we seek to uncover the mysteries of our solar system’s formation.

MARC BUIE: The NASA Lucy mission is almost certainly going to be a game changer. What games is it going to change? Probably the origin of the solar system, if that weren’t a big enough topic.

NARRATOR: The Lucy mission has taken Maram’s dream to build a space agency one step closer to reality. The successful NASA collaboration has been praised by Senegal’s president. And Maram has found a deep and rich history of astronomy in his country, ancient connections to space he never dreamed existed, that show how humans have always looked to the skies for answers about our lives on Earth.

MARAM KAIRE: I need to know my place inside this universe, and watching the stars and using astronomy is just giving me a sort of answer. I started very young, and I keep on learning and searching. And I think that it’s the most wonderful way to live my life.

CAPTION: LUCY IS SCHEDULED TO REACH TARGET ASTEROID ORUS IN 2028.

NARRATOR: The International Astronomical Union have recently honored Maram: orbiting the sun, in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, is “Asteroid 35462 Maramkaire.”

A Day With The Master

stageplay
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/1025934041
poetry only
poetry
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/1025937253
illustration
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/A-DAY-WITH-THE-MASTER-graphic-from-Richard-Murray-1025928365

 

The Settlement

StagePlay 
COMING SOON
Haiku , theme frog
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/1025939467
Illustration
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/The-Settlement-graphic-from-Richard-Murray-1025929540

 

Loose Dirt

Stageplay
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/1025941727
Illustration
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/LOOSE-DIRT-graphic-from-Richard-Murray-v2-1025930195

 

We Left On The 11th ,Hope To Come Back On The 12th

Stageplay
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/1025945711
Illustration
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/Steel-Gifts-graphic-from-Richard-Murray-1025931263

 

The Journey of Sofie Wakten to become a witch

Stageplay
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/1025949171
Illustration
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/DArk-Academia-photomanipulation-inspired-by-dark-s-1016036682

 

 

 

Mental Health Spotlight: Jasmine Marie, Founder of black girls breathing®

Jasmine Marie is a speaker, breathwork practitioner, and the founder of black girls breathing®. Her work is innovating the wellness, healthcare, and research industry by making mental health services accessible to Black women while filling in the gaps of data and research available on this underserved and underrepresented demographic. Marie plans to impact one million Black women and girls with her work by 2025. She is a serial founder with a past life in global haircare brand marketing and an alum of NYU Stern. The impact and range of her work to date is expansive—ranging from underserved minority communities to stressed-out college students and executives. She’s brought her expertise to elite colleges such as Harvard Business School, Columbia University, and Cornell University, and her client list includes corporations such as Estée Lauder Companies, Under Armour, Capital One, Ford Motor Company, Facebook, and Twitter. Marie has been featured in Oprah Magazine, Good Morning America, VOGUE, Forbes, Harper’s Baazar, Marie Claire, Glamour, Nylon Mag, Wall Street Journal, and Black Enterprise, to name a few.

 

What is black girls breathing®? And why was it created?

 

black girls breathing® is a safe space for Black women to manage their mental and emotional health and heal trauma in their bodies with breathwork and community.

I created black girls breathing® after finishing my breathwork training and seeing so few facilitators that looked like me yet knowing how much chronic stress and trauma (generational, societal, etc.) and decided to create it. I used my background in business to help me develop a model where we could provide this work accessibly.

 

Do you have any secret hobbies, skills, or interests?

 

I don’t think I have any secret hobbies but for a while, I would always feel embarrassed whenever anyone asked that question, as a lot of my hobbies can maybe seem boring to others lol. But I love to read. Reading is one of my favorite hobbies. I love having quiet time…any activity that allows me to feel refreshed, sit with my own thoughts and enjoy my solitude. I think because I deal with so many people’s energy that in my spare time, I just like to spend time with self. I love to cook though…it’s a very meditative activity for me that allows me to unwind from my day.

 

How did you get started in this work? And why is it important to you?

 

As mentioned above, after my breathwork training, I realized there were so few Black breathworkers. But before that, I found breathwork while being stressed out after graduating from business school at NYU and working in beauty in NYC. My nervous system was so fried I began having physical symptoms…rashes and an inability to sleep. The doctor would see me and always say, “This is stress. How can you reduce your stress?” Fast forward to me finding my first breathwork class and falling in love with the way it allowed me to just feel more space in my mind and body.

