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uk-news-talking-politics · 4 years

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'As far as I care, you can sleep in your car': The Corona tenants

By Chaminda Jayanetti

"As far as I care, you can sleep in your car."

Maria had just discovered what it means to be a tenant in the time of corona. It was June 5th and her landlady was ordering her to move out of her lodging that very day.

Just 24 hours earlier, she had given Maria a month's notice to leave, accusing her of using too much water when she washed her hands in line with government advice, and of damaging the property.

Now all of a sudden, she was being summarily kicked out.

"I was feeling all the emotions at the same time," Maria says. "I was scared, I was anxious, I was confused, I couldn't believe what was happening. I wanted to cry."

Maria had been lodging in the house in Bristol for three years when the pandemic hit. Despite there being five other occupants, the landlady blamed her alone for the rising water bill.

"She would be literally breathing on my neck [when I washed my hands], checking on how much water I'd use. She kept watching me all the time," Maria says.

"One day she came up to me and shoved the water bill in my face. She wanted me to pay £300 extra."

On June 4th, she gave her a month to move out after accusing Maria of deliberately damaging her bedroom window - "Why would I damage my own window?" Maria asks - and the next day, she called her into the bathroom they both used and unleashed an even more bizarre accusation.

"She points at the ceiling in the bathroom. And she's like, 'oh, what is that?' I was like, 'what do you mean?' 'Oh, there's black mould on the ceiling'.

"She accused me of pouring water and bleach on the ceiling on purpose to damage the property. That's what she accused me of. Why would I do that? Like, that doesn't make any sense.

"She said I'd have to leave the house immediately, and I looked at her and I was like, 'why would I damage the bathroom on purpose?' And she's like, 'no, you have to leave now or I'm going to call the police'. And I was like, where am I going to go?'

"I go, 'you can't put me on the street in the middle of a pandemic'. And she said, 'as far as I care, you can sleep in your car'.

"And the worst thing about it is she's a nurse."

Private rented tsunami

Despite everything, in some ways Maria got lucky - she was able to stay at a friend's place for a week before finding a new long-term tenancy, though she has little hope of getting back her £420 deposit.

But the situation facing tenants is perilous. Amid a crisis exacerbated by underlying inequalities, lodgers like Maria face more inequality than most, with few legal rights or protections. But even renters with long-term tenancies face a multitude of threats.

Politics.co.uk has heard of numerous cases of rising rent arrears and illegal evictions since lockdown began. Vital repairs have been delayed, with one block of flats left without running water at a time when personal hygiene is paramount. Some landlords have even tried to put the rent up in the middle of the pandemic.

Many migrants are at particular risk due to their insecure legal status and lack of access to benefits.

"If you are undocumented or you don't have the right to be here, then obviously that makes it a bit more complicated, because the landlord, if they know that, they hold some power over you - so whether you're going to stand up to them is another matter," says Fizza Qureshi of Migrants' Rights Network.

And then there's section 21.

Section 21 is the 'no fault' eviction route. It allows landlords to kick tenants out for any reason, as long as the correct procedure is followed and three months' notice is given.

The government suspended legal evictions at the start of lockdown, first until 23rd June and then until 23rd August.

But as incomes fall and rent arrears rise, section 21 eviction notices have been piling in, ready to take effect once the evictions ban is over.

“Nobody should lose their home because of coronavirus," says Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter. "But if the government fails to act, tens of thousands of renters who’ve lost their livelihoods will soon face this terrifying prospect.

"When the evictions ban lifts on 23rd August, anyone in rent arrears could face automatic eviction from their home. This could unleash a tsunami of homelessness that councils would struggle to cope with."

Aidan Cassidy of Acorn, which campaigns for tenants' rights, says he is aware of 10-20 cases of landlords issuing section 21 notices during lockdown, just among Acorn's thousand members in Bristol.

"Due to coronavirus and the whole load of financial issues that it's caused, a lot of people have missed rent payments," says Cassidy. "Lots of landlords have unfortunately decided to act without any sort of thought for the wellbeing and health of their tenants, and have essentially evicted them or given them a section 21 notice because of these rent arrears."

One such case is an elderly self-employed handyman who can't work during the pandemic and has faced delays to his benefits, leaving him £150 in arrears on his rent.

It's a relatively small amount - but it's proved enough to trigger a section 21 notice.

"Instead of the landlord being sympathetic or reasonable, he's just said, 'no, we're not even going to talk about this, you've got three months to get out'," says Cassidy.

What makes this even worse is that he has chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a lung condition that makes it hard to breathe and places him firmly on the 'shielding' list of people at heightened risk from coronavirus.

"Obviously if he is now evicted, he's at massive risk," Cassidy explains. "There's absolutely no way he can go about his normal business looking for a new place. The lockdown might be over but the virus is very much still out there and I think any suggestion that life is back to normal for people who are very susceptible to coronavirus is just nonsense."

And evictions have a sting in the tail that increase the risk of enduring homelessness.

"If people are evicted with rent arrears under section 21, the landlord can then take whatever they can off those arrears from their deposit," says Portia Msimang of Renters' Rights London. "So people are left with no deposit with which to get another property. And this is how people fall into homelessness."

It's raining rents

Short of eviction notices, rising rent arrears are a looming crisis. With the economy likely to be hamstrung for months to come, many tenants will be financially squeezed while landlords come knocking for missed rent - one of the biggest sticks of dynamite in a bulging debt timebomb also comprising utility bills, loans and council tax.

"The biggest problem we've faced is people saying that they're worried about getting behind on the rent. And those that are getting behind on the rent aren't getting the help they need from landlords," says Caitlin Wilkinson of Generation Rent.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) calculates there were 11 percent fewer rental payments in April and May than a year before. Both the debt advice service StepChange and the Resolution Foundation think tank have estimated that just under 600,000 tenants in the private rented sector are in arrears, while Generation Rent says arrears have trebled.

The government has boosted Universal Credit, reversing years of cuts - but still not enough to cover average rents in a local area.

It has also advised tenants to negotiate rent reductions with their landlords - a laughable prospect for many tenants. Acorn branches report occasional successes, but for the most part landlords hold the whip hand in Britain's housing crisis and don't want to know. The IFS has found only one or two percent of tenants have received a rent holiday.

Biting back

What makes the situation particularly egregious is that the Tories promised to abolish section 21 evictions in their 2019 manifesto. Yet nothing has happened.

A statement from the ministry for housing in response to this article did not specifically mention a ban on section 21: "We are committed to bringing forward legislation to enhance renters' security as part of the largest changes to renting in 30 years.

"We are working with the judiciary to ensure when evictions proceedings start again, arrangements, including rules, are in place to give appropriate protections for those who have been particularly affected by coronavirus.”

Most organisations campaigning for renters' rights agree on the need to increase Universal Credit to cover average rents, and scrap section 21.

The issue of arrears is more contentious. Forcing landlords to waive rents and cancel arrears may contravene the Human Rights Act - one reason Labour dropped this approach under Keir Starmer, sparking anger from campaigners who fear Labour's new policy would leave tenants with unpayable debts.

Generation Rent's solution is to effectively extend the government furlough scheme to landlords, covering 80 percent of their monthly income up to £2,500 a month per tenant - with councils able to restrict the payment on the basis of need.

Then there are rent strikes. Heather, in Haringey, lost her work income during lockdown. After her landlady refused her request for a rent reduction, and with benefits not covering the shortfall, she got involved with the London Renters Union and simply stopped paying. She hasn't heard from her landlady for two months.

"For me it's not just a means thing," Heather says. "It started out like that, but now it feels much more like part of a movement against landlords, against this culture of people accruing lots of wealth by not actually paying anything into the system."

And this is a feature of Britain's economic response to coronavirus. Employers have taken a hit. Workers and tenants have taken a hit. But landlords, the part of the economy that produces the least value, have had the most protection of all.

The names of tenants have been changed in this article.

Chaminda Jayanetti is a freelance journalist. Follow him on Twitter here.

#coronavirus #housing

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freebooter4ever · 4 years

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Eugene’s Third Date

AU where Eugene and Merriell meet before the war. The boys have been seeing each other for a number of weeks now, sharing lunches and kisses. But Eugene is disappointed by Merriell’s lack of enthusiasm for supporting the war and going off to fight - he is jealous of the fact that Merriell has a choice over enlisting while Eugene’s choice has been made for him due to physical limitations. At first Eugene avoids Merriell for an entire day, but of course the stupid lovebirds can’t stay away from each other so that night, pining hard full of remorse, he hunts Merriell down, and discovers Merriell doesn’t have many choices either.

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After missing third and fourth period for a month, the school finally sends a letter home to his parents. Eugene learns of this when he comes home one day to find both his mother and father waiting for him in the parlor with grim expressions.

"You've been missing class?" his father asks. His father sounds doubtful, like he is ready to listen to his dutiful son explain how the school made a mistake.

Eugene wonders if the trust he built up with his parents over the years will survive this. "I went today," he says sourly. He had thought about meeting Shelton for lunch again, but Eugene's eyes were still red and puffy, and his pride still hurt. He won't go back until Shelton asks him to.

"Eugene, we are worried you are risking your future," his mother says.

"What future?" Eugene demands, "Because from where I stand, mine looks awfully constrained."

"I hope you still plan on attending college?" his father asks, always the calm one.

"Of course, father," Eugene sighs, "What else would I do?"

"Good," his father nods, "Luckily the school informed us none of your grades have dropped, so as long as you return to class and make up assignments, things will go back to normal."

The minute Eugene's father says the word 'normal', Eugene realizes what life has been missing lately. Nothing has felt 'normal' for a long time - not since meeting Shelton - not even since a year ago when Mobile started filling with impoverished migrant workers answering the demands of the war effort. He doesn't know how to put any of this into words. And he definitely doesn't know how to make his father understand his need to do something beyond sitting by and watching from a safe distance.

His mother notices his silence. She's the observant one in the family. Eugene's father will take his son's word at face value, but his mother always knows. "Where have you been disappearing to all day if not at school?" she asks.

"The docks…" Eugene answers, "And I've only been missing lunch and a few minutes of each class. They're light subjects, nothing important like math or literature."

"Why are you going to the docks?" his mother clutches her necklace, "Eugene, it's become downright dangerous there nowadays…"

"I've been perfectly safe, mother," Eugene says impatiently, "I've been drawing the ships before they are sent overseas. Been watching their construction." And locking lips with Merriell Shelton who makes Eugene feel like he doesn't even need normal because he's already lost his mind to him.

"I hardly think drawing ships is a worthwhile expenditure of your time…" his mother begins.

Eugene doesn't listen to the rest of her sentence. He tosses his books on the hall table, sets his lunchbox down next to it, and walks right out the door.

"Where are you going?" his mother insists.

"Out," he says sharply.

He collects his bike from where he last left it and turns in the direction of town. The sun is setting by the time he reaches the docks. Shelton is nowhere to be seen. He cycles several laps around the area until he finds someone working late who recognizes Merriell's name.

"Sent him home early," the man says, "Doubt he went there though. He got so distracted during the second half of the day he almost cut a finger off. Dumb kid, I couldn't have him hurt himself. Told him to sleep it off, whatever it is. Hope he took my advice but if I had to guess...I'd bet he's at the gambling tables again."

The man points Eugene in the direction of a bar.

Eugene parks his bike outside the place, and is very grateful he had the foresight to bring a lock. It's not a nice building and not in a nice area. There are no windows, only a single door built into the wood siding. It looks like an early pioneer building, or the kind of house a child might draw. And it leans, just a little, to the side.

The minute he steps inside he wants to turn around. He doesn't belong here, not in the way the grizzled looking older men hanging around the bar do. They eye him like he's a creature in the zoo. He tries not to stare back. This is the kind of place where a person has to earn their welcome.

Somehow, deep in the reserves of his stubborn personality, he shoves all his feelings of inadequacy aside in order to ask after Merriell Shelton. He fakes confidence, but he feels a fool.

The bartender nods in recognition and directs him towards a walled-in circular staircase at the front of the dark room. Eugene tries to act as casual as possible when he starts to climb to the second floor.

He hears Merriell's voice before he sees him.

He stops himself just as he hits the top of the staircase. At this level he can peer into the room without being seen himself, and he decides he needs to assess the situation before stumbling into it.

Eugene lifts his head ever so slowly and Merriell comes into view.

Merriell is laughing, his smile is wide. He's seated at a table with six other guys, all of whom are significantly older than him. And whatever card game they're playing, Merriell seems to be winning. If the large stack on the table cradled possessively just inside his elbow is anything to go by.

Merriell is beautiful. He plays cards with a confidence that can't be faked. And underneath the smiles and jolly banter, Eugene sees keen shrewdness in Shelton's eyes. The boy is calculating every move he takes in the game, while making it seem effortless.

Suddenly someone jostles into Eugene on the stairs. The man had been coming up with a full beer in hand. The beer spills down Eugene's shoulder, and the man complains, making a scene. Eugene tries to flatten himself against the stair wall and turn invisible.

But any attempts to hide are useless, the game is up, the minute Eugene dares to peek at Merriell's table again his gaze is met by pale ocean eyes staring directly at him. Eugene stays frozen in the stairwell, watching, unsure what his next move should be.

Merriell drains his beer, and says something to the men around him that makes them all groan with disappointment. Merriell stands and starts folding his large stack.

"You'll have plenty opportunity to win it back," he tells the table good naturedly as he weaves across the floor to the staircase. He's still smiling but that disappears by the time he reaches Eugene. Partially because Merriell trips over his own two feet and goes sprawling to the floor. He picks himself up pretty neatly - nearly gracefully, but he's still unsteady on his feet as he continues on.

Merriell takes the stairs two at a time till he and Eugene are on the same level. He collides into the wall in order to stop his downward momentum, and stares blankly at Eugene for what feels like a full minute.

"You weren't at the docks," Merriell comments with a slight shrug and a sway.

"I know," Eugene responds, "I'm sorry."

Merriell steps close and presses his lips against Eugene's so quick Eugene barely feels it. Eugene catches his elbow, shoves him away, and tries to keep him at a distance. They're hidden from view by the staircase but someone could go up or down at any time.

"Let's go someplace to talk," Eugene says low in Merriell's ear. He keeps his hand on Merriell's wrist, light enough to be a suggestion rather than a demand.

Merriell laughs and staggers backward. He lifts his chin and says, "Ain't going nowhere. Can't walk, can't drive," as if he is proud of the fact. As if determined to prove his own words wrong, Merriell walks down the rest of the stairs backwards and it's only a small miracle that he doesn't trip.

Eugene almost trips himself in his haste to keep pace with Shelton. At the base of the stairs he loops one of Merriell's arms over his own shoulder and supports him around his waist. The very second Eugene's arm tightens protectively around his hips, Merriell's body goes limp like a marionette with its strings cut. It forces all of Merriell's weight onto Eugene and for such a skinny guy he's as heavy and slippery as a giant catfish.

Eugene barely remembers to thank the bartender as the two of them stumble out the door. The night is unusually quiet, and the street they are on is even quieter, which is the only excuse Eugene can think of for why Merriell throws caution to the wind and throws both arms around Eugene's neck. Mer drags him into a sloppy, searing kiss while simultaneously flopping against him like he's trying to get his leg up around Eugene's hip.

Rather a lot like how Eugene imagines kissing a giant floppy catfish might be.

