#Although she would be in the same group as Heidi. Where they already have a sketch in mind
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Request: Mine (Alec Volturi x Reader)
WARNING: GORE!
You had to stay clear.
Heidi was bringing in the tours and Demetri was around to make sure all would run smoothly, no one being left behind.
Whilst you could only smile at a few of the tourists who locked eyes with you. You figured it wouldn't hurt, they'd go one way and you'd go the other, completely clear of what would happen next. Suddenly you heard your name.
The voice was familiar but before you could recall who it was, they stepped out of the line of tourists, walking up to you with a smile. You felt your stomach drop. It was your ex boyfriend.
Heidi and Demetri both looked at him but said nothing.
"Well I'll be damned, I never thought I'd see you here." Your ex smiled.
"It's good to see you." You said politely. Although you found it difficult to mask your unease.
"Do you work here?" He asked.
"Yeah." You nodded.
"How have you been?" It was clear he was determined to get a conversation to you reluctantly gave in.
"I've been good. Working mostly." You smiled gesturing to the room. "How have you been?"
“I've been great. Travelling with friends. Partying. You know me." He winked.
You hummed in 'amusement'.
"Well hello there." Heidi glided up to you both.
Your ex looked her up and down and smirked. "Hey."
"(Y/N)'s considered new around her and doesn't know anyone." Heidi smiled, pulling you into her side. She rubbed your arm slightly. Although you were uncertain if that was her way to say she had your back. "So who's your friend?" She smiled wider, showing her teeth.
"Oh he isn't my-" You began but your ex interrupted.
"I'm an old friend. (Y/N) and I have quite a history together." He replied sending you a teasing flirtatious smile.
"This is my ex boyfriend." You finished.
"Oh I see. Well, you only have a couple of minutes, the tour is about to start and you..." She lightly tapped your nose with her free arm. "...have to get back to work." She broke away but kept at a close distance. Supposedly not paying attention anymore but you knew she was keeping close for you.
"How long have you been here?" Your ex asked.
"I've been here for nearly a year now."
"Wow. No one told me you'd left. Your mum told me when I went looking for you but she had no idea where you went. She said you had just up and left."
You wanted to kick yourself and groan. This wasn't going to be easy.
"Why...why did you speak to my mum?" You asked.
"I was looking for you. I went to your house but your mum said you had been gone for months."
"Yeah, I didn't tell anyone where I was going. I needed the space and time to build a new life here. My...my life back there was pretty much ruined."
Thanks to him.
"Ah, yes, that wasn't my finest moment." He said quieter.
"It doesn't matter now. What's done is done. The way I see it, it would have been worse if I stayed."
"In my eyes, the worst thing I've ever done is what I did to you." He responded.
You were certain that your ex had cheated on you.
If he hadn't then it would be a matter of waiting until he did. Waiting for your heartbreak. Not to mention he wasn't exactly apologetic for the flirting with others, and generally tiptoeing the line of cheating.
When you ended things with him, he was determined to ruin your reputation with rumours about you such as being controlling. You saw the storm he was itching to give you. So you figured if you left, you'd be rid of him and any damage he caused, as well as he'd have no choice but to pick someone else or be his own downfall thanks to that oncoming storm.
You shrugged.
"Hey...can we talk? A little more privately?" He asked softly.
"I don't think I can. I really need to get back to work-"
"It'll only be just a minute." He said quickly.
"Alright everyone, the tour is starting, if you could all please stick together and not wander. This place is very big and who knows if we'll find you again!" Heidi's voice rang out. The last sentence received a couple of chuckles.
"Enjoy the tour. It was nice to see you again." You took a step back.
"Please, it's important." He said hurriedly. You didn't know how to answer.
"One moment everyone!" Heidi smiled brightly as Demetri placed a hand on her back and guided her towards the corner in hushed chatter.
"Make it quick." You said flatly.
"I've been thinking about us. How we left things and I've really missed you."
You sighed.
"I know- I know we had our issues but if we try we can work through them."
"No. I think the past is in the past and I want to leave it there." You responded.
"If you didn't care you wouldn't have left everything behind." He said.
"You know, I have more reasons to leave than you making up stories about me whilst you play around with others feelings." You frowned slightly.
"I don't blame you." He answered.
"I don't care and I don't need your validation. You made your choices and I made mine."
"You're just not thinking straight. You left your family. They don't even know where you are." He said.
"That is none of your business." You said firmly.
"Would you stop acting so entitled and being overdramatic and listen to me? It's no wonder we broke up. You do this every time!"
"Excuse me, I think that's enough now." Demetri interrupted calmly. "The tour is about to start."
"Buddy... you're really not involved in this and we're having a conversation so mind your business." Your ex said through gritted teeth.
Before Demetri could respond, you jumped to his defence.
"Don't speak to him like that! You can speak to me like that but don't speak to him like that!"
"No, he can't speak to you that way." Heidi said, sending him a pointed gaze. Her hands on her hips.
Your ex looked at her. Knowing him, he wanted to snap at her like he had Demetri but as soon as his eyes landed on her, they softened and he said nothing. He wore the same look he had back then.
"You know that's why I'd get to angry with you." You said softly. "You always tried to convince me that I was crazy but even now, you have a wandering eye." "What? You'd want me to blind myself? Is that what would make you happy?" He said with snark and you didn't respond.
Demetri nodded to Heidi .
"Are we done here?" You asked him.
"No." Your ex said flatly.
You sighed before turning to Heidi. She was about to speak up but you cut her off. "It's okay Heidi. I can handle this."
"You make it sound like I'm the problem here." Your ex frowned. "If your colleagues didn't hover around you then perhaps we wouldn't be disagreeing right now."
"It's alright, Heidi." Demetri said as he put a hand on her shoulder. "You go ahead with the group. I'll make sure he catches up."
Heidi thought about it for a moment before nodding. "Very well." With a flick of her hair she moved towards the front of the group. "As I said everyone! Stay together!" She began to walk down the corridor, heading towards the throne room.
You knew at this point your ex was just shutting down. He knew that wasn't what you meant but everything he'd say from that moment forward was out of pure spite.
"You do this every time!" He said in anger. "I don't want to fight with you! I'm trying to talk to you."
"There's nothing to talk about. What you and I had is over."
"No, it's not." He responded quickly and confidently. "You can't do that. You can't just speak to me like we just shared a ride home." He said, stepping closer. "You and I are more than that, we always have been."
"We aren't anything. I've moved on and I'm happy." You responded, standing your ground.
"Moved on?" He laughed. "No. No, I don't believe that. You're still standing here and we both know that when you're done with someone that you don't give them the time of day."
"I'm trying to be civil and not make a scene."
He laughed again, completely convinced. "Alright. Where is my replacement then, hm? Is it him?" Your ex nodded behind him towards Demetri.
"No and I don't want you meeting him." You folded your arms.
"Or I won't because you're lying." Your ex smirked. "You don't have to be like this babe. We can start again. We can have that happy life together we talked about. Laugh about all of this later. You and I were solid and we can be like that again." You shook your head. "No. I already told you I'm with someone else."
"And do they love you like I do?" He asked.
You paused. You knew Alec loved you. He just didn't tell it or show it all the time. Not in the way your previous relationships had. Alec wasn't like other people and sometimes that had challenges but you'd take that. You'd rather someone loved you and barely told you rather than someone constantly telling you they loved you merely because they loved the idea of you and wanted to keep you around. "My guess is that he loves me more." You answered quietly.
It had been a long time since you had to deal with how your ex was treating you and you couldn't help but wonder if you were losing.
Your ex hummed in amusement. "You tell yourself that a lot, don't you? I can see it in your eyes. Well let me tell you babe, loving you is easy." He moved closer, his voice lowering. "I promise you, I loved you more than anyone ever has and I still do. You're hurt. I get that. I hurt you but I can fix it just as easily. Just as easily as you light up my world with that beautiful face of yours. Come on, you and me." He took your arms and you shook your head.
"No." You said quickly.
Demetri stepped forward but you shook your head at him. "It's fine, Demetri. I can handle this." You said hurriedly.
"In fact, don't you have somewhere else to be?" Your ex sneered at Demetri behind him. His grip on you tightened.
"Stop it. You're getting angry at him for no reason." You said hurriedly.
"Yes, I am because this dude doesn't know when to take a hint and clear off." Your ex said sharply.
Demetri's eyes narrowed on your ex before turning on his heel and briskly heading down the corridors, the same way the rest of the tourists had.
"Come on, you and me." Your ex said quieter and softly. "We had amazing times together and we should never have ended things the way we did."
"You're not listening to me. It is over." You emphasized. "No, it's not." He said simply.
Before you could pull back, your ex pulled you in by your arms and kissed you. You immediately pulled your head away. "You can't do that!" You cried out. However you cry was drowned out by a very loud scream of rage.
Alec was in front of you both in moments and looked absolutely livid.
With inhuman speed he grabbed your ex, throwing him to the ground. Alec was moving so fast that you couldn't see anything but a blur.
Your ex screamed in terror as Alec dragged him by the legs, down a different corridor behind you.
"Alec!?" You cried out but before you could move, Demetri held you back as Felix and Jane stepped around you, heading after Alec.
Demetri forcibly made you turn in the other direction.
You thought he was taking you to the throne room but her turned a sharp corner and instead led you to the kitchen. You could only say Demetri's name, unable to form a coherent sentence. You wanted to ask him a million questions but nothing came to mind.
"Your arms..." Demetri said quickly closing the gap between you to inspect your arms. You looked down to see red scratches down your fore arms.
"Do these hurt?" He asked.
Now that you were aware of them, you acknowledged the burning sensation they left but you weren't even remotely concerned about that. You were worried about Alec.
"No!" You said hurriedly. "I'm more concerned about Alec. He was- where did he go? What just happened!?"
Demetri didn't answer, simply staring into your eyes. "Let us deal with this, understand the situation better so I can be accurate, alright? Just, let me take you to his room and be patient.” You let him, taking a glass of water with you for Demetri's peace of mind.
Jane turned around to see Demetri approaching. "How bad is it?" He asked. Alec's screams of rage and the sound of breaking furniture very loud despite the door being shut.
"Bad." Felix responded. "The human is basically soup in there."
"The humans final minutes were nothing less of excruciating." Jane smiled darkly.
"Is the human in pieces?" Demetri said in somewhat horror. Not because he suddenly had a concern for humans. More so because humans are basically bags of fluid and if your ex had been even slightly ripped open, blood and everything else would utterly destroy the very old carpets, rugs and walls. Not to mention Alec was currently destroying everything in sight.
"Friend, I'm going to say this as delicately as I can." Felix said to Demetri. "That human was very much alive when Alec ripped him apparent and tore out his organs. He then threw the organs all over the room and has since been stamping on every bone. That human is a puddle of mush and then rest of him is across the room."
"How lovely..." Demetri trailed off. Although he wasn't surprised. This was Alec after all. "He needs to calm down soon. (Y/N) is worried about him."
"They'll need to wait." Jane responded flatly. "It's been a long time since he's been this angry." Jane spoke of it like talking about the weather and not that her brother was completely destroying a room whilst creating a gruesome scene. "I'm surprised you're not in there and helping him." Felix said to Jane.
"He wouldn't let me get close. He wanted the human to himself." Jane smiled proudly as she thought fondly of her brother. "That human was in just as much pain if I got to him."
Felix blinked. "Alright, what's the plan?"
"You and I go to (Y/N) and explain the situation, then we go and inform Aro. Jane will stay here with Alec until he calms down. Jane, do not let him go to his room afterwards, (Y/N) is in there and they can't see him like that." Demetri said and Jane nodded as Felix moved towards Demetri.
"Okay you're telling me not to worry but now there are two of you and you won't tell me what's happening." Your eyes narrowed on the two.
"It's complicated and we don't know how to explain without crossing a line." Demetri responded.
"Wait, Demetri, can we even tell them? Is it our place to tell?" Felix asked.
"I don't think we have much of a choice. Do you think Alec will?" Demetri turned to Felix.
You looked between the two. "If you don't tell me what's going on then I will scream." You warned them.
The two simply looked at you, seemingly unconvinced that you would.
You inhaled a deep breath.
"Wait! Wait, hold on little human!" Felix said quickly raising his arms.
"We'll tell you just don't do that." Demetri said quickly.
Neither of the two wanted to find out what you screaming would do when Alec is already off the rails. It could be those two next for all they knew if you did.
Before Felix could talk, Demetri cut him off.
"I'll tell them. You are awful at breaking news to anyone." Felix huffed, annoyed he couldn't but at the same time slightly offended with the lack of faith his friend had in him. Although Felix knew his friend was right. He really was the worst at that.
"You know that Alec can be temperamental and is very driven by his emotions when he wants to be." Demetri began. "You also know that sometimes be can be so aggravated that he has..." Demetri trailed off.
"Tantrums." Felix said flatly.
Demetri sent him a pointed look.
"What else can you call this? We'll be here all day if we want to look at this with rose tinted glasses. It's tantrums." Felix continued in his defence and Demetri sighed. "Just as Jane does. You know of this but haven't ever experienced it for yourself. This is one of those times. Alec has disposed of the human and is currently on a uncontrollable rampage of destruction. All we can do is wait for him to calm on his own."
"Why...why has this provoked such a reaction?" You asked.
"Well-" Demetri was cut off again by Felix.
"Because the twins do this every time they don't get their own way or something happens they don't like... usually the first one."
"Felix!" Demetri scolded him.
"It's true! (Y/N) lives here, they might as well know that when the twins don't get what they want, this is what happens!" Felix said to defend himself again.
"What I was going to say is," Demetri said as he narrowed his eyes on Felix in warning. "Alec is very... protective of you."
"Yeah but also possessive." Felix interrupted again.
"Felix, I swear-"
"I'm just telling the truth!"
Demetri quietly growled in slight frustration. "Alec doesn't really know how to channel his emotions and his past has very much to do with that. He can't express himself correctly and so sometimes the twins have all this pent up emotion that they don't know what to do with it and...this happens."
You blinked. "I can't do anything to help him?"
"Darling, there is no reasoning with Alec right now in these states. It's best you leave him be and when he's ready he'll come to you."
You sighed sitting on Alec's bed.
"Might I speak with you about something for a moment? Something that has caused some concern?" Demetri asked.
You nodded. "What's up?" You asked quietly.
Demetri moved closer to you. "The way that human spoke to you. You know that isn't okay, right?" Demetri asked.
You could see concern matching in both Felix and Demetri's eyes. "No one who ever claims to love you should ever treat you like that. You know that, don't you?"
You nodded slowly. "I know." You said quietly. "I couldn't make excuses for him after some time and I know that when someone treats you like that... it'll only get worse. So I left. I told myself I deserved better and that I'd never go back."
"Right on." Felix smirked softly from the doorway.
"Did Alec hear?" You asked.
Slowly, Demetri nodded. “He heard the human doubting him, shall we say? Although he was under control. He was approaching when I left when the human kissed you, Alec lost control.”
You recalled the rage filled scream that rang through your ears. That must have been Alec.
"Do you think he was worried? That I'd go back?" You asked.
Demetri thought about it for a moment. "I think he doubts himself. How deserving he is of you. That being said, he'd hold you to him regardless." Demetri cracked a smile and you couldn't help but giggle. That sounded like Alec.
"As I said, he's protective of you. You mean everything to him and when someone disrespects you. He will take that very personally." Demetri assured you before stepping back. "Give him some time. Maybe a couple of hours. He'll calm down and come back to you."
"What did he do to him? My ex?" You asked.
"I think it best that you don't think about that. It's better if you don't know." Demetri responded.
Once Demetri closed Alec's door, Felix let out a sigh of relief. "They nearly screamed when we didn't tell them. Can you imagine if Alec heard them scream right now in this state? You and I would be done for!"
"Now we'll be screaming next if the twins over heard what you said about them." Demetri's eyes narrowed. "We'll both get Jane's gift for that."
"It was nothing but the truth!" Felix said.
Demetri sighed, walking with more purpose.
"(Y/N) is with us now, they'd figure that out eventually! Demetri, don't walk away from me!" Felix strode after his friend.
After an hour of worrying, Alec returned to his room. He stood in his open door way, staring you down.
"Are you okay?" You asked before you could even think.
"You shouldn't have seen that." He said lowly.
"Alec..." You trailed off with worry. After a moment of staring you down, he marched towards you.
Alec collided with you so hard that you fell back upon his bed. His lips were on yours before you knew it as he climbed further on top of you.
You pulled back and hurriedly said his name before he moved back in for another kiss.
"Alec! Alec!" You said hurriedly, taking his face into your hands.
His eyes were a deep red, an improvement from the pitch black ones that met your gaze before but it was clear that Alec was still very much upset, even as his control was gradually returning.
"Are you okay?" You asked.
Alec swallowed, his stare intense.
"Sweetheart, everything is okay." You said weakly, feeling tears begin to build in your throat. "You're the only one that matters." You assured him, stroking his cheek his your thumb.
You needed him to be sure that only Alec mattered to you.
Unable to stand even the thought that Alec doubted that. Alec caught sight of your arm and a quiet sound that resembled a whine escaped him.
The red marks that streaked down from your elbow to your wrist. Alec began to grow irate, unable to tear his eyes from your arm as he immediately pulled back from you and your hold to grasp your arm.
You knew Alec was trying to figure out if he had done that but you couldn't tell him. You didn't know if it had been Alec or your ex when Alec grabbed him with such speed, tearing him from you.
"It's okay." You said to him softly. "I-I didn't even feel it. It was so quick and with everything going on, I didn't even realise what had happened."
"Does it hurt?" Alec asked. His voice made it clear that he was grasping at every straw of control he had. All the while his voice tone was slightly higher, almost like whine he was trying to hold back.
"It stings a little every now and then but it's honestly just a scratch."
That Alec knew. There wasn't any bleeding or even a break of the skin. However that didn't make him any happier about the situation. He exhaled and you barely heard the small whine before Alec pulled your arm to his cold lips, pressing kisses against the scratch.
"I'm more concerned about you and if you're okay." You said to him. Whilst you had been told about how angry Alec could get, this had been the first time you had ever witnessed it.
Alec's gaze met yours once more. "Kiss me." He said lowly before pressing his lips against yours.
You returned the kiss, without any further questions.
When he was ready and if he wanted to, he'd say what's on his mind. "Come here." You said to him quietly and he leaned back slightly, allowing you to move up to the pillows on his bed. He followed and you pulled him into your chest.
"I'm not going anywhere." You whispered as Alec's eyes fluttered shut, surrounded my your scent. One hand played with his hair, the other across his back. Alec wrapped his own arms around you sliding under your back. Every so often he'd squeeze you that little bit closer to him.
