fuck politics btw <3

Four for the price of one

“The Last Black Man in San Francisco” (on disc/streaming Aug. 13, 2019; rated R; directed by Joe Talbot; run time 2 hours) is a cinematic love letter to San Francisco, one full of postcard-worthy imagery and tender moments but also one that questions what the City by the Bay has become. The story follows friends Jimmie Fails (as a version of himself) and Jonathan Majors (as Mont). They are adult black males, underemployed but clinging to big dreams. Mont is a sweet, odd man who is an artist and wants to be a playwright. Jimmie is pensive and sensitive. And he is homeless, sleeping on the floor next to Mont’s bed in the home of Mont’s grandfather (Danny Glover). Jimmie and Mont often wheel around town on Jimmie’s skateboard. Jimmie has a fascination for an old Victorian home in the Filmore part of the city, a neighborhood once predominantly black but one now that has been revamped through gentrification. Without the owners’ permission, Jimmie starts fixing up the house. When it becomes vacant, he and Mont move in and plan to get the property through squatting. Their plan is foiled, though, by an aggressive real-estate agent who wants to sell the $4 million home – a price Jimmie can’t possibly afford. While “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” is a story about gentrification (the black population in the city has fallen from about 15 percent in the 1970s to 5 percent today, and a one-bedroom apartment can cost more than $4,000 a month in previously blighted areas of the city), but it makes its social commentary subtly and uniquely (but offers no answers), and through the friendship between Jimmie and Mort. A sort of Greek chorus of young men who hang out on the street ruthlessly insult each other and Jimmie and Mort, and they and others sometimes let the two know they aren’t as “black” or “masculine” as young black men are traditionally expected to be. Fails and Majors are excellent even when they aren’t saying much with words. First-time feature director Joe Talbot (a childhood friend of Fails) fills the movie with warm but decidedly urban imagery. The entire movie seems to have been filmed just before dusk on a warm autumn day. “The Last Man in San Francisco” was released to talk of being a Best Picture contender. And it is worthy of the academy’s consideration. Rating: 95 out of 100.

“Ready or Not” (in theaters Aug. 21, 2019; rated R; directed by Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett; run time 1 hour, 35 minutes) is a horror story (and a gruesome one at that) that also is a thinly disguised condemnation of old wealth. It stars Samara Weaving as Grace, a young woman who is about to marry into money. That money belongs to the Le Domas family, who inherited their riches from a relative who made his fortune through board games – and apparently made a deal with the devil in the process. After she marries black sheep Alex Le Domas (Mark O’Brien), the family informs Grace she must participate in a Le Domas wedding night tradition. Grace and her new in-laws will play a game randomly chosen from a stack of cards. When Grace draws a hide-and-seek card, she laughs it off. But soon she realizes the game is deadly. Grace must stay hidden from her armed pursuers in the darkly lit family mansion (candles everywhere despite the film being set in the present day) until dawn the next day. If she survives, terrible things will happen to the Le Domas family. “Ready or Not” is brutal in its violence but also aspires to be a dark comedy, and in the end it does both better than average, but not a lot better than average. It seems to work best as an action/suspense film when the family is chasing Grace. The black comedy has its moments, but the laughs are sporadic and the dialogue annoying (and full of F-bombs). Also grating are some of the characters, particularly Alex’s Aunt Helene (Nicky Guardagni), who glares at Grace throughout and looks ridiculous in swept-back hair and too much eyeliner (there are many smoky eyes throughout). Weaving is the film’s strong suit, but she delivers a ridiculous one-word last line, one that simultaneously goes for a cheap laugh and groans. “Ready or Not” is bloodier and more contemporary but mines much of the same territory as last year’s “The Favourite.” Both want us to know that the wealthy are weird at best and dangerous at worst. Rating: 74 out of 100.

“Overcomer” (in theaters Aug. 23, 2019; rated PG; directed by Alex Kendrick; run time 1 hour, 55 minutes) is a movie with a message, one it doesn’t reveal (though a few hints are apparent) until about a third of the way through. And then it hammers home that message time and time again. “Overcomer” is a faith-based film directed by Alex Kendrick and co-written by him and his brother, Stephen Kendrick, who have made a series of Christian dramas that are produced inexpensively but do moderately well at the box office. Alex Kendrick also stars as John Harrison, a basketball coach at a Christian high school. The city where it is located is experiencing hard times. When the largest employer shuts down, Harrison’s best players start moving away and the school starts cutting jobs. The principal (Priscilla Shirer) assigns Harrison the school’s cross-country team. But just one runner, Hannah Scott (Aryn Wright-Thompson), a sophomore move-in with asthma and a penchant for small-time theft, tries out. Harrison is trying to come to grips with his situation when he, by chance, meets a hospitalized middle-aged man (Cameron Arnett) who just happens to be a former cross-country runner and expert on the sport. When Harrison seeks his help, he gets more than he bargained for. At this point in the story, “Overcomer” shifts from a potential teen sports drama to an all-out story of faith. Much of the dialogue in the second two-thirds is praying or talking about praying (and much crying), and Hannah finds the Lord with the help of her principal. The climactic scene takes place at the state cross-country finals. And since we only get to know one of the many runners, and since she is the only one who we are certain has found Christ, guess who wins the state championship? “Overcomer” is predictable and full of many plot conveniences, and the acting, to put it kindly, is not major motion picture caliber. But it is a nice enough film. And if you are in the choir it preaches to, the message will mean much more than the way it is delivered. Rating: 35 out 100.