He pries Merriell's hands off his body and, having had enough, scoops him up bridal style. Merriell offers little resistance to this and instead seems to enjoy it immensely.

"How drunk are you?" Eugene asks, not actually expecting an answer.

"Shamefully so," Merriell croons into Eugene's ear while putting heavy emphasis on the word 'shame'.

"Are you even old enough to drink legally?" Eugene asks. He tries to ignore the jolt of arousal he feels at hearing Merriell's voice so full of mischief and so close to his ear.

"Eighteen," Merriell says, "Old enough to die." He pantomimes a salute.

Eugene sighs, "Where did you park?"

"Don't remember," is exactly the answer Eugene is expecting.

They manage to make it to an alley near Eugene's bike. He gently lowers Merriell to the ground where Merriell sits up against the wall.

Eugene pokes and prods Merriell's limbs about trying to find his car keys. Merriell gets giggly and twitchy. Apparently he's ticklish.

Luckily he's also responsible enough to not have lost his keys and Eugene finds them in his pants.

"Wrong pocket," Merriell drawls. Merriell's hands find the button on his own trousers and he starts to undo them.

Eugene hastily stops him, "Mer. Please. Slow down."

And surprisingly, Merriell listens. "I'm sorry," he says, staring at Eugene with remorse.

Eugene sits heavily on the ground beside Merriell's legs, facing him. Merriell leans forward and slumps his forehead against Eugene's shoulder. Eugene gives in. He scoots closer and cradles his arms around Merriell's body in a hug.

"Gene," Merriell breathes, sounding completely content with the world.

"Where's Mairzy?" Eugene asks quietly.

"Old lady," Merriell answers, "Better parent than me. Better home than me."

"As long as she's safe," Eugene says and tightens his hold around Merriell.

Merriell nods.

And then goes quiet, except for his breathing. And Eugene realizes he's sleeping. His idle daydream of rocking Merriell in his arms all night is coming true. Just not exactly in the way he expected. It surprises him to discover he's not disappointed one bit.

"God, I might be falling in love with you," Eugene despairs.

Merriell says nothing. He's fast asleep. He doesn't even snore.

When he does start to stir it's near dawn. The sky is lighter, and Eugene feels drawn and haggard. Merriell lifts his head. He meets Eugene's eyes. And looks very confused.

Eugene chuckles. He leans his forehead against Merriell's and smiles tiredly. "You forgot where you parked," he informs him.

Merriell starts laughing, "Didn't drive to work. Took the bus. Knew it would be a hard night after you didn't..." He trails off.

At first Eugene is irritated. Blinding, sharp irritation. But after seeing Merriell's soppy smile, Eugene laughs along. Together they wobble to their feet, limbs and extremities sore from sitting on cobblestone for a few long hours. Eugene unlocks his bike. And they start to walk. Merriell leads the way. Most of their time is spent in silence.

When they reach the park and are coming up on the boarding house, Merriell leans his head back and says to the sky, "Didn't think I'd ever see you again." And then rolls his neck to glance cautiously back at Eugene.

"Don't be dramatic," Eugene says.

"You stormed off in a huff, I think I'm allowed a little dramatics," Merriell argues. Eugene can hear the damn smirk on his face even though he's walking behind him.

"I shouldn't have left," Eugene answers, "Not without finishing the conversation."

"What else did you want to say?"

"Well, I thought about it," Eugene starts. He takes a deep breath, "I've decided I'm going to convince you to enlist."

Merriell snorts and turns back to Eugene in amusement. "Yeah?" he asks. His eyes linger over Eugene's form, "You that good with your mouth?"

Eugene stops short. He glances down at Merriell's crotch, and then back at his face. "Would that work? To convince you, I mean."

Merriell laughs and continues walking. "I ain't fighting for Uncle Sam," he says.

"Why not?" Eugene asks.

"You see anybody around here to take care of Mairzy if I go?" Merriell extends his arms wide.

"The old woman…"

"Is someone I rely on too much already," Merriell says.

"Your parents?" Eugene asks.

Merriel stops and pivots to face him, "You really think, if my parents were alive, I'd have brought my nine year old sister out here to live in a shitty migrant hut? When if I came alone I could've rented the night shift in a boarding room and saved a third of my pay?"

"You have no living relatives?" he asks.

Merriell shakes his head, "I'm all she has."

"All right," Eugene sighs. He takes Merriell's hand in his and places the truck keys in his palm. "Go collect your truck. Put my bike in the back for me. I'm going to go tell the generous elderly lady you're ill and will be in bed for the day."

"Why do I need my truck if I'm gonna be in bed?" Merriell asks.

"Cause it's my bed you'll be in," Eugene replies glibly. He's already halfway across the street heading towards the old woman's house, so he doesn't see Merriell's reaction. There's no parting comment thrown Eugene's way, though. For once Merriell doesn't insist on having the last word. So perhaps Eugene won this round.

The little old lady who answers the door looks terribly exhausted with worry. She is happy to hear Merriell is being looked after, and avidly agrees that Mairzy should be kept away for a short time so Merriell can heal up. She informs Eugene she already knows where Mairzy's school is, and has all her things, so he is not to worry his head about it.

After that, all that's left is sneaking Shelton into his parents home.

Eugene drives. Merriell lies down with his head on Eugene's lap and groans every time they go over the slightest bump. Luckily the sun isn't even up yet so the streets remain empty. Getting Merriell into his house is easy. Leaving the truck on the side of the driveway is a bit too obvious, but Eugene's parents are good at not noticing things they don't want to see, so he doesn't worry about it.

Eugene quietly leads Merriell to his room and turns on the light. He points Merriell to the bed, and pulls a set of pajamas out of his drawers. Merriell takes it without a word.

"I'll be right back," Eugene whispers. He kisses Merriell quickly to reassure him.

He goes to find Rose, who is already awake and baking bread for the day. He grabs a bowl of biscuits, gives Rose a kiss on the cheek, and asks if she would bring food up to his room for lunch today. She pats him on the shoulder and agrees, and if she suspects it won't be Eugene in his room eating the food, she shows no sign.

When Eugene does return to his room the lights are out, the curtains drawn, and everything is silent. Eugene sits on the bed next to the lump of covers he assumes is Merriell.

"Mer?" he whispers.

A bony wrist reaches out and takes Eugene's hand. Eugene smiles and follows the trajectory of the arm to find an opening in the blankets where he eventually uncovers a boy with big eyes and an even bigger mess of curls. He leans down to kiss him.

"I'm going to school," Eugene says.

Merriell starts to try to get up, "I thought you'd stay?"

Eugene shakes his head and weighs him down. "You stay. Sleep. Please stick to the room as much as possible. Rose will bring you food."

Merriell flops back onto the pillows and closes his eyes, "Too much shame for me to be seen?" When Merriell's brain latches onto a topic it does not let go.

"Pretty sure my parents would kick out anyone they found in my bed, no matter who, shame or no shame," Eugene grins.

"Fair enough," Merriell agrees. He rolls over, drags the covers with him, and for all appearances goes to sleep.

At breakfast Eugene's parents are unusually quiet. Perhaps they saw the truck.

"Eugene, we talked it over," his mother starts, "And if your teacher agrees, we think you can do an apprenticeship down at the docks in place of fourth period woodshop."

"You'll get a lot more worldly experience and industrial woodworking knowledge there than at school, that's for certain," his father adds.

"Third period art class would also have to be waived, obviously," his mother concludes.

"That's perfect," Eugene perks up, "Yes. I'd like that."

"Good," his mother smiles with relief.

The rest of the day goes by like normal. He shows his art teacher the sketches in his journal of the docks, and they both agree that Eugene will come into class once a week to receive guidance but otherwise will be under self study. The teacher lingers on the one sketch of Shelton that Eugene liked enough to not destroy. He looks at Eugene curiously. But he closes the journal, hands it back, and says nothing.

The wood shop teacher is less amenable and instead grumps about Eugene being useless at carpentry anyway. Eugene resolves to convince Merriell to do all of his wood shop work from then on in order to ace the class and make the teacher eat his words.

When he returns home his bedroom door is safely closed and inside there is a tray full of empty dirty dishes, signifying the lump on the bed moved at least once. Eugene smiles and sits next to it again.

This time Merriell is awake because he shoves the covers off his face and looks at Eugene.

"I don't think I've spent a whole day in bed since I was five," Merriell confesses.

"Not even when you're sick?" Eugene asks.

"I don't get sick."

"You looked ill last night."

"Just drunk." He sits up to better face Eugene. His expression is apologetic. Maybe a little bit guilty.

Eugene leans in to reassure him, places a hand on Merriell's hip, and notices the rough fabric.

"You slept in your work clothes?" he asks in disbelief, "In my bed?"

"No one took me out of 'em," Merriell whines. He slithers back down underneath the covers and grins at Eugene from a safe distance.

"I gave you pajamas," Eugene protests. He kicks off his own shoes and crawls onto the bed.

"Never said what to do with them," Merriell argues.

"These can't be comfortable," Eugene flicks at the metal hooks on Merriell's overalls.

"I did succeed in one act of personal hygiene," Merriell says, as if the bare minimum is all that can be expected from him, "Used your toothbrush."

"Well," Eugene says, feigning exasperation, "Thank god for small mercies."

Merriell smiles and bites his lip. His hips shift underneath the covers, and Eugene playfully leans on top of him to stop his wiggling.

"You up for dinner with my parents tonight?" Eugene asks, "I was thinking you could take the truck, pick up Mairzy, then come back at seven when my father's home."

Merriell nods, eyes wide.

"Good," Eugene says. He settles more comfortably on top of Shelton's chest and pillows his head in his arms while still keeping an eye on the boy underneath him. Eugene can feel every breath Merriell takes, even through the thick layer of quilts between them.

"I'm sorry," Eugene says quietly.

"Why are you apologizing?" Merriell asks. He scowls and shifts uncomfortably.

"I'm sorry for assuming your life is like mine," Eugene says. It was the thought that had been bouncing around in his head all day, and the thing that made him realize neither of their choices about the war were formed in a vacuum.

Merriell's expression switches over to surprise. He frowns a little. And then tentatively wriggles an arm out from underneath the blankets and combs his fingers through Eugene's hair.

"I guess I'm sorry too then," he says, still frowning about it, "For acting like an ass and going out to get piss drunk the first minute you break my heart."

"I didn't break your heart," Eugene scoffs.

"You walked away from me…"

"Never said I wasn't coming back."

Merriell laughs.

"Besides, I took your stand-in with me when I turned away," Eugene props himself up on his elbows and reaches over Shelton's shoulder to grab the stuffed teddy bear, "I had him to keep me company." He uses the bear for a pillow, and it's very comfortable until he notices something. "Why does my teddy smell like you?"

Shelton looks guilty.

"Were you hugging my teddy bear all day?" Eugene demands to know.

"You left me here all alone…"

"Well, now I'm jealous," Eugene says with movk seriousness. He discards the bear (safely against the corner of the wall where it can't fall off the bed) and drags the quilts down till he frees both of Merriell's arms. "You dirty my bed with greasy overalls, ignore me when I get home, deny me kisses, and I find out you've been cuddling my teddy bear," Eugene accuses.

"Ain't denying no one kisses," Merriell protests.

Eugene crawls over him till their faces are level. "Yeah?" he asks.

"Try me," Merriell says, tilting his head stubbornly.

So Eugene does.

Holding Merriell in bed is infinitely better than holding a stuffed animal. For one thing, Merriell moves in response to every one of Eugene's touches. And he kisses back with equal desperation. The only downside is - he makes noise.

"Shhh!" Eugene covers Merriell's mouth with his hand, "If we get caught…"

Merriell sucks in his lips and then licks Eugene's palm. Merriell's mouth is wet, and warm, and plush. And his tongue slides across Eugene's skin like velvet. The feeling sends tingles through Eugene's body so intense it startles him and he pulls away.

"Gross!" Eugene retracts his hand hastily and wipes the spit off on Merriell's shirt sleeve.

"If that grosses you out, I don't know what to tell you about what comes next…" Merriell teases, a big grin on his face.

"Just stop talking," Eugene prompts, "Please!" He seals his lips to Merriell's - seemingly the only thing capable of keeping the other boy quiet.

He notices Merriell slows down after that. Merriell still kisses Eugene passionately, but he stops pulling at Eugene's clothes, and doesn't grab at Eugene's body so demandingly. It's up to Eugene to pull his own shirt over his head and toss it into the depths of his room.

Merriell stops him with a hand to his chest before Eugene can lean down to resume the kissing.

Eugene sits on the bed, somewhere on top of Merriell's legs under the quilts.

Merriell's hand trails over Eugene's bare chest and down his arm.

"Wow," Merriell says reverently.

Eugene huffs a laugh, "Don't see what all the fuss is." he looks down at his own chest.

"I'd marry you," Merriell declares, "Just like that. If I could see this."

"Don't think they'd let me into the church to get married without a shirt," Eugene says, wry.

"Don't think they'd let me in any church period," Merriell retorts.

"Then shut up about marriage and let me kiss you again," Eugene complains with a smile.

"What, I can't take a minute to admire you?" Merriell grins. His hand moves from Eugene's arm down to his belly and then to his hip.

"Not if you're gonna be this loud about it," Eugene says. He gets an idea and looks around his room for the old radio he used as a kid. He briefly gets up from the bed - Merriell whines - and grabs the radio to bring it closer. Eugene flicks it on and fiddles with the dial until he finds music loud enough to hide the noises Shelton won't stop making.

"What you gonna do now, Sledge?" Merriell taunts, "Under the cover of ambiance?"

"Admire you," Eugene answers as he rejoins Merriell in bed and straddles his waist. Eugene snaps the hooks off Shelton's overalls and lets the flap drop down. He gets his hands under the hem of Shelton's thin undershirt and pushes it up till he can feel the bare skin of his stomach. He follows the trail of hair below Merriell's stomach with his thumb, drawing it up from the waistband of his underwear to his belly button. And from there the next obvious destination is to explore Merriell's chest.

Eugene cups a hand around Merriell's pec and swipes his thumb across his nipple.

"Gene…" Merriell sighs. He closes his eyes and stretches on the bed like a cat.

Eugene leans down and kisses him, keeping one hand on his chest. The deeper the kiss gets, the farther Eugene leans in, until the quilts get squashed to the end of the bed and Merriell's legs become entwined with his, and Eugene's chest is flush against Merriell's. Eugene rolls his hips into Merriell and it relieves some of the tension twisted up through his body. Merriell wraps his arms around Eugene's neck and encourages him.

Eugene rocks into Merriell again, falls into a rhythm with him, and then starts to pick up the pace.

He's lost in their movement together until it feels so fucking good Eugene almost feels dizzy, and he realizes in his haste he keeps forgetting to breathe.

Eugene pauses for a minute to take a gasping breath. He loses his concentration and the music playing in the background filters into his thoughts - 'If it's a crime then I'm guilty, guilty of dreaming of you' Al Bowlly croons.

Eugene freezes, sudden pressure crashing down over his shoulders and deadening all sensation.

"Eugene?" Merriell whispers.

Eugene can't seem to catch his breath. He presses himself in as tight as he can get next to Merriell, and wraps legs and arms around the other boy's body. And then holds on for dear life.

"Gene…?" Merriell sounds concerned.

"Heart might be murmuring again," Eugene warns him in a scared whisper.