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( HEIDY, 23, SHE/THEY, CST. ) ☆ Open your hands and hope to catch a star, KIM JANGJUN, and it might just grant your wish. At TWENTY FIVE years old with an odd resemblance to SONG KANG, you don’t seem like the type who should be caught in a town like this, but who am I to judge? I’m sure there are others who are just as RETICENT yet MAGNANIMOUS and INSOUCIANT… although, really, I don’t think anyone else could remind me so much of RIPPED JEAN JACKETS, A SMILE NOT QUITE REACHING HIS EYES, and CAR DRIVES WITH NO DESTINATION. It seems you’ve lived here for ALL YOUR LIFE working as AN INNKEEPER AT DOTORI INN, but didn’t I overhear you wishing YOU COULD FIND YOUR LOVE FOR ART AGAIN the other night? Oh, I’m mistaken, hm? Don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me; a little wish has never hurt anybody.
hello hello 😳 i'm heidy , twenty3 from the cst timezone , & i go by she / they pronouns ! veryvery excited to be here & share jangjun with u all , he’s truly a gift , but also very excited to be in a rp group again bc its been forever. umm anyway . apologies in advanced for how long this intro is probably gonna get i’m a virgo … we just don’t know when to shut up aha 🙈
━ ˙ ˖ ☆ QUICK STATS !
full name : kim jangjun
age : twenty five
zodiac : gemini
spoken languages : korean , english & just a LICK of french
sexuality : bisexual
alignment : lawful good
━ ˙ ˖ ☆ BACKSTORY !
son of kim seokcheon and jo minsu , their first born , pride n joy with shining qualities and the potential to become starlight bay’s shining light by the time he could talk. grinning ear to ear no matter the face that looked down at him and never once hesitating to stick his arms out for a hug.
grandson of kim minsoo and ahri , starlight bay’s actual pride n joy. the town’s favorite elderly couple aka owners of the dotori inn. these are the ones to thank for jangjun’s gracious upbringing. not that he had a negative relationship with his own parents , he loved them just as much as the next loved child , but any chance he’d gotten he’d run right down to the inn to greet the guests ( regulars and newcomers alike ) alongside his grandparents and quickly became seen as one of them.
for as long as he or anyone could remember , jangjun was a frequent enjoyer of the arts. painting , drawing , mixing water with mud to make his own modeling clay — you name it. the simplest and most accessible form of self expression and gateway for those growing emotions. instead of talking out his feelings in a way he didn’t know how or dealing with an emotion as heavy as they came , he’d use these various forms of art to center himself in any way they allowed. it became something he enjoyed so much that he knew from such a young age what he wanted to do. he wanted to take what he loved and use it to help people. it felt unique , like he’d discovered something no one had ever done before and was putting something into the world that could make such an impact it would change it. it wasn’t until he was older that he realized what he wanted to be was an art therapist.
for years , jangjun stood along his grandparents and helped around the inn whenever he could. his own room granted in the old house in which they stayed not far from it. he was happy to be in a place where he was always helping people as he was taught this was the most important thing you could do , not only for others , but for yourself. ‘ what you put into this world is what you will get back. treat others with tenderness and you will never have to wonder who you are. ’ words of wisdom passed down from his grandfather and practically engraved into the back of jangjun’s brain.
along working at the inn , jangjun focused intently on his studies , never once slipping away from his enjoyment of creating. a teasing rumor had it the kim’s cloned jangjun at birth to be a prodigy of some kind because you’d find him in so many places at once. dotori inn by sunrise , and as the day progressed , you’d catch him around every single corner of town , always on the go and always seen putting a smile on the face of anyone he passed by. by the time he graduated high school , jangjun was presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. he was granted a scholarship to nyu , such a prestigious school known for their sought after art program. as eager and excited as he could be ( and already two trips to new york under his belt ) jangjun felt like he was on his own path.
that is , until , his grandmother became sick. faced with the challenging predicament , jungjae already knew what lied ahead. the choices were unfair regardless , but he had two. continue on to nyu and allow his younger sister to hold back on her dreams to stick around the inn .. or give up his own and resume as the kim jangjun dotori inn knew and needed. for him , the decision was easy.
🚨 🚨 POSSIBLE CONNECTION MAYHAPS ? — saving his sister’s future was not the only thing holding jangjun back to starlight bay , but a lover. another person in his life that wasn’t so easy to leave behind but an easy consideration to stay. to make it even angstier ? they broke up not long after he gave up on nyu to stick around.
fast forward to current times and you’ll still find him present at dotori inn to this day. rumor has it he’ll be the one taking over ownership once his grandparents are no longer able to. but anyone that knows him well enough knows that’s not what he wants. anyone that knows jangjun to his true core notices how he no longer leaves home with the same paint residue on his clothes , no longer has that smile that reaches his eyes anytime they’re met and no longer carries that same passion that he once did. you’ll still find him helping around town and putting those in need above his own , of course. after all , it’s what he’s been taught his whole life to do. everyone always talks about the stars that fall over starlight bay and the wishes they grant you , but perhaps this is what was written for him in them all along.
━ ˙ ˖ ☆ PERSONALITY + TIDBITS !
sooooo as u could have guessed if u read any of the above gibberish is YEA jangjun puts everyone and anyone above him and would give you the shirt off his back if that was what u needed
he very much prides hard work though ?? like he’s not so much a pushover as he is just a very forgiving person and is willing to put issues to the side if it meant the greater good ....
if u are an asshole and ungrateful no he will not give u whatever u want or do anything u ask of him. he will simply tell u to learn how to do it on ur own BUT he will be willing to show u how <3
always outside .. always working on something or talking to someone .. always found absolutely anywhere and everywhere like seriously u just saw him at the inn an hour ago ? that’s great ur about to bump into him again at ur mom’s house because he agreed to help her fix a leak in her sink
ALSO HE HAS A DOG ... his little baby boy named cherry whom he plasters all over his social media. love cherry n jangjun loves u its a simple world we live in
a big part of his friendliness and eagerness to help others and make sure they are ok DOES come off as flirting i will nawt lie ? and u know what maybe he is just naturally a flirty person but he means well and wants people to feel like they have him whenever they need or want him ? SUE HIM ? SDDMDNCMCN
so sorry to the ones he lingers around a little too much and brings soup to ur door from his grandfather and always asks if u need help with whatever ur working on and u think there is something going on . no im sorry baby he just lives like that in 2021 can u believe
treasures his friends so greatly and yes , again , will bring u food twice a week and make sure ur eating well and not doing ur favorite activities alone i wish i had a jangjun truly 💔
UMMMMMM and .. umm and um ? he’s sweet and loves helping and he does it in a way that won’t let u take advantage of him and he just wishes for the growth and happiness of those around him. EXCEPT if ur mean / think u can just take and never give. if that’s the case then screw u - from jangjun
truly i hate this i wrote so much for no good reason … but anyway if ur like me & prefer discord for plotting u can add me @ heidykins#0016 and we can plot there ! but if discord is nawt ur jam we can plot over tumblr ims as well i just might be harder to reach there so pls be patient with me 🥺 anywayayayayyaya im SOO excited to be here & write with u all im so sry for the MESS of this intro she’s not so sexy but thats ok because i think jangjun makes up for it so um come plot with me <3trea
#str:intro#⁽ ⠀ ♡ ⠀ ⁾ ⠀ ⠀ OUT OF CHARACTER ⠀ ／ ⠀ * ⠀ notes.#i didnt proof read this if u see a typo ...... no u dont<3
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• Hanna Reitsch
Hanna Reitsch was a German aviator and test pilot. Along with Melitta von Stauffenberg, she flight tested many of Germany's new aircraft during World War II and received many honors. She set more than 40 flight altitude records and women's endurance records in gliding and unpowered flight, before and after World War II.
Reitsch was born in Hirschberg, Silesia (today Jelenia Góra in Poland) on March 29th, 1912 to an upper-middle-class family. She was daughter of Dr. Wilhelm Willy Reitsch, who was ophthalmology clinic manager, and his wife Emy Helff-Hibler von Alpenheim, who was a member of the Catholic Austrian nobility. Hanna grew up with two siblings, her brother Kurt, a Frigate captain, and her younger sister Heidi. She began flight training in 1932 at the School of Gliding in Grunau. While a medical student in Berlin she enrolled in a German Air Mail amateur flying school for powered aircraft at Staaken, in a Klemm Kl 25. In 1933, Reitsch left medical school at the University of Kiel to become, at the invitation of Wolf Hirth, a full-time glider pilot/instructor at Hornberg in Baden-Württemberg. Reitsch contracted with the Ufa Film Company as a stunt pilot and set an unofficial endurance record for women of eleven hours and twenty minutes. In January 1934, she joined a South America expedition to study thermal conditions, along with Wolf Hirth, Peter Riedel and Heini Dittmar. While in Argentina, she became the first woman to earn the Silver C Badge, the 25th to do so among world glider pilots. In June 1934, Reitsch became a member of the Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS) and became a test pilot in 1935. Reitsch enrolled in the Civil Airways Training School in Stettin, where she flew a twin-engine on a cross country flight and aerobatics in a Focke-Wulf Fw 44. At the DFS she test flew transport and troop-carrying gliders, including the DFS 230 used at the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael.
In September 1937, Reitsch was posted to the Luftwaffe testing centre at Rechlin-Lärz Airfield by Ernst Udet. Her flying skill, desire for publicity, and photogenic qualities made her a star of Nazi propaganda. Physically she was petite in stature, very slender with blonde hair, blue eyes and a "ready smile". She appeared in Nazi propaganda throughout the late 1930s and early 1940s. Reitsch was the first female helicopter pilot and one of the few pilots to fly the Focke-Achgelis Fa 61, the first fully controllable helicopter, for which she received the Military Flying Medal. In 1938, during the three weeks of the International Automobile Exhibition in Berlin, she made daily flights of the Fa 61 helicopter inside the Deutschlandhalle. In September 1938, Reitsch flew the DFS Habicht in the Cleveland National Air Races. Reitsch was a test pilot on the Junkers Ju 87 Stuka dive bomber and Dornier Do 17 light/fast bomber projects, for which she received the Iron Cross, Second Class, from Hitler on March 28th, 1941. Reitsch was asked to fly many of Germany's latest designs, among them the rocket-propelled Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet in 1942. A crash landing on her fifth Me 163 flight badly injured Reitsch; she spent five months in a hospital recovering. Reitsch received the Iron Cross First Class following the accident, one of only three women to do so.
In February 1943 after news of the defeat in the Battle of Stalingrad she accepted an invitation from Generaloberst Robert Ritter von Greim to visit the Eastern Front. She spent three weeks visiting Luftwaffe units, flying a Fieseler Fi 156 Storch. On February 28th, 1944, she presented the idea of Operation Suicide to Hitler at Berchtesgaden, which "would require men who were ready to sacrifice themselves in the conviction that only by this means could their country be saved." Although Hitler "did not consider the war situation sufficiently serious to warrant them...and...this was not the right psychological moment", he gave his approval. The project was assigned to Gen. Günther Korten. There were about seventy volunteers who enrolled in the Suicide Group as pilots for the human glider-bomb. By April 1944, Reitsch and Heinz Kensche finished tests of the Me 328, carried aloft by a Dornier Do 217. By then, she was approached by SS-Obersturmbannführer Otto Skorzeny, a founding member of the SS-Selbstopferkommando Leonidas (Leonidas Squadron). They adapted the V-1 flying bomb into the Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg including a two-seater and a single-seater with and without the mechanisms to land. The plan was never implemented operationally, "the decisive moment had been missed."
In her autobiography Fliegen, mein Leben Reitsch recalled that after two initial crashes with the Fi 103R she and Heinz Kensche took over tests of the prototype Fi 103R. She made several successful test flights before training the instructors. "Though an average pilot could fly the V1 without difficulty once it was in the air, to land it called for exceptional skill, in that it had a very high landing speed and, moreover, in training it was the glider model, without engine, that was usually employed." In October 1944, Reitsch claims she was shown a booklet by Peter Riedel which he'd obtained while in the German Embassy in Stockholm, concerning the gas chambers. She further claims that while believing it to be enemy propaganda, she agreed to inform Heinrich Himmler about it. Upon doing so, Himmler is said to have asked whether she believed it, and she replied, "No, of course not. But you must do something to counter it. You can't let them shoulder this onto Germany." "You are right," Himmler replied. During the last days of the war, Hitler dismissed Hermann Göring as head of the Luftwaffe and appointed Reitsch's lover, von Greim, to replace him. Von Greim and Reitsch flew from Gatow Airport into embattled Berlin to meet Hitler in the Führerbunker, arriving on April 26th, as the Red Army troops were already in the central area of Berlin. Reitsch and von Greim had flown from Rechlin–Lärz Airfield to Gatow Airfield in a Focke Wulf 190, escorted by twelve other Fw 190s from Jagdgeschwader 26 under the command of Hauptmann Hans Dortenmann. In Berlin, Reitsch landed a Fi 156 Storch on an improvised airstrip in the Tiergarten near the Brandenburg Gate. Hitler gave Reitsch two capsules of poison for herself and von Greim. She accepted the capsule.
During the evening of April 28th, Reitsch flew von Greim out of Berlin in an Arado Ar 96 from the same improvised airstrip. This was the last plane out of Berlin. Von Greim was ordered to get the Luftwaffe to attack the Soviet forces that had just reached Potsdamer Platz and to make sure Heinrich Himmler was punished for his treachery in making unauthorised contact with the Western Allies so as to surrender. Troops of the Soviet 3rd Shock Army, which was fighting its way through the Tiergarten from the north, tried to shoot the plane down fearing that Hitler was escaping in it, but it took off successfully. Reitsch was soon captured along with von Greim and the two were interviewed together by U.S. military intelligence officers. When asked about being ordered to leave the Führerbunker on April 28th, 1945, Reitsch and von Greim reportedly repeated the same answer: "It was the blackest day when we could not die at our Führer's side." Reitsch also said: "We should all kneel down in reverence and prayer before the altar of the Fatherland." When the interviewers asked what she meant by "Altar of the Fatherland" she answered, "Why, the Führer's bunker in Berlin ..." She was held for eighteen months. Von Greim killed himself on May 24th, 1945. Evacuated from Silesia ahead of the Soviet troops, Reitsch's family took refuge in Salzburg. During the night of May 3rd, 1945, after hearing a rumour that all refugees were to be taken back to their original homes in the Soviet occupation zone, Reitsch's father shot and killed her mother and sister and her sister's three children before killing himself.
After her release Reitsch settled in Frankfurt am Main. After the war, German citizens were barred from flying powered aircraft, but within a few years gliding was allowed, which she took up again. In 1952, Reitsch won a bronze medal in the World Gliding Championships in Spain; she was the first woman to compete. In 1955 she became German champion. She continued to break records, including the women's altitude record (6,848 m (22,467 ft)) in 1957 and her first diamond of the Gold-C badge. During the mid-1950s, Reitsch was interviewed on film and talked about her wartime flight tests of the Fa 61, Me 262 and Me 163. In 1959, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru invited Reitsch, who spoke fluent English, to start a gliding centre, and she flew with him over New Delhi. In 1961, United States President John F. Kennedy invited her to the White House. From 1962 to 1966, she lived in Ghana. The then Ghanaian President, Kwame Nkrumah invited Reitsch to Ghana after reading of her work in India. At Afienya she founded the first black African national gliding school, working closely with the government and the armed forces. The West German government supported her as technical adviser. Reitsch's attitudes to race underwent a change. "Earlier in my life, it would never have occurred to me to treat a black person as a friend or partner ..." She now experienced guilt at her earlier "presumptuousness and arrogance". She became close to Nkrumah. The details of their relationship are now unclear due to the destruction of documents, but some surviving letters are intimate in tone. In Ghana, some Africans were disturbed by the prominence of a person with Reitsch's past, but Shirley Graham Du Bois, a noted African-American writer who had emigrated to Ghana and was friendly towards Reitsch, agreed with Nkrumah that Reitsch was extremely naive politically. Throughout the 1970s, Reitsch broke gliding records in many categories, including the "Women's Out and Return World Record" twice, once in 1976 (715 km (444 mi)) and again, in 1979 (802 km (498 mi)), flying along the Appalachian Ridges in the United States. During this time, she also finished first in the women's section of the first world helicopter championships. Reitsch was interviewed and photographed several times in the 1970s, towards the end of her life, by Jewish-American photo-journalist Ron Laytner.
Reitsch died of a heart attack in Frankfurt at the age of 67, on August 24th, 1979. She had never married. She is buried in the Reitsch family grave in Salzburger Kommunalfriedhof. Former British test pilot and Royal Navy officer Eric Brown said he received a letter from Reitsch in early August 1979 in which she said, "It began in the bunker, there it shall end." Within weeks she was dead. Brown speculated that Reitsch had taken the cyanide capsule Hitler had given her in the bunker, and that she had taken it as part of a suicide pact with Greim. No autopsy was performed, or at least no such report is available.
#ww2#world war 2#second world war#world war ii#wwii#history#german history#biography#aviation#womens history#women in history#germany#airforce history#test pilot
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Stupid For You, Chapter 7 (Crygi, Jankie, Jaida x Nicky) - Metaluna
Fic summary: A cliche lesbian AU. It’s the summer before Gigi goes to college, and she decides it’s time to take a job at a local amusement park. There, she meets Crystal, a beautiful girl that she with bonds over the anxiety of the service industry. Almost immediately, Gigi gets it BAD for Crystal. Meanwhile, Jackie definitely ISN’T gay. She likes men. Only. Men. What happens when a beautiful girl named Jan comes into the picture? And lastly, Nicky flirts with anything with a pulse. Jaida falls for anyone who gives her attention. This is going to be one interesting summer
Chapter summary: If anyone knows how to party, it’s the staff of Paradise Isle. When Brita turns 21, she’s determined to have the biggest party Paradise Isle has ever seen.
A/N: Hi everyone! I officially outlined the rest of the fic so it’s going to be 10 chapters total, three more to go!!
By the time Gigi made it down the exit ramp, all she wanted to do was leave. She heard Jan behind her, but kept moving forward. Her heart beat was pounding in her ears and she began to feel warm tears form in her eyes.
“Gigi, wait!” Jan called.
Gigi didn’t listen and instead kept walking. Jan managed to chase her all the way into The Landing until Gigi stopped dead in her tracks, rested her face in her hands and started crying. Wordlessly, Jan went up to her and wrapped her in a gentle embrace. Once Gigi broke away, Jan led them to a bench, and stayed quiet. She knew Gigi was about to explode at any second.
And she was right.
“How could she do that? What the hell? If she didn’t want to see me, she could have just fucking said something! I have no idea what the hell I did to her and why she’s acting the way she is, but I guess fuck my feelings! Right? Just fuck them!” Gigi threw her hands up in frustration before crying into Jan’s shoulder.
“Shh, it’s okay,” Jan cooed rubbing Gigi’s hair. She knew Gigi’s mascara was staining her shirt, but it was something she could worry about later.
“How could she?” Gigi’s voice was barely above a whisper.
“I don’t know, baby. There’s no way to know what’s running through her bizarre little head.”
Gigi wiped her eyes, trying to salvage what was left of her makeup. “I’m overreacting.”
“No, you aren’t. You need to feel whatever it is that you’re feeling. Your feelings are valid and you’re entitled to them,” Jan said firmly.
“I want to hate her.”
“Why?”
Gigi sighed. “I want to hate her, because that means I wouldn’t be in love with her anymore.”
“Wow,” Jan began. “I didn’t realize you were in that deep.”
“Jan, it’s bad.”
“Sounds like it.”
“If I could just hate her, I could be done and move on. I hate that when I see her pictures on Instagram with her shitty boyfriend, all I can do is think about how I wish it was me. I hate that she’s the first thing I think about when I wake up, and the last thing I think about when I go to bed. I just want to hate her.”
“Do you honestly believe do any good?” Jan questioned.
Gigi mulled it over and sighed. “No. What am I going to do?”
“I wish I knew what to tell you, Gigi, but I don’t. But, we can figure out what we’re doing tonight. Do you want to leave, or do you want to keep hanging out with everyone? After the look I gave her and what I said to her, I don’t think she’ll come anywhere near you anytime.”
Gigi looked stunned. “Jan what the hell did you tell her?”
“Don’t worry about it.” Jan winked.
“I’m not going to let her ruin my night.” Gigi’s tone was determined. “Let’s go.”
–
Nicky and Jaida were awkwardly left behind in the queue. Since they were next, they ended up going on the roller coaster. Jaida had to admit, a roller coaster was a lot less fun when one of your friends was experiencing emotional trauma, even if you were in the front.
“Should we go find them?” Nicky asked as she grabbed her purse.
Jaida thought for a moment and said, “Honestly? I don’t want to make it worse. Gigi trusts Jan and I want Gigi to talk through all the emotional shit she’s feeling.”
“Good point.”
Jaida and Nicky made their way through The Backlands. Jaida knew that she had feelings for Nicky that Nicky didn’t share. Jaida also knew that every time they slept together, she felt herself falling a little harder. As much as Jaida didn’t want to break her own heart for her final summer at the park, she swore something felt different about Nicky.
As they walked, Jaida swung her hand forward making contact with Nicky’s to test her response.
“Sorry,” Nicky mumbled putting her hand closer to her side.
The response is not the one Jaida was looking for, which caused her to sigh.
Nicky slowed her pace. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” Jaida forced a smile. “Just tired.”
“Gotcha.”
Jaida wondered how dense Nicky could be. Even though Jaida couldn’t be mad that Nicky didn’t return her feelings, it still frustrated her. While Jaida knew it was a horrible idea to keep going with their fling, she liked Nicky so much that she’d rather have her physically than not at all.
Or did she?
This wasn’t healthy for her mental state. Jaida had enough on her plate already. Between writing essay after essay for law schools throughout the country as well as working six days a week, Jaida was nearing her limit. As much as she tried to tell herself that her fling with Nicky helped her decompress, she knew that wasn’t the case. It made everything much, much worse. Before she could think on it further, she was interrupted by her phone vibrating with a text from Jan.
so I honestly cant tell if gigi’s more hurt or pissed at crystal and honestly it really doesnt matter but she did say she wants to keep the night to keep going so I say let’s do it! we’re at the landing rn, where are you??