“Suspiria” (2018; rated R; directed by Luca Guadagnino; run time 2 hours, 32 minutes) is a film that is not for everyone. And when I say not for everyone, I mean it’s a film not for many people at all. But if you are into artsy, pretentious (to say the least), macabre stories about witchcraft and the ritualistic mutilation of human bodies set against a backdrop of a 1970s German dance troupe, this is the movie you’ve been waiting for. “Suspiria” is a reboot (not really a remake) of director Dario Argento’s 1977 horror classic of the same name. In this version, Susan (Dakota Johnson) is a young American dancer who comes to Berlin in the 1970s to study at a prestigious dance academy, Markos Tanzgruppen. Something is amiss from the get-go, as Susan is replacing a dancer who left the academy under mysterious circumstances. A power struggle is taking place among the academy’s leadership, but for now it is being run by Madame Blanc (Tilda Swinton). She becomes enamored with Susan, whose talent is immediately apparent. But Madame Blanc has more in mind for Susan than her becoming the academy’s star dancer. In the meantime, an elderly, grieving psychotherapist, Dr. Josef Klemperer (played by “Lutz Ebersdorf”), is treating the displaced dancer, Patricia Hingle (Chloe Grace Moretz), who is convinced the academy is being run by a cloven of witches. Soon, other dancers are meeting Patricia’s fate. What lies ahead for Susan? “Suspiria” might be the darkest movie you see, literally. The lighting budget could not have been more than a few dollars; some of the scenes are so dark as to make it difficult or impossible to tell what is going on. The Berlin setting is bleak; apparently it was never not raining in 1970s Berlin. Swinton is fantastic, of course, playing three roles, including a man. But much of “Suspiria” will be lost (or worse) on your average movie-goer. The audio alone is disturbing, with the crystal-clear sounds of breaking bones, much heavy breathing and grunting, and a wonderfully and fittingly strange-but-beautiful score by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. And there will be blood. And guts. And lots of them. If you can stomach it, and if you don’t mind a film that seems to jump the rails but keep plowing ahead (sometimes into unintentionally funny territory) about the two-hour mark, “Supspiria” can be rewarding and mesmerizing. Everyone else should take a pass, though. Rating: 78 out of 100.

A Quest for Excellence

2ND QUARTER 2017 PROGRESS REPORT

Congratulations to all of our families, teachers, staff members and, especially, STUDENTS! on the successful completion of the 2016-17 school year. For the third consecutive year, I had the honor of shaking the hand of every graduating senior from Lincoln High School and every promoting 8th grader from Burnett and Hoover Middle Schools. Lots of smiles and lots of hand sanitizer were involved.

What follows are several highlights from the past quarter, as well as some looks ahead at our next challenges and opportunities:

LCAP: On June 22, the board approved the Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP) for the 2017-18 school year. The LCAP was reviewed and received input through a series of surveys, district committee meetings, public town hall presentations and leadership team conversations. The LCAP guides the spending of funds in pursuit of the objectives agreed upon through the foregoing process. Our focus will remain on

hiring, supporting and retaining high quality staff

improving student performance on the key performance measures:

3rd Grade Reading - all students at grade level

8th Grade Algebra - successful completion of course

Honors/IB/AP high school classes - more students successfully completing courses and passing advanced placement and international baccalaureate exams

Promoting healthy school climates and expanding communication and engagement efforts

Fiscal responsibility and efficient, effective, mission-driven spending

Demographic Study: Our board recently held a public study session to review the student population projections from 2017 - 2023 based on Fall 2016 data. The short version is that over the next several years, our district will see smaller incoming classes replacing larger graduating classes. 

Fall 2016 (actual) 30,283 TK - 12 students

Fall 2023 (projected) 26,739 TK - 12 students

Middle school population is expected to be reduced by 19%

High school population is expected to be reduced by 15%

Budget Update: Although funding has increased by nearly 11% over the past decade, the district expenses (predominantly related to pension benefits) have increased exponentially higher, resulting in overall decreased funding from ten years ago. The following table illuminates some of the major budget changes and helps to explain why fewer dollars are available to spend on students than a decade ago.

What does all of this mean? It means that our board is going to have to make some very tough decisions in the coming months and years: how can we reduce those expenses that aren't state mandated? How can we run more efficiently without sacrificing quality instruction or classroom experience?Community voices will be essential in making these decisions - please attend board meetings, share your thoughts and be a part of the process. We must do right by every single student.

Finally, in my continued commitment to engagement and transparency, what follows is my assessment of the developments in the 5 areas that defined my "Quest for Excellence" in my 2014 campaign for this office.

P.S. My Facebook is updated regularly and is the easiest way to stay current with Area 2 news!

PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT

HESTER SCHOOL UPDATE: I'm delighted to share that as of May 30, 2017 the construction and landscaping work at the Hester School campus was completed (other than the Kaboom! sponsored play structure). Since that time, we've seen an increase in the number of people bringing their children and pets to the field and, most excitingly, a crush of requests by local youth leagues to reserve the field for weekend soccer games! It is very gratifying to be able to expand the open space resources that are available to youth. Other details:

Total cost and source of funds: $3.2M, funded by State Bond Fund Reimbursements (Prop 1D from 2006) and Routine Maintenance

Number of parking spots at Hester available to Lenzen office staff: 78 (This includes the long, narrow lot along Lenzen and the smaller, rectangular lot off Pershing. There's a lit walkway along the edge of the property for access to the Pershing Lot from Lenzen.)

As a result of moving staff parking further from the Lenzen office, we've created 54 spots at Lenzen for visitors/Enrollment Center. All SJUSD family services are now consolidated under one roof!

CIVIC ENGAGEMENT WORKS and student (and other stakeholder) voices matter! Two years ago, our district began a process of creating all gender bathrooms at our high schools in response to the advocacy of a group of  Abraham Lincoln High School students. Last year, a student from Pioneer High School (San Jose, California) spoke before the board about our dress code regulations and advocated for a revised policy that is more gender neutral. At our last board meeting, a new policy was adopted: one that promotes a respectful environment but does not single out all GIRLS as being responsible for ensuring that all BOYS are not distracted. View the new policy here.