Merriell gently rolls them over so they are lying next to each other and he can put his hand to Eugene's cheek. "Okay, Gene…" Merriell says calmly though his voice is nervous, "It's gonna be okay...don't think about that just...just hold me," Merriell cradles him loosely, "Quiet your mind."

"Feeling too much for you," Eugene whispers.

Merriell pulls away and meets Eugene's eyes. He swallows thickly. And drags Eugene into a tight embrace. Merriell's arms wrap around Eugene's shoulders. He presses his face into Eugene's hair. And takes a shuddering breath.

Eugene runs his hands down Merriell's back and then returns the embrace. His arms against Merriell's skin

"I don't know how I ever lived without you," Eugene confesses.

"Probably lived a good deal more responsibly back then," Merriell jokes, "No missed classes."

"But none of this," Eugene replies with honest need.

Merriell has no counter arguement for that.

They lie together listening to the radio as Eugene's heart calms down. Slowly the one song ends and another begins. Eugene doesn't recognize the tune, but Merriell does. He starts singing along while brushing Eugene's hair with his hands.

"Here we are out of cigarettes - Holding hands and yawning," Merriell sings, quiet and low, "Look how late it gets. Two sleepy people by dawn's early light, and too much in love to say goodnight."

Eugene likes Merriell's voice. It does soothe him as Merriell intended. Unfortunately it soothes him a little too much. Eugene isn't sure who falls asleep first but he's the one to wake when he hears a knock on his bedroom door. The song previously playing is long over and Merriell's hand lies next to Eugene's head instead of in his hair. Merriell himself is sleeping peacefully.

"Eugene," his mother calls through the door, "Supper in an hour."

"Thank you, mother," Eugene replies. He shakes Merriell awake and cups a hand over his mouth to keep him quiet. Merriell nods in understanding, his eyes wide and unblinking.

As soon as Eugene stops hearing his mother's footsteps in the hall he stumbles out of bed and opens the window.

Merriell follows close on Eugene's heels. He barely makes it out the window with his clothes still on. The bib of his overalls flaps wildly as he sneaks around the bushes and runs to his truck. He keeps one hand gripped tight on the hip of his jeans or else the whole thing would fall off entirely.

Eugene watches him go with amusement. When Shelton makes it to the truck and climbs into the cab, the boy throws one final grin in Eugene's direction before starting the engine and backing off down the driveway.

Once Merriell is safe, Eugene leaves his room to find his mother and do damage control.

"Who was coming up the drive?" his mother asks him when he finds her in the dining room.

"That was my friend, Merriell Shelton," Eugene replies, "He's the one who works down at the docks for the war effort. He stopped by to ask why he didn't see me today. I invited him for dinner tonight, is that okay?"

"Of course!" his mother agrees, ever eager for guests.

"He's gone home to get cleaned up, but he'll be back soon," Eugene says, "And he's bringing his little sister."

"I'll arrange everything," his mother nods, "You go get ready, and make sure to use a comb, your hair looks like it's been slept on."

Eugene runs a hand over his hair, and sure enough it's tangled and clumped together in tufts from where Merriell had been playing with it. He smiles involuntarily at the memory. "I did take a nap earlier," he explains truthfully.

He smiles at Merriell too, when the Shelton siblings arrive on Eugene's doorstep at precisely seven. Both Merriell and Mairzy are pristine, with neatly pressed clothes, twin new bows in Mairzy's hair, and shiny clean shoes on Merriell's feet.

"We wore our Sunday best," Merriell whispers when Eugene pulls him into a quick hug before anyone else sees.

"Good evening!" Eugene's mother announces, bustling to the door from the dining room. Her step falters when she sees Mairzy's curly hair, and she sends a startled glance Eugene's way.

"Mother, you've met Merriell Shelton of course. After he helped out with the mailbox I destroyed," Eugene says and claps his arm around Shelton's shoulder casually, "This is his sister, Mairzy."

"Pleased to meet you ma'am," Mairzy attempts a curtsey.

Eugene's mother beams and disguises all traces of hesitation in her face. "How wonderful!" she exclaims, "Come in, come in." His mother leads Mairzy inside and Eugene can hear her asking if Mairzy likes pecan pie.

Her voice fades into the distance, which leaves Shelton and Eugene standing alone on the porch in silence.

"Sorry about her," Eugene says quietly, "My mother's social circle is narrow."

Merriell shrugs. He steps close, slides his hand into Eugene's pants pocket, and uses it to pull Eugene closer. He looks deep into Eugene's eyes and smirks. This close Eugene can smell some kind of cologne on him. And whatever gel Merriell used to slick his hair back so neatly.

But underneath all that is something else, more familiar; a smell Eugene recognizes as that of his own room.

"Missed you, cher," Merriell murmurs and plants a sensual kiss on Eugene's lips before letting him go and following his sister into the house.

Eugene breathes out the tension he hadn't even realized he was holding. He takes a minute to school his emotions. And when he's confident he won't fall all over himself trying to swoon into Shelton's arms every time Merriell looks at him, Eugene finally decides to join the party. He also comes up with a proper counter argument to Shelton's parting comment.

"You've only been gone five minutes," Eugene mutters - to himself since Shelton's long out of hearing range - and closes the door.

Edit: I always forget to add the tags, i get so nervous about posting, im sorry! @xmxisxforxmaybe @diasimar

#sledgefu #bad germs

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newstfionline · 3 years

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Friday, February 19, 2021

NASA rover lands on Mars to look for signs of ancient life (AP) A NASA rover streaked through the orange Martian sky and landed on the planet Thursday, accomplishing the riskiest step yet in an epic quest to bring back rocks that could answer whether life ever existed on Mars. Ground controllers at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, leaped to their feet, thrust their arms in the air and cheered in both triumph and relief on receiving confirmation that the six-wheeled Perseverance had touched down on the red planet, long a deathtrap for incoming spacecraft. The landing marks the third visit to Mars in just over a week. Two spacecraft from the United Arab Emirates and China swung into orbit around Mars on successive days last week. All three missions lifted off in July to take advantage of the close alignment of Earth and Mars, journeying some 300 million miles in nearly seven months. Perseverance, the biggest, most advanced rover ever sent by NASA, became the ninth spacecraft since the 1970s to successfully land on Mars. Over the next two years, Percy, as it is nicknamed, will use its 7-foot (2-meter) arm to drill down and collect rock samples containing possible signs of bygone microscopic life. Three to four dozen chalk-size samples will be sealed in tubes and set aside to be retrieved eventually by another rover and brought homeward by another rocket ship.

Share of U.S. workers holding multiple jobs is rising, new Census report shows (Reuters) The share of Americans working more than one job to make ends meet has been growing over the past two decades, and the pay from second jobs make up a substantial share of workers’ earnings, according to a paper published by the U.S. Commerce Department on Wednesday. An estimated 7.8% of U.S. workers had more than one job as of the first quarter of 2018, up from 6.8% in 1996, according to new data unveiled by the Census bureau. The earnings from the workers’ second jobs make up an average 28% of their total earnings, showing that workers are likely relying on that pay, researchers said. In general, women were more likely to have multiple jobs than men, with 9.1% of women holding multiple jobs as of 2018, compared with 6.6% of men.

Desperate for Light and Warmth (NYT) Halfway through the week that Texas froze over, everything seemed to be in a state of frigid chaos. Some homes had no water at all while others watched it gush from burst pipes into their hallways and living rooms. On Wednesday more than 2.5 million people were still without power [now down to 330,000], while at least twice as many were being told to boil their water. In Houston, Catherine Saenz and her family, like most of their neighbors, have had no power or water for days, as the city remains in the grip of the fiercest winter in memory. But they are fortunate: They have a fireplace. Even fireplaces have to be fed, though, and to keep the two parents, two daughters and two grandmothers from freezing, her husband has spent hours in the afternoon scouring the neighborhood for fallen trees and rotten wood. “I never imagined that we would be in this situation,” said Ms. Saenz, who grew up in Colombia but has lived in Houston through Hurricanes Ike and Harvey. “No one is prepared, it is dangerous and we are very vulnerable.”

A silent killer inside: Carbon monoxide (Washington Post) With no electricity in their home for hours, the Houston family tried to fight off the freezing cold by running their car in the attached garage, authorities say. When Houston police officers entered the property to conduct a welfare check, they found the two adults and two children, police said in a statement Tuesday morning. The woman and girl did not survive, and the man and boy were taken to a hospital. The deaths are among a rising number of reports of people being poisoned by carbon monoxide as Texans face a deadly winter storm that has brought record-low temperatures and demands for electricity that overwhelmed the state’s grid, leaving more than 3.2 million people in the dark and with no heat for more than 24 hours. As more reports of poisoning emerged Tuesday, government officials sounded the alarm. “SPREAD THE WORD: The number of people being admitted to local hospitals for carbon monoxide is rising at a disturbing rate. Do not bring any outdoor appliances (grills, etc.) inside, or run your car inside the garage,” Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo wrote on Twitter.

Word of flight to Cancun from frozen Texas lands Senator Ted Cruz in hot water (Reuters) U.S. Senator Ted Cruz faced widespread criticism on social media on Thursday after images went viral online that a journalist said showed him flying to a resort in Cancun while his home state of Texas struggled through a deadly deep freeze. Photos circulating on social media appeared to show the Texas Republican in airport line, in a passenger lounge and aboard an airliner. “Just confirmed @SenTedCruz and his family flew to Cancun tonight for a few days at a resort they’ve visited before. Cruz seems to believe there isn’t much for him to do in Texas for the millions of fellow Texans who remain without electricity/water and are literally freezing.” former MSNBC anchor David Shuster tweeted shortly after midnight.

Rare Earths (Financial Times) It takes 417 kilograms of rare earth minerals—more difficult-to-obtain bits of the periodic table that have uses in elaborate semiconductors and instrumentation—to build one F-35 fighter jet, a critical set of components that are about to be much harder to find. China is considering an export ban on rare earth minerals, and given that they control about 80 percent of the global supply, that would put Lockheed Martin, which makes the aircraft, in a bit of a pinch. As it stands now, even ore mined in the United States has to be sent to China for refining.

Migrants on the move again in Mexico and Central America (AP) In the first Mexican shelter reached by migrants after trekking through the Guatemalan jungle, some 150 migrants are sleeping in its dormitories and another 150 lie on thin mattresses spread across the floor of its chapel. Only six weeks into the year, the shelter known as “The 72” has hosted nearly 1,500 migrants, compared to 3,000 all of last year. It has halved its dormitory space due to the pandemic. That wasn’t a problem last year because few migrants arrived, but this year it’s been overwhelmed. Latin America’s migrants are on the move again. After a year of pandemic-induced paralysis, those in daily contact with migrants believe the flow north could return to the high levels seen in late 2018 and early 2019. The difference is that it would happen during a pandemic. The protective health measures imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19, including drastically reduced bedspace at shelters along the route, mean fewer safe spaces for migrants in transit.

Weary of COVID restrictions, Finns take up running in deep snow in socks (Reuters) Finns keen to avoid gyms and other indoor sports venues this winter because of the coronavirus pandemic have found a new way to keep fit—running in the snow wearing no training shoes, just thick woollen socks. Finland has seen particularly heavy snowfall this winter and running outside in just socks provides great exercise as well as a sense of freedom, said Pekka Parviainen, a helicopter pilot and an avid barefoot runner. “This is traditional Finnish crazy stuff, I think we all agree,” said Parviainen. In Finland, where taking a sauna in winter and then running through snow to jump into an ice-cold lake is a traditional pastime, barefoot running has become popular in the past few years during the warmer months. Running in socks through heavy snow, now about half a metre deep in many places, takes this to the next level. Parviainen recommends wearing at least two, preferably three, pairs of woollen socks to get the most out of the run.

Two journalists jailed for two years in Belarus for filming protests (Reuters) A Belarusian court sentenced two Belarusian journalists from Poland-based TV news channel Belsat who filmed protests against President Alexander Lukashenko to two years in prison on Thursday. Katsiaryna Andreyeva, 27, and Darya Chultsova, 23, were detained in an apartment in November from where they had been filming protests taking place over the death of a protester who was killed several days earlier. Both women pleaded not guilty after being accused of orchestrating the demonstrations by filming them. Neighbouring Lithuania urged Minsk to end a “spiral of repression” while Poland said Belarus should end its persecution of journalists. More than 33,000 people have been detained in a violent crackdown on protests against Lukashenko’s rule following a contested election last August that his opponents say was rigged to extend his rule. He has been in office since 1994.

Protesters out again in Myanmar, police use water cannon in capital (Reuters) Protesters were out again across Myanmar on Thursday to denounce the Feb. 1 coup and arrest of elected leader Aung San Suu Kyi, with police resorting to force to disperse crowds, using water cannon in the capital and catapults in a northern town. The daily protests and strikes that have paralysed many government offices show no sign of easing despite a junta promise of a new election and appeals for civil servants to return to work and threats of action if they do not.

Facebook blocks news access in Australia (AP) In a shocking act of retaliation Thursday, Facebook blocked Australians from sharing news, a milestone in the increasingly frantic jockeying between governments, media and powerful tech companies. Australia’s government condemned the decision, which also blocked some government communications, including messages about emergency services, and some commercial pages. The digital platforms fear that what’s happening in Australia will become an expensive precedent for other countries. Facebook took the drastic action after the House of Representatives passed legislation that would make Facebook and Google pay for Australian journalism, said Treasurer Josh Frydenberg. Facebook said the proposed Australian law “fundamentally misunderstands the relationship between our platform and publishers who use it.” Both Google and Facebook have threatened retaliation if Australia enacts the law, which the government contends will ensure media businesses receive fair payment for their journalism being linked on those platforms.

Jerusalem’s Old City turns white after rare snowfall (Reuters) Jerusalem woke up to the rare experience of seeing its holy sites covered in snow on Thursday, with the Dome of the Rock and the Western Wall under a layer of white after an overnight snowstorm. Before dawn children were up hurling snowballs at each other outside the Old City gates, as the faithful trudged to sites holy to Judaism, Islam and Christianity. The snowstorm began on Wednesday evening, leading the authorities to shut down public transportation and block the main road to Jerusalem.

After delay, Israel allows vaccines into Hamas-run Gaza (AP) Israel allowed the Palestinian Authority to deliver the first coronavirus vaccines to the Gaza Strip on Wednesday despite objections from Israeli lawmakers who suggested they be used as a bargaining chip for the release of captives held by the territory’s militant Hamas rulers. Israel has faced international criticism for largely excluding Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza from its highly successful vaccination campaign. It held up the shipment for two days as the government faced questioning from a parliamentary committee before ultimately approving it. The dispute highlights the Palestinians’ reliance on Israel even as they struggle to combat the pandemic on their own.

#headlines #news

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shaorankun · 4 years

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Guardian Chapter 86 Translation (Guo Changcheng and Chu Shuzhi’s part)

I am currently reading Guardian (鎮魂) and when I got to Chapter 86 in the fan translation (I prefer reading in English) they did not translate this entire part. I only did a light google and didn’t find a proper translation for this so I decided to just complete it myself. I didn’t want to read the rest of the story with a chunk missing, haha. Sharing my labour here for anyone else who might be wanting to read this missing part. I didn’t know where to post this so tumblr it is...