Quickly, Jaida reiterated to Nicky the situation, and texted back, Okay, good! We’ll meet you there.
The rest of the night was filled with memorable selfies, laughs that were mostly at the extent of Jan’s inability to ride roller coasters, and by the end of the night, Gigi felt great, and was determined to not let one person ruin what was already an incredible summer.
Following National Roller Coaster Day, Jaida, Nicky, Jan, and Gigi bonded even further, and became inseparable. Through hanging out with Jan, Gigi also developed a very close bond with Jackie. Gigi never had a group of friends before, and was thankful she had such an amazing group of friends.
Gigi formed such a close bond with her friends that she all but forgot about Crystal. At times, they ran into each other in the break room, and every time, they didn’t so much as look at each other. While the environment was tense, there was never any negativity. No one was outwardly mean to each other. In fact, everyone but Gigi maintained being friendly with Crystal. Gigi couldn’t allow this to upset her, since they were all adults and could choose their friends. At times though, it did feel like a punch in the gut when Gigi was on her breaks and saw Jan stop to talk to Crystal.
One day, Gigi sat in the breakroom. As she at her lunch, Brita sat across from her.
“Hey, Brita,” Gigi greeted.
“As you know, my birthday is drawing near.”
All Brita talked about was how she was going to turn twenty one in a couple of weeks. Everyone knew it was Brita’s birthday, including people who didn’t even know Brita.
“So I’ve heard!”
“My parents are actually going to be out of town. So, I’m going to have a party. Not just any party. No, this party is going to be so big and so memorable that they’ll be talking about this like five summers from now.”
Gigi raised an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
Brita nodded. “I’m inviting literally everyone I know who works here…”
Gigi caught on to what Brita was saying. Even the people who weren’t well versed in what happened between Gigi and Crystal knew something was wrong. “That’s fine, Brita. I’m not going to let my relationship, or lack thereof, with someone ruin your birthday.”
“Good. It’s this Wednesday, starting at 10. That way everyone has time to get ready after work. Thank god for shortened park hours.”
The scheduling gods smiled upon Jaida, Nicky, Gigi, and Jackie. Somehow they all ended up with the same days off, one of which being Friday. It helped that Jaida always sweet talked the scheduler, and the scheduler knew who her friends were. Jaida wasn’t about using her feminine charm to get what she wanted.
The girls all agreed to get ready at Gigi’s, because she had the largest space. Getting ready with others was much more fun for Gigi than getting ready alone. Although, she had to admit it was a different feeling when she and Crystal got ready together for Heidi���s party. She forced that thought out of her head as she put on an 80’s playlist. Deciding what to wear to a party was Gigi’s favorite part of getting ready. Even if she didn’t want to admit it, she wanted this party to be the exact opposite as the previous party. Because of this, Gigi opted to wear a tight orange halter top with an blue high-waisted shorts, which was the exact opposite of her black and white outfit.
“You look like your room,” Jan teased eyeing Gigi’s room decor.
Gigi rolled her eyes. “It’s not my fault that my two favorite colors look amazing on me.”
“Fair,” Jaida mused as she rummaged through her bag. “Shit. I forgot my eyelash glue.”
Nicky, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground blending out a smoky eye tossed hers to Jaida. “Here.”
“Thank you,” Jaida smiled sweetly expertly applying an eyelash.
Jackie looked on incredulously. “I have no idea how you do it.”
“Lots and lots of practice,” Jaida said as she batted her eyelashes in Jackie’s direction.
“Do you ever wear more than mascara and eyeliner in your waterline?” Nicky questioned, admiring her appearance in a hand mirror.
Jackie shook her head. “I just… don’t know how to do anything else. One time I tried to do wings and it looked like a drunk toddler did them. No wait, a drunk toddler would have done better.“
Jan’s face brightened. “Can I please do your makeup? Please?”
After hesitating, Jackie said, “What the hell. Why not?”
Jan squealed as she made her way over to Jackie, who was sitting in the chair at Gigi’s desk. Watching Jan do Jackie’s makeup made Gigi feel a pang of jealousy. All through high school, she’d never had the desire to date. Of course, she definitely didn’t want a boyfriend. But, she never thought about having a girlfriend either, and only knew that she liked girls. She also never had a friend group like the one she had now. She also never thought she’d have a group of friends she could trust as much as she trusted the friends she made. For once in her life, Gigi felt safe enough to come out. Other than her family, Jan was the only person who knew, and the only reason she’d told Jan in the first place was because she was about to have a mental breakdown. But, it was time. Gigi paused the playlist.
“Everything okay, Gigi?” Nicky questioned.
Gigi took a breath. “Yes, but there’s something I have to tell all of you.”
Jan locked eyes with Gigi, already knowing what she was going to say.
“What is it?” Jaida asked setting down her brush.
“I like girls.”
Jaida ran to Gigi to give her a hug. “We love you.”
Jan laughed. “Welcome to the club.”
As Gigi unpaused the music, she breathed a sigh of relief as she topped her nude lip with gloss.
“All done!” Jan announced as she brushed powder off of Jackie’s face.
Once Gigi saw Jackie, she exclaimed, “Oh, wow.”
Jackie was already an extremely beautiful girl, but Jan’s handiwork enhanced her features. Because she knew that Jackie wasn’t one for the extravagant, Jan stuck with neutrals that gave Jackie the most effortless no-makeup-makeup look. Gigi knew that Jan was a talented makeup artist, but the makeup she did on Jackie proved it, because it was the exact opposite of Jan’s colorful halo eye she did on herself.
“Holy shit! I look good.”
Jan rolled her eyes. “You always look good, baby.”
“Thank you,” Jackie said as she kissed Jan on the cheek.
“We must commemorate this momentous occasion,” Jaida said dramatically as she signaled everyone to come in for a group photo.
“You have to take it,” Nicky said. “You have the longest arms.”
Jaida rolled her eyes. “Always.”
Once there were a few photos they were all satisfied with Gigi looked at her phone. “If we need to make a liquor run, we should probably leave now.”
Everyone piled in to Gigi’s Jeep, the group was enthusiastically discussing the night ahead. On the way to the liquor store, Jaida, who was already twenty one, made a list of what she had to purchase.
“Y’all are gonna make me look like I have a drinking problem. You best be Venmo-ing me interest,” she teased.
“We don’t have interest in France, I don’t know what that is,” Nicky joked.
Jaida playfully hit her. “You’ve lived here for over ten years.”
Nicky shushed her. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Jesus Christ, just kiss already,” Gigi teased as she pulled into the liquor store’s parking lot.
Once Jaida was inside the store, Jan spoke up. “What’s actually going on between you two?”
Nicky shrugged. “Just something for us to blow off some steam.”
Jackie hesitated. “Nicky, you realize that Jaida’s never had a girlfriend before.”
“Yeah, and?”
“She also falls really hard really quickly.”
Nicky exhaled. “She never told me that. She told me that she was good keeping it casual. She tried to bring it up a while ago, but I just thought… I feel terrible.”
“It’s not your fault, honey,” Jan said.
Before Nicky could respond, Jaida returned to the car.
“That was fast,” Gigi said.
“I’ve been to that store so many times, I know where everything is.”
Gigi had heard from other people that Brita had a large house, but she didn’t expect it to be quite so big. The driveway which was lined with cars spanned the length of most people’s front yards. The house looked to be three stories and was a modern build, which was a contrast to the other ranch-style houses in the area. The music could be heard from outside of the house, and Gigi mused about how Brita was lucky that she had no neighbors.
“Damn,” Gigi said as she shut her car door.
“Yeah,” Jaida began. “Brita’s parents are fucking loaded.”
“Clearly,” Jan said.
The inside of the house was just as grandiose as the outside. Gigi thought that it looked like the sample rooms inside of furniture stores. She didn’t realize that people’s houses actually could look like that. The living room was decorated with fairy lights and streamers, and in the corner were two gold balloons that said 21. The party was already abuzz, the entirety of the first floor was full of people, most of which Gigi didn’t recognize, and was almost certain Brita probably didn’t either.
Brita greeted them at the door, pulling them into a hug. Gigi could already smell the alcohol. “Hi, babes!”
“Happy birthday, bitch!” Jaida exclaimed handing Brita a fifth of Everclear.
Brita’s laugh was loud enough that it could be heard over the music. “You rotted bitch.”
“On our first season together, Brita drank way too much Everclear and got super hungover, and had to call out the next day,” Jaida explained. “You best be getting that drunk again tonight. If I see you at work tomorrow, I’m going to be pissed.“
“I have tomorrow off,” Brita said smugly.
“You’re going to need it,” Jan teased.
“Thanks! So over there we have a photobooth, beer pong in the dining room, the pool’s available if you want, too. Oh, and if you need a place to get down and dirty,” she looked at Nicky and Jaida. “Just don’t use my bedroom.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jaida said, rolling her eyes.
As everyone was about to explore, Brita screeched, “Wait!”
“What?” Gigi asked.
“Let’s do a shot of this.” Brita raised the bottle of Everclear.
“Oh dear, God,” Jackie said making gagging noises.
“It’s my birthday, bitches!”
Since nobody could argue with that, they went in to the kitchen. In the attached dining room, an intense game of beer pong was going down with Widow and Heidi against Crystal and some boy Gigi vaguely recognized as being one of the team leads in games. Trying to stay casual, Gigi waved to Heidi and Widow who smiled in return. Thankfully, Crystal’s back was turned to Gigi, and by the time she turned, Gigi had her back turned to take the shot.
“I’m already too drunk to pour the shots,” Brita slurred.
Jaida rolled her eyes as she took the bottle and expertly poured shots.
“To Brita!” Gigi said raising her glass.
“To Brita!” Everyone repeated as they toasted, set the shot on the table, and took the shot.
Gigi thought she was good at taking shots. But, Gigi had also never had Everclear. Convinced that its reputation preceded it, she didn’t properly prepare herself. She thought she was just taking a shot of cheap vodka, not a shot of rubbing alcohol.
“Merde!” Nicky exclaimed.
Jackie set her glass down as she winced. “That was so bad, Nicky forgot how to speak English!”
Because she couldn’t get the taste of shitty vodka out of her mouth, the only thing Gigi could do was to drink something else. The Whiteclaw Jaida bought for her tasted like juice in comparison, so much so that Gigi drank it a lot faster than she should have.
As Gigi felt the alcohol hit, Jan said, “Let’s go take pictures.”
Most of the time, Gigi found photobooths to be tacky. They were a staple of boring weddings and basic-ass graduation parties. But, because she already had a nice buzz going, she gladly posed with oversized sunglasses.
Everyone sat on a red leather couch as they began drinking. Jan and Jackie shared a bottle of rum that they chased with Diet Coke. Jaida was chasing her Jack with ginger ale. Nicky, on the other hand, was shooting whiskey like there was no tomorrow. Gigi felt lame that everyone else wad drinking liquor but her, but she didn’t care. She wanted to enjoy what she was drinking.
When a Madonna song began playing, the girls screeched and made their way to the dancefloor. Gigi had decent rhythm, but tonight, as far as she was concerned, she was killing it. As she dropped low, she almost fell, but kept her balance as she made her way back up. While she watched Jackie and Jan dancing closely and watched Nicky grind against Jaida, Gigi couldn’t help but feel like a fifth wheel. She remedied the situation by cracking open another Whiteclaw.
“I need a break,” Nicky announced when the song ended.
Jan whispered something in Jackie’s ear before saying, “We’ll be back!”
“May I have this dance, Ms. Hall?” Gigi asked holding her hand out.
“Oh, bitch, you know it.”
After a few songs, Gigi announced, “I’ll be back!”
It was the time of the night that Gigi needed to break her seal. Unfortunately for her, there was a line for the bathroom. She dramatically jumped up and down until she made it to the bathroom. Once she finished, she was greeted by a sobbing Jaida.
“Jaida, what the fuck is wrong?” Gigi asked leading her into a bedroom upstairs.
“Nicky,” Jaida managed.
“What about Nicky?”
“I went to go find her to see if she wanted to dance or something, but then… I saw her… and I saw Brita. On the couch… making out.”
It was very clear that Jaida had too much to drink. For a while, Gigi was convinced that this year would break the streak of Jaida getting her heart broken. Even though Gigi wanted to give Jaida some tough love and tell her she and Nicky weren’t exclusive, she knew it wasn’t the time for that. Instead, she wrapped her in a hug.
“Hey,” Gigi said stroking Jaida’s hair. “It’s okay.”
“I knew that she didn’t want a relationship. Why does this hurt so much?”
“Because you like her, clearly a lot.”
“Why does this always happen?” Jaida wailed.
Gigi knew she wasn’t good at comforting people, but decided to try her best. “I don’t know. But Jaida, your makeup is far too pretty to cry it all off.”
Hoping that Jaida would find her comment funny, Gigi tried to laugh. This only made Jaida cry harder. Fuck. Gigi knew she wasn’t any good at any of this, but she knew who was. She needed to find Jan before Jaida lost her mind.
“I’ll be back,” Gigi said leaving a sobbing Jaida in the bedroom.
Gigi searched the entire first floor for Jan with no luck. Eventually, she ran into Jackie.
“Gigi, what the hell is happening? Jaida’s apparently crying, Nicky left… What’s going on?” Jackie demanded.
“I guess Jaida found Brita and Nicky making out.”
Jackie groaned. “Of course Because why would she be able to make it a summer without getting her pretty little heart broken?”
When Jackie and Jan made their way back in the bedroom, Jaida was right where Gigi left her.
“Do you know where Jan is?” Gigi questioned as Jackie was hugging a very distraught Jaida.
“I think she’s outside.”
“If anyone knows how to handle this, it’s her,” Gigi said as she walked downstairs.
Gigi realized just how drunk she was as she stumbled around trying to find Jan. Eventually, she found her comforting some random drunk girl. To Gigi’s horror, the random drunk girl ended up being Crystal.
“Uh, I need you,” Gigi said awkwardly walking to Jan.
Jan looked at Gigi and mouthed, “Help me,” as she broke away from Crystal. “What’s up, gorg?”
Crystal awkwardly stood next to Jan, swaying back and forth. Gigi couldn’t help but wonder how much Crystal had to drink.
“It’s Jaida.”
“Oh my God, I haven’t seen Jaida in ages,” Crystal slurred.
Jan shushed Crystal. “What’s wrong with her?”
“She found Nicky making out with Brita,” Gigi explained.
Jan groaned. “This is bad.”
“That’s really not good. Are they fighting?” Crystal tried as hard as possible to not slur her speech. “Fighting is bad.”
Rolling her eyes, Jan said, “Yes, honey. Fighting is bad. Really bad.“
Crystal stumbled toward Gigi. “Gigi, I’m really sorry we’re fighting.”
Gigi ignored her. “Jan, can you do that thing where you comfort people when they’re crying?”
“I can try,” Jan said.
“Gigi! Stop ignoring me. We’re fighting! And I don’t want us to!” Crystal pouted.
“Crystal, we can discuss this when you’re sober,” Gigi said firmly.
“I’m sober enough!” Crystal said jumping up and down. She then stopped and put one hand over her mouth and one on her stomach.
“Crystal. No!” Gigi screeched.
It was too late. Crystal lost all the alcohol she’d consumed. Jan reacted quickly enough to take a step back, but Gigi wasn’t that lucky. Gigi screamed as her favorite boots became covered in vomit.
"What the fuck?!” Gigi screamed.
#rpdr fanfiction#gigi goode#crystal methyd#jackie cox#jan sport#jaida essence hall#nicky doll#crygi#jankie#jaida x nicky#lesbian au#slow burn#stupid for you#metaluna#submission#s12
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A rundown of the Mermaid AU
Here’s a bullet list of my Mermaid AU and most of the content I have imagined for it! These are taken from three different posts on my main blog, but for simplicity, I compiled them all here! It is long, but feel free to read and get a feel for this universe!
All the Murphys are sharks, but they’re all different types of sharks.
Science doesn’t exist in my world so don’t expect genetics and aquatic ancestry to be something that is strict. Most families tend to stay within the same family and/or genus.
Connor is a Shortfin Mako Shark.
Zoe is a Blue Shark (Fun fact: Blue Sharks are a species of Requiem Sharks).
Cynthia is a Whale Shark.
Larry is an Oceanic Whitetip Shark.
Evan and Heidi are both octopus.
Evan is a Coconut Octopus.
Heidi is a Mimic Octopus.
Alana is a Pacific White Sided Dolphin.
Jared is a White Spotted Pufferfish.
Although intelligent like humans, mermaids will exhibit behaviors akin to their aquatic ancestry.
Evan being a Coconut Octopus will hide within ocean debris as a form of camouflage. This is often triggered by spikes in anxiety, but he also uses it to avoid interaction.
Jared absolutely puffs up. It’s usually caused by elevated emotion. Sometimes he’ll puff up because he’s upset, other times he’ll accidentally cause himself to puff up just from laughing too hard.
The Murphy family is a family a predators. They all have an acute and accurate sense of smell. Larry, Connor, and Zoe are active hunters, and when they are in hunting mode it’s hard to break them out of it until they are satiated.
Merpeople do form societies and interact with each other. They don’t hunt each other and unlike their aquatic ancestors, they don’t all follow migration paths. Some merfamilies will migrate.
Now I’ll give you all the cute and fun and interesting stuff…
Connor loves to explore any wreckage he can find. He’s super fascinated by human life and loves finding shipwrecks, plane wrecks, and even leftover skeletons.
He frequents the wrecks of military vessels most often and collects dog tags from fallen soldiers. He refurbishes them as much as he can because he likes to see the names of the men and women lost.
He often spies on humans who are boating as well. Be it a wedding boat, fishermen, or just vacationers, he just loves watching them from afar. However, the moment they spot him (usually only his dorsal fin on his tail), he dives away
.Hes accidentally becomes and ocean cryptid when a group of divers got a photo of him, albeit it fuzzy/blurry.
He’s obviously not aware of human cryptid culture.
Redditors think his viral photo is photoshopped.
Zoe isn’t as curious about humans. She is curious of the sky above and loves to watch birds as they fly around and feed on fish.
She goes stargazing a lot against her parents wishes. It’s dangerous at night and her parents (and most merpeople) fear poachers.
Zoe collects starfish on her tailfins. Since they are living creatures, she always communicates with them and makes sure they are okay with it.
Connor will leave jewelry and funky human artifacts he finds in Zoe’s room. She doesn’t know Connor is the one that leaves her random items and just assumes it’s Cynthia.
Cynthia is fascinated with human artifacts and frequents a lot of merpeople who are traders for human trinkets.
However, she is terrified of humans and doesn’t dare go near them. When she was younger, she got tangled up I’m a fishing net that belonged to poachers.
Larry is also fascinated with human trinkets, but not as much as Cynthia. Being an Oceanic Whitetip, he loves the tale of the USS Indianapolis.
He and Connor used to search shipwrecks together, but they’ve since grown apart and haven’t hunted or scavenged together in a long time.
I already said a bit of this in my last post, but being a Coconut Octopus, Evan uses physical objects to hide in and behind as a form of camouflage.
Though camouflage isn’t really necessary for merpeople being that they are able to fend for themselves and create/use tools, weapons, utensils, etcetera.
Evan’s camo is more of a reflex with his anxiety. If he’s nervous, anxious, or embarrassed, he’ll find the nearest Evan-sized object and fold himself up to fit. His tentacles can fold together tightly, he just has to account for his upper body not being as flexible.
Heidi is a Mimic Octopus as uses her camo as more of a fun party tricks. Mimic Octopus are able to disguise with many backgrounds, but are also able to contort and arrange their tentacles to resemble other species.
When Evan was little, they would travel to shallow banks along islands where the sun shone through the water really brightly. She’d contort her tentacles and do little shadow puppets of other species for him on the sand.
So, Jared is a pufferfish and not a porcupine fish. He has spines, but they’re very small and thin. They usually only show up when he’s inflated.
He HATES being inflated but it’s happens a lot.
Basically any elevated emotion inflates him. He’s angry? Puff! He’s playful? Puff! He’s excited? Puff! He’s sad? Puff! He’s [redacted]? PUFF!
He doesn’t care too much about human culture, but he is aware of this cursed video. He was hanging around a boat with a bunch of spring breakers and slipped a phone for a few minutes, stumbling across Youtube. Connor thinks it’s the funniest thing ever.