SCHOOL LINKED SERVICES

Summer means fun for many kids ... for others it brings a worry about replacing the meals our school district provides during the school year. The SCCOE is here to help! Find a location here

Resources for Immigrant Families

The ongoing challenge for families and employees to find affordable housing: As Bay Area population rises many longtime Californians move out (KTVU) Read more

CHARTER AND NEIGHBORHOOD SCHOOL COLLABORATION

I wrote a lengthy post on our board's recent denial of two charter petitions. A tremendous amount of conversation and commentary was generated around these decisions, including by many who hadn't read the petitions. When considering the approval of a new school, it is not sufficient to EITHER approve or deny the petition on the superficial level that "it is a charter school" -- it is important to approach each petition on its individual merits, to look closely at the demonstrated interest by eligible families, the quality of the educational model and the capacity of the leaders to deliver on their intentions. Read more here.

Superintendent Albarran, Deputy Superintendent McMahon, several school board trustees and charter school directors convened at the County Office of Education on June 20 to explore opportunities for meaningful collaboration between charter schools and traditional school districts. One of the points of discussion was around potential legislation to protect school districts from "over saturation" by charter schools and the importance of a County- or even region- wide approach.

STUDENT SAFETY

The physical and emotional safety of all of our students, as well as all of the adults, on our campuses is of paramount importance. Particularly in light of the current political climate, we need to be particularly vigilant in guarding against speech or action that could be described as motivated by prejudice, bias or discrimination against any group of people. I encourage staff members, parents and students to speak up if they feel unsafe or targeted for any reason. Almost all of us are feeling vulnerable and need to have one another's backs.

Check out SJUSDs dedicated Immigration Services page

See here for important Teen Dating Violence resources

Kids of all ages are swiping and scrolling, totally transfixed by screens of all sizes. Welcome to the new frontier of parenting. If you have questions on how to take control of, or at least keep up with, the technology in your kids' lives, check out Common Sense Media.

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT...ins’t just for teachers!

This summer, 55 high school students from San José Unified will be placed in paid, hands-on internships with Silicon Valley companies in a variety of fields, from science and technology to building trades, retail and communications. This new program, developed out of a partnership with Strive San Jose, a program of The Silicon Valley Organization, and the work2future seeks to provide career exploration opportunities to our students while they earn money during the summer vacation.

BEYOND THE BOARDROOM

Many of my personal efforts serve to inform my role as a trustee, build relationships, and think strategically about how best to improve outcomes for all SJUSD students. I am actively participating in a number of projects related to education policy and social justice:

Santa Clara County Civics Education Initiative:  I am part of a leadership team that is convening 100 community leaders in education, public service and funding to talk about the importance of expanding civics education opportunities for our K-12 students and moving toward the development of one or more programs to serve this need. In my view, civics education must include the following 3 elements:

The study of how government works at every level, the responsibilities of city county, state and federal government, and the importance of building relationships in order to increase access.

The development of empathic skills leading to engagement in civil discourse: respectful conversation among people who disagree, not for the purpose of persuading another person to change her view but of understanding what circumstances, ideas and information led to the formation of that view.

An understanding of the world of information: how does one evaluate the validity or authenticity of information heard, seen, read or otherwise encountered.

Leadership San Jose Academy: In my role as Senior Director of Community Development for The Silicon Valley Organization, I am in the process of building a 9 session civic engagement program for high school juniors. The plan is to roll this out for SJUSD students for the 2017-18 school year. Participation will be by application and the program will meet Mon - Wed during the October, March and April school breaks. Stay tuned for the plan to become a reality; more information will be available at that time.

“I Still Haven’t Found What I’m LOOKING For”

March 25, 2015 at 4:01pm

You ever get the feeling that something is too good to be true? Well, after watching the first couple of episodes of HBO's "Looking", I finally felt like we finally had a realistic look at the gay community…..well, the white gay community. For a storyline about characters in present day San Francisco, the show didn't have a very diverse cast of characters. I loved that it had some older gay characters and that it involved a group of diverse ages. That's real…..unlike "Queer As Folk" which seemed like a gay fairytale in comparison.

If you have not heard…."Looking" has been officially cancelled. Many are going to say that the interview controversy with openly gay cast member Russell Tovey was the final nail in the coffin…..that his flippant comment about being glad that he was happy his character was more masculine and not feminine like some of the others really shined a bad light on the show.

Yes…that was not a good move, but I don't think that killed the show. It just polarized those who loved the show and those who were on the fence. But in actuality, HBO says that it didn't bring in a large enough audience.

It's my theory that the Tovey controversy made the producers and network "look" at the power of what the show represents and how hungry the gay community is for more stories about their lives. And like the brilliant Kerry Washington said in her GLAAD Award acceptance speech "We need more diverse stories about our lives to be told."

It's a shame that the show has been cancelled because the writing was just getting into some real issues…..aging, losing your best friend, dating someone who is HIV+, PREP, monogamy and Grindr in a relationship. But I think that all of these issues were too close to reality. I posted a few times about the show on facebook and was surprised by a lot of the comments by the 20s to early 30s demographic. Many said they didn't like the show. Some complained about the casual sex. Some felt the storyline didn't move fast enough like "Queer As Folk". Some didn't care about the characters at all because they were living the show.

It's probably going to surprised many why I believe that the show is being cancelled.

Because it is a little too real in content, I think they cancelled "Looking" because an election year is coming. I have a facebook friend who doesn't believe that a TV show can have an effect on politics. For example….SNL, The Daily Show and The Colbert Report (in my opinion) really played a huge part in the 2008 presidential election as well as many daily news issues. Their humor and satire really skewed people like Sarah Palin and John McCain. John Stewart and Stephen Colbert really educated many people about veteran issues and much more over the years.