 

WOW — ONE MILLION Black women and girls breathing by 2025 what an ambitious goal! What impact do you see this having?

 

It is an ambitious goal, but in 2020, we fundraised $55k to make our work accessible for one year. After the year was done, it was so clear that we couldn’t stop there. So many Black women needed this work, and we would hear that over and over again. So I decided if I was going to do this work, I was only interested in creating real impact and a goal that would signify that. Imagining 1 Million Black women using breathwork as a tool to regulate their nervous systems, heal from compounded trauma and reduce the effect that chronic stress has in our community (health challenges linked to chronic stress: heart disease, high blood pressure, breast cancer, ovarian cancer, fertility issues, and the list goes on) will not only affect them but our community as a whole. Ending the passing down of generational trauma and normalizing healing.

 

What would you suggest to people who feel like they cannot find the time to breathe or practice mindfulness?

 

I would first affirm that it’s okay they feel that way. Western society has done a great job of making us feel that anything outside of productivity is not only a waste of time but the least important thing we should make space for. Making time for yourself for any mindful activity can be eased into and it can start with being more aware of the present moment and practicing that action on a daily. Maybe you create a routine where every morning for 3 minutes right when you get up, you take a moment to be still, notice your breathing pattern and focus on each and every inhale and exhale.

 

Why is Black representation important in this industry?

 

The wellness industry isn’t unlike other industries where Black representation is lacking. I think it’s important to see other Black women caring for themselves because, historically, we’ve been taught to do the opposite for oh so long.

 

Where do you find joy?

 

I find joy with my family and my loved ones, in intimate moments with friends, in good food and conversation, and in being able to create something and see it grow, shift, and evolve.

 

 

 

Want to learn more about black girls https://blackgirlsbreathing.tumblr.com/ ?

Check out their website, or their tumblr above, https://blackgirlsbreathing.com/

 

Breathe with us on March 27th @12pm EDT during their Mindful Monday Breathwork for Anxiety session on Tumblr Live

 

Ask black girls breathing all the questions on your mind for IssueTime on Navigating Anxiety in an increasingly digital, lonely world ; LINK-> 

https://www.tumblr.com/postitforward/712284924296691712/todays-world-is-a-difficult-one-it-is-becoming?source=share

 

Take the pledge with black girls breathing®

 

POST U.R.L. 

https://postitforward.tumblr.com/post/712319550666014720/mental-health-spotlight-jasmine-marie-founder-of

 

 

 

My Reply

 