Oh, yeah, so merpeople don’t have any sort of electronic technology, but some of the most curious ones will snatch devices from boats. They are aware they don’t work underwater, so it’s usually like a dramatic spy scene of mermaids hanging out by boats with phones and tablets and messing around as much as they can for five to ten minutes.
Alana is super social and during vacations from school she’ll travel with merpeople and regular aquatic life and migrate around the world.
She’s traveled literally everywhere and has been doing it since she was a child. Her whole family used to go, but now it’s just her. Her parents trust her to be alone.
Alana has come across Sea World and other marine parks with Orcas and it makes her incredibly angry. There have been a few instances where animals in captivity have… Mysteriously escaped back into the wild…
She does have a super playful side and is very curious of humans despite often having a negative judgement/attitude towards them. When she just wants to have fun or relax, she goes bow riding along the wake of boats. She’s clever enough to not be seen.
Yes, there is merpeople high school because why not.
Again, science doesn’t exist and this au honestly doesn’t have rules.So just go ham and make mermaids, y'all!
I’m still deciding on how I want to portray Miguel, but right now I’m thinking Red Lionfish or Pacific Seahorse.That boy is something very colorful and proud!
So previously I mentioned there being an education system for merpeople as they do form societies.
So all the teens (minus Miguel) go to school together.
Their school, as well as most of the buildings in their particular society, is made up of scrapped parts from shipwrecks and other human debris. There are also some buildings and landmarks carved out of the landscape, but they gotta keep it fresh, keep it interesting. They’re still discovering and learning technology, but in their own unique ways.
(Okay, you probably didn’t even care about that fact but as an enthusiast for a “rebuild from the remains” aesthetic, I have to sprinkle in my little funky twists.)
The particular “town” of merpeople they live in isn’t very large and is constantly changing size and population due to some mers moving in and out.
Evan broke his arm over summer break in a coastal accident.
Seeing that merpeople don’t fully abide by the living standards of their aquatic ancestors, they tend to mix, mingle, and migrate without too much structure. Obviously certain families with stay together and there are some pockets of merpeople who live by more strict cultural rules. But for the sake of au, Evan and the gang live in a more relaxed mer civilization.
So, over the summer Evan was working with a group of mers that focus on coastal wildlife. Evan in particular focused on coral health and how it was being affected by human activity.
But our boy is depressed and lonely, so one day he strays from his usual group of coworkers and ventured toward a cluster of fishing boats. The general rule is don’t go near humans, especially when on the job.
He noticed that some of the boats were anchored, so he grabbed one of them from the seabed, hoisted it up the surface, and launched it above water for his to come crashing down with force behind it.
His arm got pinned under the anchor, thus breaking it.
Now, the rest of the AU at the moment is more freeform and doesn’t follow the plot of the musical, but I did want to included how Evan broke his arm.
Connor is not dead in this particular version of the AU, but feel free to craft multiple storylines and arcs with different outcomes!
Connor does paint his nails!
As previously mentioned, he is very fascinated by human society and like to get a little too close.
So, one day he came across some spring breakers and watched as they went about their activities sunbathing and painting their nails. As soon as they looked away, he stole several bottles.
It’s rare for him to find nail polish, especially since he ruined his first bottle by opening it up under water and losing the contents. But whenever a party boat or a boat of spring breakers rolls by, especially with a bunch of girls, he always has to check.
He quickly learned that whenever he wants to do his nails he has to make a whole thing about hauling himself up to surface and propping on a rock or a beach for some time.
He’s collected his signature black as well as a metallic purple, glittery pink, and bright turquoise. He wears the black and purple the most. He loves the other two colors, but poor baby is insecure and wearing nail polish as a mer is already enough to cause stares.
Jared also thinks that human legs are hot.
When Jared is puffed up, other mers will bop him around like a volleyball. It’s an unfortunate thing for any and all puffers.
Evan’s dad is a Barracuda mer, which for a Barracuda and an Octopus to mate is incredibly rare. It’s a wonder that Evan didn’t come out a totally wack and new sea monster.
But like I said, science doesn’t really exist here! Anything goes! Be whatever mer you wanna be! Love whatever mer you wanna love!
#mermaid au#mer au#deh#dear evan hansen#dear evan hansen au#evan hansen#connor murphy#jared kleinman#alana beck#zoe murphy#cynthia murphy#larry murphy#heidi hansen
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America’s Got Talent: Season 15 - Online Auditions
Alright, let's talk about the online auditions...And I don't just mean the ones they actually showed in full on the show last week, I mean all of the ones that were available to watch before the season even began! You can find all the videos here (you can't miss them): https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsNUxRA5hGXEAZI3Mk_D3JQ/videos
So let's get right to it, shall we...?
10: Erin McCarthy. I'm sure Terry got flashbacks to his Old Spice days (I know it was the other guy, but still...) I guess the horse was a pretty amusing touch, but this lady's so pitchy that I was getting a migraine! All that said, this was a HELL of a way to close out the auditions...
9: Chris & Syd. Well, the guy's a nice singer, and the dog...is good at howling...Otherwise, this is a silly gimmick, and won't likely make it past the Judge Cuts next week...That said, if they do, they're gonna be a real threat in this game, bringing in votes from both the Heartland and dog lovers...
8: Tommy Socks. It's funny how they showed this right after the dude juggling flaming axes and a chainsaw...and yet THIS is the most dangerous-looking act I've seen in these online auditions! Usually, a man his age shuffling around on a hard-tile floor in his socks is a LifeCall waiting to happen! And yet he not only remained on his socked feet, but proved to be very spry on them for his age! This act is a silly gimmick, and he won't make it past the next round, but he still has my respect!
7: Max Major. OH MY GOD! THE FINGER TRICK WORKED ON ME TOO! HOW DID HE DO THAT!? IT COULDN'T HAVE BEEN SIMPLE PHYSICS, HE MUST BE A WIZARD! ...Or a demon, like Simon said...But seriously, this was nothing amazing...I guess the fact that he was able to do this through video chat was impressive enough, although I did just read a comment about an “invisible deck”, which does make it less impressive...Still, I'm curious enough to see what he can do on a live stage...
6: Lauren O'Brien. Impressionists are always fun, even if the novelty of them tends to wear out pretty quickly from round to round...But I enjoyed her, and her impression of Sofia is all the more amusing now that I've gotten to know her more throughout the auditions. (Silly accent aside, she is growing on me as a judge...)
5: Darius. I guess he won't give his last name...(Rucker?) Very likable personality, good song choice, and a very nice singing voice! I wouldn't quite call him my favorite singer of the season, but this was a nice audition...It's actually kind of a shame that we won't likely see him again...At least this season...But if nothing else, maybe I'll actually get a little respect for my miserable time working retail (even though I quit that job months before COVID even broke out...)
4: Alexis & The Puppy Pals. Well, she's not quite at Alexa Lauenburger's level yet, but she's on her way! None of the tricks were anything I haven't seen before, but they were very impressive considering the age of the trainer...How interesting that some of the best dog trainers to come on this show are little girls! All that said...The 80s called, they want their wardrobe back!
3: Aaron...Bonk? (Sorry, I can't see his name spelled out anywhere, only hear Terry pronounce it.) Silly little diagonal mohawk aside, I'm always a sucker for rebellious-looking people juggling chainsaws and flaming weaponry! I'd love to see him do this act on a stage, but since they didn't even show him in last week's quick compilation of online acts, we're probably not even going to see him again...Again, at least until he tries auditioning again for one of the coming years...
2: The Hurd Family. Clearly, the dad and the eldest son are the real talent, while the two younger siblings are just there to cute it up a bit...Some very strong dancing, but sadly they probably won't make it past Judge Cuts since they were given the montage treatment in the official episode...
1: Simon's pajamas. A brilliant spectacle! BRRRRAVO!
This was a fun little collection of talent, and the home-recorded nature of everything kinda added to the charm...The judges were also more entertaining while just casually kicking back at their houses...Like with “Saturday Night Live”, I hope it doesn't have to continue like this, but for now, it was different and enjoyable...(Unfortunately, the Judge Cuts will be more of the same, so I really do wonder how they're gonna handle the remainder of this season...)
Probably the only acts from this who will pass the Judge Cuts next week are Alexis and MAYBE Max (if he can pull off a good enough trick). Everyone else were either silly gimmicks who don't even have the quality of so-bad-it's-good, or weren't shown in full for the official episode last week...
But we'll just see...For now, let's move on to tonight's “Best Of” show...Here are the auditions they compiled for this episode...
1: W.A.F.F.L.E. Crew
2: Double Dragon
3: Brandon Leake
4: Brett Loudermilk
5: Cristina Rae
6: The Spyros Bros
7: Voices of Our City Choir
8: Alan Silva
9: Roberta Battaglia
10: Vincent Marcus
11: Archie Williams
The reason why I listed these acts is because all of them are most likely in the live shows already (not counting the Golden Buzzer acts that we KNOW are already there). The “Best Of” shows tend to be made up of acts that the judges and/or producers liked the most, and by the time they air, the live performers have already been selected weeks or even months ago...So you know they must have liked them enough if they're in this compilation...
Can't say I'm surprised by any of these choices...except maybe Double Dragon; They were a little under my radar...I mean, if it were up to me, this compilation would have included Malik DOPE, Noah Epps, Nolan Neal, Winston, Brothers Gage, Wesley Williams and Sheldon Riley...But Waffle and Spyros are probably my two favorite auditions this season overall, so whatever...
I guess these were pretty good auditions overall...A few boring episodes here and there, but there was still a handful of memorable acts...I'd LIKE to think they'll all make it next week, but we'll just wait and see...The format's going to make things VERY difficult, and we might not even see some of them compete again...
Even the Golden Buzzer choices had some decent variety for once! Only two of them were solo singers (one child, and one adult), and for the other spots we have a choir, a poet and a dance group...Waffle's still the only act that really excites me, but it's refreshing when it's not just four singers and a dance act...Plus, from a cynical business standpoint, the choices all make perfect sense...
As for which of them will win this season...Well, it's a VERY tough call...I'm still rooting for Waffle, and they DO have the right aspects to help them out...But so far, they're not quite raking in the same enthusiasm that other winners have...
Roberta has the most views BY FAR on Youtube...But does she really have the uniqueness or overwhelming hype that previous winners had? While I like her overall, I REALLY don't want her to win this season, because NOTHING about her is distinguishable compared to all previous winners...MAYBE the quality of her singing voice compared to other child singers, but even that is a tough comparison...
Otherwise, we've had child singers with much more unique gimmicks win in the past, she's not writing her own songs (yet), she doesn't have a unique genre...Hell, even in terms of which judge's Golden Buzzer she is, it's hard to root for her; It's only Sofia's first season, and she's basically filling in for Gab Union (whose GB won last season), who in turn filled in for Mel B (whose GB won two seasons before that). Come to think of it, aside from Howie's GB the season before THAT, the only judge who has SEEN their GB win each year was the female minority judge (seeing that NONE of the GB's won in Season 13...though it was probably MEANT to be Howie's again...)
Point being, if there's any season where Simon's GB is to win, it should be the one where he selects an act that has potential to be one of my favorites...I guess it wouldn't hurt to give Heidi a year either...Or hell, more seasons where the winner ISN'T a Golden Buzzer...(You never know...It could be Archie...)
Anyway, that's all I got for now...See you next week when we find out which lucky acts get to perform live...Or...well...as live as they can make it...(God, PLEASE don't make this our “new normal”!)
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Started another Murven fanfic, because apparently that’s my hobby now. Between the two of them and Diyoza, they will not stop talking inside my head. They’re not entirely unwelcome, but I do get less sleep now. This will be a slow burn multi-chapter fic with S6 speculation, aliens and various relationships. You can read it over on AO3 but here’s the beginning. Hope you like it!
Six months after being woken up from a one-hundred-and-twenty-five year nap, Raven Reyes carefully exits her tent and scowls up at the dark sky that’s twinkling with thousands of sparkling stars. Normally it would be the kind of sight she was happy to view, but the lack of sleep she’d been getting lately was definitely taking a toll. She guesses it’s somewhere around two AM, and currently the entire camp is quiet, but in the distance she can see there’s still a campfire burning closer to the edge of the woods. It’s cool enough out that she’s willing to make small talk in exchange for the warmth of the fire, so she decides that’s where she’ll go.
Carrying a small bundle in her arms, Raven meanders through the shadows and takes note of all the obvious signs of work and improvement that’s been happening since they’ve arrived on the surface. They’d been lucky that the Eligius IV had been outfitted with quite a few tents and decent supplies to help them get a new settlement started. Quarters were tight, however, until more shelters could be built, so everyone was expected to share with the growing group of those who had been awakened and treated with the nightblood serum. Most of the tents were for only two people, but since no one really had any belongings to speak of, they had a little more room on the inside to stretch out.
As she moves nearer to the campfire, she can make out only one person sitting around it, and she feels an unexpected thrill of satisfaction when she sees that it’s Murphy. She hadn’t even realized he’d returned from his latest bout of exploring, so he must have only recently gotten back. He’s got a blanket spread out on the ground and he’s using a large log as a backrest, and he looks more relaxed than she’s seen from him since they stepped foot on this new planet. Although it’s not like she’s seen much of him since then for comparison, she frowns. He looks up when he hears her approach and tosses a few more logs on the fire, but he doesn’t seem annoyed that his solitary night is being interrupted, so she nudges him with her boot and tells him to scoot over. With one arm full, she rests her other hand on his shoulder and uses him to steady herself as she awkwardly lowers to the ground.
“Ugh. I hate sitting on the ground, but at least you have a blanket. I’m gonna have to remember one for next time.”
“Isn’t that what you’re carrying?” Murphy asks her. “And what are you doing up so late, anyway?”
She laughs and shifts closer to him so she’s fully on his blanket and off the cold ground, leaning back against the log like he is. It’s definitely much warmer in the light of the fire. “I could ask you the same thing! And no, I’m not walking around in the dead of night just for fun. I’m on Heidi duty.” She pulls a fold of the blanket down and Murphy gets a glimpse of chubby pink cheeks before Raven tucks her back in.
“Oh, your new roommate, you mean? Last I was around, you had a tent to yourself. But now I’m hearing you’ve got some company. How’d you end up with Diyoza and her baby?” He settles himself into a better position since she’s pushed him to the edge of his blanket, but there’s not much room on the narrow cover, so they’re pressed against each other from shoulder to thigh.
“That’s what happens when you’re not in camp for a month or so - you miss all the news. I was by myself, last time you were in camp, anyway. After Bellamy and Echo broke up, and he took over the other half of your tent, it was clear that me and Echo and Emori were going to have to figure out who’d stay with who, and I thought Echo might have an easier time staying with Emori since I’m in that weird spot of being friendly with Clarke too. And she’s in a tent with Madi, so I’m the odd one out.” She pats Heidi’s back absentmindedly, trying to keep the baby happy as she starts to quietly fuss. “Actually it was a good choice for me, being by myself. I liked having space for some of the projects I’m working on. But then Charmaine came down after Heidi was born, and once they made sure the nightblood took with her system, she needed a spot and I was one of the only people she was willing to room with who had space. She’s high on the priority list for one of the first shelters they build though, for Heidi’s sake, so it’s temporary.”
“So now you get less sleep and babysitting duty?” he teases.
Raven grins in response. “It wasn’t so bad at first. She slept really well at night, and she’s pretty cute, too. But this last week has been tough. Charmaine thinks she’s going through a growth spurt or something. Rather than both of us just laying there being kept up, tonight we decided to take turns taking her for a shift outside the tent. If she falls into a good sleep out here, I’ll take her back in.”
“Diyoza’s lucky she got paired with you - not everybody would put in so much effort.” He lightly pokes her in the side with his elbow, and she rolls her eyes at him.
“Don’t tell Charmaine or she’ll just mock me for being a pushover, but I like helping with Heidi and it doesn’t feel like that much work. Except for the being tired part,” she adds.
Murphy laughs. “Raven, I hate to tell you, but considering you’re out here in the middle of the night, taking care of said kid, I think she probably already knows she’s reeled you in.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. She’s not dumb, unfortunately. Speaking of dumb though, why are you up this late? There’s no baby keeping you from sleeping. I didn’t know you were even back - you’ve barely been in camp since we got here.”
He shrugs and she can feel his shoulder rub against hers with the motion. “I haven’t been sleeping that well since we got down. I think it’s just getting used to a new place, maybe. But it doesn’t help that Bellamy snores, so sharing a tent with him when I’m here basically sucks, and he gets really offended when I call him out on it.”
“Which I’m sure you make a point of doing all the time.”
“Of course I do, that’s a given.” He looks over at her and watches as Heidi’s blanket moves as she kicks out her feet. “You know I’ve been scouting this place. So many people are working on building projects or they spend their days getting water, foraging or getting the farm going, and even though I can see the progress since I was last in camp, that’s just not for me. Miller and I started making some maps around this location that we’ve already searched, and so far we’ve covered a decent amount of ground, but it’s nothing compared to how big this planet is. Eventually we run out of supplies or come back for more water, but at least we finally have a better idea of what’s relatively near us. We need to know a lot more about what’s out here though, and we need definitely need more water sources. But yeah, that means I’ve been scarce, I guess.”
She turns her head to look at him, and for a fleeting moment he thinks he sees sadness in her gaze. But then she gives him a tired smile. “It’s strange, isn’t it, how things are so different? We all were together for so long, every day, and now you’re barely ever here, Bellamy is avoiding Echo, Echo’s avoiding Bellamy and she and Emori mostly make themselves vanish or go hunting because things are weird with Octavia and what’s left of Wonkru. I hardly ever see them. Monty and Harper are gone, and things aren’t worked out between everyone and Clarke yet. Abby’s still up on the ship, helping Kane heal and working all the time on more nightblood to wake more people. Jordan’s really busy setting up the farm and helping to test if things are edible… And if I’m not working on building more communication devices or sorting through things I can scrap from the Eligius, then I’m hanging out with Charmaine and this little monster.” She makes a silly face and smiles down at Heidi, missing the concerned frown from Murphy.
He’s surprised at what she says has been occupying her, and doesn’t like the way she’s describing what’s been going on with some of their friends. He thought she would be spending most of her time with Shaw, and part of him wants to ask her about that, wants to know why she didn’t even mention him and what that means. But the question feels stuck in his throat, so he swallows it down and instead forces himself to speak without emotion. “Yeah. It is different.”