With the 2016 election approaching, perhaps a TV show that takes a realistic look at our lives would be too big of a responsibility. If folks got up in arms about an opinion on what type of guy man is acceptable, many are going to differ on where we go on the Gay Marriage fight and other issues that gay men face today. Imagine tackling PrEP. That's a tough one to take a stance on. For those who don't know what PREP is, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis is a drug you can take like a "Morning After Pill" to prevent you from contracting the HIV virus. Sounds like a great prevention pill, huh? Well. some gay men are abusing it so they can just go out and bareback whenever they want. I think this is only going to lead to a nightmare.

Remember a few years ago when there was news of a "Super Strain" of the HIV virus? How did that strain happen? It happened because of the virus had mutated and became resistant to most drugs. With guys abusing PrEP, this could all happen again and be even worst than the last time. Then we have an epidemic on our hands.

PrEP is a great thing to have around if you can afford it. But most don't know the difference between PrEP and PEP. One is a daily treatment to prevent and the other is a treatment to be given shortly after exposure to the virus. For example….I know a bartender who broke up a fight and help one of the guys who was bleeding all over the place. PEP probably saved this bartender's life if that person was HIV+. That's what PrEP is for. It seems really irresponsible for privileged gay men who can afford this drug to be abusing it when this drug could be used in countries where it could save lives.

So, why would HBO want to be responsible for telling that kind of story? I wouldn't want that responsibility! And with the Gay Marriage Supreme Court judgement coming, would you want the responsibility of telling the story if it doesn't pass?

And with the uncertainty of who is running and what will happen in the next election, it is too much weight being put on our images and shows. The Gay Vote is going to be very important in the next election. If for some ungodly reason the US elects a Republican for president (which with all the money being poured into this next election is really possible), it will be many dark days for gays, minorities and the economy.

So, to refer back to Ms. Washington's acceptance speech….."So, when I hear black people say they don't believe in gay marriage…." I really can't believe that many black people are buying into the divisive rhetoric that Right Wingers are spewing. Divide and concur has always worked. Kerri spoke about how they pit women, people of color and the LGBT against each other to keep them all in check. If you don't think that someone else's struggle is not yours, YOU ARE FOOLISH! No one is free or has rights until we all do! So, when someone suffers in the Middle East it effects you just like if it was happening in your neighborhood next door. When a gay man is publicly murdered because of who they are in Uganda, it is just like you being discriminated against because you are black or latino. When a young girl is denied access to an education is just like when a woman only makes 78 cents for every dollar that a man makes.

So….I don't blame HBO for walking away from "Looking". Wouldn't it be great if our so called gay channel, LOGO actually produced and promoted actual shows that told our stories instead of the filler like "Drag Race" and "5 Gays and 1 Girl". But they can't. They don't produce anything. They are owned by VIACOM and I bet if you look real deep into the finances you'll find that it is Republican owned and operated (kinda like FOX which produces most of the top shows on network television).

Dangle the carrot and then take it away…….checkmate!

Battling starvation during COVID-19: Struggle for survival intensifies for tribal families in Maharashtra's Palghar

Editor's note: This article is the second of a multi-part series which examines how the COVID-19 lockdown has impacted one of the most backward districts in Maharashtra and the most disadvantaged section of the society living on the outskirts of Mumbai. Read Part I here

***

Suresh Kawa, 31, stops just short of using the word “burden” for his nine-year-old son. No father would do that.

“But we toiled to arrange meals for two people earlier,” he says. “We now have to do it for three. It is particularly difficult in the middle of a lockdown.”

Suresh’s son, Sainath, studies in a tribal residential school in Maharashtra’s Palghar district. Usually, he only spends summer and Diwali vacations at home. However, the residential schools for tribal students in Maharashtra are shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Sainath is back with his parents indefinitely.

“His meals were taken care of at the residential school,” says Suresh, sitting outside his one-room hut. “The struggle for survival has intensified with his return. I feel guilty accepting that.”

Living in Taralpada, one of the poorest tribal hamlets in Palghar’s Jawhar taluka, survival has never been easy for Suresh, who belongs to the K Thakar community. He cultivates rice during monsoons on a two-acre plot to feed his family and himself.

With the lack of any irrigation facilities, the family can only rely on rainwater for farming. Since they don’t grow winter crops, Suresh migrates for work after Diwali once the rice is harvested. And returns only around June. This is a practice almost every Adivasi family in Palghar follows — they move to construction sites in Thane or brick kilns in Bhiwandi and nearby areas during Diwali because farming is not a viable option through the year.

“I get Rs 350 per day as a migrant worker in nearby towns,” he says. “Sometimes you get work, sometimes you don’t. It is uncertain. We basically live hand to mouth.”

Even that has not been possible since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus on 24 March. More than five months later, even as the Maharashtra government embarks on the “Mission Begin Again”, Suresh is still struggling to get back on his feet. “I am happy to spend more time with my son,” he says. “But I can’t deny that an extra stomach to feed in these times is a challenge.”

Suresh is not the only one living this nightmare. There are over 1,100 residential schools with about 5 lakh tribal students enrolled in Maharashtra. While more than 60,000 Zila Parishad (ZP) schools host 4.6 million students. Besides offering free education, the mid day meal scheme is one of the major incentives why parents send their kids to Zila Parishad schools, where at least one meal of the child is taken care of.

Most of the students in these schools come from families of farmers and labourers belonging to some of the most marginalised sections of the society. They cannot afford private education. With Adivasi residential schools and Zila Parishad schools shut due to COVID-19, these children are back to their homes, living with their parents, who now have to arrange food for the extra mouth.