Bill T Jones once said, on Bill Maher's show, he was chided in the 1960s for a performance by other black people, and he said he thought the movement was about individual liberty. 
But, what many Black people or other population minorities in the USA don't see/comprehend/know/admit is that the majority in all minority groups are not fighting to get individual liberties for all, but they are fighting to get majority liberties in their minority. 
When the war between the states ended, the Black community was courted by white christian protestant groups for various reasons. But it made a hard space for Black agnostics or atheist or traditionalist <spiritual or religious beliefs brewed in the Black community during enslavement before the war between the states ended that are not christian ,ala Daughters of the Dust grandmother> . Frederick Douglass , a mulatto< a person with a phenotypically white parent plus black parent>, I feel was opposed to publicly supporting other options for Black DOS, <descendend of enslaved> who represented over ninety percent of the black populace in the usa at that time, largely in part because he knew all other options: a state in the union/leaving to canada or africa or haiti went against individual liberty growing in the black community. Which he himself needed as he had a white mistress and many Black people at that time, a recently completely enslaved people to whites , frowned on that. 
Many Black people felt and some feel the Black community was used in the 1960s. The civil rights act was never meant to be an individual liberties act, which is what it is. It was meant to  be a leveller for Black DOSers originally. But, the party of Andrew Jackson saw an opportunity to gain many votes by expanding the civil rights act to women/jews/asians or all non white european male christians, not merely Black DOSers, who sadly did die more than many others minorities for that civil rights act to be. 
So, Olayemi's point is correct save one thing. It isn't internalized anti-Blackness as much as anti-minority. In USA history, Black used to mean , DOSers, over ninety percent. But, USA immigration policy with the immigration act of 1965 had a tremendous effect on the majority in all communities in the USA. The white communities Anglo Saxon Protestant majority already dealt with catholics or italy/ireland plus eastern european jews before joining the white community. But now, white latinos/whites of africa are coming in droves into the white community of the USA in such numbers they don't just merge into the WASP, they are their own. MArcus Garvey was from the english imperial island of Jamaica but now, the Black DOS community has to deal with Nigerians/Jamaicans/Haitians/Trinidadians/Ghanians/South Africans/Siddi of India plus other Black Asians of South East Asia in such numbers they don't merely absorb in the DOS community , they are on their own. The Asian community was once majority Han Chinese, white asians, by far, but now you have Bangladeshi/Indonesians/filipinos/iranians/pakistani in large numbers that being asian american can not be synonymous with the chinese anymore and the chinese american tradition of governmental non involvement is no longer the standard. LAtin American used to be Mexican , mostly mestizo, in the west coast and Puerto Rican, mostly blanco, in the east coast but now it is colombian/venezuelan/ecuadorian/chilean/ bolivian and not all blanco but also mulatto also negra also indio , meaning native american, so the complexity has risen and thus latino voting patterns seem all over the place. 
All majorities in pen-population the USA, the native american in the usa is unique, before the 1960s have been reduced in potency by the individual liberties set in by the 1960s civil rights act and the immigration policy of the 1960s immigration act. So much so that the entire usa population as well as its parts: blacks/whites/women/latinos/christians/muslims plus all others are dealing with a plurality majority future that the former majorities didn't want, have not embraced for the most part, and thus the frictions in social media.
Bill T Jones a black man, legendary dancer, who is a member of one in the LGBTQ+ was fighting for Black empowerment as a subset of human empowerment. I paraphrase Sidney Poitier's character in guess whose coming to dinner: "you see yourself as a black human, I see myself as a human"
This is why MLK jr was so beloved by so many outside the Black community or so many minorities in the Black community. He was a Black christian preacher whose position was individual liberty. So he can get Black people who might not listen to a muslim- malcolm-  or a jamaican- garvey - or a woman- fannie lou hamer- to march with him. But it is also why Black Militants/Segregationist had huge issues with MLK because they tend to not accept individual liberties. In the same way the KKK , while for white power, wasn't interested in white women voting or white members of the lgbtq+ having any protection or say or rights or white asians or white latinos being considered equals to anglo saxon protestants. 
The issue isn't anti -yourself. The issue is anti- minority,which minority groups have within themselves. 
Olayemi's prose closes with the fundamental idea of individual liberty. The only community that matters is the human. Those who support individual liberty fight for communities, like Olayemi or Bill T Jones in the context of greater individual liberty or freedom or protection. Unfortunately, in the Black community in the USA , this is not full explained or comprehended by many Black people. 
I am not suggesting I support individual liberty universally, because I don't. But I comprehend it. And I don't have a problem with Black people whose actions reflect it. 

referral
[ https://twitter.com/msolurin/status/1596202896399687680  ]

 

Half of NYC households face cost of living crisis

Half of working-age households in New York City do not make enough money to cover basic needs, according to a new report.

That marks a significant jump from the group's 2021 study, when it found that 36% of households were struggling.

It said the surge was driven by the sharp rise in prices in recent years - especially for housing and childcare.

It comes as families around the world are facing rising living costs.

In 2023, a family of four would need to make more than $100,000 (£80,000) to match costs anywhere in New York City.

That is significantly higher than the roughly $70,000 median household income in the city reported by the US census.

The report was commissioned by the Fund for the City of New York, which is backed by the Ford Foundation, and the charity, United Way of New York City. A similar study has been conducted periodically since 2000.

The analysis examines the "true cost of living", a measure that reflects local costs and housing size.  

It is more comprehensive metric than the official poverty measure in the US, which was developed in the 1960s. By that measure, just 16% of households in New York City are living in poverty."There are many more people in New York City who struggle to meet their basic needs than the government's official poverty statistics capture," the authors of the report write.

"We find that New York City families struggling to make ends meet are neither a small nor a marginal group, but rather represent a substantial proportion of households in the state."

The report found that single mothers, people of colour and foreign-born were disproportionately likely to be struggling, but the problem also affected those with jobs and higher education.

Among households with at least one person working, 40% could not cover basic costs, it found, while more than half of those who did not make enough to cover the cost of living had at least some college education.

The report comes as many countries are struggling to rein in rapidly rising prices, which were once thought to reflect temporary shocks stemming from the pandemic and war in Ukraine but have proven stubbornly persistent.

Inflation, the rate at which prices rise, is expected to be 7% globally this year, according to the IMF's most recent outlook.