Read more here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16274411/chapters/38057117
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Tennessee fetal remains burial and cremation bill pass legislature Women who receive a surgical abortion in Tennessee will be required to bury or cremate their fetal remains under a bill that passed the Tennessee legislature Wednesday morning. The legislation, which passed the House 69-22 Monday and the Senate 27-6 on Wednesday, will head to Gov. Bill Lee for his signature. Lee, a conservative Republican, has touted his anti-abortion stance since his election. He signed into law one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion laws last year, although much of the law remains contested in court. The burial and cremation bill is one of many abortion-related proposals this year. The bill advanced quickly in the legislature compared to other abortion-related measures, which gathered little interest from Republican leaders. More:Anti-abortion bills stall in legislature as Senate GOP leadership expresses little interest Proponents for the legislation say the bill protects the dignity for each unborn child. “This legislation strives to extend the same protection, the same respect and dignity to a deceased surgically-aborted child,” Sen. Janice Bowling, R-Tullahoma, the bill’s sponsor, said from the Senate floor Wednesday. But the initiative triggered opposition from reproductive rights advocates, who have argued the intent is to burden abortion clinics financially and shame women for their decisions. Scores of protesters stood outside the state Capitol on Monday afternoon, urging lawmakers to vote against the measure. “This bill was never about dignity,” Anna Flores of Planned Parenthood’s Tennessee chapter said during the protest. “They want to chip away at our rights little by little, hoping we don’t notice until suddenly, our bodily autonomy is gone completely.” “This lays bare that this is a targeted regulation of abortion providers and intended to shame patients,” Francie Hunt, executive director of Tennessee Advocates for Planned Parenthood, said in a Wednesday statement. “We have real health issues in Tennessee, and if politicians don’t want to be part of the solution, they should get out of our way.” The bill comes at a time when the state government is already fighting lawsuits over abortion in federal court. But the issue will likely survive a legal fight if challenged in court, since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a similar Indiana law in 2019. Lawsuits:The court fight over Tennessee’s abortion restrictions continues to rage. Why it won’t end anytime soon. Clinics, women would bear the cost of fetal remains disposal Under the bill, women who seek surgical abortions would be required to bury or cremate their fetal remains themselves or leave the decision to the abortion clinics. The clinics would be required to shoulder the cost. But the women would bear the expense instead if they choose to dispose the fetal remains other than where the clinics suggests. Rep. Tim Rudd, R-Murfreesboro, who sponsored the bill in the House, said Monday night some funeral homes would not charge for fetal burial services. The average cost for burial is $350, and for cremation, $150, he said. If the women cannot afford the cost, Rudd said there are “charities out there that are set up to help with the burial expenses.” The women must fill out a written form provided by the state Department of Health detailing the method and location for the fetal remains disposal for every aborted fetus. Underage women a seeking surgical abortion would have to obtain consent from one parent before disposing of the fetal remains. The bill has been amended to exclude hospitals after lobbying from the Tennessee Hospital Association, which told lawmakers hospitals already maintain similar policies, Rudd previously said during a House subcommittee hearing. Abortion clinics providing fetal remains to law enforcement officers for investigative purposes would not be violating the law, as long as they dispose of the remains after the investigation, according to the bill language. GOP supermajority pushes legislation through despite protest from reproductive rights advocates The primary clash between proponents and protesters of the bill has been whether the fetal remains count as a human life or medical tissue. Among more than 20 staff members with Planned Parenthood gathering outside the state Capitol Monday afternoon, Flores said she believes the bill “is an attempt to close abortion providers’ doors and shame people out of getting the medical care they need.” Hunt of the advocates for Planned Parenthood led the protesters in chanting: “Our bodies! Our lives! Our right to decide!” Rep. London Lamar, D-Memphis, who lost her child during a full-term pregnancy in 2019, called the legislation “offensive.” “This is one of the most offensive pieces of legislation I’ve heard this year,” she said. “Offensive, for women who’ve actually had to bury their children.” Lamar said the bill does not govern women who have experienced miscarriages. It also does not carve out exceptions for rape or incest. “Why are we taking the most traumatic parts of a pregnancy and then pass a legislative action around them in the name of pro-life?” she asked. Sen. Heidi Campbell, D-Nashville, said Wednesday the bill does not address molar pregnancy, a rare situation where an egg is abnormally fertilized, according to the Mayo Clinic. She further argued the bill poses a “big government overreach” into medical decisions. “This is another example of why the legislature shouldn’t probably be in the business of regulating complicated medical issues,” she said. “Big government overreach into our personal lives creates more problems than it solves.” In their arguments, Republican lawmakers said the fetuses are a human life deserving dignity. Some have cited graphic testimony from former abortion clinic workers. The workers belong to the group And Then There Were None, a Texas-based nonprofit urging workers to leave the abortion industry. The group is led by anti-abortion activist Abby Johnson, whose self-described experience has been cast in doubt by multiple media reports. Sen. Kerry Roberts, R-Springfield, on Wednesday cited graphic details from the committee testimony and said abortion workers have to “piece together a human child to make sure that no bits and pieces were left behind in the mother.” Rudd said Monday the legislation is not “forcing women to do anything.” He said the fetal remains are currently “thrown in the trash or flushed down the toilet.” “This legislation does not in any shape of form restrict abortion or have anything to do with abortion,” he said. “We have in code today that pets, farm animals … are treated with more dignity.” Reach Yue Stella Yu at [email protected] and on Twitter @bystellayu_tnsn. Want to read more stories like this? A subscription to one of our Tennessee publications gets you unlimited access to all the latest politics news, podcasts like Grand Divisions, plus newsletters, a personalized mobile experience and the ability to tap into stories, photos and videos from throughout the USA TODAY Network’s 261 daily sites. Source link Orbem News #Bill #burial #cremation #fetal #legislature #Pass #Remains #Tennessee
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New Post has been published on Cinephiled
New Post has been published on http://www.cinephiled.com/heidi-ewing-rachel-grady-explore-anguish-leaving-hasidic-community-one-us/
Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady Explore the Anguish of Leaving the Hasidic Community in ‘One of Us’
In their riveting new Netflix documentary, One of Us, acclaimed filmmakers Heidi Ewing and Rachel Grady (Jesus Camp, Detropia) take a deep and moving look at the lives of three individuals who have chosen to leave the extremely insular world of Hasidic Judaism. The film follows Etty, a mother of seven, as she decides to leave a violent marriage and divorce her husband; Ari, a teenager on the verge of manhood who is struggling with addiction and the effects of childhood abuse; and Luzer, an actor who, despite having found success in the secular world, still wrestles with his decision eight years earlier to leave the Hasidic community. Produced over three years, One of Us offers unique and intimate access to the lives of all three as they deal not only with questions of their beliefs but also with the consequences of leaving the only community they have ever known. With their trademark sensitivity and keen interest in the nature of faith, Ewing and Grady chronicle these journeys towards personal freedom that come at a very high cost. I sat down with the filmmakers to discuss this powerful documentary.
Danny Miller: I’ve always had this fascination with the Hasidic world, probably because it’s in my DNA — I’m descended from Ger Hasidim in Poland. I interviewed your subject, Luzer when his movie Felix and Meira came out, so I know his story a bit, but was so moved by all three of these people and their courage. Considering the difficulty of Etty’s situation, was it hard to get her to participate in the film?
Heidi Ewing: Etty is literally one of the bravest people I’ve ever met. We were very careful about who we chose for our subjects. As you can see in the movie, people transitioning out of this community into secular America are very vulnerable and often on an emotional roller coaster. They’re being abandoned left and right by their friends and family, it’s a terribly difficult process.
Rachel Grady: We actually met several people who wanted to be in the film that we decided were too fragile — we worried that they would not be able to endure the scrutiny of being part of such a project. There were at least six suicides in the community of people who left over the three years that we filmed, all of whom our subjects knew.
Wow. So sad.
Heidi: It’s almost impossible to make it out there on your own, thank goodness there are organizations like Footsteps, the group you see in the film, who try to help people who want to leave. But we were very careful not to try to persuade anyone to be in the film who wasn’t prepared emotionally.
And apart from their own emotional vulnerability, I can see how some would be worried that they might get into even more trouble with the community and their families than they already were.
Yes. All three of our subjects had to brace themselves for the flack they knew they’d get for being part of such a film. There are upsides and downsides to any decision, including the decision to be in a documentary. We chose people who wanted to tell their story and who were empowered to tell their story — people who would be able to get through this process with their pride and identity intact, and not regret having participated.
It’s so interesting how we don’t see Etty’s face until a certain point in the film.
Right. Etty did not agree to be on camera. And that’s why for the first half of the film we don’t show her, we were going to animate her or just show her in shadows. But then about halfway through the process, she changed her mind.
It’s a remarkable moment. I admit I wondered if it had been planned for dramatic effect.
No, not all! This was a woman who was afraid to show herself — for good reason — who was pushed to the limit. She was losing battle after battle in the courts, she was losing her children, she thought, “No one is going to believe that this happened to me, especially if I hide myself.” So one day she came to us and said, “I changed my mind.” It was a process — it would be very disingenuous to open a movie on a Hasidic woman’s face with no wig, Hasidic women just don’t do that, they don’t go on camera, so it would have been confusing to make it seem like we just found her and she was ready to tell her story on camera. We could have backed into the movie from the point where she was willing to show herself but we felt it was important to convey her own process.
Rachel: Heidi said how brave Etty was and it’s so true. I remember this one moment we had with her. Things were going down for her in real time in a way that I’d never experienced. All these things were happening to her, she was in danger, her life was basically collapsing in on her, and we felt badly asking, “Can we film that? Can we film that?” during these awful experiences. It made us wince. And I remember this one time when I was apologizing to her about something I wanted to film and she stopped me in mid-sentence and said, “Never apologize to me again.” There was something so strong about it, she took such ownership of her experience. She said, ”I know what I’m doing. I’m doing this for a reason.” She did this for herself and for her kids. There was something so empowering about that moment. I never apologized to her again.
There are so many things about the journey of these three people that people in other situations can learn from.
Heidi: Absolutely. Anyone who feels they’re hiding who they are could relate to this film, we hope, and be inspired by these people. We think there is an accessibility and universality to the concept of being in any type of closet. People who realize their individual truth and decide they are going to deal with the consequences of accepting that truth as well as the loneliness that comes with that decision. It can be very lonely to go from being in this kind of community to becoming an individual in the secular world. That is something all of our subjects discovered in a very stinging way.
Obviously there are many Hasidic people who are quite happy in this world. Were you worried that some people might think you were making an anti-Hasidic film?
Rachel: Whenever you make a film that even tiptoes around religion, you have to be very careful. I’m Jewish so I also kind of felt a personal level of responsibility to not make a film that was problematic or “bad for Jews” as we way. This is not a film that’s against the Hasidic community. But when people are facing real problems of this nature, I think it’s very important to air the dirty laundry rather than cover it up.
Heidi: There is a beauty to the Hasidic culture and our subjects were often homesick for and nostalgic for the beauty, the traditions, and the rituals that come with being a Hasidic Jew. We endeavored to show our subjects’ connection to that and to their beliefs. You see Etty in a synagogue at the end of the film on Yom Kippur.
I’m so glad she found a synagogue that would welcome her.
Oh, there are many. The majority of Jews in the world are very pro-education, as you know, and intellectual and are interested in conversations that are difficult. We were showing this very small slice of Judaism, although it’s one of the fastest growing. Yes, there are some negatives but there’s also an appeal that we tried to convey as well. It was very important for us to have a Hasidic elder in the movie. It was difficult to find someone who would agree to sit down with us but we did find such a person who was very warm and kind.
Yes, he was fascinating. I was amazed that he would talk to two women from the secular world about this topic but he seemed very sincere and not like a Hasidic PR person.
He’s not a PR person at all, just a community member who’s definitely on the more tolerant end of the spectrum. This is someone who started a soup kitchen with his son, a very compassionate person, but a good Hasid as well who grew up in the Satmar community, very faithful to the tenets. There are a lot of people like that, actually.
Rachel: This movie is not about religion. Nor is it an indictment of this type of religion or their rules or structures. There’s a myriad of rules Hasidic people follow, and we didn’t get into that at all, that’s not what the film is about. For us, the movie is about identity and people who are seeking their true identity.
When you talked about the suicides earlier, I admit that when I was watching Ari’s story, I was very concerned, he seemed to be struggling so badly and I was on the edge of my seat worried that he might end up as one of those statistics.
Heidi: God forbid. He’s sober now, he’s been sober for 200 days. He’s getting his GED, I think he’s going to be okay. He’s still out of the community and his parents know about the film but they won’t see it. The good news is that they’ve decided not to ostracize or disown him.
Rachel: Which is huge. He’s so vulnerable, so young.
Heidi: And the family has agreed to skip over him in the line of marriages because in that community you’re supposed to go in birth order.
I admit I audibly gasped during that scene when we see Ari in the church.
I know! He was just checking stuff out, he was just looking around.
Rachel: But it makes sense, right? Someone who has experienced community in a very specific way — there are so many parallels.
With Etty’s story, the dominant emotion I came to feel was abject rage — especially at that judge who took her children away for no good reason.
Heidi: Same here. Unfortunately, there’s been no change for the better in Etty’s situation since we shot the film.
Ugh, such an outrage and travesty of justice. How can that judge get away with it?
Do you want to know his name? It’s Judge Eric Prus. Where this judge resides, judges are elected, not appointed, and they’re elected by the demographic that you see in the movie who unfortunately have a lot of influence.
Rachel: It happens a lot, sadly. In situations like this, these judges typically end up favoring the religious spouse.
Does Etty have any recourse?
She will appeal, but that will take a minimum of five years.
To shine a lot on that situation alone, I’m glad your film is out there. What courage these people have. Many in her position might just submit to the horrors of life with an abusive husband and staying in a community they no longer want to be a part of.
Heidi: She did that for a long time. She stayed for 12 years. But eventually people break.
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One of Us is currently available on Netflix.
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Wombwell Rainbow Interviews
I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me. I gave the writers two options: an emailed list of questions or a more fluid interview via messenger.
The usual ground is covered about motivation, daily routines and work ethic, but some surprises too. Some of these poets you may know, others may be new to you. I hope you enjoy the experience as much as I do.
Julene Tripp Weaver
is a psychotherapist and writer in Seattle. She has three poetry books: truth be bold—Serenading Life & Death in the Age of AIDS, No Father Can Save Her, and a chapbook, Case Walking: An AIDS Case Manager Wails Her Blues.
She is widely published in journals and anthologies. A few online sites where her work can be found include: Riverbabble, River & South Review, The Seattle Review of Books, HIV Here & Now, Mad Swirl, Anti-Heroin Chic, Writing in a Woman’s Voice and in the Stonewall Legacy Anthology.
Find her online at http://www.julenetrippweaver.com/
or Twitter @trippweavepoet.
The Interview
1. What inspired you to write poetry?
After my father’s death, before I turned twelve, I started to record my dreams and write in a journal. Writing helped during this difficult time, I was bereft. In my fantasy life poets were cool and I longed to be around people who were different. After my mother moved us to the city, I signed up for an evening poetry class at a local college in Queens. I was barely a teenager, and had to depend on my uncle to drive me. He had a bias against poets, the whole way there he yelled about beatniks sitting on floors, saying he worked hard to provide chairs for his family to sit on. I had a poem in my pocket and was terrified. The adult poets talked about poets I didn’t know. I felt like an outsider and realized I needed to understand more. Because of the lack of support, I didn’t go back to that group. Getting back to poetry took a long time, I had to move away from my family and become financially independent.
2. Who introduced you to poetry?
When I was finally living on my own, I started investigating the writing world. Living in Manhattan I found classes at the Y and signed up. I read Peter Elbow’s books on writing. Finding other writers was helpful, I joined a group of women poets for feedback. Then I joined a local chapter of the Feminist Writers’ Guild; we brought in May Sarton to read, and they sponsored me to travel to a conference in Chicago where I gave my first public reading. Judy Grahn’s poetry inspired me, I wanted to write feminist poetry to change the world. Audre Lorde was well known and I learned she taught at Hunter College. I applied to CUNY so I could study with her and got a Bachelor degree with a double major of Creative Writing and Women’s Studies. I’d say Judy Grahn’s book, The Work of a Common Woman, had the most influence, she was such a strong lesbian feminist and I was in that community.
3. How aware were you of the dominating presence of older poets?
When I started my journey as a poet I was unaware of the cannon. Audre started us out with an e.e. cummings poem, but she didn’t teach the older poets. She had us writing and workshopping our poems, reading and going to readings and journaling our impressions. I’ve done much catch-up. A few of the older male poets I admire include William Carlos Williams, William Stafford, Charles Simic, James Tate, Russell Edison, Richard Hugo. A generation in between when poetry was already moving away from rhyme to free verse. And with some of these it is their books about writing poetry that I love. I’ve read Gerard Manley Hopkins, Shakespeare sonnets, and some of the older poets, but I’m not drawn to their work.
4. What is your daily writing routine?
I do not have a routine. Writing means a lot of things; writing new work, editing work, sending out work, composing collections, writing about the work (as in this interview), taking time to do nothing, applying to programs, residencies, grants. There is so much it’s overwhelming. And I easily get overwhelmed. So I’ve learned to be not too hard on myself for what I could be doing at any given moment. I spend far too much time on social media. But I keep a journal that I then cull work from. Plus, I write other genres: memoir and essays, for a few years I wrote articles for a health corner column in a newsletter.
5. What motivates you to write?
It’s a drive to the page, there were periods I did not have that drive and I just existed, lived life, worked and had fun with friends or a partner. Then there are periods where my writing ramps up: I take a class, begin to focus on a particular project, get excited about a call or networking. The newest thing I’ve done with a friend is to start a reading series at a local café once a month. It’s been more stressful than I anticipated. When my last poetry book was published I dedicated over three years to promote it.
6. What is your work ethic?
My first career as a laboratory technician lasted fourteen years; I worked at one lab for over eight years. Then I went back to school and had odd jobs that included my own business cleaning apartments in New York City. After that I did secretarial work, moved to Seattle and went back to school for a Masters in counselling. With that degree I worked for twenty-one years in AIDS services, eighteen of those years for the same agency in different capacities. I work hard and steady. I write hard, too, when I write. Semi-retired now, I have a small private therapy practice and my goal is to devote more time to writing, but I’m also the president of my condo Board. Responsibility and service are a big part of my work ethic, as is doing work from love, which I did working in AIDS services for twenty-one years. When I worked where they had a union I was a rep, and I’ve been part of two union negotiations.
7. How did the writers you read when you were young influence you today?
This is impossible to answer because I’m not sure how the books I loved as a child influenced my writing today. I read Heidi eight times, and all the Nancy Drew mystery novels.
8. Who of today’s writers do you admire the most and why?
There are so many excellent authors! I have to say two I’ve worked with:
Louise DeSalvo, I found her when I started Hunter College. She taught a different literature class each semester and I took every class of hers I could. She was a brilliant Virginia Wolf scholar with a PhD in the Deconstruction of Literature. Generous and supportive of her students she bestowed confidence. She constantly had new books coming out in different genres,. Two of her books I keep ready at my fingertips: Writing as a Way of Healing : How Telling Our Stories Transforms our Lives, and The Art of Slow Writing: Reflections on Time, Craft, and Creativity. She also has several memoirs, academic books, fiction and an anthology she edited of Italian American women. She died in October 2018.
The other writer is Tom Spanbauer, he trademarked Dangerous Writing. I love his book The Man Who Fell in Love with the Moon, so when I heard he was in Portland teaching Dangerous Writing workshops I wanted to study with him. For a year I went back and forth to Portland for several workshops and love his way of teaching. He is open and vulnerable, providing a safe space to write dangerous things that are hard to get onto the page. I’ve read each of his novels, and from him learned even though I am not a fiction writer, what I write has value.
There are many other excellent poets and writers I admire.
9. Why do you write, as opposed to doing anything else?
Well I consider myself an artist, and have called myself a health artist. Of all the arts, writing is what I’ve spent the most time to develop. I’ve taken art classes and I practice movement work. I discovered Continuum in 1988 and it has changed my life several times. For ten years, from 1997 to 2007, I ran workshops that combined Continuum movement and writing after taking Emilie Conrad and Rebecca Mark’s Poetry in Motion Intensive. Emilie was the founder of Continuum Movement, she died in 2014. In my workshop we experimented with breath, audible breath and movement that perturbed our interior world, then listened and allowed hand-to-page exploration. From my first Poetry in Motion I started what became a large body of writing about my work in HIV/AIDS.
10. What would you say to someone who asked you “How do you become a writer?”
The best advice is to read a lot of poetry. There is so much good poetry available and you learn by the process of reading a wide range. Also, take classes and find a group where you get together and read your work out loud, then exchange feedback. Or find a group where you use a prompt, write for a timed period then go around and read what was written, either with no feedback or only positive. You’ll begin to get more fluid putting pen to page. It’s best to read it right away without worrying or thinking about it too much. If you have good mentors along the way and the right support I don’t think an MFA is so important.
11. Tell me about the writing projects you have on at the moment.
I’m working on a hybrid memoir and searching for publishers that will answer directly to an author as a first step. As a hybrid form it includes journal excerpts and dreams. I hope to have a my early health essays included in an addendum.
On my to-do list is to develop my next poetry manuscript and start sending it out. But first I need to form an arc from my many poems written in the past several years. Each book birth takes a lot of energy and my last book promotion has been slowly winding down; although I will be on a panel at AWP2020 in San Antonio related to that book reading my poetry.
Wombwell Rainbow Interviews: Julene Tripp Weaver Wombwell Rainbow Interviews I am honoured and privileged that the following writers local, national and international have agreed to be interviewed by me.
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Following Greta: joining the Swedes on their no-fly holidays | Travel
At Hamburg central station it felt like the whole of Sweden was taking the train to somewhere else in Europe. You could hear snatches of Swedish everywhere. When we queued up to buy water, both couples ahead of us were Swedes. An entire handball team from Gothenburg was going by rail to a tournament in Austria.
“Sweden is trend-oriented: if there’s a new trend, everyone will follow it,” said Anna Maria Hilborn, an art teacher I met when my five-year-old son started spinning around a signpost on the platform with hers.
Sweden’s flygskam, or flight shame, movement first came to notice in the summer of 2017 when the singer-songwriter Staffan Lindberg wrote an article co-signed by five of his famous friends, in which they announced their decision to give up flying. Among them were the popular ski commentator Björn Ferry, opera-singer Malena Ernman (the mother of climate activist Greta Thunberg), and Heidi Andersson, the eleven-times world champion arm-wrestler.
