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alexsmitposts · 4 years

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When the Criminal Liars Shout, “Conspiracy Theory!” You Should Stick to the Facts Do you know who coined the curse, “conspiracy theory” or accusation, “you are conspiracy theorist!” – It was nobody less than the CIA in the 1950s, to silence those who saw through the lie of the Cold War against the Soviet Union. This was a complete lie by US war strategists, to install fear in the population in general and in Europeans in particular and to boost the American Military Industrial complex – and presenting a constant threat to the communist Soviet Union. A complementary phrase developed in the last years is “fake news” — people who are saying well-founded truths, are being accused of spreading “false news” – and that by the very media that spread the real false news and lies in the first place. A dystopian world indeed, and most of the public doesn’t capture it. The fear factor is always a crucial element in dividing people, and in corralling them into chambers of fear – which allows anything outside to happen – building up armament, faking an arms race – when there was none. The Soviet Union came out of WWII – where they lost between 25 and 30 million people to safe Europe and the world from fascism. But western history books have it, that it was the United States and her European allies, who foremost defeated Hitler. This false news is continuingly being propagated, last by the recent WWII Victory Celebration on 9 May 2020 – without any consideration of the key role of the Soviet Union – today’s Russia – in defeating the Hitler Nazis. After this enormous sacrifice, the Soviet Union had no intention nor the resources to build up an army to defeat the west – as was being propagated by the US and then being aped by Europe, hence justifying 40 years of a Cold War, based on FEAR. The Cold War destroyed the natural relationship (trade, diplomatic, cultural) between Europe and today’s Russia. Today, however, anybody who dares to remind the western media, politicians and friends of the real conqueror of Hitler, namely the Soviet Union – is a “conspiracy theorist” – or someone who spreads “false news”. The Corona Crisis The latest example of conspiracy galore, is the corona crisis. What is playing out in front of our eyes, a worldwide lockdown of everything, followed almost by every government of this globe with similar severity, quarantine, confinement at home for almost everyone under the “pretext” of protecting you – the people – from an invisible enemy – a corona virus. And every government KNOWS it is a disaster for the national and world economy – it is social suicide. Yet they go along – with the orders of whom? As most of us who look for our own sources of information, outside the mainstream dominated, government dictated or supported lies, data collection and statistics on COVID-19 infections, as well as death rates, are vastly inflated and willingly falsified, to increase the fear factor and prolong the all destructive lockdown. This horrendous cheat is not just actively practiced in the US, but also in Europe. A point in case is Italy Unless solid proof is presented, like by the Italian Member of Parliament and a number of medical doctors, virologists and microbiologists from Italy and other European countries, as well as the US, anybody who refers to the fakeness and unreliability of the statistic is called a conspiracy theorist — a liar. And in some countries people who tell the truth are even liable to fines and legal pursuit. These threats and conspiracy accusations should shut us up. But they don’t and won’t. We want the truth to come out and be known to the entire world. The World Economic Crisis We already now realize the damage of unheard proportions. In the first four months of this so-called, WHO-denominated pandemic, we see a global disaster of proportions far exceeding those of 1929-33 and 2008-09. Never in recorded human history has so much misery been created. Bankruptcies abound, the stock market plunged so far by more than 30% (with some ups and down – called “quick profit taking” by the rich and powerful on the back of the small investors), a meltdown of productive assets, easy prey to be bought by large corporations – unemployment soaring to heights never experienced before by modern humanity, currently at least 37 million Americans out of a job.This does not account for those having given up looking for a job or claiming unemployment. According to Fox Business News, up to 40% may never get back to work. The FED predicts unemployment may reach 50% by the end of the year (in the worst 1929 recession period unemployment attained 25%). These are only US statistics. The situation in more chaotic Europe may be even worse. The International Labor Office (ILO) announced that within months worldwide unemployment may hit 1.6 billion people, half the globes work force. Many of these people, especially in the Global South have already been at the verge of poverty or under the poverty line, living from day to day, with no savings. Now they are condemned to begging – and many, maybe hundreds of millions, to die from famine, according to the World Food Program (WFP). Many if not most of them have no access to health services, no shelter, or any other form of social safety nets, because the COVID-caused economic collapse has wiped out even flimsy social safety structures poor countries may have set up. Misery no end. And this is only the tiny tip of the iceberg. The worst is still to come – when in a few weeks or months a clearer picture of what industries will live or die will emerge – and more people will be relegated to economic paupers. The Real Conspiracy Taking a few steps back – it is clear, it is no coincidence that the entire world is stricken by the same virus. That does not happen naturally – but can happen, as it did, when the virus is artificially implanted in every country – and that at the same time. So, there is a diabolical plan behind this so-called corona-crisis which does not even have to be a crisis, if we look at real disease and death rates – not the inflated, fear-inspiring ones. So, who is behind this all? – Well, without naming names and leaving that guessing up to you, there are several reports and events that have “predicted” such a pandemic. One of the most prominent ones, is the 2010 Rockefeller report – that described in surprising detail what is happening now, and calls it the “Lock Step” scenario. According to the report it should get worse and the current pandemic might be followed by a stronger wave later this year or in 2021. Strangely, the IMF’s economic projections for a “post-Covid economy, foresees 3 scenarios, two of which consider another outbreak in the second half of 2020, or in 2021. Event 201 on 18 October 2019 in NYC, simulating among other atrocities a corona pandemic that would leave 65 million dead within 18 months. This was the final stroke before the planned outbreak. Let’s just say that the evil masterminds behind this monstrous crisis are a few very rich, power-thirsty psychopaths and their families and cronies. They are planning a One World Government, also called the New World Order, or the One World Order – that has been under preparation since the latter part of the last century. It requires total control over the population and- a sizable population reduction. That’s where the eugenics come in. Many of the Rockefeller club, the “Bilderberg Society” members have been advocating population reduction for decades, including Bill Gates. He even bragged about it when in a 2010 TED talk in Southern California, “Innovating to Zero”, he said, “when we do a real god job vaccinating, we may reduce world population by 10% to 15%.” . He wants to eliminate poverty, literally. However, talking about it, and connecting the dots of what we are living today – is Conspiracy Theory. Why are Bill Gates’ new corona vaccines possibly killer vaccines? – Here is how it works. The Gates Foundation first created the pharmaceutical company “Moderna” in Seattle, Washington State, not far from his Microsoft empire, basically to produce tailor-made vaccines for the Gates Foundation. Then the foundation gave US$ 20 million to Moderna for the development of a COVID vaccine. A few days ago, Moncef Slaoas resigned from Moderna’s Board to become White House Director of Operation Warp Speed, a plan to fast-track a COVID vaccine. Nobody seems to bother about the flagrant conflict of interest – let alone the health risk that poses. But it gets even better. The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA), a little-known agency that is hardly in the news, had, according to Whitney Webb (Last American Vagabond) knowledge of the pandemic outbreak at least since last November, possibly earlier. This means that President Trump knew about it, but didn’t do anything about it, rather let it happen. His blaming China today for mishandling the corona crisis is a sheer lie and a propaganda bluff to denigrate China’s reputation and her rising economy and solid currency, the yuan – which may soon take over from the dollar as a key world reserve currency. DARPA is also financially supported by the Bill Gates Foundation. They have been working on new vaccine technologies for several years. The COVID-19 outbreak brought this research work to prominence. DARPA is closely collaborating with Bill Gates in applying this new technology to the vaccine, Bill Gates wants to develop and impose on the world population. According to Whitney Webb, DARPA and its partners agencies are planning to “produce DNA and RNA vaccines, classes of vaccine that has never been approved for human use in the US and involve injecting foreign genetic material into the human body. Notably, it is this very class of vaccine, now being produced by DARPA-partnered companies, that billionaire and global health “philanthropist” Bill Gates recently asserted has him “most excited”, relative to other Covid-19 vaccine candidates.”