Nowhere in Maharashtra is the crisis among children starker than in Palghar – a district with a population of 3 million, 37 percent of which comprises Scheduled Tribe, much more than Maharashtra’s 9.4 percent. In Jawhar taluka, where Suresh lives, over 91 percent of the population is Adivasis.

Even though Palghar is barely 100 kilometres from Mumbai – the financial capital of India – it is one of the most backward districts in Maharashtra, where malnutrition is a serious concern that stems from abject poverty. Between 2016 and 2018, more than 1,100 children in Palghar have died of malnutrition. In February 2019, the journal PLoS published a report that found 59 percent of children up to age six were stunted and 53 percent were underweight.

Children in Palghar are undernourished because they do not have access to an all-round meal, which should include carbohydrates, protein, fat, minerals and vitamins. The children studying at Zila Parishad and residential schools returning to their families compound the existing problem of malnutrition. The coronavirus-induced lockdown has further exacerbated the crisis of undernourishment among the marginalised in Palghar.

In April 2020, 2,186 children in Palghar fell under the moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) category. In June 2020, that number marginally went up to 2,225. In Jawhar taluka, it increased from 600 to 682 in two months – a rise of 13.6 percent.

At least, 213 children from Palghar were listed under the severe acute malnutrition (SAM) category in April 2020, which, in just two months, has gone up to 23. In Jawhar taluka, that number has increased from 78 to 94, a 19 percent jump. Experts believe the numbers could rise further if there is no intervention from the state.

A few metres from Suresh’s home lives the three-year-old Umesh Bhambre. A bit skinnier than other children his age, his mother Pramila says he gets tired very soon. “With no money at home, we can’t buy green vegetables,” she says. “We mostly feed him rice and dal because that is the only thing we have.”

Umesh is 77 inches tall, but he weighs only 7 kgs. He also falls under the category of MAM. Taralpada has no dearth of under-nourished children like Umesh who are in desperate need of a healthy and nutritious diet.

In 2015, to counter malnourishment, the Maharashtra government had started the APJ Abdul Kalam Amrut Aahar Yojana that provided pregnant women and lactating mothers in tribal areas with a one-time all-round cooked meal. It included rice, daal, two vegetables, an egg and rotis. The scheme also provides 16 eggs per month to a child up to the age of seven.

Living below the poverty line, the residents here have the facility of the Public Distribution System, where they are eligible for 25 kilos of rice and 10 kilos of wheat at Rs 3 and Rs 2 per kilo respectively every month. Besides, there is also the ‘Take Home Ration’ scheme for children up to 3 years, which includes chana, masoor dal, rice/wheat, turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt and soyabean oil.

However, Indavi Tulpule, an activist with the Shramik Mukti Sanghatna that has been raising awareness about malnutrition in tribal areas in Maharashtra, said when it comes to health and nutrition, the government schemes are often starved for resources and are not implemented well on the ground.

“There are different departments handling different schemes that lack coordination,” she says. “The Tribal Development Department funds the Amrut Aahar Yojana. Integrated Child Development Scheme implements it. The mid-day meals come under the education department. The departments don’t coordinate with each other. Additionally, funds often come in months after they are allocated. Basically, the system that was fundamentally weak has been dismantled with coronavirus.”

Except for the Centre’s scheme of providing a meagre five kilos of grains per person every month, the authorities have not extended much help to the poor to survive until the economy opens up.

Pramila says the food they get from government schemes hardly lasts more than 10 to 12 days. “What do we eat for the rest of the month?” she asks. “I have a seven-year-old son. I can’t feed one kid and starve another. Plus, we are labourers. We toil day in day out so our appetite is on the higher side. We are not afraid of the virus as much as we fear the economic hardships. We need work.”

In May 2020, Kashtakari Sanghatana, a civil society organisation that works for labour rights in Palghar, had organised a protest against the loss of livelihoods. The protestors demanded work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) that promises 100 days of work to unskilled labourers in rural areas. Before the COVID-19 lockdown, villagers said they occasionally found odd jobs under MGNREGA but since March, there have been no opportunities.

The unavailability of unskilled work has paralysed Dharanhatti -- a village at a 10-minute walk through the potholed and forested roads from Taralpada. It is a village of people who belong to the Katkari tribe, which is among the three particularly vulnerable tribes out of the 47 in Maharashtra. They survive only on labour work.

Sixty-year-old Shevanti Savara, a resident of Dharanhatti, says the adults in her family slept empty stomach the previous night because the food was not enough for everyone. “We prioritise my four grandkids as much as possible when it comes to food,” she says.

Her three-year-old grandson, Avinash — bare-bodied, abnormally thin with a paunch — the activists this reporter was travelling with, looked at the child and immediately said he falls under the SAM category.

“The food at home isn’t enough,” says Shevanti. “The schemes may be meant for children up to a certain age but when we get the food, we have to distribute it among all the children. We are a village only of labourers. We have no farmlands. Without labour work, we can’t make our ends meet.”

Shevanti's family — her son and her daughter-in-law — migrate to Bhiwandi every Diwali to work at a brick kiln. "We work for 14-16 hours a day," she says. "After six months, we get between Rs 15,000-20,0000."

For people who survive on daily wages, a week without work causes panic in villages like Dharanhatti. It has been five months since the lockdown now. And last week, some of them resorted to their final option: begging.