(credit: I’m using the same title from the fan translation I’m reading)

Chapter 86: The Paper-white Face of The Young Ghost King Reflected All of His Desires, Saying Frankly, “Good-looking. I want to hold you.”

Chu Shuzhi did not think that when he returned to Dragon City the first person he would see was Guo Changcheng.

He was just released from his shackles and got back his past items that were forcibly taken by Hell. He was in a good mood. Taking advantage of the Chinese New Year break, he found a wild mass grave1 and retreated for a few days. It wasn’t until he received Wang Zheng’s message that Zhu Hong was planning on resigning that he hurriedly bought a train ticket and rushed back to Dragon City.

The crowd at the train station was bustling. Chu Shuzhi walked forward for a while, looking in all directions for a taxi, and saw Guo Changcheng’s familiar figure—the young man was carrying a huge woven bag, his body was almost curled into a ball2 and he was slowly wiggling about with difficulty.

Just by looking at Guo Changcheng you could tell he did not do much physical work. When he went to school he probably had mediocre grades in Physical Education too. Carrying a big bag, he looked like a snail carrying a heavy shell. People passing by couldn’t help but turn and look at this young man.

Chu Shuzhi was worried he recognized the wrong person at first. Glancing again, he stared at what should have be a sturdy nylon bag open up with a small gap. A lady selling corn at the roadside kindly warned, “Hey, young man, your bag is going to spill!”

Guo Changcheng turned to the voice, but probably because his things were too heavy, when he turned his body he didn’t pay attention to his feet and he stumbled into a luggage being pulled by a young lady who just happened to pass by. Guo Changcheng was flustered and before he could apologize, the young man next to the lady aggressively pushed him. “Watch it, where are you stepping?”

Guo Changcheng was already not standing steadily and once he stumbled, the ‘city wall’ behind his back rumbled and fell. The bottom of the nylon woven bag broke apart and a bunch of outrageous items noisily fell out, including pots, pans, plates and plastic bags of food and clothing. The weirdest thing was that there was also an approximately sixty centimeters in diameter and eight centimeters thick large wooden cutting board—he was basically carrying a mini Walmart.

The young man who pushed him probably just stepped from person to person to fight out a path through the crowded train station. Seeing Guo Changcheng wearing dusty old clothes, he regarded him as a migrant worker returning to the city, and was suddenly disgusted and inexplicably felt a sense of unspeakable superiority. With one hand he was pulling the lady next to him to leave and at the same time complaining, “Knowing there’d be a lot of people and still bringing so much stuff. Are you an idiot? Can you afford to pay for damaging this luggage?”

Guo Changcheng repeatedly apologized. Seeing all the items had fallen on the ground, almost looking stupid, he hurriedly crouched down to pick them up. As he saw the nylon woven bag spill from both ends, he was at a loss and helplessly grabbed his own hair, worried.

It was at that moment that a somewhat skinny hand reached over and easily took both ends of the nylon bag and made a dead knot, making it into the shape of a cloth bag, then placed the junk in the middle of it. Weighing downwards, it looked the same as holding a SpongeBob. With one hand he was able to wrap up the pieces of heavy items.

Guo Changcheng: “Chu Ge3!”

If he had a tail, his wagging could’ve been used as an electric fan. He suddenly forgot that the one standing in front of him was The Zombie Corpse King—in Guo Changcheng’s view, Chu Shuzhi was practically a saviour who fell from the sky.

Chu Shuzhi ignored him. While holding the large nylon bag with one hand, he turned towards the young man who hadn’t gone too far, and with not a good look on his face he said, “The one in front, I advise you roll back here and apologize.”

Usually when Chu Shuzhi was normal it was fine, but when his face sunk he was particularly scary, almost naturally wearing a hint of the vicious gloom of a fugitive. The young man who was just fierce looked at him, appearing fierce but was weak inside, and said, “What else do you want?”

Just as Chu Shuzhi was about to walk towards him, Guo Changcheng held onto him. “Chu Ge, Chu Ge let’s go. It was I who didn’t see just now. I’m sorry.”

Uneasy, he raised his eyes to the other and smiled, holding onto Chu Shuzhi’s cold hand. “My fault, my fault.”

The two in front cussed as they left, completely unaware that they just escaped a crisis.

Chu Shuzhi turned around and looked at Guo Changcheng and thought that not only was he so much of a saint that he was an idiot4, he was pretty much messed up in the brain. To be at this stage of no temper and no courage, even if one didn’t say he didn’t seem like a young and vigorous man, he simply didn’t even seem like a person.

Chu Shuzhi irritably broke away from his hand and pointed at the bag of groceries in his own hand. “Does your family have nothing to eat, that they’re making you spend the New Year selling groceries?”

“No, I’m helping someone deliver this. I didn’t expect the bag to suddenly break.” Guo Changcheng eagerly followed him but also felt rather embarrassed. “I, I, let me carry it, it’s not much further.”

Chu Shuzhi impatiently avoided his hand and frowned. “Lead the way.”

Guo Changcheng immediately was too scared to utter a sound and walked ahead in small steps, leading the way.

Passing by the street in front of the station, they made multiple turns and entered a small alley. They arrived at a shadowed zone of the bustling city. Inside the alley was a row of dilapidated single-story houses. Walking deep inside, a female student with a ponytail was standing at a door, sweeping the floor with a broom. When she saw Guo Changcheng she very happily greeted him, exposing the college break volunteer sign around her neck.

Guo Changcheng felt a little embarrassed when seeing the girl and unnaturally lowered his head. Sounding like a mosquito, he buzzed, “Hello.”

The young lady was not inattentive and seeing Chu Shuzhi holding a big bag, she immediately dropped the broom and helped him open the door. As she walked she asked Guo Changcheng, “Have you registered them? Did you print it out? We have to express gratitude to each person on the internet.”

Guo Changcheng, this boy, he was very slow when he did things and he wasn’t clever. At the unit the always-rushing-them-Zhao would get angry and directly scold him. But in the end when he finished, it was always done very earnestly and meticulously. The reports written, no matter how long or how important or how much paper was wasted, never had a single typo. Slowly, even their nitpicky leader couldn’t say anything.

Guo Changcheng promptly nodded and took out a pile of printed paper from his bag. In total there were seven to eight pages. On them were detailed records of who donated, what was donated, the donor’s contact address, phone number, internet name, e-mail and other information. The value of the donated items varied from Chinese Yuan5 to a Chinese cabbage. It was simply odd and by no means an isolated case.

It turns out this was led by a few of Dragon City’s universities. They were taking advantage of the winter break and came together with some social service groups to organize and create this volunteer operation called “For the Old, For the Young6”. On Guo Changcheng’s side, they specialized in targeting the elderly at the lowest rung of society who, due to various reasons, lost their ability to make a livelihood. In small groups, each were responsible for the long-term care for a set of elderlies.

Because Guo Changcheng was unable to communicate with people, he was unable to take the responsibility of relieving the boredom of the elderly so he ended up with the job of collecting donations from society. Fortunately, the volunteer team had more girls so he was able to help greatly with some physical tasks, using this break to act as a porter.

Chu Shuzhi helped them place the objects down. As it was along the way, he started Guo Changcheng’s car and brought him along to No. 4 Bright Avenue. Guo Changcheng’s palms were damaged by the rubbing of the nylon bag; he sat at the passenger seat quietly and used a wet towel to wipe it.

Since it was rare for Chu Shuzhi to be in the mood to talk, he said a few words to him. “You’re still caring about anyone, are you trying to deliver all living creatures from difficulty?”

Guo Changcheng widened a pair of ignorant eyes and looked at him with astonishment.

Chu Shuzhi changed the question. “Doing this kind of stuff, does your family know?”

Guo Changcheng silently shook his head.

Chu Shuzhi incomprehensively laughed. Then he said, “Then on New Year’s Day did you burn some incense? The way you are, your wishes would easily come true.”

Guo Changcheng shook his head again. He was extremely satisfied with his current life. Apart from his family and friends being safe and healthy, there was nothing else he’d ask for—right now his family and friends seemed safe and healthy so he thought it was better to not trouble Buddha.

Chu Shuzhi took advantage of the traffic light and tilted his head to glance at him. Guo Changcheng was not tall, not strong and also not handsome. His facial features could not be said to be good looking. He was usually very low-key and didn’t own even a single brand name piece of whatever common youngsters thought was popular. Basically you would be unable to find his type in a crowd of people. Because there was always a lack of confidence, there was absolutely never any class.

However, when he sat down and quietly didn’t say anything, his calm expression revealed something unspeakable, natural Zen.

Although Guo Changcheng was a mortal, wine and meat passing his intestines every day, he didn’t understand what practicing spiritual development was, he didn’t even understand all the words in scriptures, and all of the Buddhist Arhats in the entire world were only known through the popular TV show Journey to the West where he only recognized two of them: one Guanyin, one Tathagata. Due to a problem with the actors, even now there was doubt towards the gender.

But Chu Shuzhi could sense that he was acting without regard for others and was peacefully and quietly building something.

It was neither the well-being of this life nor the virtue of the next life.

With Chu Shuzhi’s eyesight and cultivation, he only hazily had a feeling. As for what it was specifically, he couldn’t clearly tell.

Despite Chu Shuzhi not understanding what Guo Changcheng was thinking when doing these things, it didn’t stop the sudden uncomfortable feeling in his heart. There seemed to be a bit of resentment and dissatisfaction.

Even without mentioning anything else, with this child being covered from head to toe in three chi7 thick of virtue, shouldn’t he be living a peaceful and happy life? Why was it that he was born with an unlucky fate? Although everyone knew The Book of Life and Death regarded merits and demerits as very much nonsense, yet didn’t Hell use it rather brazenly?

He stopped speaking. His fanboy Guo Changcheng also didn’t have the courage to actively bring up any topics. The two of them remained silent all the way to No. 4 Bright Avenue. The curtain of night had already descended and all human and ghosts were present.

Once Chu Shuzhi entered the Criminal Investigations division, what came into view first was a group of demon and ghosts with a pair of blank eyes, as if they were collectively hit by a lightning strike.

Before he could even ask what was going on, he saw Wang Zheng turn her head over, trembling as she asked, “Chu Ge, did you know of the matter that Teacher Shen… Shen Wei, was really the Ghost Slayer?”

Chu Shuzhi froze for a bit. After a while, he calmly said, “Oh, that moron Zhao Yunlan, what is he doing that he didn’t come? Where is he? Ran away after messing things up?”

Da Qing was on the side and meowed, “He plunged into Wang Chuan waters.”

Chu Shuzhi: “……Love problems? Suicide?”

Da Qing and Zhu Hong had gotten over the initial shock and already calmed down.

Zhu Hong knew that Zhao Yunlan had on him the Water Dragon Pearl and any place that had water would not be able to harm him. She had just placed the Water Dragon Pearl around Zhao Yunlan’s neck and it was already being used. Zhu Hong felt that if she was a little more suspicious, it would feel like her Snake Uncle Four already knew of something beforehand.

Zhu Hong said, “My guess is that he’s looking for the Ghost Slayer.”

Chu Shuzhi took a quick look and saw that other than Lin Jing, who was still out in the field and already said he’d be taking the midnight train, the No. 4 Bright Avenue members were already all present. With both hands in his pocket, he leaned back against the office door. “I think, let’s have everyone talk about what they separately know. It’s been a mess recently. Let’s focus on the information and figure out what’s really happening. What to do—”

Speaking until here, Chu Shuzhi’s voice suddenly paused, his complexion suddenly didn’t look too good. This made everyone very nervous: “What did Chu Ge think of?”

“Wait, Shen Wei is the Ghost Slayer?” Chu Shuzhi’s face turned green. After a while he muttered, “Fuck I’ve messed up. I’ve teased him so many times before!”

……That’s why they sometimes say that being super calm was just your reflex arc taking too long.

---

野墳坡亂葬崗 [Yě fén pō luàn zàng gǎng] - Not really sure how to translate this. My best guess is it’s a random unmaintained grave. Probably some area with lots of dead bodies like after a war or something.

His body almost bent into a period. A period in Chinese looks like a hollow circle: 。

哥 [Gē] – Brother

Here Chu Ge was thinking that Guo Changcheng ‘Holy Mothered to idiocy’, he holy mothered so much he became ill. Holy mother being The Holy Mother; The Virgin Mary or a goddess.

人民币 [Rén mín bì] – Renminbi; China’s currency. Yuan is the unit. ‘Chinese Yuan’ is used in international contexts to refer to renminbi.

The name is 老吾老、幼吾幼 [lǎo wú lǎo, yòu wú yòu] – This probably comes from the phrase “老吾老，以及人之老，幼吾幼，以及人之幼” (lǎo wú lǎo , yǐ jí rén zhī lǎo , yòu wú yòu , yǐ jí rén zhī yòu) meaning to honour the elderly as we do our own aged parents and to take care of other’s children as if our own.

尺 [chǐ] – (unit) Chinese foot. It is 1/3 of a meter.

The rest of the chapter can be found here.

#guardian #novel translation #鎮魂 #镇魂 #zhen hun #guo changcheng #chu shuzhi

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sageinternational · 4 years

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LIFE DURING LOCKDOWN – Best CBSE Schools in Bhopal (SIS)

The whole world has come to a standstill, and the reason is the pandemic COVID -19, it seems, as if we are a part of a horror movie. The villainous coronavirus is killing thousands of peopleand we are feeling helpless .It has turned our lives upside down .Even in our dreams we could not have imagined ourselves confined to our homes , with no outings and unable to meet our friends and relatives.

During this period, thousands of migrant labors came on roads and walked down long distances to their home in different states, just under the influence of fake news about India’s lockdown extended for another three months .Vulnerable population trends to get into a panic mode, which is the worst thing in the face of public health crisis. Actions taken in stress and haste.

Due to this pandemic every country is facing severe economic damage and so do their citizens. In this tough time, I feel that youth needs to hold the torch of responsibilities and should lead everyone towards a better world. In this digital era, we are in need to learn profitable use of technology, which will help us to solve the challenges in our life.

These hard times are teaching us the value of everyday food items, fruit, vegetables and groceries in our lives. They have become so valuable that nowadays they are not readily available .We are learning to manage our selves with limited resources. we have learnt to respect our farmers and vendors who are bringing these essentials to our doorsteps .We have realized that we should never waste food because many people are unable to have even a single meal during this lockdown period . It has also taught us life beyond junk food as now we know that delicious food can be cooked at home too. We have become more alert about personal hygiene and cleanliness.

The lockdown has also made us appreciate our parents , and who usually work day and night to fulfill our reasonable and unreasonable demands and never complain, spending more time with them gave us an opportunity to understand them and to learn what quality time is.Life is not only studies , TV and games . It is about sharing and standing with each other in any other phase of life .We have also got a chance to know about our parent’s childhood days , watching Ramayana ,Mahabharat.Parents have also taught us value of money and how necessary is to save money .

The current situation has made us the value of organizations who keep working day and night to make our lives easy and smooth. We should be thankful to our government and police officers who are trying to make people follow the rules of social distancing. We should also be grateful to health workers who are putting their lives in danger to save thousands of lives.

Lockdown is giving us many lessons about lives. We havelearnt to handle difficulties with positive mind, and I hope these lessons may remain with us through out-our life. There is an end to every nightmare, and this one shall end soon.