. This is not conspiracy theory; this is real conspiracy. This sounds like the kind of medical trials Hitler’s medical team has carried out. The perpetrators were condemned at Nuremberg. In our dystopian world, nobody will be punished, even if thousands or maybe hundreds of thousands will die from the Gates WHO-supported rush with an untested vaccine. Though, it would match the eugenics agenda. *** The so called (by WHO) COVID-19 “is the biggest scam ever perpetrated on the human race.” It is a multi-generational lie that has become a ‘false normal’, says Dr. Sherry Tenpenny, founder of the Tenpenny Integrative Medical Center. And as a piece of reference enhancing her reputation, she has 20 years of vaccine research experience and her articles are translated in 12 languages and she appears frequently on radio and TV to educate parents. “By putting vaccines into our bodies, we are inserting foreign matter, toxins, into our cells, like mercury and aluminum.” In legal terms vaccines are “unavoidably unsafe”. Through pharma lobbying, in 1986 Congress has passed the National Childhood Vaccine Children Act, a law whereby pharmaceutical companies cannot be sued for any damage their vaccines cause, including death. Vaccines have enormous side effects, especially in small children, causing various lasting diseases, like peanut allergies, asthma, eczema and – yes – autism. Particularly harmful vaccines are western-made MMR (measles), polio and DTP (diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis (whooping cough). Russian made vaccines have different compositions and have helped prevent millions from polio and other debilitating, crippling or killing diseases. Since 2002, when revenues from vaccines for US pharma companies amounted to about US$ 8 billion, revenues and profits have skyrocketed to more than 60 billion per year by 2020. Every new vaccine is worth about a billion dollars. Anybody who speaks out against vaccination, irrespective of the evidence given, is labeled a conspiracy theorist by the media, and often by the pharma-coopted medical society. People start understanding that Bill Gates and his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) call the shots on public health around the world, especially on vaccination – vaccination against the corona virus. The sinister new vaccine that Bill Gates in tandem with Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of NIAID (National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases), one of 27 agencies of the National Institute of Health (NIH), and supported by CDC and WHO – and in cooperation with DARPA – are described above. All Gates promoted vaccines are made by wester pharma-corporations. You should know, that the Bill Gates Foundation also generously funds NIAID, NIH and CDC. Both CDC and NIH own several hundred if not thousands of vaccine patents. So, they have a vested interest in promoting vaccination, no matter how much harm they cause to the population. But this cannot be questioned, let alone criticized – else you will be denigrated as a conspiracy theorist. In fact, western Governments hire psychologists, sociologist and medical doctors to give interviews and talk to the media, on conspiracy theories – in a last-ditch effort to dissuade people from thinking. And many still fall for the lie, but evermore stick to their own investigated information – and demonstrate and protest, often with civil disobedience, against harsh government measure of police -and often military crackdowns. They call out against Bill Gates and WHO, a corrupted organization that receives half to three quarters of its annual budget from private donors, mostly the pharma industry, Bill Gates, but also telecom-industries (that’s why WHO has been silent on the potentially nefarious effects of 5G). Bill Gates is the biggest single donor of WHO. Conflict of interest is never discussed in the media. Those who know the truth and don’t hesitate calling it out, are silenced by being called conspirators, liars by the media and – of course, by much of the medical community. In fact, Bill Gates literally calls the shots on matters of public health that affects the entire world. People – be aware! Also speaking out against vaccines and the lab produced viruses from which eventually vaccines are derived, is Dr. Judy Mikovits, a long-time NIAID micro-biologist, who has been severely punished by Dr. Fauci for defending her research results which Fauci wanted to hide. Her book, “Plague of Corruption” is currently Amazon’s number one Bestseller. That in itself tells a story of a public awakening. Referring to her and her numerous interviews, peer-reviewed scientific articles and her book, is called a conspiracy, because even her own outspokenness is called conspiracy – all in an effort to shut up critics of the current system, of the current new-normal that will soon require universal vaccination (Bill Gates with a sly smile wants to vaccinate 7 billion people in the next ten years). Will it be compulsory? Against most countries Constitutional and Democratic Rights? We don’t know. Seveb billion is a slight exaggeration, because Russia and China will certainly not vaccinate their people with vaccines produced under Bill Gates funding and supervision. But even if it is not compulsory, there may be so many “legal” hindrances put in place by western governments that most people eventually will roll over and accept the possibly killer vaccine that Bill Gates and his association of pharmaceuticals (GAVI) supported by WHO, will impose on humanity. For example, you may not be able to receive or renew your driver’s license, going to concerts, to the movies, to sports events, to fly – and so on. That’s all been talked about and is part of the 2010 Rockefeller Report’s ”Lock Step” scenario , in which we are currently hopelessly navigating – under lockdown and with social distancing’ – so nobody can get together and possibly organize a plot against these draconian inhuman measures. *** Robert F. Kennedy Jr., JFK’s, nephew, founder of “Children’s Health Defense” an NGO advocacy organization has this to say: “Bill Gates is the world’s largest vaccine producer and the single largest donor to WHO and the CDC Foundation. Those agencies are now marketing-arms for his vaccine empire. In January 2019, Gates had WHO declare “vaccine hesitancy” the top “global health threat” (with Ebola, cancer, war, and drug-resistant pathogens), signaling a worldwide Pharma Gold Rush to mandate vaccines to all people. Gates maxed-out in donations to Intelligence Committee Chair Adam Schiff’s Political Action Committee (PAC). In February 2019, Schiff wrote to Facebook, Google, Amazon, and Pinterest, demanding they censor “vaccine misinformation, “a term meaning all skepticism toward government and industry pronouncements about vaccine safety or efficacy––whether true or not. – “Vaccines are both effective and safe,” Schiff wrote. “There is no evidence to suggest that vaccines cause life-threatening or disabling disease.” This was misinformation. A year earlier, Schiff pushed a bill to hike the Vaccine Court admin budget to $11,200,000 to reduce vaccine injury backlogs. The court had already paid out $4 billion for vaccine deaths and disabilities. Facebook and Pinterest said that they will rely on Gates’s WHO and CDC to say which on-line statements are “misinformation or hoaxes.” Facebook and Google hired “FactChecker” (Politifact) to censor vaccine misinformation. The Gates Foundation is “FactChecker’s” largest funder. In his article, “Fact Checker, a Propaganda Device,” investigative journalist Jeremy Hammond concludes, “Facebook is guilty of misinforming its users about vaccine safety… They have no problem with lies about vaccine safety and effectiveness, as long as it’s intended to persuade parents to vaccinate their children.” On May 4, 2017, FactChecker declared as false, Del Bigtree’s statement, “Vaccines include aluminum and mercury, which are neurotoxins, and vaccines cause encephalopathy.” FactChecker explained, “Current data show vaccines are safe and do not cause toxicity or encephalopathy.” [However], manufacturer’s inserts reveal that many vaccines contain aluminum and mercury, and cause encephalopathy. – Finally, massive gifts to NPR & PBS buy Gates biased vaccine coverage. This statement is from public media Highwire. “I’m (Robert Kennedy) not anti-vaccine. I’m against dangerous, shoddily tested, zero liability vaccines with toxic ingredients. If someone came up with a thoroughly tested vaccine that was completely safe and efficient, one that performed as promised, one that made people healthier rather than sicker, I’d be for it. – Indeed, only an idiot would oppose it. But under no condition, would I support mandatory vaccination. Government has no right to force citizens to take unwanted medicines or to submit to involuntary medical interventions.” And he adds: “Google is a vaccine company. It has a $760 million partnership with Glaxo-the world’s largest vaccine maker and similar deals with Sanofi and Merck to mine your medical information. Googles mother company, Alphabet, has 4 vaccines developers working on flu, and other, vaccines.” Google and Youtube are removing videos from highly experienced doctors, epidemiologists, biologists and virologists – censuring is also the new normal – but they are promoting a billionaire software developer and a 16 year old climate change “expert” about viruses and vaccines — what does that say for the media, for the governments that support and finance the media. The Strategy behind shouting Conspiracy – Conspiracy Theorist There is a lot of psychology behind the strategy – leading people to a state of cognitive dissonance, of believing a narrative they know is a fiction, meaning, you know there is something not quite right, but you don’t’ dare questioning it. Why? Because of being called a conspiracy theorist. And why does that matter? Because it is a demeaning term, robbing the accused of his credibility (well thought-out by the CIA in the 1950s). Somebody stamped as a conspiracy theorist, believing in conspiracy theories – in fake news, makes you a lesser person in your friends’ eyes. So, they may avoid you – and if you stick to your opinion, you may gradually move into isolation. Being isolated, no friends, is fear-provoking. So, better believe the official narrative. The silver lining around this dark cloud is ever more visible and ever brighter. Be self-assured. Don’t cave in. Stick to your own research, to your opinion, regardless of being insulted as a conspiracy theorist. Stand up for what you believe – and do it with passion. Other people also have doubts, and when they see people defending their believes with passion, they may join you. And so, a critical mass grows. And the conspiracy theory strategy loses rapidly power – and fades away. Fading is already visible throughout European and US cities, where tens of thousands take to the streets, defending their civil and human and Constitutional Rights. These are encouraging signs. Hope never fades – until “we shall overcome.”