In the UK, inflation is at 10.1%, close to a 40 year high.

ARTICLE
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-65394860

 

FULL REPORT
https://1drv.ms/b/s!ArspJ5yABJDqg8EsiSlQIdYn0kDlcA?e=LnBJgs

 

Black History Month 2023 Q&A

 

What Black artists have inspired you, and what about their work do you find inspiring?
For writing: Zora Neale Hurston+ August Wilson+ Dwayne McDuffie
For drawing: Jean Michele Basquiat 
For sculpting: Dahomey sculpture artist , Edmonia Lewis
For dance: Sammy Davis Jr, Gregory Hines, Michael Jackson
For photography: Gordon Parks
For Music: Louis Armstrong, Marvin Gaye, Sweet Honey on the Rock, Sade 
I have more but they came first to mind

 

Zora Neale Hurston for cognizing the value of Black Art that was being forgotten or lost during her own time, while creating art that cherished an aspect of the Black community that wasn't as in favor as other black artist or white owned media cared for.
August Wilson for the way in which Black communal life is presented complexly while unaffrontingly, I find too many Black artists write Black people as weapons. 
Dwayne McDuffie for influence on Milestone and his width of imagination.
Basquiat for his unique art way and being a fellow New Yorker, surviving for a time, the life of an artists, which can be tough
Dahomey sculpture's for an art work I like a lot they made and it is poignant to me personally.
Edmonia Lewis for never quitting while having two elements of herself that she had to accept met various resistance, and her cleopatra is magnificent.
Sammy Davis jr for how multitalented he was while always a dancer at heart
Gregory Hines for how he always presented tap dance in a street way
Michael Jackson for making dance mandatory in musical acts after him
Gordon Parks for how long it took him to begin to make it, in his 40s but he never stopped trying and reached out creatively when he did, not settling
Louis Armstrong for being relevant artistically while watching his art form change/grow/morph throughout his entire life
Marvin Gaye for telling it like it is with his art
Sweet Honey on the Rock for the soul in their voice
Sade cause she never forces the sound. 
I have many Black artist I am inspired by. 

I hope I can do as they did to me to someone else Black.

 

What are some of your favorite artworks that depict African American culture?
The People Can Fly written by Virginia Hamilton and illustrated by Leo and Dianne Dillon. Virginia Hamilton in the spirit of Zora Neale Hurston kept alive stories that many Black homes had forgotten on their own intention. And she rewrote them lovely. Leo Dillon cause working with his white wife, Dianne, they just had a great sense of making art that didn't seem imitative but was accessible in intent to all. 
A few private works in my home.

 

In what ways do you think art can be used to foster understanding and appreciation across cultures?
Art by default is messages from one or many individuals about their heritage<what they carry > or culture < what they grow> to whomever access it. 
I argue that art is meant to convey, the comprehension or appreciation some want art to instill in those who access art must come from the accessors themselves. 
I like the works of Ravel or the marches of the national socialist part of germany. But neither of said artful acts is why I don't attack french people or why I don't concur to the Nazi party. 
Art unfortunately is asked to be the peaceful bludgeon and that is unfair. 
The best way to utilize art is to allow art, the freedom of art. Said freedom will generate art work that you may oppose or dislike heavily, in my case Birth of a nation by Demille. But, it exposes the truth of the communities that create them. 
And rightly or wrongly, the truth is the beginning to any peaceful comprehension or appreciation between any, even if said duo is never reached in part or whole by one who access art. 

 

If you are interested in my writing , consider the following
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/sunset-children-stories

 

If you want to join my newsletter to see new content from me or others around the great wide internet, use the following
https://rmnewsletter.over-blog.com/

 

enjoy my interpretation of a mascot for deviantart
https://www.deviantart.com/hddeviant/art/20th-anniversary-deviantart-Black-and-White-856152910

 

Referral post
https://www.deviantart.com/team/journal/Celebrating-Black-History-Month-2023-944542916

Giving Thanks

 

MELT YOUR HEART

“One year, [we] gave a boy about 8 years old a coat, tried it on made sure it fit him, he took it off and gave it back to me and I asked, ‘Why are you giving it back?’ and he said, ‘You mean I can keep this?’ and I said, ‘Yes,it’s for you,’” Richard Mantell, vice president of Middle Schools with the United Federation of Teachers, said. “And he came up to me and hugged me and it was hard to fight back tears.” 
Article Link 
[ https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/news/2022/11/20/hundreds-of-children-from-shelters-participate-in-thanksgiving-giveaway ] 