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dailykhaleej · 4 years

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India health minister: Social responsibility will flatten COVID-19 curve

Union Minister for Health and Household Welfare Dr. Harsh Vardhan taking part within the 32nd Commonwealth Health Ministers Assembly on the theme ‘Delivering a Co-ordinated Commonwealth COVID-19 Response’ by means of video convention, in New Delhi final week. Picture Credit score: ANI

New Delhi: Federal Health and Household Welfare Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has been pro-active for the reason that information of COVID-19 broke in Wuhan, China. His ministry has spearheaded the combat towards the coronavirus outbreak. Terming lockdown and social distancing as the best strategies, the minister mentioned these may also help include the dreadful pandemic.

As India continues to battle the virus, the health ministry information has reported hundreds of confirmed instances within the nation at current. The numbers have been rising regularly, however the mortality price has been contained, to date.

Amid reviews of lockdown 4.zero to be utilized in Pink Zones of the nation after Could 17, affected states like Maharashtra have prolonged lockdown in hotspots until Could 31.

Chatting with DailyKhaleej, Dr Vardhan, an ENT surgeon-turned-politician and five-time member of the Delhi Legislative Meeting, explains the steps being initiated to answer the virus menace.

DailyKhaleej: India has, to date, managed to keep away from neighborhood transmission of the virus. It’s being mentioned the virus unfold will peak within the coming months. How ready is the nation to sort out the disaster?

DR HARSH VARDHAN: There isn’t a proof till now of India reaching stage three of neighborhood transmission. Regardless of this, we’re sustaining a continuing watch on the numbers and robust surveillance is being maintained. As regards the nation but to face the worst, it’s tough to foretell. The emergence of coronavirus is, undoubtedly, probably the most important occasion of anyone’s lifetime and has huge socio-economic implications. A number of mathematical fashions predicting varied projections have been put within the public area. These are primarily based on assumptions and presumptions, which might not be correct. Nonetheless, we’re learning its implications in coordination with scientists and epidemiologists by means of genetic sequencing.

However the instances have been rising at an alarming price.

Now we have had a gradual curve of instances with no exponential rise in between. We’re doing our greatest to bend the curve with persistent, proactive public health measures like testing and case detection, quarantine, isolation, contact tracing and surveillance and adhering strictly to lockdown protocols, particularly within the severely affected areas. I wish to add that neighborhood possession and discharging of social responsibility by every one in all us stays an important issue, aside from all governmental measures, in containing the illness. We totally realise that deficiency in any of the measures might change the trajectory of instances and deaths.

Scarcity of non-public protecting tools (PPE) and testing kits within the nation have been a priority for the medical workers.

The supply of PPE has been a problem worldwide. There was a dearth initially, however we ramped up the manufacturing of fine high quality PPEs which can be being manufactured indigenously. Hospitals throughout the nation now have sufficient PPEs and testing kits accessible for the weeks to return. Because the variety of coronavirus instances spurted not too long ago, we even scaled up our testing capability to over 100,000 samples a day.

Over 190 migrant labourers who returned to Bihar between Could Four and Could 12 are recognized to have examined optimistic. Equally, different states the place migrants have returned may additionally turn out to be hotspots of transmission.

Due to the surge of returning migrant labourers, states and Union Territories have to deal with more practical surveillance, contact tracing, ample testing and well timed therapy of all of the returnees. I stay in fixed contact with chief ministers of various states and have directed them to ramp up surveillance for Extreme Acute Respiratory An infection (SARI) and Influenza-Like Sickness (ILI) within the affected and non-affected districts. They’ve been suggested to hunt the assistance of presidency medical faculties, if required. Such measures will assist in detecting the presence of any hidden an infection and assist in its well timed containment. Persons are additionally being inspired to make use of Aarogya Setu app by means of which their health standing might be monitored and tracked.

Harsh Vardhan taking cost of the Health Ministry final 12 months. Picture Credit score: PTI

Aarogya Setu app has been a landmark platform to get coronavirus updates. However reservations over its information privateness has been a contentious concern.

Till now, greater than 100 million individuals have downloaded the app. Near to information privateness points, it shall be evaluated by different related authorities businesses. My focus proper now’s to combat the pandemic and save my countrymen from disaster.

Opening of alcohol outlets has been a speaking level between the federal government and the opposition over ‘revenue versus health’ debate.

The lockdown-driven disruptions to manufacturing, supply-chains, commerce, and actions in aviation, tourism, accommodations and hospitality have severely impacted the financial system of the nation. Weighing the strengths of lockdown as far as containing the illness and saving the lives is anxious, we gave high precedence to saving the lives of the individuals. It’s now time to offer significance to the financial system as effectively and, subsequently, sure relaxations have been allowed. However sure, we’ve got to weigh each choice objectively and earlier than implementing these, have to make sure there isn’t any spike in instances due to it.

Docs, nurses, medical workers and police personnel have borne the brunt at occasions of lockdown violators. What’s the approach out?

Our docs, healthcare staff and police personnel are warriors on the forefront within the combat towards COVID-19. Their efforts, spirit, and dedication are unmatched and everyone seems to be lauding them. The state governments have been instructed to take needed motion to forestall any such cases, which could demoralise these warriors.

Talking earlier at a video-conference of leaders of the Non-Aligned Motion (NAM), Prime Minister Narendra Modi had emphasised ending the unfold of faux information and doctored movies throughout this pandemic. Your remark.

Sure, the prime minister is anxious that loads of pretend information, rumours and misinformation about COVID-19 have emerged with the evolution of the illness. This creates panic and restlessness inside the neighborhood. To counter the problem of misinformation, we developed a system to offer informational assist by means of information sharing on an open platform by means of the health ministry web site. We at the moment are utilizing all attainable instruments of communication by means of social media, newspapers, tv, radio, and caller tunes to 17 billion phone subscribers to teach them and create consciousness among the many plenty.

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erincardenthailandblog · 4 years

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Genevieve Forbes

(Genevieve—top row, second from the right—poses with WorldTeach Thailand cohort 2017-2018).

As a result of globalization and great technological progress, English has become the most dominant language in the world. In today’s society more people want to learn English than ever before. As the most common foreign language, English is primarily used as a common way to communicate. Thus, in order to communicate on an international level, English must be spoken and understood. As a result, proficiency in English is often associated with higher incomes, increased employment, and is promoted as a language that can improve the livelihoods of people in developing countries.

Teaching English to non- native speakers is challenging. For one teacher in particular, Genevieve Forbes ’87, (current WorldTeach Thailand Field Director) her experience teaching English in South East Asia is shaped by a belief that the value of teaching ESL is not that English is the most important language—but more significantly—that ESL instructors have the ability to simultaneously promote multicultural awareness and cultural sensitivity.

Genevieve Forbes was born and raised in Milton, an Irish Catholic suburb outside Boston. As a child, conversations revolving South East Asia were held daily. Her aunt and uncle—who met working for Earth Rights—a Human Rights organization—first sparked her interest in Thailand. According to Forbes, both her aunt and uncle were involved with aid work on the Thai Myanmar border. While her aunt protested the Hatgyi Dam,[1] which was displacing the hill tribe population [2] due to flooding, Forbes’ uncle was suing the U.S., company providing the majority of materials and technology for the Hatgyi damming project. “ I grew up watching the videos my aunt and uncle took while working on the Thai Myanmar border, and read the articles they published about their work.” Forbes’ father’s business was also based in South East Asia, and she traveled to Thailand with him frequently. When she was eleven years old Forbes took her first trip to Southeast Asia with her aunt and uncle. “For a very long time my impression of Thailand was that everyone maintained an enduring, ‘you have to keep going’ mentality,” she explained. “When I first got to Thailand I was really overwhelmed. I saw half a dozen temples in twenty-four hours.”

As a result of her family’s business in South East Asia, Forbes too became interested in the region, and decided to focus her undergraduate thesis on the forced slave labor of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. In 2011 a report by the International Organization for Migration revealed widespread trafficking within Thailand’s fishing industry, with Burmes migrant fishermen being forced to work onboard for years without pay.[3] “I was passionate about this issue because while everyone else was focused on the tourists in this area, they all forgot about this huge migrant population,” she explained. After finishing her thesis in 2010, Forbes decided to continue pursuing her interest in South East Asia. She joined WorldTeach and taught ESL in Nakhon Phanom—a province in northeast Thailand—for one year.Nakhon Phanom is located in Thailand’s Isan region, the only part of the country Forbes had never visited. Generally poorer than the rest of Thailand, Isan is where most of the country’s rice and other central crops are grown. “I was thrilled to finally go there,” she recounted. “I had been interested in exploring it for years.”

Some of the biggest cultural adjustments Forbes faced as a WorldTeach volunteer centered around the language barrier and the differing cultural expectations, especially surrounding appearance. Throughout her time as a volunteer Forbes was hosted by a Thai woman who didn’t speak any English. “This woman had very specific ideas about how I should present myself,” she explained. “She frequently offered me unsolicited advice on my appearance. She told me how to do my makeup, which made me feel self-conscious at times.“

Major class cancellations were another challenge Forbes faced as a new teacher. “I didn’t teach at all for the two first months of my first semester,” she explained. Despite her frustration, Forbes took cancelled class as an opportunity to teach English to any interested students after school hours. “I decided to teach phonetics because I knew it wasn’t part of the Thai rote memorization curriculum,” she told me. “ I believed it would be something all Thai students would benefit from.” To her delight, Forbes’ after school program proved to be very popular. “I was astonished by the sheer enthusiasm I received from my students. Fifty to sixty students showed up at my house every day ready to learn. “

After completing one year teaching ESL in Thailand, Forbes attended UH-Manoa in Hawaii and received her graduate degree in Asian Studies. In 2015, shortly after receiving her masters, WorldTeach offered Forbes the position as field director for the same program that she had served in four years previously. She accepted and moved back to Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. Because she had already lived in Thailand in 2010, Forbes easily readjusted to Thai culture. Comments on her physical appearance no longer bothered her. “I developed a hard shell,” she laughed. “I even learned how to make fun of myself.”

As a field director for the Worldteach Thailand program Forbes was able to focus on issues affecting the Thai education system. In particular, Forbes began paying close attention to the fact that Thai school directors switched schools every one to three years, which she claimed, “is not always conducive to fostering the longevity and emotional connection necessary to impact change.” Forbes also came to realize that the Thai culture of “saving face” had a great impact on the Thai school system. “Saving face” can otherwise be understood as avoiding confrontation, and attempting not to embarrass oneself or others. In Thailand, agreement and harmony are two of the most important characteristics everyone must strive to uphold. According to Forbes, the Thai culture of “saving face” has negatively impacted the education system. “Thai students are passed through classes even if they haven’t learned all the skills required for their grade level,” she explained. “These students are passed because Thai schools are focused on trying to ‘save face,’ they are trying to save their reputation and keep up their appearance as a good school. Schools that do this to primary school students put the students at an extreme disadvantage because they are completely lost when they start secondary school.”

Since Forbes’ initial year living in Nakhon Phanom in 2010, the Isan region has changed dramatically. “When I first came to Thailand with WorldTeach there were no airplanes or taxis in and out of Nakhon Phanom,” she claimed. “There were only overnight buses. There was only one coffee shop in all of Nakhon Phanom city whereas now there are 711s on every two or three blocks.“ Forbes attributes this development to the EEC (the Eastern Economic Corridor) development plan, a new railway trade system in Thailand which has given the trade industry a new focus on capitalizing on areas that were previously disregarded. [4]

Over the years, Forbes has come to realize the various ways she internalized Thai culture.“One of the biggest realizations I had about the effects Thai culture has had on me occurred when I was in Singapore for business,“ she told me. According to Forbes, her persuasive powers worked best in Thailand when she was “sweet” and “nice,” if she entered a business meeting “strong, stern, and surely, it would be unproductive because Thai people would not be as willing to work” with her. “But when I arrived in Singapore,” she recalled, “I tried to get rid of the learned behavior I had adopted in Thailand. My sweet and nice behavior used in business meetings in Thailand was not appropriate for professional meetings in Singapore where, as a woman, you’re not taken seriously unless you have a strong presence.”

Since living in Thailand Forbes has distanced herself from the American saying, “good fences make good neighbors,” and has fallen in love with the strong sense of community found in Thai culture. “If I’m too tired to go to the market to buy food, I know I have a standing invitation to join my neighbors and eat whatever they’re eating,” she explained. “One of my neighbors in particular frequently knocks on my door to give me fruit that’s in season.” This sense of community is not only found in Thai neighborhoods, but also extends to the workplace. “If someone in the office has a sweet treat, they will bring a lot into the office to share with everyone.”

Forbes believes teaching English abroad to be an important endeavor because, in her eyes, “ it promotes multicultural awareness and cultural sensitivity.”

“Many Thai students have never traveled outside the Isan region of Thailand, so having foreign volunteers teach them about different parts of the world opens up their minds in an extremely beneficial way. There was a Chinese student who, after studying with a WorldTeach volunteer, decided to study abroad; first in Finland, then in Germany, and finally decided to go to the U.S., for her bachelors degree. The impact this WorldTeach volunteer had on this one student was enough to inspire the student to step outside of the world that she was born into, and see the parts of the world that were previously unknown. This teacher brought cultural awareness and enthusiasm to the classroom, two very important qualities I believe every good teacher should have.”

In addition to the importance of bringing cultural awareness and enthusiasm to the classroom, Forbes also highlights the importance of having a sense of humor as a teacher. “It will take you a long way, no matter where you are in your life,” she chuckled. “If you’re able to see the humorous part of a seemingly stressful or crazy situation—such as a student who wants to take off his wet shorts because he went swimming in the pond during recess—being equally frustrated and amused takes you a long way.”

Forbes advises that individuals considering teaching abroad should, “open themselves up so they can be all in. And not only for the adventure” she claimed, “ but also for the hard stuff. I recognize the challenges of teaching abroad, but I think it’s important to know that the experience won’t be smooth sailing. Personal growth is never considered to be easy. Look for the ‘silver lining.’ It’s a challenge, but it’s rewarding.”

[1]A hydropower project on the Salween River. Hatgyi Dam. EarthRights International, https://earthrights.org/what-we-do/mega-projects/hatgyi-dam/.

[2] Various ethnic groups who inhabit the mountains of western and northern Thailand, including both sides of the border between northern Thailand, Laos,and Myanmar. To read more about hydropower development in this region: “Damned By Burma's Generals: The Karenni Experience with Hydropower Development from Lawpita to Salween.” (2006). Karenni Development Research Group.https://www.internationalrivers.org/sites/default/files/attached-files/proposed_salween_dams_revive_development_nightmare_for_karenni_in_burma.pdf

[3] Trafficking of Fishermen in Thailand. (2011). Sathorn District, Bangkok: IOM Thailand. Available at:https://www.iom.int/jahia/webdav/shared/shared/mainsite/activities/countries/docs/thailand/Trafficking-of-Fishermen-Thailand.pdf.

[4] Eeco.or.th. (2019). Public Private Partnerships | EEC. Available at:https://www.eeco.or.th/en/content/public-private-partnerships.