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in-this-light-on-this-evening · 5 years

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99 Question Tag

@your-basket-case tagged me - thank you so much dear!!! I'm a giant sucker for tag games, so here. WE. GO.

1.DO YOU SLEEP WITH YOUR CLOSET DOORS OPEN OR CLOSED?

Actually it's always half open because I need that air to circulate hah!

2. DO YOU TAKE THE SHAMPOOS AND CONDITIONER BOTTLES FROM HOTELS?

Only if I like the smell.

3. DO YOU SLEEP WITH YOUR SHEETS TUCKED IN OR OUT?

Tucked in! How can you sleep with sheets tucked out omg?

4. HAVE YOU STOLEN A STREET SIGN BEFORE?

I WISH

5. DO YOU LIKE TO USE POST-IT-NOTES?

Hm not really. I usually keep a big notebook/notepad on my desk and I fill it with things to remember, drafts, etc

6. DO YOU CUT OUT COUPONS BUT THEN NEVER USE THEM?

We don't have as a big coupon culture here in Italy as it happens to be in America but sometimes I do!

7. WOULD YOU RATHER BE ATTACKED BY A BIG BEAR OR A SWARM OF BEES?

Bear.

8. DO YOU HAVE FRECKLES?

No but I wish I had them!

9. DO YOU ALWAYS SMILE FOR PICTURES?

For selfies yes, for other pictures not so much.

10. WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST PET PEEVE?

I have to many, honestly, but I guess Cancelled Culture and psycho stans are the biggest at the moment.

11. DO YOU EVER COUNT YOUR STEPS WHEN YOU WALK?

Maybe.

12. HAVE YOU PEED IN THE WOODS?

Yes. Traumatising experience.

13. HAVE YOU EVER POOPED IN THE WOODS?

You insane? I'm too scared of pooping in the woods.

14. I think I deleted this question on accident.

Lost in time and spaaace!

15. DO YOU CHEW YOUR PENS AND PENCILS?

Chewing pens and pencils? In this economy?

16. HOW MANY PEOPLE HAVE YOU SLEPT WITH THIS WEEK?

3 with my imaginary lover.

17. WHAT SIZE IS YOUR BED?

I think it's an European King sized but I'm not 100% sure. I WANT THE CEASAR ONE.

18. WHAT IS YOUR SONG OF THE WEEK?

Hm, I'm still losing my mind over "Almost (Sweet Music)" by Hozier but I just discovered the new James Blake's album and that, as a whole, is a big mood for this week as well.

19. IS IT OK FOR GUYS TO WEAR PINK?

Bitch yes?

20. DO YOU STILL WATCH CARTOONS?

Sometimes.

21. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE MOVIE?

Hm, nothing comes to my mind at the moment.

22. WHERE WOULD YOU BURY HIDDEN TREASURE IF YOU HAD SOME?

I can't tell you. It wouldn't be hidden anymore although:

23. WHAT DO YOU DRINK WITH DINNER?

Diet coke or water because I'm too broke for wine.

24. WHAT DO YOU DIP A CHICKEN NUGGET IN?

Nothing. I die like men.

25. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE FOOD?

Sushi, pizza, pierogi, carbonara, tomato & corn salad, fried mozzarella, tiramisù.

26. WHAT MOVIES COULD YOU WATCH OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND STILL LOVE?

Stardust, Dead Poets Society, Mean Girls, Little Miss Sunshine

27. LAST PERSON YOU KISSED/KISSED YOU?

A guy that broke my heart last year.

28. WERE YOU EVER A BOY/GIRL SCOUT?

Yes!

29. WOULD YOU EVER STRIP OR POSE NUDE IN A MAGAZINE?

If I wasn't an ugly potato... yes.

30. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WROTE A LETTER TO SOMEONE ON PAPER?

2 years ago, I think.

31. CAN YOU CHANGE THE OIL ON A CAR?

32. EVER GOTTEN A SPEEDING TICKET?

Who do you think I am? A redneck?

33. EVER RAN OUT OF GAS?

No.

34. WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE KIND OF SANDWICH?

Rye bread + thin spread of cream cheese + lettuce + thin slices of chicken or smoked ham + tomatoes + red onion + pickled artichoke

35. BEST THING TO EAT FOR BREAKFAST?

Granola. Dry. Straight from your hand as if you're a starving horse in disguise.