 

BEING OPPONENT DOES NOT ALWAYS EQUAL BEING ENEMY

Jon Stewart: "Penalizing someone for having a thought I don't think is the way to change their minds or gain understanding. This is a grown ass man and the idea that you would say to him, we're going to put you in a time out. You have to sit in the corner and stare at the wall until you no longer believe that the jews control the international banking system. Like, we have to get passed this, in the country, the ability to... Look, people think this.  People think jews control Hollywood. People think jews control the banks. and to pretend that they don't, and to not deal with it in a straight forward manner. We will never gain any kind of understanding with each other. "

Colbert:"what do you imagine the right manner to be....what is the response"

Stewart:"First, I think reflexively naming things anti semitism is reductive as some of the things they might be saying, it immediately shuts down a conversation. ... Comedy is reductive, and I think part of what it is, is we play with tropes, because everyone has prejudices in their lives, and in the way they view things. And comics rely on those prejudices as a short hand for our material. Even the wokest of comics plays with tropes, to a certain extent. But my point is the most interesting thing to come out of this in my mind is something Kanye said. On his tour that he was doing after he said that, and then he got interviewed by five different people because the media model is arson and conflict. He said something fascinating in my mind. HE said hurt people hurt people and if the point of all this is then to heal people, the only way to heal a wound is to open it up and cleanse it. and that stings. that hurts. But you have to expose it to air. and I'm afraid the general tenor of conversation in this country is to cover it up, bury it, put it to the outskirts and don't deal with it and what I would say is, look at it from, a black perspective. Its, a culture that feels its wealth has been extracted by different groups, whites, jews, things, whether it is true or not isn't the issue. That's the feeling in that community. And if you don't understand that's where it is coming from, then you can't deal with it. and you can't sit down with them and explain that ... being in an industry isn't the same as having a nefarious and controlling interest in that industry and intention, right. And that has been the anti semitic trope. But you need to be able to meet people from what their community is feeling as well."

Colbert:"so you saying the way is to deconstruct it and tell them why it isn't with facts"

Stewart:"that's right, but if your not allowed to say it. You know dave said something in the snl monologue that I thought was constructive, as well. He said it shouldn't be this hard to talk about things. And that is what we're talking about. Look I can't pretend that there aren't a [expletive] ton of people in this country and this world who believe that the jews have an unreasonable amount of control over the systems. and they wield it as puppet masters. I've been called anti-semitic because I'm against Israel's treatment of Palestinians. I'm called other things from other people based on other opinions that I have. But those shut down debates. They're used as a cudgel, and whether it be comedy or discussion or anything else. If we don't have the wherewithal to meet each other with what is reality then how do we move forward is my question. I don't enjoy it. Don't get me wrong. When people i admire or whose music I like come out and say how many of you are in show business, you know... here is the deal... we have our own tropes. Like a white person's success is because of privilege, a minority's success is empowerment, a jew's success, that's conspiracy. You feel that. I feel that. But I have to be able to express that to people. If I can't say, that is Bull shit and explain why, then where do we go? and if we all just shut it down then we retreat to our little corners of misinformation and it metastasizes. And the whole point of all this is to not let it metastasize. And to get it out in the air and talk about it."
Video link 
[ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V_sEqfIL9Q ] 

 

 

Title: Sableye and Palmon Plushies for Charity
Artist: Tamarinfrog
[ https://www.deviantart.com/tamarinfrog/art/Sableye-and-Palmon-Plushies-for-Charity-938117299 ] 

Hello everyone, it's time for a new Charity Project!

A Charity-Guild Project!

This time we will be drawing or crafting Digimon/Pokemon as PLUSHIES!! 

This project will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation [ https://makeawish.ca/ ] 

Each submission received will add $2.50 to the charity pool.

If you are looking to sponsor this project, please send a note or email charityguild@tommyspuppetlab.com

How to Submit:

You can submit to your gallery and submit to this folder [ https://www.deviantart.com/charity-guild/gallery/85373471/plushiemon-collab ] (Please tag me and mention this journal too please) 

You may add your submission to sta.sh [ http://sta.sh/ ] or dropbox/drive and note me your submission if you wish to refrain from contributing to Deviant"Art" 

We have a channel on our Discord server where you can submit

You can also email to charityguild@tommyspuppetlab.com

Submission rules:

All Deviant"Art" submission rules apply [ https://www.deviantart.com/about/policy/submission/ ] 

Artificial Intelligence (AI "art") is strictly prohibited from any of these projects. All submissions will be checked.