Concourse, Hamburg Hauptbahnhof. Photograph: imageBROKER/Alamy Stock Photo
However, it was last summer that flygskam really gained momentum. Passenger numbers at Sweden’s 10 busiest airports fell 8% from January to April this year, following a 3% fall in 2018, according to Swedavia, which operates them. The number of journeys on Sweden’s national rail network increased by 5% last year and 8% in the first quarter of this year, according to Swedish Railways. Meanwhile, sales of Interrail tickets to Swedes increased by 45% in 2018 – and are expected to rise again this year.
“The big thing, of course, was the very warm summer last year,” Hilborn told me once we were on the train to the Rhineland city of Duisberg, the German countryside rattling by outside. “I think it affected people because it usually isn’t that hot in Sweden. It had an impact on farmers: they had to slaughter some of their animals early. And people felt it, too, of course.”
Seeing the effects of climate change in the here and now made Hilborn decide that next time she took her annual trip to visit her brother in Innsbruck, Austria, she would go by train.
“My personal impact won’t change a lot,” she said. “But when a percentage of people start doing something it creates a new norm. So, just by being a part of that movement and sharing it, I’m doing something.”
After nearly eight years living in Malmö, I’m perhaps Swedish enough to start following national trends such as flygskam, which made the official list of new Swedish words for 2018. I signed up to the country’s Flygfritt 2019 (Flight Free 2019) campaign in February – even though, strictly speaking, I had already failed, as I’d flown to the UK at the start of January.
Swedish climate change activist Greta Thunberg speaks at Extinction Rebellion’s environmental protest camp, London, April 2019. Photograph: Tolga Akmen/AFP/Getty Images
Using the calculator on the International Railways Union’s EcoPassenger site, I realised that by taking the train, rather than flying, on my four annual visits back to the UK would cut my annual CO2 emissions by about 1.8 tonnes, if you adjust for the impact of emitting at height. That is close to half the total annual carbon emissions, excluding flights, of the average person living in Sweden. To me it seemed crazy to pass up that kind of reduction to save a few days and a few hundred pounds.
“Your poor children,” my stepmother said after I announced my plan to travel overland from Malmö to my parents’ home in Surrey. My wife, while supportive, had nightmare visions of me and the children stranded on a cold station platform for the night. Though the truth is that seven-year-old Eira and five-year-old Finn loved it. In each direction, they got more than 24 hours of nearly non-stop parental attention, unlimited screen time, and Lego sets and craft equipment bought by their Swedish mum.
There was the excitement of passing through five countries – Denmark, Germany, Belgium and France on the way out, plus the Netherlands on the way back – and the thrill of racing through the French countryside at 186 mph on Eurostar. At the good-value A&O hostel we stayed at in Hamburg, Eira was inexplicably reduced to hysterical laughter by the large selection of goodies you could sprinkle on top of your yoghurt at the breakfast buffet.
On the train to Duisberg, at 3½ hours the longest single leg of the journey, I also met Elin Persson and her husband Morgon, on their way to Málaga with their four children. Like Hilborn, Morgon is an artist: a glass-blower who transforms used wine and beer bottles into vases. Elin Persson conceded that many of the Swedes she had seen travelling fitted a particular demographic. And it is true that the success of the flygskam movement has generated a backlash, with politicians and columnists in Sweden attacking it as a form of one-upmanship: one where middle-class Swedes sneer at their working-class compatriots for taking charter flights to Thailand or the Canary Islands.
Duisburg harbour, Germany. Photograph: Getty Images
“Mostly, it is now middle-class, but hopefully it will spread,” said Susanna Elfors, co-founder of the Tågsemester (Train Holiday) Facebook group which over the last year has gained 90,000 members.
I’d been thrown together with the Perssons by a 20-minute signalling delay that meant we all risked the same domino-chain of missed connections.
“You are the group leader,” the conductor informed me with mock formality as he shared my route, which had slightly better connections, with other Brussels-bound passengers. In the end, we had just four minutes to rush down the underpass and up to the right platform in Duisberg – with Finn on my shoulders, my wheeled suitcase trundling behind and Eira gamely struggling to keep up.
We made it, but the experience underlines the risk of international train journeys in a system not yet designed for them. Instead of buying a ticket all the way to your final destination – as was the case before budget flights replaced international rail travel – a sequence of shorter journeys is now purchased. With the ticket I bought online from Loco2, we had reserved seats on specific Eurostar and German Intercity-Express (ICE) trains. If we missed a connection, we would have no right to take a later one.
In the days before I left Malmö, I’d regretted not making more of a holiday of it. Aside from an hour and a bit in Brussels, our only stop longer than 20 minutes was the hour and a half we had in Ösnabrück on the return leg. We did manage to entertain ourselves, however.
Although no one said anything, German travellers seemed less indulgent of small children than those back home in Sweden. But the comfortable table seats we had booked on the German ICE trains were perfect for drawing, playing Lego and making wool pom-poms. The short trips we had on standing-only overcrowded local trains in Germany and the Netherlands were more difficult.
Hook of Holland terminal, the Netherlands. Photograph: Alamy
We stayed away from the decent-looking ICE restaurant cars selling German food, such as currywurst and beef gulasch, but indulged ourselves whenever the trolley selling drinks and pretzel breads passed by (although coming from cash-free Sweden, I was astonished they didn’t take cards).
In Brussels, we visited an overpriced restaurant outside the station to try the national dish – some of the worst mussels I have ever eaten. I made up for the disappointment on the return leg, by gorging on deep-fried mussels from Hoekse Vishandel outside the Hook of Holland ferry terminal.
“Are there places like this all over the Netherlands?” I asked the owner. “There are,” he said. “But we’re the best.”
In Ösnabrück, a city in north-west Germany, we missed the medieval centre and renowned zoo but met an engineering student in Burger King who kept the children spellbound as he explained the workings of his self-built electric skateboard.
Osnabrück, Germany Photograph: Getty Images
On the 45-minute ferry from Germany to the Danish island of Lolland, the children threw themselves around in the wind so wildly on deck that they fell asleep as soon as we got onto the rail replacement bus to Copenhagen. Indeed, Finn was so exhausted that when, an hour later, he threw up half-digested spaghetti bolognese over his sister, he didn’t even wake up. By that time all we had left was a hop over the Öresund Straits, and a short cycle home to our apartment where, at well past midnight, the children were greeted by their relieved mother.
The trip took two more days than it would have if we’d flown, but they weren’t days wasted. They might even be the best I’ve spent with Eira and Finn all year.
Journey times from Malmo to London By train: from 18hrs 52minutes with four changes (source Loco2) – but factor in more time if you want a less tiring journey. For example Richard and family spent a night in Hamburg. By air: from 4hrs 25 minutes, with one stop (SAS).
Carbon emissions from Malmo to London By train: 53.9kg. By air: 269.8kg (source: ecopassenger.org)
• Tickets booked online at Loco2. Outbound journey: depart Malmö 3pm, travelling via Copenhagen to Hamburg (accommodation at the A&O Hostel); then to London St Pancras via Duisberg, Aachen (Eurostar from Brussels). Return journey: Stena Line night ferry from Harwich to Hook of Holland, and then to Malmö via Schiedam, The Hague, Hengelo, Osnabrück, Hamburg and Copenhagen.
Trip cost: £710, for one adult and two children.
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MPs reject all FOUR alternatives for Brexit
MPs have again voted down all alternative Brexit options put to it in a second of votes aimed at finding a replacement for Theresa May’s Brexit deal.
The Commons tonight rejected a customs union, Norway-style soft Brexit, second referendum and cancelling Brexit.
The customs union plan proposed by Ken Clarke was closest to victory – losing by just three votes 276 to 273. A second referendum got the most votes overall for a second week, with 280 votes to 292 against.
Tory MP Nick Boles sensationally resigned from his party and crossed the floor moments after the votes were announced – blaming the Conservatives refusal to compromise for the failure to find a way forward. His plan for a Norway-style soft Brexit was defeated 282 to 261 – having won just 33 Tory votes.
In what may become an historic moment during the Brexit crisis and on the brink of tears, Mr Boles admitted his plan to find a consensus had ‘failed’ and announced he could no longer stay in the party.
An SNP-inspired plan to revoke Article 50 to avoid No Deal was the most heavily defeated. It lost 292 to 191.
The votes were staged after rebel MPs seized control of the Commons agenda in the wake of Mrs May’s deal being repeatedly trounced. After the votes were called, Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay warned MPs had still not voted for a clear way forward and confirmed the Cabinet would discuss the outcome tomorrow.
Earlier, the debate was interrupted by semi-naked protesters in the public gallery.
Mrs May has summoned her ministers to an epic Cabinet tomorrow – fuelling speculation she is getting ready for the ‘nuclear’ option of an election despite her deep unpopularity in her own party.
Instead of the usual 90-minute discussion, Tory ministers will spend three hours locked in talks without officials from 9am – meaning they can discuss party politics and how to tackle the Brexit endgame in light of the results.
There will then be a normal two-hour Cabinet where the Government can take decisions on the fate of the nation.
Mr Boles said: ‘I have given everything to an attempt to find a compromise that can take this country out of the European Union while maintaining our economic strength and our political cohesion.
‘I accept I have failed. I have failed chiefly because my party refuses to compromise. I regret therefore to announce I can no longer sit for this party.’
One MP could be heard saying: ‘Oh Nick, don’t go, come on.’
Independent Group leader Heidi Allen said she did not know Mr Boles was going to quit the Tories but said he was welcome to join their new group.
Feuding MPs were told to vote on four alternatives to Theresa May’s (pictured returning to the Commons this evening) Brexit deal tonight amid fevered speculation she could force an election to end the impasse
Tory MP Nick Boles sensationally resigned from his party and crossed the floor after the votes were announced – blaming the Conservatives refusal to compromise for the failure to find a way forward
Speaker John Bercow selected proposals for a customs union, Norway-style soft Brexit, second referendum and cancelling Brexit in the second round of indicative votes tonight
MPs voted on pale blue ballot papers containing four different motions for alternative Brexit plans. Craig Mackinlay revealed he voted for none of them
Most Tory MPs had a free vote on the alternatives to Mrs May’s deal tonight, with 25 or more junior ministers predicted to be ready to back a softer Brexit.
Cabinet ministers have been told to abstain, but, with a growing rift between Remainers and Brexiteers in the Government, some could still choose to vote for a customs union and resign.
All eyes will be on the 10 ministers known to back a customs union with the EU if Theresa May’s deal is killed off, including the ‘gang of four’ cabinet remainers: Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd, Justice Secretary David Gauke, Business Secretary Greg Clark and Scottish Secretary David Mundell. They would be willing to quit if Mrs May pushes for a No Deal Brexit and could do it by defying her order to abstain in tonight’s indicative votes.
But Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg today admitted he is ‘very concerned’ that Theresa May will add a customs union onto her Brexit deal to get it through Parliament.
He told LBC radio: ‘My concern is that the Prime Minister is more concerned to avoid a No Deal Brexit than anything else. And therefore I am very concerned that she could decide to go for a customs union tacked onto her deal.’
Mr Rees-Mogg also claimed that last Friday’s vote on the Brexit deal would ‘probably have gone through’ if it had been Mrs May’s deal versus a general election.
Semi-naked climate change protesters interrupted the Commons debate on Brexit alternatives tonight as they stripped off in the public gallery
Tory MP James Heappey defied Commons rules to photograph the dozen people, one of whom had ‘climate justice now’ daubed on his back
MPs to vote on a customs union, soft Brexit, a second referendum or cancelling Brexit
None of the eight alternatives to Prime Minister Theresa May’s deal were approved last week after Parliament seized control of the Commons agenda.
Commons Speaker John Bercow has whittled them down, and is putting four rival Brexit plans to the Commons tonight. He selected a UK-EU customs union, soft Norway-style Brexit, second referendum and cancelling Brexit.
Ahead of the second round, the customs union and second referendum were the leading options.
Motion C: Customs union with the EU
Tory former chancellor Ken Clarke’s customs union plan requires any Brexit deal to include, as a minimum, a commitment to negotiate a ‘permanent and comprehensive UK-wide customs union with the EU’.
This is where tonight’s vote could get interesting. This amendment last week lost by the tightest margin of them all.
It went down by eight votes, losing by 272 to 264. It means that a handful of MPs changing their mind could see it across the line.
But the SNP and Lib Dems abstained last time so those votes may not be easy to find on the polarised Tory and Labour benches.
And it if did win it would cause havoc in the Government with Brexiteers going on the warpath.
Motion D: Common market 2.0 – Norway-style soft Brexit
A cross-party motion tabled by Conservatives Nick Boles, Robert Halfon and Dame Caroline Spelman and Labour’s Stephen Kinnock, Lucy Powell plus the SNP’s Stewart Hosie.
The motion proposes UK membership of the European Free Trade Association and European Economic Area. It allows continued participation in the single market and a ‘comprehensive customs arrangement’ with the EU after Brexit – including a ‘UK say’ on future EU trade deals – would remain in place until the agreement of a wider trade deal which guarantees frictionless movement of goods and an open border in Ireland.
Despite Labour backing last week this lost by almost 100 votes, 283 to 188. But 167 MPs abstained on it, including the DUP. If the Northern Irish party could be talked in to backing it there could be some movement.
Motion E: Second referendum to approve any Brexit deal
Drawn up by Labour MPs Peter Kyle and Phil Wilson, this motion would require a public vote to confirm any Brexit deal passed by Parliament before its ratification.
This option, tabled last time by Labour former minister Dame Margaret Beckett, polled the highest number of votes, although was defeated by 295 votes to 268.
Labour MPs were whipped to support it but 27 mainly from northern Leave-voting areas voted against it and a further 18 – including several frontbenchers – abstained.
Their support would have been enough to pass it but it seems unlikely they will change their minds, given that their concerns remain the same.
Motion G: Revoke Brexit to avoid No Deal
SNP MP Joanna Cherry joins with Mr Grieve and MPs from other parties with this plan to seek an extension to the Brexit process to allow Parliament and the Government to achieve a Brexit deal.
If if this is not possible then Parliament will choose between either no-deal or revoking Article 50.
An inquiry would follow to assess the future relationship likely to be acceptable to Brussels and have majority support in the UK.
Senior ministers have warned the Prime Minister she would ‘destroy’ the Tory party and put Jeremy Corbyn in Downing Street if she gives in to demands to adopt a soft Brexit.
If she were to give way to a softer Brexit, Mrs May would provoke a furious reaction from Brexiteers, with International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling among the ministers reportedly ready to resign.
But more than 170 Tory MPs, including 10 Cabinet ministers, have already signed a blunt, two-paragraph letter to Mrs May reminding her of the party’s manifesto commitment to take Britain out of both the customs union and the single market.
The letter urges her to take the UK out of the EU without a deal on April 12 if she cannot get her own deal through Parliament in the coming days.
Today Chief Secretary to the Treasury Liz Truss said: ‘I don’t have any fear of No Deal – what would be worse is if we don’t Brexit at all’.
But, fuelling expectations Mrs May will try a fourth vote on her deal, she said: ‘I think the answer lies in modifications to the Prime Minister’s deal to be able to get that to have support.’
She also warned the PM against lurching towards a customs union deal because ‘it’s not clear that going softer is the way to command support’ – but ruled out quitting.
Labour is to support the Common Market 2.0 option for Brexit (participation in the single market and a ‘comprehensive customs arrangement’ with the EU including a ‘UK say’ on future EU trade deals) in Monday’s indicative votes in the House of Commons, as well as other options which the party backed last week: a customs union and a second referendum on any deal.
The Common Market 2.0 plan would not end freedom of movement from the EU.
Jeremy Corbyn’s decision is expected to push one or more of these indicative votes over the line tonight.
A Labour spokesman said: ‘In line with our policy, we’re supporting motions to keep options on the table to prevent a damaging Tory deal or No Deal, build consensus across the House to break the deadlock and deliver an outcome that can work for the whole country’.
Mrs May’s deal has now fallen three times in the Commons, with dozens of Tory MPs among those who voted against it on each occasion.
Today Conservative backbencher Richard Drax apologised for backing her EU divorce on Friday.
The South Dorset MP said he should have trusted his instincts ‘and those of the British people’ when he voted on the withdrawal agreement on Friday.
Addressing the House of Commons, Mr Drax said: ‘I made the wrong call on Friday’.
He added: ‘If the Prime Minister cannot commit to taking us out of the EU on April 12, she must resign immediately.
‘This is no longer about leave or remain. That was decided in 2016. This is about the future of our great country.’
DUP Brexit spokesman Sammy Wilson also claimed his party will reject her deal even if it was brought back to the Commons ‘a thousand times’.
He said: ‘As far as the Withdrawal Agreement is concerned and the motion before us is concerned, our position has not changed.
‘We have sought to, over the last number of weeks, work with the Government to try and find a way of either getting legal assurances or legislative changes which would enable us to move this process on – we want to see a deal because we want out of the European Union, and we want to have a clear path as to how we do that.
Mrs May (pictured today arriving at Downing Street) could face resignations across the Cabinet after the Brexiteer and remainer factions hardened their stances
Boris Johnson, pictured cycling to Parliament today, and Michael Gove, pictured leaving home today are the two favourites to replace Theresa May when she leaves No 10
Timetable for four days of Westminster turmoil
Today: MPs led by Tory Sir Oliver Letwin and Labour’s Yvette Cooper will vote tonight on whether to adopt a soft Brexit option, such as a customs union or membership of the single market, possibly accompanied by a second referendum. Last week, MPs rejected all eight Brexit options put to them in a series of ‘indicative votes’, but supporters of a soft Brexit from both the Tory and Labour benches believe they have a better chance tonight following the third defeat for Theresa May’s deal.
Tomorrow: The Cabinet will meet to discuss a response to the votes. If MPs have backed a customs union, Mrs May will have to decide whether to accept a policy opposed by the vast majority of Tory MPs. If she agrees, the issue could tear the party apart. If she refuses, it would result in a constitutional stand-off that could spark an election. Downing Street fears that she could face a Cabinet walkout regardless of what she decides.
Wednesday: Sir Oliver Letwin has indicated he will try to seize control of the Commons agenda again to pursue his soft Brexit plan. If Monday’s votes were inconclusive, they could be held again, possibly using preferential voting to reduce the options to one. If Monday night’s vote produced a solution, but Mrs May refused to adopt it, Parliament could legislate in a bid to force her hand.
Thursday: Allies of the PM have the day pencilled in for a possible fourth attempt to get her deal through the Commons. They believe that, with the majority against her coming down from 230 to 149 then to 58 last week, they have momentum on their side. Ministers are considering an unprecedented parliamentary ‘run off’ pitting Mrs May’s deal against the soft Brexit option chosen by MPs in the hope of focusing the minds of Tory eurosceptics.
‘But it has not been possible… because the Withdrawal Agreement itself so ties the hands of this Government that it is impossible to find a way of securing the kind of assurances which are required to make sure the United Kingdom is not broken up, and that we do have a clear way of ensuring that the Brexit which many of us expected to see delivered would be delivered.
‘It’s our regret that that process has reached an end.’
Environment Secretary Michael Gove said today: ‘One thing is clear: We have to leave the European Union in good order. Parliament won’t vote for No Deal. No Deal is bad for our economy and bad for our union’.
Last night, two Cabinet ministers told the Daily Mail that shifting to a soft Brexit could lead to a collapse of the Government and usher in a Labour regime led by Mr Corbyn.
One said: ‘If forced to choose I would favour a general election over a customs union, but it’s like a choice between being stabbed in the left hand and stabbed in the right. Either one could take us to a Corbyn government.
‘The Conservative Party cannot accept a customs union, and at least half the Cabinet won’t accept it. It would destroy the party and it would lead to an election anyway, which we would then lose.
‘The only route we can possibly survive is to go for No Deal. At least we would then enter an election in the right political place, having delivered Brexit.’
Another Cabinet minister said: ‘We cannot go for a customs union – there would be no government left. And if we go for an election then Corbyn will be likely to win and we would end up with a customs union anyway.’
Justice Secretary David Gauke infuriated Eurosceptic MPs yesterday when he declared that Mrs May would have to ‘look closely’ at adopting a customs union if Parliament votes for it.