36. WHAT IS YOUR USUAL BEDTIME?

00:00-01:00AM

37. ARE YOU LAZY?

I'm not lazy. I procrastinate.

38. WHEN YOU WERE A KID, WHAT DID YOU DRESS UP AS FOR HALLOWEEN?

Back in time Halloween wasn't a thing in Poland, so unfortunately I didn't dress up.

39. WHAT IS YOUR CHINESE ASTROLOGICAL SIGN?

I'M A HORSE.

40. HOW MANY LANGUAGES CAN YOU SPEAK?

3: Italian, Polish and English

41. DO YOU HAVE ANY MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTIONS?

Nein, but I'd like to get Wired subscription.

42. WHICH ARE BETTER: LEGOS OR LINCOLN LOGS?

What are even Lincoln Logs... Did Lincoln harvest the logs himself, though?

43. ARE YOU STUBBORN?

Yes and no. Depends on the situation.

44. WHO IS BETTER: LENO OR LETTERMAN?

My tit.

45. EVER WATCH SOAP OPERAS?

Not anymore.

46. ARE YOU AFRAID OF HEIGHTS?

Not really. But if I find myself on the edge of something high without a fence, I'll probably panic and casually fall down.

47. DO YOU SING IN THE CAR?

Do I sing? No. I PERFORM.

48. DO YOU SING IN THE SHOWER?

Only when I'm home alone.

49. DO YOU DANCE IN THE CAR?

Yeah, sometimes when the inspiration and the right bop kick in.

50. EVER USED A GUN?

A glue gun.

51. LAST TIME YOU GOT A PORTRAIT TAKEN BY A PHOTOGRAPHER?

Does the mugshot for the drivers licence count?

52. DO YOU THINK MUSICALS ARE CHEESY?

Depends.

53. IS CHRISTMAS STRESSFUL?

The concept by itself isn't stressful. My family tends to ruin it with the overdramatic stress.

54. EVER EAT A PIEROGI?

BITCH THAT'S MY MOTHERLAND'S MEAL WE SNIFF THAT SHIT LIKE COCAINE.

55. FAVORITE TYPE OF FRUIT PIE?

Apple, rhubarb, pear.

56. OCCUPATIONS YOU WANTED TO BE WHEN YOU WERE A KID?

Doctor, fashion designer, archeologist, paleonthologist...

57. DO YOU BELIEVE IN GHOSTS?

Yes. I've had paranormal experiences and I'm still not over it.

58. EVER HAVE A DEJA-VU FEELING?

Very often.

59. DO YOU TAKE A VITAMIN DAILY?

No. I die like men.

60. DO YOU WEAR SLIPPERS?

Yes!

61. DO YOU WEAR A BATH ROBE?

I don't have any but I would like to wear one of those super cozy and soft ones!

62. WHAT DO YOU WEAR TO BED?

Hmm, depends. Now I'm wearing a hoodie, leggings and socks because it's cold as fuck.

63. WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST CONCERT?

I'm pretty sure it was DeMono, a Polish band. I casually saw them with my parents when we were on holiday back in 1997.

64. WALMART, TARGET, OR KMART?

I'M NOT AMERICAN BITCH. TESCO.

65. NIKE OR ADIDAS?

Both actually!

66. CHEETOS OR FRITOS?

What the fuck are FRITOS? I've never tried them, so I can't answer lol!

67. PEANUTS OR SUNFLOWER SEEDS?

BOTH. I'm a sucker for NUTS.

68. EVER HEAR OF THE GROUP TRES BIEN?

Of what now? Is this another American thing I'm not aware of because of my ancient and unbothered European nature?

69. EVER TAKE DANCE LESSONS?

Nein!

70. IS THERE A PROFESSION YOU PICTURE YOUR FUTURE SPOUSE DOING?

I don't care, really. I do care about them doing what they love and want to do. If they'll be happy about it, so will I :')

71. CAN YOU CURL YOUR TONGUE?

Sí, señor!

72. EVER WON A SPELLING BEE?

We don't have this in Europe asdfkgkf

73. HAVE YOU EVER CRIED BECAUSE YOU WERE SO HAPPY?

Kind of.

74. OWN ANY RECORD ALBUMS?

I have regular cd's but I would love to start a vinyl record collection.

75. OWN A RECORD PLAYER?

Not yet!

76. DO YOU REGULARLY BURN INCENSE?

I used to but I don't do that anymore.

77. EVER BEEN IN LOVE?

Yes but nobody loved me back.

78. WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN CONCERT?

QUEEN. On the more possible side: Andrea Boccelli, The Struts, George Ezra, MORE HOZIER, The Killers, Arctic Monkeys... The list goes on!

79. WHAT WAS THE LAST CONCERT YOU SAW?

HOZIER. It was a magical experience, I love him so much, I want to cry 😭♥️

80. HOT TEA OR COLD TEA?

Both.

81. TEA OR COFFEE?

Tea.

82. SUGAR COOKIES OR SNICKERDOODLES?

Both.

83. CAN YOU SWIM WELL?

Avarage just so I don't die sucked into the abyss.

84. CAN YOU HOLD YOUR BREATH WITHOUT HOLDING YOUR NOSE?

Wait, people CAN'T do that? What dysfunction do you have? It's literally so easy?

85. ARE YOU PATIENT?

Yes, very much but in the last couple of years I've started slowly losing my shit in certain situations.

86. DJ OR BAND AT A WEDDING?

Band.

87. EVER WON A CONTEST?

No. I'm an avarage bitch that thinks she's more than that but the truth is that I'm not a winner.

88. HAVE YOU EVER HAD PLASTIC SURGERY?

Does the surgery on my toe count?

89. WHICH ARE BETTER: BLACK OR GREEN OLIVES?

BLACK

90. CAN YOU KNIT OR CROCHET?

Not yet but I will learn at some point!

91. BEST ROOM FOR A FIREPLACE?

Living room.

92. DO YOU WANT TO GET MARRIED?

If I meet the love of my life then yes. The bar is too high, though, so I'm not sure if that's gonna happen haha!

93. IF MARRIED, HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN MARRIED?

94. WHO WAS YOUR HIGH SCHOOL CRUSH?

His name was William and that was the most embarrassing moment of my life because a bitch that considered herself as my "friend" told everybody that I had a crush on him. When he got to know it, he basically humiliated me in front of the entire clique, if not the whole school. I hate him ever since and it's been already 10 years or so.

95. DO YOU CRY AND THROW A FIT UNTIL YOU GET YOUR OWN WAY?

No.

96. DO YOU HAVE KIDS?

My dog is my son.

97. DO YOU WANT KIDS?

Kids? In this economy? On this planet? Just for my liking? Absolutely fucking not. That would be a crime and absolute torture for them and I don't want them to suffer as I do.

98. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR?

Black, emerald green, gold, yellow, purple.

99. DO YOU MISS ANYONE RIGHT NOW?

Freddie Mercury.