In order to enter, please comment on the posted journal which character(s) you are drawing. First come first serve, and reservations will be held for 2 weeks. After that, anyone can claim that character again.

All gens (1-9) and Digimon forms allowed. Even Wailord. 

Do not add a background to your submission. I prefer transparent backgrounds, no big deal if you don't know how, just submit it on plain white background.

Anyone can enter regardless of skill. I will judge your art by your effort however. No quick doodles. Art from the heart is what matters most! Again, NO AI IS ALLOWED

If drawing on paper, please use UNLINED paper or it will be turned down!

 NO BASES!!

No stock is allowed with exception of brushes, textures, pallets, etc... The work must be 100% yours at the end! No lazy work please!

Minimum canvas size 1200x1200. However you are welcome to use a bigger canvas if needed.

To submit, please see above

No work older than the launch date! November 21st

Deadline: January 5th, 2023

INVITATIONAL - for all information
[ https://www.deviantart.com/tommygk/journal/Draw-Craft-Pokemon-Digimon-as-Plushies-for-Charity-937980393 ]
 

 

Port Richmond High School students whip up Thanksgiving feast
By Jillian Jorgensen Staten Island
PUBLISHED 2:45 PM ET Nov. 23, 2022
Preparing a Thanksgiving dinner is always a production. But it is extra crazy when you’re preparing to feed hundreds of hungry teenagers who happen to be your classmates.

“In this oven, we have some stuffing and turkey waiting to go out. In the other room we have some mac and cheese and more turkey,” James Ryan, a culinary arts teacher at Port Richmond High School, said. “Some of the students in my eighth period class [are] plating up the pumpkin pies for desserts.”

What You Need To Know
Hundreds of students in Port Richmond High School's culinary arts program worked together to create a Thanksgiving feast for their classmates

They cooked about 300 pounds of turkey, along with sides like mashed potatoes and stuffing

The feast gave them an opportunity to show off the skills they are learning
It was something principal Andrew Greenfield is proud of
Led by their teachers, every student in Port Richmond High School’s culinary arts program helped put together a massive Thanksgiving feast. It featured about 300 pounds of turkey, 75 pounds of potatoes 100 pounds of yas and 32 pumpkin pies, Ryan said.

“We're preparing here for probably about 400-500 students,” Ryan said.

It's a highlight for students in the culinary arts program, who spend all four years getting hands-on cooking experience. They're taught national food safety courses and have the opportunity to get their city food handling license. The popular program serves about 350 students a year.

All of them work on the Thanksgiving meal, with each class tackling a different dish.

“All 12 of our classes have had their hands in it. Not literally, but yeah, almost literally,” Ryan said.

And when the bell rang, the crowds arrived to grab their meals. For students who had worked hard on the feast, it was a moment to savor.

“It honestly feels amazing. I really love how we were able to come together and [prepare] such a big feast for the whole high school and it's just, I'm happy that all the work paid off,” junior Madison Gigliello said.

The meal initially started out smaller, with culinary students just cooking for one another. Over time it grew.

“Then last year after COVID, Mr. Greenfield and Ms. Woodman decided we need everyone together. We're serving a whole school. And it was a hit,” Ryan said.

It’s something principal Andrew Greenfield is proud of.

“What I love about this day is that we don't do a Thanksgiving feast for some students or families. But we do it for our entire school community,” Greenfield said.

And it’s part of what it makes so special for the culinary arts students.

“Every Port Richmond student comes here to try our food and take time out of their day to come try it,” junior Robert Eckman said.

The line stretched down the hallway. After grabbing a plate, students could sit down in the school’s cafe and enjoy a performance by the jazz band.

“You know, everybody’s Thanksgiving at home looks a little bit different, so we try to have a traditional Thanksgiving feast here at school, so everybody can get a taste of that,” assistant principal Suzanne Woodman said.

ARTICLE
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/education/2022/11/23/port-richmond-high-school-students-whip-up-thanksgiving-feast?cid=share_clip

 

Families spend hours in the cold waiting for ICE appointments
By Eric Feldman New York City
PUBLISHED 11:00 PM ET Nov. 22, 2022
It was just after 2:30 a.m. on a crisp, cold New York City night. The temperature read 34 degrees, but it felt colder. It was the first truly cold day of autumn.