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fadinginfluencerblaze · 5 years

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Armageddon

I received my book from FAKKU.com and it is wonderful, just a shame I could never share it with anyone or read it in public or anywhere besides the comfort of my solitude and dark spaces. I don’t know, I bought it, so I’ll be able to make time to finish it. I am excited with how well “Fallen,” has come along. https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/adventvoice/fallen-dreams https://www.patreon.com/AdventVoice, https://www.deviantart.com/adventvoice/art/Fallen-803479192 I have not illustrated an angel in quite some time https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/adventvoice/we-are-going-old-school and to have the opportunity to do so in response to a lot of negativity that has been broadcast by conservative and secular programs. I’d love to be able to soar over and surmount in real life and it feels good to get it off my chest. https://www.tumblr.com/blog/fadinginfluencerblaze “Fallen Dreams,” be sure to read the article and let me know what you think.

You know I am an artist first and foremost. I am owning it, then I write everything, I edit my own work, correct blogs, connect old stories with new ones, and I love to speak to the world through pictures. Well after “Fallen,” there is a second piece which could be considered the follow-up to the previous conversation. A discourse that was not given much opportunity to see the light of day, through Wordpress.com or any of my connected online galleries and forum sections. Not only are wings to be associated with demons and angels, but when we talk about them, it was always understood that their actions were the direct response or command of, an all powerful god. I say that because the demons answer to their leader and the angels answer to their own leader. It is good verse evil, darkness against light, purity against impurity. That was the tradition. This is the reason for wars, death by chemical warfare, plague, pestilence, children being held with their families or alone in detention centers, without food and toilet paper. This is why we can watch on television government workers playing theoretical tennis with the issues because neither side wants to be correlated with death camps, incinerators, or concentration camps, by illustrators. Painted with the brush of artists like me that does agree there are concentration camps akin to those used in North Korea, in America no matter what those, who did not find the story first, try to tell you. “Cough,” Glenn Beck, ‘your a lying, filthy mouthed troglodyte that won’t be seen in heaven because you keep breaking the ten commandments.’

Just felt like adding that in there cause it is true.

I don’t want him to feel safe because I only illustrated Hillary Clinton and Mueller and not him. I don’t find him attractive enough to illustrate and I don’t know who’d I have fucking him in the ass yet. Maybe Kellyanne Conway, she likes fat men. They all make it too easy to rag on them. I should not be so childish but I am on my 4th of July, vacation as I write this.

Anyway the notion of good and evil being orchestrated by winged beings who whisper in the ear of those with or without influence; I mean just ordinary people can help to move a story along and they are just as susceptible to the supernatural as the President of the United States, whom many may feel is untouchable, but will have to answer for his deeds in the next life, like all of us, is how “Armageddon,” is framed.

For centuries a prophet has come and sought to shed light on which the angels do not know and if they did know, would only be following orders and could not seek to change anything, even if they could. I personally stopped trying at the age of fifteen because I realized, there is a lot I can do before the world ends and I earn my wings.

The month of June was so odd. Wordpress.com (www.avproductionsblog.wordpress.com) Reddit, DeviantArt.com, sites I use to publish articles that give hightlights about present art pieces, and future projects, to promote commissions, requests, and access to my online galleries featured on https://adventvoice.newgrounds.com/ https://twitter.com/Scope2Mars, refused to publish “Fallen Dreams.”

Out of all of my publications, my dilution of the Mueller Report: https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/adventvoice/mueller-report , my cries against For-Profit-Prisons: https://www.newgrounds.com/art/view/adventvoice/dream-wavers-aim and overall censorship of creative material, none have ever been deleted, or refused visibility. It was really disturbing; I thought it was something I said, so I moved some things around. Deleted this and that and by the time I was done, there was little to read, yet still I was ‘shadowed banned,’ or whatever that is and all I sought to say was, “Even Black Angels Deserve To Fly!” https://avproductionsblog.wordpress.com/2017/11/03/even-black-angels-deserve-to-fly/ I personally felt the denial of publication rights was due to the giant black angel, but they kept the picture, they refused the words associated with the art. Anytime a person is denied the right to publish an article,I was always intrigued and made to ask, “What is so damaging in that article, that no one should be allowed to read it?” It is those kinds of questions that made “The Davinci Code,” by Dan Brown, “Harry Potter,” by J.K. Rowling, “Dangerous Liaisons,” by Choderlos de Laclos , or Gustave Flaubert ‘s “Madame Bovary,” and several other stories famous, well read and desired by the masses. “Fallen Dreams,” is not a large article. I purposely was not trying to drag out the conversation or bore my readers with a long winded monologue. It does cut to the heart of how I feel about our role as people to curb color barriers in our present culture. Thanks to Tumblr, your able to read the article without the Paid-per-view requirements of my other sites, https://www.patreon.com/AdventVoice

The drama surrounding the article I had hoped to use to guide readers to pay for something that would not have been read anywhere else.

Other online platforms were so against allowing, ‘Fallen Dreams,’ to see the light of day, I’m not even sure if it’s good to mention it, if I desire to have anything else published. Be assured my present apprehension to share my thoughts, has nothing to do with fear of ridicule. I’d rather be told what made someone rebuff me, thus adjustments can be made to correct my ways, opposed to outright denial access to a public forum. With nothing more to gauge a reaction on, than that of the mentioning of black people equally obtaining the right to heaven.

“Armageddon,” is the cover art of this publication. That is what my summer will consist of, showing the world how dark, drab, dreary and repulsive it would be if artists did not exist. If we did not have the ability to take bleached parchment, use the art of calligraphy and the education of the times to chronological the day to day affairs of this world. Things would have gone boom a long time ago.

That could be an exaggeration, but I am sure there is a museum of propaganda art, from WWII, the Vietnam War, Cold War, etc, etc, that inspired you to take a stand, to choose life over death and end the Armageddon’s of our present lifetime.

Is that not what American’s were doing when they were in Cambodia, paving the way for the free world to set up the golden arches along the mountain side? The Dream Weaver holding a briefcase with pieces of parchment and what looks like blank sheets of paper flying in an updraft that does nothing to move the nuclear and radioactive cloud in the distance, without words, says a mouthful. It is hard for me to pin-point which moment in my life made me feel I was facing coming destruction and any amount of work I am able to produce or convey to the people will be as worthless as dust.

Can’t tell you what I’d equate in my life to be as devastating as the events of Hiroshima. I really feel insignificant compared to that day and doubt I’d ever be able to know how they felt or if I ever wanted to. I want to exist in the mind of the millions that have more respect for artists like Hudson & Company Tattoo Studio, than for that of the illustrator. I want to be remembered as an individual not afraid of challenging convention, always seeking to expand his environment and incorporate others into his very small section of the world. I want what would be considered worthless, in the midst of homelessness, unemployment, lack of health insurance, foreclosure of ones home, death camps, migrant detentions centers, Ebola outbreaks, death to ecol i, cancer treatment, radio active exposure, and poisoning, Marshal Law and police states that do not end because of talk of doing without government assistance and welfare would be treated as sedition, insurrection, and treason. To permeate the minds of those around me and release the spark of Wormwood, that when translated means Imagination.

I refuse to be an echoing memory lost in history never having the chance to impart my gift because the enemies of freedom were successful in creating silence. Before everything I hold dear is razed to the ground and replaced by GMOed Spider silk and we are expected to comply to man-made rules of self-preservation from an enemy that can not be seen and a threat materialized from paranoia, hysteria and mentally ill people. I will have my art in every home of the world, continuing to give hope to the dream weaver’s in us all.

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conservativefreepress · 4 years

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New Post has been published on Conservative Free Press

New Post has been published on http://www.conservativefreepress.com/politics/seattle-democrats-demand-washington-state-provide-millions-to-illegal-aliens/

Seattle Democrats Demand Washington State Provide Millions to Illegal Aliens

Just as Gov. Gavin Newsom of California comes under fire for spending more than $100 million on illegal immigrants while threatening to lay off first responders during the coronavirus pandemic, Democrats in Seattle are urging Washington leaders to follow his lead. This week, the Seattle City Council passed a resolution demanding that Gov. Jay Inslee (D) set up a Washington Worker Relief Fund that can “provide emergency economic assistance to undocumented Washingtonians.”

These liberals never fail to let you know where their priorities lie, do they?

From The Daily Caller:

City councilors are calling attention to illegal aliens in the state who do not qualify for federal assistance because of their immigration status, but have been suffering due to the declining economic conditions brought on by the coronavirus pandemic. The measure suggests the Washington Worker Relief Fund should begin with an initial allocation of $100 million.

“Looking out for the most vulnerable in our community is even more critical in times of crisis,” Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan said in a Monday statement. “It is all the more important to ensure we are not pushing people further into the shadows.”

The measure sailed through the city council by a vote of 9-0, and enjoys support from the mayor’s office. The non-binding resolution does not actually establish a slush fund for illegal aliens, but simply calls on Washington state to create one.

It never fails to amaze us how tolerant these blue-state liberal voters are of watching their taxpayer money go to subsidize people who shouldn’t even be living in this country. Do they really believe that it’s America’s responsibility to care for people who are only here because we happen to share a border with Mexico? Would they be so willing to fork over millions to re-locate migrants from Canada or Sweden or Germany? Would they be so willing to tolerate massive illegal immigration if the migrants were largely conservative, politically?

What are they getting out of this pact?

Our take on it, at the end of the day, is that it’s a major experiment in mass psychology. No one in New York, California, or Seattle wants to be the first lefty to stand up and admit, You know…this actually makes no sense whatsoever. The Democrats have gotten so good at conflating “anti-immigration” with “racist” that everyone is terrified to admit the truth.

Which is why it’s so essential to oppose the left’s political correctness. The language is where it starts. That’s where the madness begins.

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brajeshupadhyay · 4 years

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Coronavirus Outbreak LIVE Updates: Odisha confirms 170 COVID-19 cases, one fatality so far; recovery rate at 35.3% with 60 patients discharged

08:41 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in United States Latest Updates

COVID-19 toll in US rise by 1,015 in past 24 hrs, lowest in a month

The toll due to coronavirus in the United States rose by 1,015 in the past 24 hours, a tally by Johns Hopkins University showed Monday - the lowest one-day figure in a month.

The Baltimore-based university had recorded more than 1.17 million cases in the country as of 8.30 pm Monday (12.am Tuesday), with 68,689 deaths.

08:24 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Nepal Latest Updates

Nepal confirms 82 COVID-19 cases

Seven more people tested positive for the novel coronavirus in Nepal, taking total confirmed cases to 82, said the country's health ministry on Tuesday.

7 more #COVID19 cases reported in Nepal, taking the total number of positive cases in the country to 82: Nepal Health Ministry pic.twitter.com/qWEO3oWGgp

— ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2020

07:56 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Bihar Latest Updates

In Photos: Train carrying over 1,200 migrant workers arrives at Muzaffarpur from Gujarat today

Bihar: A train carrying 1208 migrant workers arrived at Muzaffarpur railway station this morning from Ahmedabad, Gujarat amid #CoronaLockdown. pic.twitter.com/Zf835ppZUL

— ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2020

07:50 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Maharashtra Latest Updates

Sec 144 in Mumbai till 17 May between 8 pm till 7 am

In an order released on Monday, the Mumbai Police stated that Section 144 has been imposed in the city till 17 May between 8 pm and 7 am. The order clarified that during those hours, only vehicles addressing medical services and the ones used for essential services will be allowed to ply.

From Tuesday, stand-alone shops will issue tokens for customers to avoid crowding at shop counters.

Section 144 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) imposed in Mumbai till 17th May 2020. Movement of one or more persons for all non-essential services, except for medical reasons, will be prohibited between 8 pm & 7 am: Mumbai Police #Maharashtra #CoronaLockdown pic.twitter.com/Q50KnPReVU

— ANI (@ANI) May 5, 2020

07:37 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Delhi Latest Updates

Rahul Gandhi to discuss economic state during pandemic with Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi's dialogue with Nobel Laureate Abhijit Banerjee on dealing with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 crisis will be aired on Tuesday as part of his series of deliberations with experts on economy and health.

The Congress party has tweeted a 1.44-minute clip from the conversation which will be aired in full at 9 am Tuesday.

Tomorrow at 9 AM, tune in to watch my conversation with Nobel Laureate, Abhijit Banerjee on dealing with the economic fall out of the #COVID19 crisis. To join the conversation & for regular video updates, subscribe to my YouTube channel: https://t.co/4WBysSnKTg

— Rahul Gandhi (@RahulGandhi) May 4, 2020

07:31 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Delhi Latest Updates

Active containment zones in Delhi stands at 90 after three areas de-contained

With three more zones de-contained on Monday, the total number of containment zones in the city stood at 90.

According to the Delhi government, the areas de-contained on Monday were in the West district - in and around area of - 11/3, 2nd Floor Ashok Nagar (sealed on April 8); A 36/4, East Patel Nagar (sealed on 13 April); G-174, Capital Greens, DLF, Motinagar (sealed on 8 April).

"So far, 10 areas have been de-contained and now the active containment zones in the city are 90," an official statement said.

07:24 (IST)

Coronavirus Outbreak in Odisha Latest Updates

Odisha confirms 170 COVID-19 cases with one death

With one individual testing positive for the novel coronavirus in Odisha, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the state climbed to 170 on Tuesday. Of the total, there are 109 active cases.

One COVID-19 patient succumbed to the viral infection so far, while the recovery rate stood at 35.3 percent with 60 patients being discharged.

Coronavirus Outbreak LATEST Updates: In an order released on Monday, the Mumbai Police stated that Section 144 has been imposed in the city till 17 May between 8 pm and 7 am. The order clarified that during those hours, only vehicles addressing medical services and the ones used for essential services will be allowed to ply.

From Tuesday, stand-alone shops will issue tokens for customers to avoid crowding at shop counters.

Even as India's COVID-19 fight entered its third phase on Monday with considerable relaxations to the lockdown curbs, confirmed cases surged to 42,836 with 2,573 fresh cases. The death toll rose to 1,389 with 83 fatalities reported in 24 hours.

The government said a record high number of 1,074 patients recovered from the infection in the last 24 hours but cautioned that the restrictions can be reimposed if there is any complacency in following the containment and social distancing norms.

The Centre also announced that it will facilitate the return of Indians stranded in other countries in a phased manner from 7 May.

Country records highest number of recoveries in 24 hours, says health ministry

Confirmed cases in India rose to 42,836. File image. AP

According to the 5 pm update issued by the Union health ministry, India now has 42, 836 confirmed cases of coronavirus while 1,380 persons have died due to the disease. Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases (12,974), followed by Gujarat (5, 428 cases), Delhi (4,549) cases, Tamil Nadu (3,023 cases) and Madhya Pradesh (2942).

Maharashtra also recorded the highest number of fatalities with 548 deaths followed by 290 in Gujarat and 165 in Madhya Pradesh.

According to the health ministry, the number of active cases stood at 29,685 as 11,761 persons were cured/discharged while one has migrated.

Earlier, while addressing a press briefing, Joint Secretary at the health ministry Lav Agarwal said that as many as 1,074 COVID-19 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, the highest number of recoveries recorded in one day.

The rate of recovery stands at 27.52 percent , he said, but stressed that there is a need for rigorous implementation of the containment strategy while people also need to strictly adhere to hygiene as well as social distancing habits.

Agarwal cautioned that if the virus spread is detected in areas that do not have any active cases for now, restrictions can be reimposed there.

Kerala did not report a single new case for the second consecutive day, but neighbouring Tamil Nadu saw its tally rising by a record number of 527 new cases. Gujarat and Maharashtra also reported significant rise in their numbers. Several other states including Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Odisha also reported a rising number of cases.