Pro-EU demonstrators resumed their daily campaign outside the Palace of Westminster today as MPs convened for another week of wrestling with Brexit
The streets outside Parliament have been packed with campaigners on both sides of the Brexit divide for months
Meanwhile Boris Johnson urged the Tories to ‘believe in Britain’ and ‘get Brexit done’.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, he said: ‘We should really come out with no deal – now looking by far the best option.
‘But if we cannot achieve that, then we need to get out, now, with an interim solution that most closely resembles what the people voted for, in the knowledge that – following the Prime Minister’s decision to step down – we have at least the chance to fix it in the second phase of the negotiations.’
Mr Gauke and fellow Remainers Greg Clark, Amber Rudd, Philip Hammond and David Lidington are urging Mrs May to push for a softer Brexit if it avoids No Deal.
Last night, members of the group were privately encouraging Remainer Tories to back the option in tonight’s vote.
But Downing Street slapped down Mr Gauke, saying Mrs May was committed to delivering a Brexit deal ‘which does not include membership of the custom union’.
However, a pro-Remain Cabinet source said Mrs May would have to accept the will of Parliament, adding: ‘Something is going to have to give this week – she is finally going to have to pick a side, and that is going to leave one half of the Cabinet very unhappy. But if the majority in Parliament comes out for a customs union then that will be very hard to resist.’
Tory Brexiteer Jacob Rees-Mogg has said he is ‘very concerned’ that Theresa May will add a customs union onto her Brexit deal
At the start of another dramatic Brexit week:
Government sources said Mrs May would try to bring her deal back to the Commons for a fourth time this week, despite hopes fading that the DUP will ever support it.
Before any fourth vote on the deal, a new round of indicative votes will be held on alternatives in the Commons tonight.
European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker said: ‘We have had a lot of patience with our British friends over Brexit but patience runs out.’
Tory deputy chairman James Cleverly warned that Mrs May could lead the party into a snap general election if the Brexit deadlock continues, despite opposition from Tory MPs and a poll putting Labour five points ahead.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mrs Rudd set up a new group of moderate Tories designed to block hard Brexiteers such as Dominic Raab and Boris Johnson succeeding Mrs May as PM.
UK boss of Siemens claims that Britain is now a ‘laughing stock’ over Brexit as he warns that Theresa May must avoid ‘hugely damaging’ No Deal
Britain is becoming a ‘laughing stock’ over Brexit and risks leaving the trading bloc with a hugely damaging No Deal, the UK head of German industrial giant Siemens has said.
After Prime Minister Theresa May‘s Brexit deal was rejected by parliament for a third time last week there is pressure from rival factions for a no-deal exit, a much softer divorce or an election.
Juergen Maier said today: ‘Where the UK used to be beacon for stability, we are now becoming a laughing stock.
‘It has been clear for weeks, that the only way that this will be resolved is through compromise between the government and parliament’.
Maier said it was becoming hard for him to win support from his board for investment decisions as Britain heads towards a ‘hugely damaging No Deal Brexit.’
‘Enough is enough. We are all running out of patience. Make a decision and unite around a customs union compromise that delivers economic security and stability,’ he said in a letter to Politico.
In other developments today, Mrs May’s Commons enforcer has criticised the Government’s approach to leaving the EU and said his party should have made it clear a ‘softer Brexit‘ was ‘inevitable’ after the 2017 election.
In an extraordinary interview Julian Smith, the Tory chief whip, also and attacked Cabinet members over the ‘worst example of ill-discipline in British political history’.
He said ministers have been ‘sitting around the Cabinet table trying to destabilise her (Mrs May)’, revealing the battle the Prime Minister has with both Brexiteer and remainers in her Cabinet.
It came as MPs are set to take back control of the Brexit agenda in a fresh attempt to find an alternative to Theresa May’s deal that Parliament can support.
The Commons will stage a second round of ‘indicative’ votes on Monday on a series of rival proposals tabled by backbenchers to see if any can command a majority.
The move comes as Mrs May struggles to contain the rising tensions with her Cabinet as the clock counts down to the latest EU deadline on April 12.
If she were to give way to a softer Brexit, she would provoke a furious reaction from Brexiteers, with International Development Secretary Penny Mordaunt and Transport Secretary Chris Grayling among the ministers reportedly ready to resign.
Mr Smith spoke out to suggest ministers had pursued the wrong strategy after the Prime Minister lost the Conservatives’ Commons majority in the 2017 snap election.
He said the result of the poll meant that Mrs May simply did not have enough MPs to back a harder version of Brexit.
‘Brexit is a sh**show’: German minister hits out at the chaos in Westminster and ‘out-of-touch’ Cabinet ministers
Michael Roth lashed out at UK politicians at an event in berlin on Saturday
Brexit has been branded a ‘big s**tshow’ by a top German politician who likened it to a Shakesperean tragedy as Westminster continued to be gripped by total chaos.
Berlin‘s Europe minister Michael Roth made the pithy assessment as he blasted Theresa May‘s Cabinet of being out of touch with the people, admitting that he was speaking ‘very undiplomatically’.
He told a meeting of the Social Democratic Party in Berlin on Saturday that 90 per cent of Theresa May’s top ministers had ‘no idea how workers think, live, work and behave’, Bloomberg reported.
He also lashed out at politicians ‘born with silver spoons in their mouths, who went to private schools and elite universities’ who would not suffer as a result of any messy Brexit.
According to Bloomberg he said: ‘I don’t know if William Shakespeare could have come up with such a tragedy but who will foot the bill?’
In a sign that patience is wearing very thin on the Continent the European Parliament’s Brexit co-ordinator Guy Verhofstadt today described Brexit as a ‘tragic reality’ and urged MPs to find a compromise in Monday evening’s votes.
He tweeted: ‘Brexit is not a bad April Fool’s Joke, but a tragic reality for all our citizens and business.
‘It is now five to midnight. Today MPs must find a compromise & stop this chaos.
‘This evening, for once voting ‘Yes’, instead of every time voting ‘No’.’
The comments were published by the BBC amid speculation that Parliament may force the PM to seek membership of a customs union with Brussels in order to pass her deal, which would mean ripping up one of her key red lines.
‘The thing that people forget is that the Conservative Party went to get a majority in order to deliver Brexit (and) failed to get a majority,’ the chief whip said.
‘The Government as a whole probably should just have been clearer on the consequences of that. The parliamentary arithmetic would mean that this would be inevitably a softer type of Brexit.’
While the strategy was apparently misjudged, Mr Smith said he was ‘frustrated’ by MPs who ‘don’t see the light as clearly as I do’.
Mrs May’s deal has now fallen three times in the Commons, with Tory MPs among those who voted against it on each occasion.
However Mr Smith highlighted that a lack of discipline extended all the way to the Cabinet, with ministers ‘sitting around the Cabinet table … trying to destabilise her (Mrs May)’.
‘This is I think the worst example of ill-discipline in Cabinet in British political history,’ he said.
Later tonight, MPs will launch a fresh attempt to force Theresa May into a soft Brexit tonight by holding a second round of indicative votes on alternatives to her deal.
Ministers believe as many as 70 Tory MPs could add their support to a proposal to remain in the EU customs union. It lost by just six votes in a first indicative vote last week, meaning extra Tory support could see it win a majority of MPs.
Backbenchers led by Sir Oliver Letwin have taken control of the Commons timetable to stage a second round of indicative votes after none of the eight options put to MPs last week won enough support.
If a majority emerges for one of the alternatives tonight, the rebels plan to put down legislation on Wednesday that would force ministers to act.
Former Cabinet minister Ken Clarke, who drew up the customs union plan defeated by just six votes last week, has said he is ‘reasonably confident’ it will get over the line this time.
No Deal vs Customs Union: How Cabinet ministers stand
For a No Deal
Sajid Javid
Stephen Barclay
Michael Gove
Chris Grayling
Penny Mordaunt
Andrea Leadsom
Liz Truss
Alun Cairns
Liam Fox
Gavin Williamson
Brandon Lewis
James Brokenshire
Geoffrey Cox
Source: Daily Telegraph
For a customs union
Amber Rudd
Greg Clark
David Lidington
Philip Hammond
David Gauke
David Mundell
Claire Perry
Caroline Nokes
Damian Hinds
Karen Bradley
Not declared
Matt Hancock
Jeremy Wright
Jeremy Hunt
Source: Daily Telegraph
Meanwhile, supporters of a so-called ‘Common Market 2.0’ proposal that would keep Britain in the customs union and the single market have been seeking to win over DUP and SNP MPs who all abstained when it was voted on last week.
Staying in the single market would involve continued freedom of movement and making contributions to the EU budget, while being in a customs union would prevent Britain from striking its own trade deals.
Nick Boles, the Tory ex-minister behind Common Market 2.0 – rejected by 283 votes to 188 last week – declared last night that it was ‘alive and squawking’.
‘The only reason it scored fewer votes overall was that Labour didn’t whip for it. Tomorrow that might change,’ he said.
Tory George Freeman, who backs the idea, said: ‘Only Common Market 2.0 looks like winning support from all parties.’
The SNP’s Westminster leader Ian Blackford said his party’s 35 MPs would not back Mr Clarke’s plan as it would end freedom of movement, but signalled that they could back Common Market 2.0 because they want single-market membership.
Downing Street is considering offering a run-off between Mrs May’s deal and the frontrunner from the indicative votes.
Despite three previous rejections, No10 believes her deal could still prevail because in the first round of the indicative votes on Friday it did better than any alternative.
In an article for Conservative Home, Tory ex-minister Greg Hands yesterday warned that staying in the customs union would be a ‘serious mistake’ and ‘in the medium term be democratically unsustainable’.
Boris Johnson makes his first pitch to be Tory leader as a senior minister says the party needs an ‘experienced Brexiteer’ at the helm when Theresa May quits
Boris Johnson today made his first public pitch to succeed Theresa May, as senior Tories called for an experienced Brexiteer to take over.
Days after he finally backed the Prime Minister’s deal, Mr Johnson said a No Deal exit is ‘far the best option’ and insisted the Conservatives should ‘get on with it’.
And in his own vision for the party he said the Tories should then concentrate on ‘cutting taxes wherever we reasonably can’, including stamp duty and inheritance tax.
It came as Transport Secretary Chris Grayling said it was ‘more likely than not that the next leader will be someone who campaigned for Brexit‘.
Boris Johnson (pictured today) has three times the support of his closest rival in leadership polling and made his first pitch to be leader today
Mr Johnson, who has been accused of disloyalty for his opposition to Mrs May’s deal, wrote in the Telegraph today: ‘We cannot go on like this. We need to get on with it and to get it done. We should really come out with No Deal – now looking by far the best option; but if we cannot achieve that, then we need to get out, now.
‘We need to get Brexit done, because we have so much more to do, and so much more that unites the Conservative Party than divides us. We have so many achievements to be proud of – and yet every single one is being drowned out in the Brexit cacophony’.
Chris Grayling has called for an ‘experienced’ Brexiteer to take over the party – seen as a nod towards Mr Johnson rather that his rival Dominic Raab.
He told the Telegraph: ‘The party has to ask itself a question about the leadership: the next two or three years are going to be very tough because the European stuff is not going to go away.
‘Is the person who takes us through the next two or three years and sorts out Brexit and gets the sort of hard time that Theresa has had, the same person who we want to be leading us into the 2027 general election?
‘It may be that we are planning two things rather than one. Planning somebody who has got the experience and resilience to get us through the immediate future. But then … we have got a really good generation of younger politicians in their 40s who can make a real impact, who are going to be the leadership of the party in the future.’
Moderate Tories appeared to step up efforts to frustrate the leadership ambitions of Boris Johnson last night, launching a new grouping opposed to a No Deal Brexit.
Around 40 MPs have signed up to the One Nation Group which will be led by Work and Pensions Secretary Amber Rudd and former education secretary Nicky Morgan.
The faction, which is aiming to be a counterweight to the European Research Group, is planning to host its own hustings in any future party leadership contest and has ruled out supporting anyone who wants a No Deal departure.
Mr Johnson, however, did get some backing from an unlikely quarter last night – Tony Blair.
The former PM claimed the Tories could beat Labour in a general election if ‘formidable’ Mr Johnson was leader.
Amber Rudd is relaunching the One Nation faction inside the Tory party as moderates move to block Boris Johnson and hard Brexiteers in the race for power
As ministers fight for the job Liz Truss (left in Westminster on Friday) today called for the Tory party to remodernise, while Dominic Raab published his plans to tackle knife crime
Jeremy Hunt is seen as a safe pair of hands and could help unite the party, some MPs have claimed
High profile members of the One Nation Group also include Business Secretary Greg Clark, Justice Secretary David Gauke, Scottish Secretary David Mundell, energy minister Claire Perry, as well as Damian Green and Sir Nicholas Soames.
Sir John Major yesterday criticised potential leadership candidates for jockeying for position instead of focusing on attempts to get the Brexit deal passed.
2,000 viewers complain after Jon Snow said ‘I’ve never seen so many white people in one place’ as he covered Brexit rally
Channel 4 has been forced to apologise after news anchor Jon Snow, 71, said he had ‘never seen so many white people in one place’ while reporting on a pro-Brexit rally
Channel 4 News host Jon Snow’s remark that he had ‘never seen so many white people in one place’ has sparked more than 2,000 complaints.
The veteran 71-year-old presenter was signing off from Friday evening’s Channel 4 News bulletin when he made the controversial comment.
He was referring, during the live broadcast, to the pro-Brexit protesters who brought Westminster to a standstill.
‘It’s been the most extraordinary day,’ he said. ‘A day which has seen … I have never seen so many white people in one place, it’s an extraordinary story.
‘There are people everywhere, there are crowds everywhere.’
Broadcasting watchdog Ofcom said it had received 2,025 complaints and is deciding whether to investigate.
The high level of objections to the comment would place the show as the fifth most complained about, when compared to the numbers from Ofcom’s most complained about shows in 2018.
The show which drew the most complaints was Celebrity Big Brother (27, 602), followed by Loose Women (8,002), Sky News (4,251), Love Island (4, 192).
The next on the list is Coronation Street, but that only has 1,098 complaints compared to Jon Snow’s 2,025.
He told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme: ‘I think they should concentrate on the decision we should make next week, not who is going to be prime minister at some future stage.’
Sir John appeared to criticise hopefuls such as Mr Johnson, Esther McVey and Dominic Raab, who last week backed Mrs May’s Brexit deal despite making dire warnings about it.
‘I find it extraordinarily odd that there are people who decided the Prime Minister’s deal was going to turn us into a vassal state and they voted against it. Once it is apparent there’s going to be a leadership election and one of them might become prime minister, the question of a vassal state disappears and they support it,’ he said. ‘I think the public will be very cynical about that.
‘I don’t know when the Prime Minister will go and nobody can be certain… but when we elect a new prime minister I think it has to be someone who can be a national leader, not a factional leader and I think that does disqualify a number of candidates.’
Sir John also said the UK will always have a centre-Right party and a centre-Left party, adding: ‘Whether that’s exactly the same Conservative Party as we have now or not, I can’t be certain – but that there will be a Conservative Party on the centre-Right of politics, but it needs to be at the centre-Right if it wishes to win, not the far-Right.’
Several senior Tories yesterday appeared to be on manoeuvres to replace Mrs May this weekend.
Liz Truss, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, called for the Conservative party to ‘remodernise’ as she set out her stall in a newspaper interview. Miss Truss, who backed Remain in the referendum and was previously in charge at the Ministry of Justice and Defra, picked out cutting taxes for businesses and stamp duty for young home buyers as key policies.
She told The Sunday Times: ‘Sometimes politics can be in danger of being managerial. The Conservative Party needs to remodernise. We need to be optimistic, aspirational. We need to participate in the battle of ideas. We haven’t been doing.’
Other Cabinet ministers tipped to join the race when the time comes include Environment Secretary Michael Gove, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt, Work and Pensions Secretary Miss Rudd, Home Secretary Sajid Javid and House of Commons leader Andrea Leadsom. Mr Johnson, Miss McVey and Mr Raab, who all quit the Cabinet in protest at Mrs May’s handling of Brexit, are also expected to go for No 10. Mr Raab, a former Brexit Secretary, yesterday attempted to outflank hostile competition by addressing allegations that he used a non-disclosure agreement, also known as a ‘gagging order’, to silence a former colleague who accused him of bullying.
He told The Sunday Times the claims were ‘completely false’, while his allies suggested they were being deployed as part of a ‘smear campaign’.
Another former Cabinet minister, Justine Greening, said she ‘might’ run for the Tory leadership. In an interview with The Sunday Times, she said the party needed a leader for the ‘2020s, not the 1920s’.
‘It’s 32 years since we had a landslide and we have to answer the question about why we have failed to connect with people and their ambitions,’ she told the paper. Miss Greening, a prominent Remain campaigner, quit as education secretary when Mrs May attempted to make her the work and pensions chief in early 2018.
Mr Blair last night told the HuffPost UK news website that Mr Johnson was a ‘formidable campaigner’ who would pose a powerful challenge to Labour.
‘If you have a Boris Johnson-led Conservative Party, he’s a formidable campaigner, he’s an interesting personality, he can get out there and do his stuff, for sure,’ he said. ‘I have absolutely no doubt if you have a Right-wing populism against a Left-wing populism in this country, the right-wing will win. So it depends where we [Labour] stand.’
Mrs May last week promised to step down if MPs passed her Brexit withdrawal agreement.
And they’re off! From hard Brexiteers to Remainers, the race for No.10
Dominic Raab 10/1
Age: 46. Former Brexit Secretary. Diehard Brexiteer.
Background: Son of a Czech-born Jewish refugee who fled the Nazis in 1938 and died of cancer when Raab was 12.
EXPERIENCE: Lasted only four months as Brexit Secretary. Voted against May in leadership confidence vote.
STRENGTH: Skilled debater who honed his skills as an adversarial lawyer with blue chip legal firm Linklaters.
WEAKNESS: Seen as too clever by half and lacking people skills.
VERDICT: In second place in ConservativeHome’s leadership league table.
Boris Johnson 4/1
Age: 54. Former Foreign Secretary. His support for Brexit was vital to Leave’s win.
Background: Known for being identified by just one name, Boris, for his show-off Classics references and for chaotic private life.
EXPERIENCE: Twice voted London mayor.
STRENGTH: Starry, charismatic and clever crowd-pleaser.
WEAKNESS: Bumbling foreign secretary. May struggle to win MPs’ support. A ‘Stop Boris’ campaign is likely.
VERDICT: Party grassroots love him and he’s top of the ConservativeHome league table by 12 points.
Matt Hancock 25/1
Age: 40. Health Secretary. Arch Remainer.
Background: Father bought their council house. Ran his own computer software business before becoming Chancellor George Osborne’s chief of staff.
EXPERIENCE: Cabinet minister for only 18 months. Seen as a ‘coming man’.
STRENGTH: One of life’s Tiggers with ambition and enthusiasm to match his brainpower.
WEAKNESS: Never knowingly modest, he once foolishly likened himself to Churchill, Pitt and Disraeli.
VERDICT: Little known among Conservative Party members.
Amber Rudd 25/1
Age: 55. Work and Pensions Secretary. Remain cheerleader.
Background: Daughter of a Labour-supporting stockbroker and Tory-leaning JP.
EXPERIENCE: Became Home Secretary after just six years as an MP. Resigned over the Windrush scandal after inadvertently misleading MPs.
STRENGTH: Tough operator who was restored to Cabinet within six months.
WEAKNESS: Holds seat with majority of only 346. Headmisstressy manner but an accomplished performer.
VERDICT: Ninth in leadership league table.
Esther McVey 33/1
Age: 51. Former Welfare Secretary. An ardent Brexiteer.
Background: Spent the first two years of her life in foster care. Was a breakfast TV presenter before becoming a Tory MP on Merseyside.
EXPERIENCE: As welfare minister was viciously targeted by Labour.
STRENGTH: Tough and telegenic. Won plaudits with members for resigning from Cabinet over Brexit deal.
WEAKNESS: Some say she doesn’t have the intellectual fire power for top job.
VERDICT: Ranked 14th in league table.
Penny Mordaunt 33/1
Age: 46. International Development Secretary. Arch Brexiteer.
Background: Her mother died when she was a teenager. Cared for younger brother. EXPERIENCE: Was a magician’s assistant. Appeared in the reality TV show Splash!
STRENGTH: Only female MP to be a Royal Naval Reservist. Attended Lady Thatcher’s funeral in uniform.
WEAKNESS: Inexperienced, having been in Cabinet for less than two years. Has never run a major Whitehall department.