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You know the man — in his early 50s, edgy but happy; glued to some hobby horse, oblivious to the world. He hops on to the train, picks a quiet corner, avoiding the eyes of familiar co-commuters. Fishing out the earphones from his pocket, he steps into the distant world of Pablo Escobar, as the fugitive drug lord hides himself in an abandoned cottage lined with wild thistles that border the Colombian grassland with a purple glow.He stays with the story as he alights from the Mumbai suburban train and heads home in an autorickshaw — unruffled by the traffic, dust and fumes, sultry September heat, blaring microphones at the Ganapati pandals, as he continues shadowing the officials of US Drug Enforcement Agency chasing a defiant Escobar, dogged and hounded for months, in the last lap of a long, gripping biopic playing out on his Samsung handheld. The irresistible plot keeps him awake till two in the morning, when his strained eyes and a palm numbed from holding the phone finally give way.Our man has no appetite for the magic of reality. He just wants magic — his daily fix for which he trusts the abundant data and freebies thrown in by bleeding telecom companies, and the affordable subscription rates of Amazon Prime and Netflix — even as the addictive wonder robs his sleep, pushes back work deadlines and leaves him with a hangover on a raw Monday morning.GIVE ME MAGICWelcome to the world of ‘over-the-top’ (OTT) delights of streaming videos. It’s the new new fix of urban India, where men and women of different ages are getting hooked on to movies and well-made serials like Fauda (an Israeli political thriller), Narcos (the Escobar story), McMafia (a story about a Russian mafia family settled in London), Sacred Games (a Indian crime thriller) and The Good Wife (an American political and legal drama).There are more than 5,20,000 Netflix subscribers and 6,10,000 Amazon Prime subscribers in India. As the US and other western markets mature, OTT players are taking a toehold in huge, comparatively untapped markets such as India, tempting users to fit an inexpensive and flexible form of entertainment into their lives.Last week’s media report of an unemployed young man walking into a Bengaluru rehab centre to cure himself of Netflix addiction could well be an extreme case of a person detaching himself from life’s harsh realities. Perhaps not all binge-watchers of OTT movies and serials indulge in pure escapism, but many find themselves, even if fleetingly, in a world of suspended disbelief.“There was a time, when sitting in a cab or on a train for half an hour or one hour, one would contemplate or introspect,” says Dr Priyanka Shah Dattani, counselling psychologist, NH SRCC Hospital. “This came under nuanced thinking about life. Today, this is slowly disappearing in a lot of young and mature adults…. The whole process (of binge watching) disconnects you from the outside world and provides you an alternative reality within the confines of a virtual world. This is suspension from reality. It’s affecting relationships, work, productivity and the general quality of life.”THE LURESuhel Khan, a stand-up comedian, says he is awake till 2 am and often dozes off while watching a video. “It’s the convenience factor that works. I can watch at any time and any point of a narrative without being interrupted by advertisements. For me, an increase in subscription charges does not matter... If you go to any premium coffee joint such as Starbucks, two people may end up spending Rs 1,000… As long as content on Netflix or Amazon is strong, people will pay for it,” says Khan.Children are far more affected as they are chemically wired to emulate adults, says Dattani, who often comes across some whose sleep pattern is terribly disrupted, with many managing rest at 2-3 am. For children, it is often more about “fitting in among peers” and catching up with them. So, they “find it cool to talk or write a post about a new series and seek validation from peers,” says Neha Shah, founderpsychologist at Enable, a centre for therapy and special education. “I have observed children in the age group of 10-15 suffering from attention deficit disorder. They point out that they have so many things to do that one thing leads to another,” says Shah.Total time spent on video application has recorded a year-on-year growth of 85% to 40.5 billion hours in 2017. India’s online video audience is estimated to reach 500 million by 2020, from 250 million in 2017. What is it they find so captivating about these videos?Creativity, production quality, absence of ads and censorship. The platforms are a gateway to a new face of entertainment — a business that has experimented and transformed itself in some way almost every decade to lure fickle, unforgiving viewers.“Unlike television, I don’t have to wait for the next episode,” says retired journalist N Sachitanand, 78. “I get a complete season, with the freedom to watch at any point. Three years ago, when I was with my daughter in Singapore, she introduced me to Netflix. I got hooked on to two series. One is The Good Wife, which falls in my favourite genre of courtroom drama and the other is Designated Survivor. I watch television only for news. But these days, I sleep late —between 11 pm and midnight, while earlier I used to sleep around 10.30.”THE DREAM FACTORYThe world of showbiz has always moved with changes in in taste, time and lifestyle. Sometimes, technology brings about a dramatic change or the death of an archaic law opens up new opportunities. A changing social milieu throws up new demands as it weaves new stories. For many middle-aged Indian viewers, OTT videos are a reminder of the burst of creativity and talent when small screen programming started in the early 1980s, with some of the finest artistes of Hindi, Gujarati and Marathi stage coming out with unforgettable TV serials.In showbiz history, perhaps nothing metamorphosed the way Hollywood did. In 1959, when David O Selznick was making A Farewell to Arms, he