Gujarat reported 376 new cases and 29 more deaths — the highest for a day — to take its total tally of confirmed cases to more than 5,800 and fatalities to 319. Ahmedabad alone reported 259 new cases and a record number of 26 deaths on Monday, taking its tally of confirmed cases to above 4,000 and the death toll to 234.

In Maharashtra’s Mumbai, the case count crossed the 9,000-mark and jumped to 9,123 with the addition of 510 new patients, while 18 more died due to the viral infection.

While several big urban centres across the country continued to report rise in the number of cases, several smaller states and Union Territories — including Goa, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Meghalaya, Assam, Aruranchal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Ladakh, Manipur, Mizoram, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Tripura — have witnessed nil or very few cases getting detected in the last few days.

Confusion prevails as restrictions are eased in green, orange zones

In the third phase of the lockdown, more categories of stores including of apparel and electrical goods, as also various kinds of repair centres, and even barber shops in some places, reopened in several parts of the country. Liquor shops saw the biggest of the crowds and had to be closed at many places, including in the National Capital, after social distancing norms appeared totally missing.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said whatever happened on Monday was not right and all have to follow the social distancing norms . "It is sad that people were not following social distancing norms at some shops today. I request everyone to not take any risk," he said.

#WATCH It was unfortunate that chaos was seen at some shops today in Delhi...If we come to know about violations of social distancing and other norms from any area, then we will have to seal the area and revoke the relaxations there: Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal pic.twitter.com/0eFgaqrKsB

— ANI (@ANI) May 4, 2020

// <![CDATA[ <script> // ]]>

On the other hand, confusion prevailed in large industrial and business clusters across the country, including in Noida and Gurgaon on the outskirts of Delhi, on reopening of offices and industrial establishments due to lack of clarity on daily commute of their staff given continuing restrictions on major modes of the public transport.

Row over rail fares of migrant workers

The transport of migrant workers back to their home states continued for the third consecutive day on Monday. Kerala opened its borders at six places for Keralites stranded in other states due to the COVID-19 lockdown to return to their native places.

Migrants stand in long queues in Hyderabad as police personnel collect their personal details before sending them via trains to their native places. PTI

A total of 21,500 migrant workers and their family members stranded in Gujarat for over 40 days were sent back to their native states, including UP and Bihar, through 18 trains in the last three days, a senior official told PTI.

Union health ministry officials also said the process of transporting stranded migrant labourers was being coordinated by states, though the central government guidelines have clearly stated that the infectious disease management requires everyone to stay where he or she is.

“Based on the request given from states for particular cases, permission was given to run special trains. Be it the government of India or the Railways, we have not talked about charging from workers. Eighty-five per cent of the transportation cost is borne by the Railways, while states have to bear 15 percent of the cost,” Agarwal told reporters.

Earlier in the day, Congress leader Sonia Gandhi lashed out at the Centre and said the party's state units will bear the cost of rail travel of needy migrant workers and labourers stranded at their workplaces due to the lockdown imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus.

"What is particularly disturbing is that the central government and the Rail Ministry are charging them (migrant workers) for train tickets in this hour of crisis," she said. "When the government can spend nearly Rs 100 crores on transport and food for just one public programme in Gujarat, when the Rail Ministry has the largesse to donate Rs 151 Crores to the PM's Corona fund, then why can't these essential members of our nation's fabric be given a fraction of the same courtesy, especially free rail travel, at this hour of acute distress?," the Congress president asked.

Centre to facilitate return of Indians stranded abroad

Separately, the Union Home Ministry said the government will facilitate the return of Indians stranded abroad and the process will begin from 7 May in a phased manner. Only asymptomatic people would be allowed to travel and it would be arranged by aircraft and naval ships, and the facility will be available on a payment basis.

After their arrival in India, medical examinations will be conducted on everyone and they will be subsequently put under quarantine for 14 days, either in a hospital or in an institutional facility, the ministry said.

Modi calls for new template of globalisation at NAM virtual conference

At a video-conference of leaders of the Non- Aligned Movement (NAM), Prime Minsiter Narendra Modi called for a new template of globalisation post COVID-19, saying humanity is facing a major crisis.

"COVID-19 has shown us the limitations of the existing international system. In the post-COVID world, we need a new template of globalization, based on fairness, equality, and humanity," the prime minister said. "We need international institutions that are more representative of today's world. We need to promote human welfare, and not focus on economic growth alone. India has long championed such initiatives," he said.

Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends 'Non-Aligned Movement' Summit via video conferencing#COVID19 pic.twitter.com/fe7NA9E7ky

— ANI (@ANI) May 4, 2020

// <![CDATA[ <script> // ]]>

With inputs from agencies

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socialjusticeartshare · 5 years

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Detention & Despair

Harry Harlow’s experiments revisited

BY MK MENON

The cleanliness of the facility well surpassed my expectations considering the 100-plus children scattered around the various room. The woman with a toothy smile who greeted us tried coaxing my toddler away from me. He responded by clinging to my leg even harder. I decided to stay with him, trying to make him comfortable in his new surroundings. I took stock of the clean linens set aside for nap time, oodles of toys stacked on shelves and the smells of food being warmed for a morning snack assuring myself that he would be well taken care of. I pointed out all these creature comforts with inflated enthusiasm to my son, hoping my excitement would wear off on him or at a minimum, distract him from his anxiety about being somewhere new. The tactic proved a temporary fix as once I mentioned my departure, he grabbed onto me like a life raft in choppy water.

After a couple of hours, the women working there encouraged me to say good-bye as they felt I was just delaying the inevitable teary good-bye. Hesitantly, I kneeled, putting my face right up to his and told him I had to go, but I’d see him later. As the words sunk in, panic took over and he started bawling, as in full body heaving and screaming. Hugging him, I reassured my son that I’d be back soon and that everything would be okay. His little two-year old fingers laced around my neck with a strength I never knew he possessed, refusing to let me stand. “Don’t go, Mommy,” he sobbed, which made my eyes watery. One of the women watching the spectacle, pulled my son away from me and I beelined it to the exit so that my son wouldn’t see my own tears fall. I stood outside the gate, listening to his cries become softer as he was carried further away from me. As I got into my car, knowing I’d see my son in a few short hours after the daycare trial was over, I couldn’t help but feel heartache for the families separated at the border, who don’t have the same guarantees.

In April 2018, Trump’s administration announced a zero-tolerance policy, which meant prosecuting anyone trying to cross into the US illegally. Not long after the policy announcement, within two weeks, 658 children ranging in age from breastfeeding newborns to scared teenagers were turned over to the US Health and Human Services Department while their parents, held in detention centers, awaited prosecution. The conditions of the government run housing facilities were questionable, perhaps inhumane. Not only have inspections of various detention centers shown a lack of basic supplies like soap, toothpaste or adequate food, there is a no touch policy in place which bans workers and the children from hugging, holding, or even consoling other frightened children. And even more extreme measures have occurred as some migrant children have reported being held in isolation for days on end. Trump’s administration vehemently argued that the migrants were being provided the necessities; food and shelter. But were they and was that enough? When I selected a daycare for my child, I hoped that the food, toys and soft blankets would reduce the sting of my short absence, but could they ever replace me?

After the public’s backlash to the announcement, Trump wielded his executive power in June 2018 to halt the separations, but as the NYT reported, hundreds of separations have continued and thousands more have not been reunited with their families. Even more horrifying is that reunification may prove impossible due to poor record-keeping. The motivation behind such an unprecedented policy was to drastically reduce an influx of migrants across the southern border, but instead our administration has created a human version of Harry Harlow’s experiments of maternal deprivation, causing irrecoverable damage to these children.

Nearly 100 years ago in a lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, psychologist Harry Harlow set out to understand the effects of parental love and affection on children as well as it’s deprivation. His belief that a baby’s first love, their mother, had a positive and lasting impact on their lives was in stark contrast to prominent figures in the medical and research fields of the early and mid-20th century. Back then, the practice of child-rearing centered around keeping as much distance as possible, a concept this occasional co-sleeping mother can’t fathom.

While we may consider Harvard University Psychology Professor, B.F.Skinner’s notion of raising babies in boxes, which significantly decreased human touch extreme, he reasoned this would prevent babies from growing up to be dependent adolescents. Even the president of the American Psychology Association, John B. Watson, promoted motherless baby farms. The rationale being that babies could be raised in sterile and controlled environments and away from a mother’s love, which he thought of as a disease spreading instrument. In an era when vaccines were not yet part of routine health care, illnesses abound, which only reinforced the notion that human contact was perilous. Instead, feeding was considered the most important aspect of the mother child bond while emotions or affection were viewed as negligible. When I reflect on times when my son shuddered at the thought of a monster hiding in the closet or the exclamations of joy at the sight of a new toy, I can’t comprehend how anyone can disregard the spectrum of emotions humans feel or the power of a simple touch when the act of kissing a boo boo really does make it all better.

While some people like John Bowlby, a British psychologist, disagreed with the mainstream ideas of the time, it was hard to prove until cities across Europe became targets of German bombs during WWII. Just in England, over 700,000 children were sent to stay with friends, relatives or volunteers in the countryside by their parents to keep them out of harm without any idea of when or if the families would be reunited. Despite being provided a friendly home, attention, food, and care, the emotional toll on these children was undeniable. The material items could not make up for their parents’ absence. They became listless and cried for their parents during the day. At night they were tormented by nightmares and wet the bed. Chronic infections normally seen at hospitals took hold of these children which prompted pediatrician Harry Bakwin to institute a policy of allowing mothers of chronically ill children to stay at the hospital with them. The effect was profound and dropped fatal infections from 30-35% to less than 10% in 1938. Despite these findings, Watson’s philosophy which deemphasized the importance of mothering was generally accepted. Harlow, who advocated that a nurturing mother was essential for a child’s development, was out to prove him wrong, empirically, scientifically and methodically using monkeys.

Harlow did this by creating surrogate monkey mothers from wire and wood, some which he covered with cloth. He selected this material after observing baby monkeys clinging to their cloth diaper when raised in nurseries without mothers. He wanted to know whether food (bottle) or comfort (cloth) was a stronger driver of attachment, so he designed a study in which a baby monkey was exposed to one wire surrogate and one cloth surrogate mother and alternated which surrogate held the bottle. Independent of the bottle’s position, babies would overwhelmingly cling to the cloth surrogate mother. Other iterations of the study involved blunt spikes poking out of the cloth mother, which unexpectedly did not discourage the baby from holding onto its surrogate mother, proving the importance of contact comfort and reminding me how important each hug or cuddle is to my son. Whether he’s scared or excited, I can feel a moment of calmness wash over him as he sinks into my embrace. I can’t imagine a world void of affection, but Harlow not only could, but went on to study it.

Harlow furthered his understanding of love, touch, and affection by observing what happens when young monkeys are deprived of such things. His studies on social deprivation involved isolation of infant and juvenile monkeys for various periods of time. The parameters of partial isolation involved keeping the monkeys in wire cages where they can see, smell, and hear other monkeys though can’t touch them, an eerily familiar situation to the conditions at the detention centers. Complete isolation is analogous to solitary confinement where the monkey would be left alone in what Harlow dubbed the Pit of Despair, an inverted pyramid like structure where the monkey could only see the light above. The monkeys emerged severely psychologically disturbed, entered a state of depression and showed autistic behaviors like rocking and clutching. Some refused to eat and days later died of emotional anorexia. Even more disturbing were the attempts to reintegrate the animals into society failed for monkeys isolated for their first 6 months of life, showing defects in nearly every aspect of social behavior.

Despite such ground-breaking findings, Harlow’s work received backlash and may have even been a catalyst to the ongoing animal rights movement in the US. Interestingly, William Mason, Harlow’s former student said of his work, “that anybody with respect for life or people would find this offensive.” Nonetheless, within the context of new regulations for the use of animals in research, Schanberg and Field have continued to study the effect of touch on development. Using rodent models, they have shown that even a brief separation of mother from pup from physical interaction leads to an increase in stress hormones and reduction in growth hormones across all organs like heart, brain, and liver to name a few. While I appreciate findings from controlled lab-based studies, I don’t need them to confirm that my son’s or any child’s stress levels rise when left alone in unfamiliar surroundings. I can see it and I feel it.

When I came to pick up my son in the afternoon, he didn’t see me enter the room, so I waited a minute before calling out his name hoping to catch a smile or laugh. Instead, he sat alone, watching all the other kids giggle and play with each other. His Paw Patrol sneakers lit up each time they hit the leg of the chair his legs dangled off. He was still wearing his blue puffy jacket I left him in despite summer approaching. Apparently, he refused to take it off, clinging onto the one familiar item from home. When I caught his attention, he ran to me, tripping over his own feet. We bear-hugged and I saw that his eyelashes remained wet with the tears that had not yet dried on his cheeks. He insisted I carry him, 30 pounds of cuddles. Seeing my son react so strongly to his new surroundings made me question whether transferring him to a new daycare was the right choice. Did the benefits outweigh his response? I believed time would provide me with an answer.

As a scientist who works with research animals, I am cognizant of the strict rules in place to protect animals. The IACUC, Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee, is required by federal law to be formed at any institution that conducts research on animals. It states that social creatures, like rats and mice, are to be housed in groups rather than in isolation for their psychological wellbeing. There are exemptions such as when the animal is demonstrating aggressive behavior or recovering from an operation, but when this occurs, the social deprivation must be supplemented with enrichment toys, human interaction or increased play space. Eventual reintroduction to other cage mates is ideal but may have to occur gradually for optimal social adaptation. There are also strict rules about the age at which a mother can be separated from her baby pups in order to protect their mental and physical state, an undisputable finding that has roots in Harlow’s work. So if researchers must abide by regulations to protect the physical and emotional integrity of rodents, why are we not upholding the same standards for children held in government facilities?

It’s been a month since that trial at the new daycare and our morning good-byes are much easier. My son gives one of his favorite teachers a morning hug after he bearhugs me and excitedly sits down for breakfast next to his newfound friends. In the evenings he runs towards me with happiness, not desperation and fills my ears with stories of the day. We both know the short time apart is finite and filled not only with hot meals and soft blankets, but teachers who aren’t afraid to comfort, to touch, to show affection. It is a combination of the tangible and intangible support that has made all the difference and put a smile on my son’s face. Unfortunately, and unfairly, for the children being held in detention centers, the conditions are in stark contrast. At the border, a human version of Harry Harlow’s experiments of maternal deprivation is ongoing. The effects of love, affection, and touch deprivation have only been compounded by the lack of basic sanitization, food, bedding and medical care. We are knowingly recreating a more devastating situation in humans that so many people considered unethical or inhumane in monkeys nearly a century ago. Trump’s administration is causing intentional and lasting damage to these children, their parents and the reputation of our country. It is our job as fellow humans to reduce, not add to the suffering of families who are fleeing from already treacherous situations. The research tells us the separation of a child from their primary caregiver is damaging physically, psychologically, developmentally, molecularly and so should our conscience. Let us not forget them, our history or science. Every child deserves to be with their loving family and we should never allow them to be deprived of that.

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#despair of children #separated children #separated children traumatized

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melanesianews · 5 years

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The crackdown in West Papua continues before the pools

By Nithin Coca

WITH increasingly regular protests and a violent crackdown by police and the military, the contested Indonesian region of West Papua is currently seeing the highest levels of agitation it has experienced in years. Against a backdrop of Indonesia’s forthcoming general elections in April, tensions are rising over long-standing human rights violations, pro-independence agitation and lack of accountability for crimes committed by security forces.