VERDICT: Edged up to 11th in ConservativeHome league table.
Andrea Leadsom 16/1
Age: 55. Leader of the Commons. Ardent Brexiteer.
Background: A former City trader. Mother of three.
EXPERIENCE: Struggled in her first Cabinet post, as Environment Secretary.
STRENGTH: Blossomed as Leader of the Commons, winning plaudits for taking on Speaker John Bercow.
WEAKNESS: Stood for leader in 2016 but made ill-considered comment comparing her experience as a mother to the childless Mrs May.
VERDICT: Has soared to the top of the ConservativeHome table of competent ministers.
Michael Gove 4/1
Age: 51. Environment Secretary. High priest of Brexiteers.
Background: Adopted son of a Scottish fish merchant.
EXPERIENCE: Figurehead for Leave during referendum campaign. Cabinet heavyweight who’s served as Education Secretary and Justice Secretary.
STRENGTH: Brilliant debater with razor sharp intellect.
WEAKNESS: Still suspected of having a disloyal gene after knifing Boris Johnson in last leadership contest.
VERDICT: Popular with the Tory members, who, crucially, will vote for the new leader.
Gavin Williamson 50/1
Age: 42. Defence Secretary. Converted Remainer.
Background: From a Labour-supporting, working class family. Ran a pottery firm before becoming an MP.
EXPERIENCE: Started his rise as Mrs May’s Chief Whip. Leap-frogged experienced colleagues to land defence job.
STRENGTH: Matinee idol looks and knack for self-promotion.
WEAKNESS: Military chiefs nicknamed him Private Pike after Dad’s Army character. Suggested missiles should be fitted to tractors.
VERDICT: In 19th place in league table.
Liz Truss 50/1
Age: 43 Chief Secretary to Treasury. Brexiteer.
Background: Raised by Left-wing parents and as a child was marched through the streets on anti-Thatcher protest shouting: ‘Maggie out!’
EXPERIENCE: Joint-author in 2012 of a controversial booklet, Britannia Unchained, which alleged ‘the British are among the worst idlers in the world’.
STRENGTH: A genuine free-marketeer.
WEAKNESS: Poor public speaker with a mixed ministerial record.
VERDICT: Only 15th in ConservativeHome leaders league table.
Sajid Javid 9/1
Age: 49. Home Secretary. Remainer who changed to Brexit after the referendum.
Background: Son of a bus driver who came to Britain from Pakistan with £1 in his pocket. Was head of credit trading at Deutsche Bank.
EXPERIENCE: Previously Culture and Business secretary, cracked down on union rights.
STRENGTH: An extraordinary rags-to-riches back story that we will hear more of during the leadership campaign.
WEAKNESS: Widely seen as a wooden and a poor speaker.
VERDICT: In 4th place in ConservativeHome league table.
Jeremy Hunt 8/1
Age: 52. Foreign Secretary
Background: Eldest son of Admiral Sir Nicholas Hunt. Married to a Chinese wife and he speaks Mandarin.
Before politics, set up an educational publisher which was sold for £30million in 2017.
EXPERIENCE: Longest-serving health secretary in history.
STRENGTH: Among the most experienced ministers in the field who, unusually, has made few political enemies.
WEAKNESS: Some, though, regard him as a ‘bit of a drip’.
Verdict: Seen by many as man who could best unite party on Brexit.
The post MPs reject all FOUR alternatives for Brexit appeared first on Gyrlversion.
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ThirdLove, the direct-to-consumer lingerie startup, gets a $55M boost
Direct-to-consumer startups — making products that leverage the internet to bypass third-party marketplaces and retailers to engage with and sell directly to their customers — have been one of the biggest categories of growth in the world of e-commerce, and today one of the startups that helped create and prove the model is announcing a big round of funding to take its business to the next stage.
ThirdLove, which started with bras and now makes and sells a variety of lingerie and underwear catering to a wide variety of women’s shapes and sizes — in part through technology it initially developed that used a smartphone camera to size and suggest products — has raised $55 million in funding.
Co-CEO Heidi Zak, who co-founded the company with husband David Spector who the co-CEO (both are ex-Google execs), said in an interview that the money will be used to help ThirdLove add even more sizes beyond the 78 that are offered today (“a bra for every body” is the expression she uses); as well as grow into three new areas: retail, international markets and category expansion into areas such as swim and athletic wear.
Not all of these may be coming online in the next year, she added, but the money will go towards building strategies in all three.
This round bumps ThirdLove’s valuation up to over $750 million, according to a source. That’s a huge boost considering that the startup has only raised around $68 million since being founded in 2013. ThirdLove is already generating over $100 million in revenues annually, and some 12 million women to date have used Fit Finder, an online tool that determines the right size bra for the shopper.
As impressive as that valuation sounds, so is the list of backers in this latest cash infusion. It’s being co-led by L. Catterton, which is owned in part by the luxury goods conglomerates LVMH and Groupe Arnault; and investment bank Allen & Company. But also participating are Anne Wojcicki, the cofounder and CEO of 23andMe; her sister Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube; broadcaster Katie Couric; Nancy Peretsman, MD of Allen & Company; Tim Armstrong, former CEO of Oath and AOL (who himself is making a big move now into DTC); Jeff Keswin; Michael Zeisser, former US chairman at Alibaba; Felicis Ventures and Valor Equity. (Existing investors include Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Yuri Milner and Keith Rabois.)
“I’m a big fan of ThirdLove’s mission to build a brand for every woman, regardless of her shape, size, age, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation,” said Anne Wojcicki in a statement. “ThirdLove promotes reality over fantasy and shows the spectacular beauty of all sizes, shapes and colors of women.”
“ThirdLove is the triple threat,” added Tim Armstrong in an email to me. “They have great margins, own the entire customer relationship and the full stack of data behind it, and they’re in a low competition category serving the largest customer base of commercial people – women.” (Armstrong had been Spector’s boss at Google.)
It’s a fair question to ask how and why a bra company is attracting attention from tech investors, and why TechCrunch (or any publication) might write about it as a tech startup.
The first answer is the most generic (but possibly the most important, as it’s one that we see infusing our news coverage at TC on a daily basis). Every company today is potentially a tech company, and every industry is potentially a tech industry. That is to say, we have well passed the point where just about any business or vertical can be built with a tech approach in mind, to underpin the product itself; or to help deliver that product to the world in a way that is better than what preceded it. ThirdLove is doing both of those.
On the part of the product itself, the company has leveraged the evolution in modern garment manufacturing, with the growth of smartphone usage and online shopping, as well as developments in AI-based computer vision.
To get a bra, a woman takes a 60-second Fit Finder questionaire, which are in turn used to help formulate the best bra size for her body. “Best size”, meanwhile, has taken on a new meaning. In the past, women with non-standard proportions would have needed to buy bras from ad hoc bra makers — time consuming and expensive.
ThirdLove, however, uses big data analytics to essentially aggregate the long tail, turning a single person’s quest into one from many people, and aggregating images of all the busts to help build the design of the bras, which it executes by tapping into more precise manufacturing techniques.
This is how ThirdLove manages to both create more individualised and tailored pieces while still achieving the all-important metric of e-commerce, economies of scale.
The second way ThirdLove uses technology is for what Zak describes as “using data for market fit.” It’s a big buyer of Facebook ads that target people it thinks could become customers, and it follows through with a more complete customer experience both in terms of recommending items and creating an efficient way to browse and then buy.
“We use the data we collect from Fit Finder” — that is the measuring tool in its app — “to create a better physical product and individual sizes, and then we use the data to create a better digital product experience,” Zak said. “We do all this in a way that more traditional retailers don’t.”
Indeed, that old versus new was highlighted to great impact last year, when ThirdLove waged a publicity campaign against the much-bigger Victoria’s Secret after its CEO made a dig against the company in an interview. It so happened that the CEO also used the same interview to make some other outmoded remarks that did not go down well with investors and the public, and ultimately he ended up stepping down. ThirdLove didn’t fully cause his departure, but its star definitely rose in the wake of all the controversy.
Zak said the resulting attention, which happened in November, may have had an effect. “We’re not a gifting destination traditionally, but then we suddenly had a stronger November and December,” she said.
With the new funds and new strategy, it will be worth watching how ThirdLove develops products down the road. Currently the company only has distribution in the US, although it’s already seeing a lot of orders coming from outside the country. The plan will be build more facilities more local to different international markets to seize the opportunity with that interest.
Similarly, its move into retail should be interesting. So far, the only work that the company has done in brick-and-mortar has been in pop-up shops where the aim was not to sell merchandise but simply to spread the word. Zak and Spector said they would like to retain some of its individualised experience when and if they explore selling products in physical locations. It’s not clear how that would look, but it could potentially mean ThirdLove concessions in shops similar to what you typically see in the cosmetics department, where customers are consulted and sold items direct by people representing individual brands.
source https://techcrunch.com/2019/02/26/thirdlove-the-direct-to-consumer-lingerie-startup-gets-a-55m-boost/
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ThirdLove, the direct-to-consumer lingerie startup, gets a $55M boost, hits $750M valuation
Direct-to-consumer startups — making products that leverage the internet to bypass third-party marketplaces and retailers to engage with and sell directly to their customers — have been one of the biggest categories of growth in the world of e-commerce, and today one of the startups that helped create and prove the model is announcing a big round of funding to take its business to the next stage.
ThirdLove, which started with bras and now makes and sells a variety of lingerie and underwear catering to a wide variety of women’s shapes and sizes — in part through technology it developed that uses a smartphone camera to size and suggest products — has raised $55 million in funding.
CEO Heidi Zak, who co-founded the company with husband David Spector (both are ex-Google execs), said in an interview that the money will be used to help ThirdLove add even more sizes beyond the 78 that are offered today (“a bra for every body” is the expression she uses); as well as grow into three new areas: retail, international markets and category expansion into areas such as swim and athletic wear.
Not all of these may be coming online in the next year, she added, but the money will go towards building strategies in all three.
This round bumps ThirdLove’s valuation up to $750 million, a huge boost considering that the startup has only raised around $68 million since being founded in 2013. ThirdLove is already generating $100 million in revenues annually, Spector said, and has seen some 12 million to date use its Fit Finder, the tool in the app that measures a woman’s proportions in about a minute.
As impressive as that valuation sounds, so is the list of backers in this latest cash infusion. It’s being co-led by L. Catterton, which is owned in part by the luxury goods conglomerates LVMH and Groupe Arnault; and investment bank Allen & Company. But also participating are Anne Wojcicki, the cofounder and CEO of 23andMe; her sister Susan Wojcicki, the CEO of YouTube; broadcaster Katie Couric; Nancy Peretsman, MD of Allen & Company; Tim Armstrong, former CEO of Oath and AOL (who himself is making a big move now into DTC); Jeff Keswin; Michael Zeisser, former US chairman at Alibaba; Felicis Ventures and Valor Equity. (Existing investors include Andreessen Horowitz, NEA, Yuri Milner and Keith Rabois.)
“I’m a big fan of ThirdLove’s mission to build a brand for every woman, regardless of her shape, size, age, ethnicity, gender identity, or sexual orientation,” said Anne Wojcicki in a statement. “ThirdLove promotes reality over fantasy and shows the spectacular beauty of all sizes, shapes and colors of women.”
It’s a fair question to ask how and why a bra company is attracting attention from tech investors, and why TechCrunch (or any publication) might write about it as a tech startup.
The first answer is the most generic (but possibly the most important, as it’s one that we see infusing our news coverage at TC on a daily basis). Every company today is potentially a tech company, and every industry is potentially a tech industry. That is to say, we have well passed the point where just about any business or vertical can be built with a tech approach in mind, to underpin the product itself; or to help deliver that product to the world in a way that is better than what preceded it. ThirdLove is doing both of those.
On the part of the product itself, the company has leveraged the evolution in modern garment manufacturing, with the growth of smartphone usage and online shopping, as well as developments in AI-based computer vision.
To get a bra using the ThirdLove app, a woman takes some selfies, which are in turn used to help formulate the best bra size for her body. “Best size”, meanwhile, has taken on a new meaning. In the past, women with non-standard proportions would have needed to buy bras from ad hoc bra makers — time consuming and expensive.
ThirdLove, however, uses big data analytics to essentially aggregate the long tail, turning a single person’s quest into one from many people, and aggregating images of all the busts to help build the design of the bras, which it executes by tapping into more precise manufacturing techniques.
This is how ThirdLove manages to both create more individualised and tailored pieces while still achieving the all-important metric of e-commerce, economies of scale.
The second way ThirdLove uses technology is for what Zak describes as “using data for market fit.” It’s a big buyer of Facebook ads that target people it thinks could become customers, and it follows through with a more complete customer experience both in terms of recommending items and creating an efficient way to browse and then buy.
“We use the data we collect from Fit Finder” — that is the measuring tool in its app — “to create a better physical product and individual sizes, and then we use the data to create a better digital product experience,” Zak said. “We do all this in a way that more traditional retailers don’t.”
Indeed, that old versus new was highlighted to great impact last year, when ThirdLove waged a publicity campaign against the much-bigger Victoria’s Secret after its CEO made a dig against the company in an interview. It so happened that the CEO also used the same interview to make some other outmoded remarks that did not go down well with investors and the public, and ultimately he ended up stepping down. ThirdLove didn’t fully cause his departure, but its star definitely rose in the wake of all the controversy.
Zak said the resulting attention, which happened in November, may have had an effect. “We’re not a gifting destination traditionally, but then we suddenly had a stronger November and December,” she said.
With the new funds and new strategy, it will be worth watching how ThirdLove develops products down the road. Currently the company only has distribution in the US, although it’s already seeing a lot of orders coming from outside the country. The plan will be build more facilities more local to different international markets to seize the opportunity with that interest.
Similarly, its move into retail should be interesting. So far, the only work that the company has done in brick-and-mortar has been in pop-up shops where the aim was not to sell merchandise but simply to spread the word. Zak and Spector said they would like to retain some of its app-based individualised experience in any kind of physical retail play. It’s not clear how that would look, but it could potentially mean ThirdLove concessions in shops similar to what you typically see in the cosmetics department, where customers are consulted and sold items direct by people representing individual brands.
Via Ingrid Lunden https://techcrunch.com
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Coal Industry Casts Itself as a Clean Energy Player
If you were an environmental organization administrator, would you help coal companies lobby for a tax bill to expand government subsidies to reduce the environmental impact of coal burning, or refuse because coal is not a renewable energy source? Why? What are the ethics underlying your decision?
President Trump has questioned the science behind climate change as “a hoax” in positioning himself as a champion of coal. The three largest American coal producers are taking a different tack.
Seeking to shore up their struggling industry, the coal producers are voicing greater concern about greenhouse gas emissions. Their goal is to frame a new image for coal as a contributor, not an obstacle, to a clean-energy future — an image intended to foster their legislative agenda.
Executives of the three companies — Cloud Peak Energy, Peabody Energy and Arch Coal — are going so far as to make common cause with some of their harshest critics, including the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Clean Air Task Force. Together, they are lobbying for a tax bill to expand government subsidies to reduce the environmental impact of coal burning.
The technology they are promoting is carbon capture and sequestration — an expensive and, up to now, unwieldy method of trapping carbon dioxide emitted from coal-fired power plants before the gas can blanket the atmosphere and warm the planet.
“We can’t turn back time,” said Richard Reavey, vice president for government and public affairs at Cloud Peak Energy. “We have to accept that there are reasonable concerns about carbon dioxide and climate, and something has to be done about it. It’s a political reality, it’s a social reality, and it has to be dealt with.”
The coal executives say the steady gains of renewable energy — along with robust environmental regulations in recent years, many of which they still oppose — are not sufficient to stabilize the climate and still meet energy needs in the years to come. They reason that coal and other fossil fuels will still dominate the fuel mix for the next several decades, and that only capturing carbon from coal-fired and gas-fired power plants can meaningfully shift the world to a low-carbon future. Their argument is backed, at least in part, by many world energy experts and environmentalists.
A similar, at least partial metamorphosis has taken place in the oil and gas and utility industries in recent years with mixed results, although there has been progress in expanding the deployment of renewables like wind and solar for power and in the capture of methane in oil fields to stem a powerful greenhouse gas. The coal executives argue that given the same incentives and subsidies as renewables, carbon capture and sequestration can also take off.
Support among coal executives for capturing carbon at power plants is not entirely new, but their increasingly vocal acknowledgment of climate science in support of the technology is a far stretch from many of the views expressed in recent years.
“We need a low-carbon fossil solution,” said Deck S. Slone, senior vice president for strategy and public policy at Arch Coal. “The political landscape is always shifting and carbon concerns are certainly not going away. We think there is a solution out there in the form of technology that is an answer to the climate challenge and that quite frankly will be good for our business long term.”
Coal executives remain strongly opposed to the Obama administration’s blueprint for reducing dependence on coal for power, known as the Clean Power Plan, which is being contested in the courts. But they say that any rollback of Obama regulatory policies by the new administration may not be enough to keep utilities from switching from coal to low-cost natural gas and renewables, and that only assurances of government support for carbon capture and sequestration can give utilities certainty that coal has a long-term future and encourage them to retrofit old power plants to be cleaner burning.
Last year, total United States coal production was 18 percent lower than in 2015 and was the lowest level since 1978. Many companies were forced into bankruptcy. With gas prices rising in recent months, coal made a modest rebound at the end of last year, especially in the Powder River Basin of Montana and Wyoming, where the production economics are generally best.
Vic Svec, a Peabody senior vice president, said that his company was looking to make “a fresh start” as it comes out of bankruptcy, and that part of that fresh start was recognizing that fossil fuels “contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and concern regarding these emissions has become part of the global, societal regulatory landscape.” He added, “There is a market for low-carbon energy sources, and we want to be part of that future.”
Environmentalists say they believe that the coal industry, having dealt with a sharp downturn in recent years and facing an aggressive investor divestment movement, may be shifting its views on climate change more for its own business interests than any newfound love for the environment.
“To the extent that they are saying things that seem much more rational than in the past,” said David Hawkins, director of the climate program at the National Resources Defense Council, “they are trying to persuade skeptical investors that coal has a future.” Nevertheless, he added that his group was willing to work with the companies, even while it was suing them in court on other issues, “if they are willing to join in properly crafted legislation.”
The carbon legislation, introduced last year, would increase the federal tax credit for capture and sequestration to $50 per ton of carbon dioxide from $20. And it would expand available credits by more than a third for permanent storage for the purpose of flooding the carbon into declining oil fields to coax production. The method, already popular in West Texas and supported by the oil and gas industry, gives utilities that deploy the technology an added revenue stream.
When introduced, the measure had broad support from senators as varied as Sheldon Whitehouse, a Rhode Island liberal who is active on climate issues, and Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader from Kentucky, who is one of the strongest backers of the coal industry in Congress. Proponents are preparing to reintroduce the legislation, and coal executives say they hope the Trump administration will get on board.
Senator Heidi Heitkamp, Democrat of North Dakota, who is a leading sponsor of the legislation and a former director in a coal gasification company, said she had seen a shift in the stance of coal executives. “I see people at the table who weren’t at the table before,” she said. “As long as they see that the issue of CO2 is not going to go away, they are going to roll up their sleeves and try to find a way that works for the utility industry and the coal industry.”
One obstacle to the bill could be cost. Supporters have asked the Joint Committee on Taxation to evaluate the effect of the legislation on the federal budget but have not heard back yet.
Opponents say it would merely extend the life of the coal industry.
“For 40 years, I’ve been told clean coal is right around the corner, just give us another few subsidies,” said Dan Becker, director of the Safe Climate Campaign, an environmental group. “Carbon capture and sequestration may work someday in the distant future, but right now it barely works on a technical level. It’s way far away from working on a cost-effectiveness level.”
There are only a handful of commercial-scale operations for carbon capture and sequestration globally. But coal executives say proper permitting and legal protections, along with the tax credits, could bring a surge in construction in the United States within a decade. And as the technology improves and implementation becomes less expensive, the United States could export the technology and make coal-fired power cleaner around the world.
But developing commercial-scale carbon capture has been bedeviled by cost overruns and long delays. The operations not only are expensive to build but also require a lot of power, making plants less efficient. The federal government canceled one such project, called FutureGen, after it was granted more than $1 billion by the Obama administration.
Still, coal executives are staking much of their futures on the technology.
“We’re confident,” Mr. Svec of Peabody said, “that it needs to be a part of any serious effort toward reducing greenhouse gases from industrial sources.”
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