had said, “Hollywood is like Egypt, full of crumbling pyramids. It will never come back. It will just keep crumbling until the wind blows the last studio props across the street.”While the once-famous studios did indeed totter, the swinging 1960s marked opulent attempts to win back dwindling audience with fabulous productions such as Doctor Zhivago,Lawrence of Arabia and The Sound of Music. The ‘30s and ‘40s were an era when studios such as MGM and Fox had to release a movie every fortnight to keep the show running.In a strange way, this old business model is once again being tried out with digital technology in some international OTT offerings. For large global operators, prime source of revenue is new subscriptions, and not ads, endorsements or theatrical exhibition. They have to come up with new productions — improving every time and splurging on stars — so the dream factory does not run out of steam.But creativity cannot be endlessly replicated. While OTT platforms bet on creativity to grow subscriptions, they know — probably more than anyone else — that creativity cannot be commoditised like a smartphone. A mobile can reproduce the perfection of a smartphone with new features and live up to expectations of buyers, who promise a stream of revenue. But there is no way one can use the yardstick of creativity to foretell how many subscribers a platform would acquire in a given quarter.In the second quarter of this year, Nextflix stock fell 14% in the US amid doubts whether original content could keep pace with demands of viewers. An episode of digital content production is about 1.5x-2x higher than that of traditional TV content and content from OTT firms, most of which aren’t making money, is shot in real locations.OTT providers, particularly not having the deep pockets of large companies, have to strike a mix of ad and subscription to stay afloat.Indian consumers, especially millennials, from non-metro cities are still apprehensive about moving away from traditional mediums of entertainment. “They are still in the ‘exploring’ phase and hence, a paid subscription does not make sense to them,” says Ashish Shah, chief executive, Vertoz, a programmatic advertising company. “More than 95% of these millennials do not live in tier I cities. Losing out on subscriptions from this huge chunk will result in them missing out on a substantial piece of the pie. Relying solely on a subscription-based revenue model does not look like a great choice, at least in the current scenario.”A viable strategy, he thinks, can be trying out advanced technologies like programmatic advertising, which can help OTTs generate more revenue as well as obtain detailed audience insights.THE SURGESince 2012, there has been a rapid rise of OTT platforms in India, with more than 35 operating today. It matched proliferation of 3G/4G mobile internet services, which has crossed 75%, with smartphone penetration reaching 35% across users, says an EY-Ficci study.Besides global firms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, many local OTT platforms were launched in the past few years, a few prominent ones being Hotstar, Zee5, SonyLIV, Eros Now and ALTBalaji. Most Indian consumers prefer to watch videos in vernacular languages, with close to 93% of their time spent on videos in Hindi and regional languages, says an EY study.OTT players know it’s a more price-sensitive audience. What nudges them to invest is the sense that Indian consumers of OTT are starting to realise good content is no longer free.“I think consumers find value in an OTT video service that has a huge library of content, preferably exclusive, some marquee originals that everyone is talking about, ease of use and the right price,” says Rohit Dokania, senior vicepresident, IDFC Securities Research. For the service providers, he thinks, an easier way to make money could be monetising non-exclusive content through advertisements and placing exclusive content behind a paywall.While the charm and magnificence of the big screen would remain decisive for established film makers, Netflix can be an enabler for beginners in showbiz. “In India, a lot of films do not release for multiple reasons and Netflix could spread these stories, thus giving an alternative to various filmmakers. It’s known to pay well for good content,” says Dokania.“For niche films,” says Ashish Pherwani, partner, media & entertainment, EY India, “OTT-only releases will help in providing shelf space, as the theatrical window is limited to 52 weekends in the year.”With cell phones becoming second nature to Indians across ages, OTT streaming videos are the next seamless step. Anamika Dutta, a postgraduate student of communication and journalism, Mumbai University, says, “Unlike television, content on these platforms neither compromises on authenticity of a story nor dumbs down narrative to make it accessible. I am pretty certain I would never go back to television. And going to a theatre to watch a film is more of a get-together with friends.” Though separated by generations, Anamika’s views are strikingly similar to Sachitanand’s.Movie goers in India, with their obsession for first day-first show, far outnumber members of the tiny club that Anamika, Suhel and Sachitanand represent. But online streaming video players in India are betting big time on them, with plans to chip in Rs 3,500-4,000 crore to develop original content.It could make things tougher for Shanti J, a single working mom, who is trying to overcome binge-watching. Shanti is resorting to Screen Time — a feature that shuts off the Netflix app in her iOS as long as she wants —to kill the fixation that sometimes worsens her migraine. Her colleagues finds it amusing that her preferred antidote is the very iPhone that gives her the headache. For hours she sails through episode after episode of Fauda, as her daughter, a medicine student, wrestles with Gray’s Anatomy. She hasn’t lost hope in screen time, but is unsure how long it would take her to win the battle. from Economic Times https://ift.tt/2QW7gf9