“It’s pretty cold, even my foot falls asleep, even I can’t move my whole hand,” said Edi Kiste, who was bundled up in a line outside immigration offices in downtown Manhattan.

She spoke with NY1 as she held her two-year-old daughter, who spent the entire night outside with her.

“I bundled her up with three pants, a jacket, and like two polo shirts inside,” she said.

She said they were still cold.

On Lafayette Street, there are many strollers and children at this very early hour, all bundled up, all waiting.

One mom appeared to breastfeed her daughter on the curb.

These families are here for the long haul, bringing out cardboard boxes, backpacks and blankets to create makeshift beds.

They are choosing to spend the night on concrete.

Laura Godoi said she arrived outside 26 Federal Plaza at 7 p.m., which was 13 hours before her appointment with immigration officials.

“It gives hypothermia,” she said, describing the wait and the cold weather.

There’s a reason why so many people are lining up on a cold November night with their children.

They are waiting for their appointments with U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE.

Many of those NY1 met said they are required to report to ICE after crossing the southern border in recent months.

By 3:38 a.m., the line has only grown.

“We got like 174 people,” said Carlos Estevez, looking at a manila folder he brought to organize everyone in line.

Estevez is not a community organizer. He himself was in line for his own ICE appointment.

He brought the folder because of his past experience lining up for his appointment — and could help explain why so many people are out here overnight.

“They say you can’t enter,” he said.

In a statement to NY1, an ICE spokesperson said the agency is “working to address current processing delays at some ICE offices,” attributing the delays being exacerbated by COVID-19 in recent years.

ICE only lets in however many people the agency can see in one day, no matter how many have appointments set up or how long the line is overnight.

On this night, it’s Estevez’s third overnight trip. Same for Angel Gomez, who said the night before, he got in line at 2 a.m. But that was too late.

Nancy Angeles had a friend waiting in line. Just before 4:30 a.m., she opened her car door, allowing a new group of the people in line to get inside her warm car.

“Whether they’re immigrants or not, they’re people,” she said.

By this time, the line wrapped not only around the block, but continued across the street.

At 5 a.m., the makeshift beds were folded up, because there was an effort to organize the lines.

Estevez led the charge, even though it’s not his job.

Within an hour, ICE started checking people in from two lines, one for families and the other for everyone else.

People got through past the sunrise until 7:48 a.m.

There were still what looked like at least 100 people in line.

“That’s it for the day,” said an ICE agent to the crowd.

The crowd stood there, wondering what to do next. Some talked to ICE agents. Others took pictures of a QR code provided by ICE to follow-up.

People in line, who spoke with NY1, were frustrated. Leonardo Caso showed up at 5 a.m. Edi Fernandez arrived at 4:30 a.m.

Both said they were too late for their scheduled appointments.

“You get up early, and well, they don’t give you a solution,” said Fernandez.

ICE officials said people who miss appointments should also reach out by email.

“When I send them, they didn’t answer me,” said Hamida Al-Hassam, who added that he also missed his appointment, despite getting in line around 3 a.m.

NY1’s video of the overnight experience outside 26 Federal Plaza is generating a response in Washington, D.C.

“There needs to be a more efficient and humane way for ICE to schedule and process people for check-ins and other appearances,” said a spokesperson for Sen. Chuck Schumer. “We are in touch with ICE and advocacy organizations to urge prompt improvements.”

Adrian Pandev is an immigration lawyer based in New York City. NY1 showed him the scene outside 26 Federal Plaza.

“It just shows that the system is not at capacity. It’s over capacity,” he said. “What a mess.”

He thinks most are trying to check in with ICE, as required, within 60 days of crossing the southern border.

“These people are waiting in the streets to comply with the rules,” he said.

He said each day they’re denied their appointments, it pushes them closer to missing their deadline, possibly complicating their status in the U.S.

“Noncitizens would not be deemed a no-show for their appointments if they utilize the QR code,” an ICE spokesperson said to NY1. “ICE would reschedule them.”

An ICE spokesperson said missed appointments do not have to be counted against people in line if they take the proper action.

ARTICLE
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/politics/2022/11/23/families-spend-hours-in-the-cold-waiting-for-ice-appointments?cid=share_clip