I tag: @santonicababy, @chaotic-pansexual, @songparade, @fossa-poplitea and everybody else who wants to do this! :’D

#tag thingy #long post

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l-i-n-u-s-k-a · 5 years

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I wanna know more anout Lucilla 😀

Thank you fam :D

Full Name: Lucilla OreficeGender and Sexuality: female, straightPronouns: she/herEthnicity/Species: Vampire, ItalianBirthplace and Birthdate: Florance (Italy), 1026, never bothered to give her a date. She looks 20Guilty Pleasures: Bold to you to assume she can feel guilt. She likes to get high on drug addicts blood thoPhobias: The VOID, fucking DEMONS (campaign reasons) What They Would Be Famous For: All her acquaintance, contact, the sh*t about the prophecies on Golgonda she found (she didn’t find them, the GM desperately threw them at us)What They Would Get Arrested For: kidnapping, falsification, accidental impaling of a tsimische in his own domain (”That did NEVER HAPPEN, and even if it did WE DON’T TALK ABOUT IT!”)OC You Ship Them With: no one. But maybe if she found the right Brujah…OC Most Likely To Murder Them: my friend’s character I was playing with at the time. Who died miserably the night after I quit. I had the only brain cell in the entire groupFavorite Movie/Book Genre: P O E T R Y ! Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: stereotypical American hero protagonist. She died lived through centuries of story telling development and she knows That is the laziest and most boring character writing possible Talents and/or Powers: Talents: playing the oud and the bass, singing, scribbling some poems. Powers… I’d had to dust the character sheet for thoseWhy Someone Might Love Them: always says what people wants to hear, loyal (to people she defines worthy), compliant, great conversationalistWhy Someone Might Hate Them: pusillanimous, prep/jock, if she doesn’t consider you worthy of her respect has no consideration to you and is a real jerkHow They Change: she grew confidence and independence from the 13th to the 16th century and was the one to take the more initiative (our GM always complains with me about that - that the others never take initiative in anything), then I know there’s a dark spot from the 17th and the 20th century because that is when I stopped playing Vampire, but I know for a fact she grew fond super strong of the 60s/70s (of the 20th century) and fell in love with London and its culture, and so decided to settle there. After the “campaign reasons” mentioned earlier, she decided that being a leader was really not her ideal, so she now just enjoys the little things of death life, like music, art, getting high on blood (which all result to the same effect basically) and she’s content on just acting like a spy in the fields for the Camarilla Why You Love Them: She was the first character I’ve ever created and played for a tabletop rpg, I based a lot of her traits on my special interests for medieval times and Renaissance, her modern design is largely inspired by Sniper Wolf’s design, she gave me the opportunity to act with a confidence otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to put on. It’s really a shame I had to quit playing her (for my own sanity and mental health), because I really wish I could have done some interesting development with her

#thank you for asking Alek!#my oc

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wineanddinosaur · 3 years

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Next Round: How Caffe Dante Went From Neighborhood Coffee Shop to ‘World’s Best Bar’

When Linden Pride took over ownership of New York City’s Caffe Dante in 2015, he inherited its rich history, too. Dante opened in 1915 as a small coffee shop in the West Village and quickly became a beloved spot among locals. Over a century later, the 900-square-foot café is still serving up coffee, but has also gained global accolades for its cocktails — including a 2019 distinction as “World’s Best Bar.”

In this “Next Round” episode, Pride chats with host Zach Geballe about what brought him to New York from Australia, how the historic Italian café came into his ownership, and how the pandemic helped Dante define itself as a brand. Part of the key to Pride’s success? Doing classic cocktails really, really well.

Tune in and learn more about Caffe Dante at https://www.dante-nyc.com/.

LISTEN ONLINE

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OR CHECK OUT THE CONVERSATION HERE

Zach Geballe: From Seattle, Washington, I’m Zach Geballe, and this is a “VinePair Podcast Next Round” conversation. We’re bringing you these episodes so that we can explore a wider range of issues and stories in the drinks world. Today, I have the privilege of speaking with Linden Pride, who is the co-owner of the world-renowned bar, Caffe Dante, in New York City. Linden, thanks so much for your time.

Linden Pride: Zach, great to be here. Thanks for having me.

Z: Yeah, my pleasure. As I was mentioning to you before we started recording, this is very fun for me because Caffe Dante was one of my favorite haunts when I was an NYU student back in the aughts. It’s so cool that it’s become this whole other animal now. The coffee’s still good, by the way. Last time I was there, I had an espresso as well. But now, onto this cocktail bar. Tell me, first and foremost, what’s your background like and what were you doing before you wound up in New York City?

L: To your point about the history that you had with Caffe Dante previously, we still have people walking in off the street every week, telling us stories about when they used to visit Caffe Dante. I have to say, taking over the ownership of such a public institution comes with a great deal of responsibility in ways that were totally unexpected. I’m looking forward to talking a little bit more about that, but I love to hear that it was a haunt that you used to enjoy, yourself.

Z: I have to ask, since you brought this up, do you get people who come in who have no idea that it’s a cocktail bar?

L: Oh, yes, absolutely. We have people come in and say, “I’ve been coming here for 30 years and it’s not quite as I remember it.” Or, they’ll come in and say, “I’ve been coming here for 30 years, and nothing’s changed.” I think to myself, we’ve been here for seven years and I don’t remember seeing you once. It certainly holds a very important piece of culinary or gastronomic nostalgia for people in the village. We feel very privileged to be a part of that long story. I grew up in Australia. My mom is a chef and a food writer. I was always kind of in the hospitality industry. I think this is unknown to a lot of people in the States, but Australia has a very rich Italian and Greek culinary culture. We had a lot of Italian and Greek expats move to Australia post World War II. With them, they hung on to the traditions of great coffee and wonderful seasonal produce and food. Growing up in Australia, on every other corner there was a deli with cold cuts and so forth. Italian coffee shops and great little trattorias were very much a part of life as we grew up in Australia. I’ve been working in restaurants from the age of 17. I started with a chef in Australia who has a wonderful restaurant group. It was always a dream of mine to be able to travel to and eventually work in New York. I always saw New York as the mecca of the restaurant world. I think a lot of that had to do with a lot of these wonderful, old institutions. They were almost like living history and were so inspiring. In Australia, sometimes things feel a little bit new and without that great history. New York was always on a pedestal for us. Finding our way here was somewhat inevitable, I think.

Z: Gotcha. So, how do you view Caffe Dante at this moment? How do you describe it? What is it? Was that the idea all along when you came to New York? Or, did that idea come to you at some point after arriving?

L: The way that I would describe Caffe Dante is that it’s an all-day, all-occasion café, bar, and eatery. We open every morning for breakfast and coffee. We trade all the way through the lunch and aperitivo hours into dinner and late night. We’re open 14 hours a day, every day of the year. It’s an amenity to the community. People are able to fall in and grab a coffee or sit down and have a three-course meal or grab a cocktail. We certainly view it as an all-day, all-occasion venue. I’ve been bartending since I first got into restaurants. Initially, I wanted to be a chef, but I was talked down from that promptly, which I’m grateful for.

Z: Probably for your own good.