“The situation is not improving for the better, it’s getting worse,” says Ronny Kareni, an Australian-based activist of West Papuan origin. “There is a divergence between Jakarta and locals, and that is deeply rooted in the historical status of West Papua.”

On 1 December 2018, more than 500 people were arrested in cities across Indonesia for commemorating the 57th anniversary of Papuan attempts to declare independence from Dutch colonial rule. Raising the pro-independence Morning Star flag or publicly expressing support for Papuan self-determination is considered a criminal offense against the Indonesian state.

The following day, on 2 December, pro-independence militants are reported to have killed up to 31 workers on the Trans Papua Highway construction project in the Nduga region of the Papuan highlands. Although the ongoing independence conflict in West Papua has resulted in the deaths of approximately 500,000 Papuans since 1969, this was the deadliest attack by militants in recent years.

The government response has been fierce, withactivists reporting that military action has forced thousands to flee their homes.

With the media and civil society prevented from independently visiting the region, these reports are difficult to verify, but international human rights organisations have made pleas for calm. “We call on all parties, the Indonesian army, police and the Free Papua guerrilla fighters, not to target civilians,” says Andreas Harsono, Indonesia researcher for Human Rights Watch.

West Papua, which forms about half of the island of New Guinea, was not part of Indonesia when it gained independence from the Netherlands in 1949. It was annexed in 1969 in a military-run election approved by the United Nations, in which about 1,000 hand-picked representatives were forced to vote against independence. West Papua was then ruled with the strongest of iron fists during Indonesia’s New Order era under General Suharto (1966-1998), before being granted special autonomy status in 2001 in a bid to quell the independence movement. The island’s population, estimated at around three million, are mostly Melanesian and follow either Christianity or indigenous religions, unlike the rest of Indonesia which is mostly Polynesian and Muslim.

Natural resources have played a significant role in shaping the trajectory of Papuan history. Shortly after the rigged election of 1969, Freeport McMoRan, an American mining company, began operating in the region. This marked the beginning of a long relationship which has proved prosperous for the company and the Indonesian government. However, tax revenues mostly go to the western part of Indonesia which is much more developed; West Papua, in the east of the country, is the poorest region in Indonesia and its people see few benefits from resource extraction.

Jokowi’s promises of reform

In 2014, then Jakarta Governor Joko “Jokowi” Widodo (now president of Indonesia), an outside candidate in the presidential elections with no connection to Indonesia’s elite or military, made several campaign promises to address human rights in Papua. This included addressing the ability of the military to use its own internal trial mechanism rather than civilian courts, opening up the region to the foreign media and freeing political prisoners. Papuans saw hope in Jokowi, and he won the two provinces (Papua and West Papua, formerly Papua until 2003) that make up West Papua by more than 30 percentage points each. In an election where Jokowi won nationally by only 6.3 per cent, the region provided him with some of his best results.

Even months after his inauguration, President Widodo reiterated his promises directly to Papuans after a police shooting in Paniai killed five people.

“Jokowi made bold promises in front of Papuans attending Christmas celebrations, saying that he would investigate and solve this case, and bring peace to Papua,” says Papang Hidayat, a researcher at Amnesty Indonesia.

Jokowi initially made a few attempts to improve the situation in West Papua by releasing five political prisoners in 2015 and declaring the region open to foreign journalists, for example. But his power has been limited due to the role of security forces in West Papua, including the Indonesian soldiers who have maintained their presence in the region despite the fall of Suharto’s military rule more than two decades ago. As a result, most of his promises to make reforms remain unfulfilled.

“It became clear to many people that whatever [Jokowi] says, it will not be implemented,” says Kareni. “He is only a face for democracy, but [he is] not actually in power.”

Harsono agrees: “The situation on the ground, especially the resistance from the bureaucracy, is much bigger than his presidential authority, I’m afraid.”

Attempting to address political grievances through economic development

One area in which Jokowi has been able to push forward is on development. The government is investing massively in roads, airports and agriculture, including a plan to build 1.2 million hectares of palm oil and sugar plantations.

Following decades of underdevelopment, “the government feels the need to pay more attention to Papua,” says Arie Ruhyanto, a lecturer in the Department of Politics and Government of Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. “Given the political setting, the option is limited to the non-political issues…hence, the Papua problem is always framed in the context of development issues, such as poverty and underdevelopment.”

In the end, this has only increased tensions, as many Papuans feel that development is either aimed at extracting resources or benefitting migrant workers from other parts of Indonesia. That’s one reason why the December attack by separatists was against the construction of the centrepiece of this new development plan – the 4,300 kilometre Trans-Papua Highway.

The response to the attack also highlights a major problem – that many in the Indonesian security apparatus do not distinguish between the peaceful protests and aspirations of the vast majority of Papuans, and a small minority of militants. In response to the Nduga attack, police arrested members of the West Papua National Committee (Komite Nasional Papua Barat, KNPB), a student-run organisation that coordinates peaceful protests, and forcefully closed their offices.

With the security forces entrenched and Jokowi’s power limited, many fear that the divide between the two sides is growing. Papuans know that the April elections are unlikely to change anything.

Gaining momentum

However, instead of waiting and hoping for action from Jakarta, more West Papuans are starting to agitate on local, national and global stages. In 2014, several West Papua independence organisations unified under the banner of the United Liberation Movement for West Papua (ULMWP), headed by the renowned Papuan activist Benny Wenda. The entity has been active within the 18-nation Pacific Islands Forum, founded in 1971, and the Melanesian Spearhead Group within it, which counts the four Melanesian nations of Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, as members.

“In 2015, the ULMWP put in an application bid for a membership of observer status,” says Kareni. The bid was successful. “For Papuans it was a recognition of our cause. The movement has gained a lot of momentum, especially in the Pacific.”

In 2017, organisers in West Papua undertook an impressive effort, smuggling a petition across the island and collecting signatures from 1.8 million residents – 70 per cent of the population – in support of an independence referendum, as promised in the 1960s. The petition was delivered to the United Nation’s Special Committee on Decolonization, to which Indonesia responded by arresting Yanto Awerkion, a KNPB activist and organiser of the petition drive, and sentencing him to 10 months in prison.

One small opportunity to shine a light on the human rights abuses taking place in West Papua came when a UN human rights panel issued a statement condemning racism and police violence in the region, resulting in a rare apology from the Indonesian police for one incident in particular.

There is also hope in the expression by the Indonesian foreign ministry that it will allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to visit West Papua. However, civil society are skeptical that the UN visit, if it takes place, will result in concrete changes.

“It is not new,” says Harsono, referring to previous invites that were not followed up with visas or details. “I won’t believe it until I meet them in Jayapura, until I see them in Papua.”

Meanwhile the election campaign is gathering steam, with the Nduga incident becoming a campaign issue, spurring increased nationalist sentiment against West Papuans. Unfortunately, there may be little that either Jokowi or his opponent – former military general Prabowo Subianto, who has a checkered record due to his involvement in East Timor – can do to change the plight of Papua.

“Whoever the president is, he will be in a difficult position since all political forces in Indonesia, whether the nationalist, the military or Islamic groups, seem to be reluctant to address the human rights issue,” says Ruhyanto. “It remains a marginal topic that only concerns a handful of activists and academics.” (*)

Nithin Coca is a freelance journalist who focuses on social and economic issues in developing countries, and has specific expertise in south-east Asia.

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Our selection of the photos that defined 2017

This was quite a moment (Picture: Getty)

For many people, 2017 is a year they won’t mind saying goodbye to.

It was filled with tragedy on a national and global scale, with war, natural disasters and loss of life dominating headlines.

As we come towards the end, it’s time to look back and consider everything that has gone before.

We’ve previously published the photos of the year selected by Getty and the Press Association.

Here are the ones our picture editors at Metro.co.uk have chosen as the stand-out images of 2017.

The image above was taken weeks after Donald Trump was inaugurated in January. Theresa May holding his hand was a powerful symbol of the new political landscape – very different from what many had expected last November.

The IPC World ParaAthletics Championships 2017

(Picture: Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)

London hosted the World Athletics Championships and the World ParaAthletics Championships, raising the country’s spirits.

Sara Andres Barrio of Spain and Fleur Jong of Netherlands are seen celebrating after competing in the Women’s 200m T44 final in July at London Stadium.

The Rohingya crisis

(Picture: AP Photo/Dar Yasin)

Over half a million refugees are estimated to have fled the Burmese military into Bangladesh, many perishing on the dangerous journey.

In this photo, Hanida Begum, a Rohingya Muslim woman, kisses her infant son, Abdul Masood, who died when the boat they were traveling in capsized just before reaching the shore of the Bay of Bengal, in Shah Porir Dwip on September 14.

The Mediterranean migrant crisis

(Picture: Getty)

A migrant tries to board a boat of the German NGO Sea-Watch in the Mediterranean Sea on November 6.

During a shipwreck, five people died, including a newborn child. According to the German NGO Sea-Watch, which has saved 58 migrants, the violent behavior of the Libyan coast guard caused the death of five people.

Wildfires in Portugal

(Picture: Getty)

Raging wildfires in Portugal killed at least 25 people and injured 16 others in June, most of them burning to death in their cars.

This photo shows a wildfire reflected in a stream at Penela, Coimbra, central Portugal.

Several hundred firefighters and 160 vehicles were dispatched late on June 17 to tackle the blaze, which broke out in the afternoon in the municipality of Pedrogao Grande before spreading fast across several fronts.

Saffiyah Khan faces down an EDL demonstrator

(Picture: PA)

This photo became a powerful image of defiance in the face of bigotry.

Saffiyah Khan faces down English Defence League protester Ian Crossland during a demonstration in the city of Birmingham, in the wake of the Westminster terror attack.

Jeremy Corbyn hugs local councillor Mushtaq Lasharie after the Grenfell Tower disaster

(Picture: Getty)

This photo was taken in contrast to the government’s stilted response to the Grenfell Tower disaster in June, when 71 people were killed in the burning building.

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn is shown hugging councillor Mushtaq Lasharie as he arrives at St Clement’s Church in west London where volunteers provided shelter and support for people affected by the fire.

A war photographer dies documenting Afghanistan

(Picture: Reuters)

This incredibly powerful photo shows the moment a mortar accidentally exploded, killing four Afghan soldiers and the US Army photographer who took the photo, Spc. Hilda I. Clayton.

It happened during an Afghan National Army live-fire training exercise in Laghman Province in July 2013.

The combat photographer’s family gave permission for the picture to be released four years on.

The military takes over Zimbabwe

(Picture: Getty)

Young women walk past an tank stationed by an intersection as Zimbabwean soldiers regulate traffic in Harare on November 15.

Zimbabwe’s military took control, with Robert Mugabe stepping down shortly later.

Emmanuel Macron is elected French president

(Picture: AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

French centrist presidential candidate Emmanuel Macron kisses his wife Brigitte before addressing his supporters at his election day headquarters in Paris on April 23.

Macron and far-right populist Marine Le Pen went head-to-head in a runoff in France’s presidential election, setting up a showdown over its participation in the European Union.

French riot police are set on fire

(Picture: Getty)

Officers were engulfed in flames as they faced protesters during a march for the annual May Day workers’ rally in Paris on May 1.

Six officers were injured during riots in protest against far right Marine Le Pen’s success in the first round of the French presidential election.

One officer, believed to be the man pictured above, was seriously hurt by a firebomb which exploded on the top of his helmet.

Firefighters respond to Grenfell Tower

(Picture: Splash News)

A rainbow appears in the water as firefighters respond to Grenfell Tower, painfully contrasted with the blackened building it appears in front of.

71 people died when the tower block was engulfed by flames in June.

An inquiry is now taking place into fire safety at the block, and whether there were failings which contributed to the loss of life.

Kellyanne Conway slouches on the sofa as Trump welcomes black dignitaries

(Picture: AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

This photo went viral as it as seen as disrespectful for Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the President, to kneel on the sofa with her feet on the seat while others stood.

Donald Trump was welcoming leaders of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) in the Oval Office of the White House in February.

Sloane Stephens wins the US Open

(Picture: AP Photo/Nick Didlick)

Winning player Sloane Stephens reacts as the lid to the championship trophy falls off during a photo app after the women’s singles final in September.

She beat Madison Keys, of the United States, to win the championship.

The UEFA Super Cup final soccer match

(Picture: AP Photo/Boris Grdanoski)

Manchester United’s Marouane Fellaini heads the ball during the final between Real Madrid and Manchester United at Philip II Arena in Skopje, on August 8.

People evacuate the beach due to wildfires

(Picture: AP Photo/Claude Paris)

Sunbathers are evacuated from the beach in Le Lavandou on the French Riviera as plumes of smoke rise in the air from burning wildfires on July 26.

The Invictus Games

(Picture: Chris Jackson/Getty Images for the Invictus Games Foundation)

Prince Harry sits with David Henson’s wife Hayley Henson and daugther Emily Henson at the Sitting Volleyball Finals during the Invictus Games 2017 on September 27, 2017 in Toronto, Canada.

The prince founded the annual games for disabled war veterans.

Jay Z and Beyonce

(Picture: Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for NARAS)

Jay Z and Beyonce pictured at the Grammy Awards in Los Angeles in February.

The couple welcomed twins this year.

Brexit is mocked in Germany

(Picture: Getty Images)

This float in a German parade gives an idea of what many think of Brexit on the continent.

Theresa May’s likeness was seen in Dusseldorf’s annual Rose Monday parade in February.

Political satire is a traditional cornerstone of the event, which also took aim at Trump, the rise of the far right across Europe and Germany’s national elections.

Jermain Defoe walks on onto the pitch with Bradley Lowery

(Picture: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Cancer sufferer Bradley Lowery achieved his dream of being a football mascot when his ‘best friend’ Jermaine Defoe, of Sunderland, brought him out onto the pitch.

The picture is taken before the Premier League match between Sunderland and Swansea City at the Stadium of Light on May 13.

Bradley lost his fight with neuroblastoma in July.

Defoe said ‘He will always be in my heart for the rest of my life.’

Hurricane Irma approaches Cuba and Florida

(Picture: NOAA via AP, File)

This satellite image taken on September 8 shows the super-strength storm approaching Cuba and Florida.

It devastated large parts of the Caribbean, including Richard Branson’s home on Necker Island.

The Westminster terror attack

(Picture: Reuters)

A woman assists an injured person after an incident on Westminster Bridge in London.

Five people were killed and dozens injured when Khalid Masood mowed down pedestrians on March 22.

Trump looks at the solar eclipse without glasses

(Picture: Reuters)

Donald Trump is pictured looking at the solar eclipse along with wife Melania and son Barron.

People were warned not to look directly at the eclipse without glasses, but Trump decided he knew bettern August 21.

The Queen is pictured in the mirror of her Range Rover

(Picture: Peter Macdiarmid/LNP)

Queen Elizabeth II was reflected in the door mirror of her Range Rover as she drove herself from the Royal Windsor Horse Show.

The five day equestrian event took place in the grounds of Windsor Castle.

MORE: Mum who got free food shop after complaining gives it all to food bank

MORE: Donald Trump proves again he doesn’t know how to drink water

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