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Editor's note: This article is the second of a multi-part series which examines how the COVID-19 lockdown has impacted one of the most backward districts in Maharashtra and the most disadvantaged section of the society living on the outskirts of Mumbai. Read Part I here *** Suresh Kawa, 31, stops just short of using the word “burden” for his nine-year-old son. No father would do that. “But we toiled to arrange meals for two people earlier,” he says. “We now have to do it for three. It is particularly difficult in the middle of a lockdown.” Suresh’s son, Sainath, studies in a tribal residential school in Maharashtra’s Palghar district. Usually, he only spends summer and Diwali vacations at home. However, the residential schools for tribal students in Maharashtra are shut due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Sainath is back with his parents indefinitely. “His meals were taken care of at the residential school,” says Suresh, sitting outside his one-room hut. “The struggle for survival has intensified with his return. I feel guilty accepting that.” Living in Taralpada, one of the poorest tribal hamlets in Palghar’s Jawhar taluka, survival has never been easy for Suresh, who belongs to the K Thakar community. He cultivates rice during monsoons on a two-acre plot to feed his family and himself. With the lack of any irrigation facilities, the family can only rely on rainwater for farming. Since they don’t grow winter crops, Suresh migrates for work after Diwali once the rice is harvested. And returns only around June. This is a practice almost every Adivasi family in Palghar follows — they move to construction sites in Thane or brick kilns in Bhiwandi and nearby areas during Diwali because farming is not a viable option through the year. “I get Rs 350 per day as a migrant worker in nearby towns,” he says. “Sometimes you get work, sometimes you don’t. It is uncertain. We basically live hand to mouth.” Even that has not been possible since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus on 24 March. More than five months later, even as the Maharashtra government embarks on the “Mission Begin Again”, Suresh is still struggling to get back on his feet. “I am happy to spend more time with my son,” he says. “But I can’t deny that an extra stomach to feed in these times is a challenge.” Suresh is not the only one living this nightmare. There are over 1,100 residential schools with about 5 lakh tribal students enrolled in Maharashtra. While more than 60,000 Zila Parishad (ZP) schools host 4.6 million students. Besides offering free education, the mid day meal scheme is one of the major incentives why parents send their kids to Zila Parishad schools, where at least one meal of the child is taken care of. Most of the students in these schools come from families of farmers and labourers belonging to some of the most marginalised sections of the society. They cannot afford private education. With Adivasi residential schools and Zila Parishad schools shut due to COVID-19, these children are back to their homes, living with their parents, who now have to arrange food for the extra mouth. Nowhere in Maharashtra is the crisis among children starker than in Palghar – a district with a population of 3 million, 37 percent of which comprises Scheduled Tribe, much more than Maharashtra’s 9.4 percent. In Jawhar taluka, where Suresh lives, over 91 percent of the population is Adivasis. Even though Palghar is barely 100 kilometres from Mumbai – the financial capital of India – it is one of the most backward districts in Maharashtra, where malnutrition is a serious concern that stems from abject poverty. Between 2016 and 2018, more than 1,100 children in Palghar have died of malnutrition. In February 2019, the journal PLoS published a report that found 59 percent of children up to age six were stunted and 53 percent were underweight. Children in Palghar are undernourished because they do not have access to an all-round meal, which should include carbohydrates, protein, fat, minerals and vitamins. The children studying at Zila Parishad and residential schools returning to their families compound the existing problem of malnutrition. The coronavirus-induced lockdown has further exacerbated the crisis of undernourishment among the marginalised in Palghar. In April 2020, 2,186 children in Palghar fell under the moderate acute malnutrition (MAM) category. In June 2020, that number marginally went up to 2,225. In Jawhar taluka, it increased from 600 to 682 in two months – a rise of 13.6 percent. At least, 213 children from Palghar were listed under the severe acute malnutrition (SAM) category in April 2020, which, in just two months, has gone up to 23. In Jawhar taluka, that number has increased from 78 to 94, a 19 percent jump. Experts believe the numbers could rise further if there is no intervention from the state. A few metres from Suresh’s home lives the three-year-old Umesh Bhambre. A bit skinnier than other children his age, his mother Pramila says he gets tired very soon. “With no money at home, we can’t buy green vegetables,” she says. “We mostly feed him rice and dal because that is the only thing we have.” Umesh is 77 inches tall, but he weighs only 7 kgs. He also falls under the category of MAM. Taralpada has no dearth of under-nourished children like Umesh who are in desperate need of a healthy and nutritious diet. In 2015, to counter malnourishment, the Maharashtra government had started the APJ Abdul Kalam Amrut Aahar Yojana that provided pregnant women and lactating mothers in tribal areas with a one-time all-round cooked meal. It included rice, daal, two vegetables, an egg and rotis. The scheme also provides 16 eggs per month to a child up to the age of seven. Living below the poverty line, the residents here have the facility of the Public Distribution System, where they are eligible for 25 kilos of rice and 10 kilos of wheat at Rs 3 and Rs 2 per kilo respectively every month. Besides, there is also the ‘Take Home Ration’ scheme for children up to 3 years, which includes chana, masoor dal, rice/wheat, turmeric powder, red chili powder, salt and soyabean oil. However, Indavi Tulpule, an activist with the Shramik Mukti Sanghatna that has been raising awareness about malnutrition in tribal areas in Maharashtra, said when it comes to health and nutrition, the government schemes are often starved for resources and are not implemented well on the ground. “There are different departments handling different schemes that lack coordination,” she says. “The Tribal Development Department funds the Amrut Aahar Yojana. Integrated Child Development Scheme implements it. The mid-day meals come under the education department. The departments don’t coordinate with each other. Additionally, funds often come in months after they are allocated. Basically, the system that was fundamentally weak has been dismantled with coronavirus.” Except for the Centre’s scheme of providing a meagre five kilos of grains per person every month, the authorities have not extended much help to the poor to survive until the economy opens up. Pramila says the food they get from government schemes hardly lasts more than 10 to 12 days. “What do we eat for the rest of the month?” she asks. “I have a seven-year-old son. I can’t feed one kid and starve another. Plus, we are labourers. We toil day in day out so our appetite is on the higher side. We are not afraid of the virus as much as we fear the economic hardships. We need work.” In May 2020, Kashtakari Sanghatana, a civil society organisation that works for labour rights in Palghar, had organised a protest against the loss of livelihoods. The protestors demanded work under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005 (MGNREGA) that promises 100 days of work to unskilled labourers in rural areas. Before the COVID-19 lockdown, villagers said they occasionally found odd jobs under MGNREGA but since March, there have been no opportunities. The unavailability of unskilled work has paralysed Dharanhatti -- a village at a 10-minute walk through the potholed and forested roads from Taralpada. It is a village of people who belong to the Katkari tribe, which is among the three particularly vulnerable tribes out of the 47 in Maharashtra. They survive only on labour work. Sixty-year-old Shevanti Savara, a resident of Dharanhatti, says the adults in her family slept empty stomach the previous night because the food was not enough for everyone. “We prioritise my four grandkids as much as possible when it comes to food,” she says. Her three-year-old grandson, Avinash — bare-bodied, abnormally thin with a paunch — the activists this reporter was travelling with, looked at the child and immediately said he falls under the SAM category. “The food at home isn’t enough,” says Shevanti. “The schemes may be meant for children up to a certain age but when we get the food, we have to distribute it among all the children. We are a village only of labourers. We have no farmlands. Without labour work, we can’t make our ends meet.” Shevanti's family — her son and her daughter-in-law — migrate to Bhiwandi every Diwali to work at a brick kiln. "We work for 14-16 hours a day," she says. "After six months, we get between Rs 15,000-20,0000." For people who survive on daily wages, a week without work causes panic in villages like Dharanhatti. It has been five months since the lockdown now. And last week, some of them resorted to their final option: begging.

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