L: I found it a lot more fun in the bar, where I could explore, have fun with great cocktails, and be a lot more social. Bartending and bars always came naturally to me because it was what I’d focused on and how I got my apprenticeship in hospitality. When I came to New York, I moved here initially to work with a design and conceptual agency called AvroKO. They did a lot of hospitality design, but also concept development, and so on and so forth. I spent nearly five years with them in New York, and I learned a lot about sides of the business that I didn’t understand and hadn’t learned in Australia, which was largely the design and conceptual side of things. My wife had moved to New York at the time. She had been supporting me from Australia because, when I first moved here, I couldn’t afford to pay my rent. I’m grateful that she was supporting me, but by the time she got here, she said, ‘You’re never around, you’re always traveling, you’re always working, and if you want me to stick around, we need to do something together because there’s no other way to get your attention at the moment.” We decided that we wanted to open our own space. At the time, we were looking at a few other different venues in this area, in the West Village. One of them was a space on Grove Street. We got to a final negotiating point with the then-owner, and at the last minute, he said to me something along the lines of, “I’m not going to pay the brokers, so, just fold that into your costs.” That basically put the price that we had agreed upon up by about 20 percent. I said, this is ridiculous. I was still learning my way around things at that point. The next day, he signed the space to someone else and she opened a wonderful restaurant, Via Carota, in that space. But, it shifted our focus. We were approached with an off-market deal for Caffe Dante. It had been in the Flotta family for the better part of 40 years. The father, who was very much a hospitality man, ran it. He was in his 80s and he’d handed it to his son. His son had run it into the ground, somewhat. He’d made it into an internet café and all sorts of strange things. Mario Sr. had said to us, I want Caffe Dante to live on, but I don’t want my son to run it, and I’m not interested in doing it anymore. Magnolia Bakery, at the time, was banging on the door and trying to put a cupcake store in there. We said that we would love to retain the name. I think it was a blessing that we missed out on the space on Grove Street, because we’re now able to channel something that we’d really grown up around, which is this Italian all-day café. We channeled it into a space that represented something far greater than we felt that we could create in five, 10, 15 years, which was this historical, legendary coffee shop.

Z: Caffe Dante goes back over 100 years, right? To sometime in the 1910s?

L: 1915. That area is fascinating. It was known as South Village. Little Italy and the South Village were on either side of SoHo, which was the industrial production of the garment district. Italian migrants used to live in this area, the South Village. It was always very strongly Italian, especially around that period, around the turn of the century into the early 1900s. To the point that we spoke about before, a lot of those people who come in and share stories with us have so many wonderful stories about the old Italian ways. There’s a table in the window, which we call table 20. It was the widow’s table, and everyday at 4 p.m., a group of women would come and have coffee. It was always reserved for them. There was always a big game of poker that was played downstairs in the basement. We converted it to our walk-in. But, to this day, it’s got this huge steel door and very heavy bracing that you wouldn’t otherwise need to store paper straws and things. During the renovation, when we demolished one of the walls, I found a stack of five packets of bullets in the wall.

Z: Wow.

L: There are all sorts of wonderful old things going on.

Z: I want to ask a question about operations that I find really fascinating. You mentioned that you are not just a cocktail bar. You do breakfast, lunch, and dinner services. You’re open for very long hours. It’s maybe not completely unique among some of the great cocktail bars in the world, but it’s definitely unusual for what we think of as an evening and late-night establishment. I find it impressive that you’re able to have an operation that includes all of these services that aren’t necessarily connected all that often to cocktails. That said, presumably, people walk in at any time of day and assume, since this is one of the greatest cocktail bars in the world, they can get a great cocktail at 10 a.m., 10 p.m., or anywhere in between. How do you handle that from an operation standpoint as opposed to a lot of great cocktail bars that probably don’t open until 5 or 6 p.m. in many cases.

L: It’s a good question. It certainly wasn’t something that we were able to do right from the beginning. We really had to work at it. It was as Dante evolved. It’s a small space. It’s only 900 square feet, 55 seats. We were averaging around 550 to 600 covers a day, through 2019, pre-Covid. We had to be able to keep up with volume. We had to evolve the drinks menu because it had to be engineered in a way that could be based on speed and ease of replication. All our draft lines, except for two that have beer, have cocktails on them. We do a lot of cocktails on tap. There’s a lot of bottled cocktails that are batched, diluted, and frozen. Those obviously lend themselves to be able to get drinks out quickly. It also means that at any time during the day, when we’re busy enough, we’re able to sustain it. Somebody could jump behind the bar, make one of the drinks, and they would be perfectly served, consistent, and exactly as they always should be. That’s because we developed these systems that allowed us to keep up with the volume. A lot of work and time had gone into developing those processes. Also, our philosophy has always been: Whether we’re serving a cocktail, great coffee, or non-alcoholic tea, whatever it is, we really want to try to chase excellence in all of those fields. You see that in some of our regular customers who come in. We have a regular who comes in at 4 p.m., pretty much every day of the week, and has his cappuccino, biscotti, and so forth. He’s one of our great regulars, not just for the cocktails, but because we try to focus as much on all the beverages and items as much as each of the cocktails.

Z: Very cool. I want to talk a little bit about the cocktails, because for most of our listeners, that’s what they know you for. One thing that’s also interesting to me is, and I’ve experienced this when going to Caffe Dante a couple of years ago when I was last in New York, how much of the cocktail list seems really about what you might consider the perfect renditions of very established cocktails. Sometimes, people think about craft cocktail bars and talk about what they’ve created out of thin air. What cocktails have they invented? What I think of — and tell me if I’m on the right track or not — is that so much of what you guys do at Dante is perfection of established classics. Does that sound right?

L: Yeah. It’s funny. The phrase we use and what we always come back to is innovation through authenticity. We try to find ways of going back to the root, traditional service method, ingredient, or even ritual that surrounds some of these classic cocktails. We try to find ways that we can use better produce, a different technique, or more advanced technology to elevate what would otherwise be a classic cocktail that you can get anywhere. I think the Garibaldi is obviously a great example of that. That was inspired by, funny enough, an Italian restaurant in Australia where you’d walk off the beach on Bondi Beach and there was a place there called North Bondi Italian. You could still be dripping wet from the ocean, stand up at the bar, and order a Campari. There were just mountains of grapefruit and oranges behind the bar, and they’d squeeze it for you fresh. There was just something so tantalizing about the fresh orange with a bit of Campari and the saltwater in the ocean. We wanted to find a way to emulate that sensory moment around a drink that was a very simple classic cocktail that was probably better known as Campari and orange as opposed to the Garibaldi. That pursuit of finding the best way, glassware, and so forth to be able to present these drinks has always been at the core of the way that we develop the menu. The bartender who worked with us when we first opened, who I’d worked with previously, we spent a lot of time really pushing in those early months. We were asking, what will we be known for? We didn’t want to bring along anything that we’d done previously. We wanted to start fresh. A big thing that we used to talk about was about some of the world’s most famous brands. You might love the quality and splash out to buy a beautiful pair of Gucci shoes or one of the well-known brands. Now, there might also be a beautiful pair of black shoes that you love so much. Next season, you go back and don’t just buy the same pair of black shoes again. You want to see the same tailoring, the same innovation, the same attention to quality, but you want to see how they’ve evolved. That was our question. What are we doing that is interesting, but is still core to our beliefs of presenting classics and innovation through an authentic approach? It’s still really cool how we continue to evolve the brand now.

Z: I want to talk a little bit about the last couple of years for you guys. In 2019, you’re named the best bar in the world. That obviously is a big deal and very exciting. It probably made you happy and maybe also a little scared. I don’t know. That’s a lot of expectation. Is there anything you remember from the time when you found that out? Was it expected? Was it a surprise? How did that strike you?

L: It was an interesting year. We won Best American Restaurant Bar for Tales of the Cocktail. They take the finalists who win, out of the eight categories, then announce their World’s Best Bar out of those eight. We won that in July. That was unexpected. We literally fell off our seats. Tales of the Cocktail is a special industry accolade. That was astounding. We had to, immediately, really lift our game. People walk into any establishment with certain expectations, and it’s your job in hospitality to exceed those expectations. All of a sudden, the expectations got pushed. That presented challenges. In October, two and a half months later, it was the World’s 50 Best. We were No. 9 the year before. We got in the top 10 that October, and watched as the results kept getting closer to the top spot. We were all standing there with our arms around each other, embraced. It was incredible, and such a huge surprise and accolade. When I really distill down why Dante is held in such high regard by so many people to be able to win those two awards in the same year, I think it’s really about how people are made to feel when they walk into the space. It’s not necessarily just the drink in their hand. It’s a combination of the history of the space, the sense of hospitality, the service, and the drinks. It all comes together in a way that’s transportive. It takes you to a happy place. It was an amazing, incredible 2019 to come off those two awards. We were very excited to be building towards opening a second Dante in the West Village at the start of 2020. That was due to open around March 5. That didn’t happen. We were coming off such a high into such unknown territory. We could probably spend a whole podcast talking about the Covid process. But, I think Covid’s actually defined our brand, restaurant, bar, and program. It helped us define it so much better than we’d ever anticipated, because we had to strip back to basics and focus on what we were passionate about and stood for. It allowed us to grow in a very special way, without the mania and the frenzied reaction we had to have to winning those awards.

Z: Makes sense. Let’s talk a little bit about that challenge and growth. We’ve chronicled on this podcast the many, many different ways that people have gotten through this last year and a half. We can talk a little bit about this. What I’m mostly curious about is what you said. It’s this idea of redefining, or more finely defining, what Caffe Dante stands for and also, how you’ve started to come out on the other side. Correct me if I’m wrong on the details here, but you do now have a second location in Aspen, Colo., right? Was that always in the works? Did that timing get shifted around because of Covid? How have things transformed in the last year and a half?

L: The Aspen project was not planned. It came out of Covid. That’s the third location, actually — two in New York and one in Aspen. We announced to the staff on a Monday that we were going to close because of Covid. We reopened again on that Tuesday with to-go cocktails, because they changed the mandate in New York. For us, and with my wife and I especially, it just didn’t make sense for us to stop. First of all, employer-based health insurance is something that never really made sense to me.

Z: Sure.

L: During a pandemic, especially, we’re going to close our business and send all the staff out with no health insurance? It just didn’t feel right. We had an employee who was pregnant. Serving and looking after people is obviously at the core of what we do. We wanted to continue to help. That was our No. 1 goal coming into that Covid period. With that as our North Star, we were able to continue to evolve in what we were doing. We started supplying hospital meals to the local hospitals. We ended up doing about 500 meals a week. We did that for 15 weeks. There was also the development of the cocktail to-go programs, which then evolved into bottled cocktails. I’m fast forwarding through a lot of this, but the bottled cocktails helped us end up with Jean-Georges here in New York. He was in a similar position, but he wasn’t able to retain bartenders. He asked us to help develop bottled cocktails to sell in the restaurant so they could keep going. That landed us in a project in South Seaport called The Greens. They have outdoor, glass cabins through the winter during Covid. We were serving our bottled cocktails there. The innovation and the striving to stay open enabled us to be very creative. There were no limits. Interestingly enough, you spend your whole hospitality career thinking about, how do I lift the guest experience within these four walls? How do I make the music better? The lights better? The plates? The glassware? Then, all of a sudden, we had to ask ourselves, how do we create our experience entirely outside of the four walls? How does our brand travel? How does it end up in people’s homes? What’s that experience when they open the bottle in their house? What music are they listening to in their home? How do we connect to people outside of these walls? It totally changed the way that we thought about our business. That really was core to how we were able to not only stay relevant, but survive, then realize this opportunity with Jean-Georges, and then, ultimately, Aspen. You know, I remember talking to a journalist in June of last year who asked me this question: A lot of people are very interested in how to develop a bottled cocktail program and the strategy behind it. Could you provide some pointers, please? I remember saying, “OK, pretend that somebody takes away your business. Your landlord is still asking for the rent. You want to make sure your staff gets health care. You want to provide a home for your kids. That’s basically the motivation and the strategy. Do whatever the hell you can.”

Z: You mentioned that one of the things you had already realized, in terms of designing a program and a service that could work in the Caffe Dante space, was that what worked was a lot of pre-batched, bottled, draft cocktails. You were maybe more positioned than someone who had a great cocktail bar where everything was made to order and would have a harder time translating that. Does that sound right?

L: Yeah. Funny enough, our coffee cups for to-go coffee had a promotion for our Negronis. At the start, people were just coming in for coffees, and they didn’t know about our Negroni program. This was also 2015 and the Negroni didn’t quite have the same following that it does now. We put on the other side of the coffee cup, next time, join us for a Negroni. That was literally sitting on the counter when we were talking about how to do to-go cocktails. I was like, well, look at this. Let’s just serve the Negronis in this, what it was maybe always deemed to be in. Negroni in the coffee cup that says Negroni. We also had stickers left over from a Tales of the Cocktail activation that said “one for the road.” We stuck them on plastic cups. We certainly had collateral. Those were visually appealing things to be able to put on Instagram to get people to think, that’s fun and cool. Let’s go check it out. I would agree, we had a head start with some of the science behind making sure the dilution is perfect and the temperature’s right and so forth, in some of those more complex cocktails. We could produce them and get them out, to go, much more easily. It really came down to constantly trying to understand who our consumers were and what they were looking for.

Z: I’m sure you were also understanding that that was evolving over the period of the last year and a half. What people wanted in May, June, and July of 2020 is maybe not what they want this year.

L: Absolutely. Fascinatingly, it hit a pinnacle for us, with the evolution of these whole new service standards, when we came into the holiday season last year. We were able to sell bottled cocktails as gift packs for Christmas. It was fascinating. We turned into what I felt like was a scene out of “Breaking Bad,” with batches of cocktails and pouring them. It felt like a bootleg operation, because people were buying gift packs and all sorts of things. It was amazing to see how people had evolved and responded to that. Here we are now, in New York with no to-go cocktails, unfortunately. We still get many inquiries every week. It’s amazing how much that resonated with people when it was around. Very interesting.

Z: I want to hear a little bit more about the Aspen project, and then I may have one final question. That just recently came online, right?

L: Yeah. We opened at Christmas last year.

Z: What is it like? I’ve never been to Aspen, so you’ll have to help me understand.

L: The impetus for Aspen was, at Christmas time last year, that there was no indoor dining in New York. We had a pretty good summer and fall. We had a good team of staff and we realized that we were going to lose a lot of business, because who wants to sit on the sidewalk in New York in the middle of January? Some people did, bless them. Not a lot of people. A lot of smaller towns had taken off. People had moved out of the big cities. There was definitely a spike in places on Long Island and so forth, in terms of where consumers were. We thought Aspen and the mountains in winter would be a great place to be outdoors, safe, and healthy. If we could provide an amenity there, then it would be very appealing to send some of our staff out to work so that we didn’t lose them. And at that time the Surf Lodge and Snow Lodge owner approached us and said, look, we’re not going to go ahead with the project in Aspen this year because we can’t maintain it at 25 percent occupancy, but we do have this big outdoor deck. He thought, because we had bottled cocktails, it could really work. I headed out to Aspen. We said “yes” on a Monday and we were open on a Saturday. Bottled cocktails really could travel very easily. We opened with a big menu. The infrastructure and space was there, and we just went for it. We had a wonderful winter there. Even with no indoor dining, we were able to provide a great service to people who were safely living within the mountains outside of a big city. The winter was wonderful. We shut it down, as you do, coming into the spring. We reset for a summer program. We reopened in May for the summer season and moved down the street to the St. Regis, which has a place called the Chefs Club. It was a very different crowd, but there were, interestingly, a lot of people who we know from New York and supported us. We’re coming to the end of the summer season, which will culminate in the Food and Wine Festival in September, which we’re very excited about. The goal is, now, to repurpose and do winter 2.0 in Aspen with a full-service bar, not just the bottled cocktails. We’re excited for that.

Z: Gotcha. Very cool. Well, Linden, I really thank you so much for your time. It’s really fascinating to hear about the evolution of Caffe Dante, what you’ve been through, and what you see coming up in the future. So, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it. I look forward to stopping in for coffee and a cocktail next time I’m in New York.

L: Thank you, Zach. Thank you so much for your time, and also for taking the time to speak to us. I really appreciate it.

Thanks so much for listening to the “VinePair Podcast.” If you love this show as much as we love making it, then please leave us a rating or review on iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, or wherever it is you get your podcasts. It really helps everyone else discover the show.

Now for the credits. VinePair is produced and recorded in New York City and Seattle, Washington, by myself, Adam Teeter, and Zach Geballe, who does all the editing and loves to get the credit. Also, I would love to give a special shout-out to my VinePair co-founder, Josh Malin, for helping make all this possible, and also to Keith Beavers, who is VinePair’s tastings director, who is additionally a producer on the show. I also want to, of course, thank every other member of the VinePair team, who are instrumental in all of the ideas that go into making the show every week. Thanks so much for listening, and we’ll see you again.

The article Next Round: How Caffe Dante Went From Neighborhood Coffee Shop to ‘World’s Best Bar’ appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/next-round-linden-pride-caffe-dante/

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kindofapolyglot · 6 years

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2017 WRAP-UP

Going into 2017 I had several resolutions, which I was extremely determined to achieve. I thought I would share them with you so I can maybe inspire you to stick to your goals.... and so I can come back to this post during 2018 and remind myself of how satisfying it is to end the year having achieved (the majority of) your goals!

LANGUAGES

I wanted to commit myself to perfecting my French this year, and even though I still wouldn’t say I’m at a C2 level or something, I can definitely see my progress very clearly! I went through several grammar and fiction books, spoke with native speakers for about 30 hours, (which isn’t that little given the fact I don’t live in a French-speaking country) and I can finally confidently say that I SPEAK FRENCH! I understand it perfectly and I no longer struggle to express myself!!!!

I’ve been struggling with Russian all my life and, although I cannot say I’m fluent or something, I have reached the point of understanding Russian fluently, which is a huge achievement for me! I also spent about 15 hours speaking it with a native speaker during the past couple of months!

Something unexpected I worked on during the summer was Spanish! Prior to my trip to Spain, I wanted to learn some of the language so I could get by! I’d say I reached an A2+ or so level in the language, I understand written Spanish pretty well (thanks to my knowledge of French tbh) and can also hold a very short and simple conversation! (which is exactly what I wanted to do this year)

ALSO! Something I had never done before was to just dabble in a language without any serious intentions to learn it and it was very fun! I learned how to read Greek, some very basic Italian, and have just picked up Swedish!

TRAVELLING

As of December 2016 I had only been to Romania and, even though I did not visit like 50 new countries, I am extremely satisfied and happy with the travels I was able to do!

In April, I got on my first flight (in my life!) and went to Scotland! It was such an amazing trip as I got to visit Glasgow, Edinburgh and the lovely little city of Ayr. I had never been on a plane before, nor had I travelled so far away from home! (pics from Scotland!)

After my trip to Scotland I spent one day in Turkey (pics from Edirne!) and one in Greece (don’t have pics from Alexandroupolis and Kavala :( )

In May, I went to Italy by bus! (got to see a bit of Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia along the way!) I visited the magnificent cities of Venice, Verona and Padua, as well as the islands of Murano and Burano! The culture, architecture, and history of Italy are just breathtaking! (see pics from Italy!)

To finish off, in August I went to Spain and spent three weeks in the charming city of Gandía, just an hour away from Valencia! It was very relaxing, met some very nice people and got to really immerse myself into the Spanish culture! Also, this was the longest I had ever been outside of my home country! (see pics from Spain!)

So, five new countries in 2017! I have some very serious travelling plans for 2018 soo B)

FITNESS, PHYSICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH!

FINALLY got my lazy butt off the couch and went quite regularly to the gym this year! (specifically from April to about October) It wasn’t the whole year but it’s definitely progress which is what is important!

I went running almost every day during my stay in Spain, and my record is 5,5 km! Which again is not that much, but prior to that I couldn’t run even for 5 minutes straight!...

I’ve been eating pretty healthily this past year! (apart from the past week...) I’m very happy with my food choices!

All of these have resulted in me having a much better mental health! I’m more active, more confident and happier!

MY JOB! Last but not least! In June I started tutoring people in Bulgarian and English online! It has been a very rewarding and enriching experience so far and I am extremely excited to continue doing it! As of December 2017, I have given 329 lessons. (there are some people who have given thousands, but still... :D) I hope this post was interesting and inspired you to stick to your goals! This was the first year I did it and cannot describe how satisfied and happy I am with myself! There are, of course, some things I couldn’t really commit to this year but maybe in 2018, eh? Thank you for taking the time to read this, happy holidays and I believe you will achieve all your goals in 2018!

#rambling!#langblr #studyblr #fitblr #2017 wrap-up #new year #resolutions #motivation #(i hope!)#travelblr

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acsversace-news · 6 years

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The first thing you need to know about FX’s American Crime Story: The Assassination of Gianni Versace is that it’s not really about Gianni Versace. While O.J. Simpson—and his fame, his race and his abusive history—were central to Ryan Murphy’s true-crime anthology in its first season, this story focuses on the man who killed Versace and the society that aided in that murder.

The new season is based on Vulgar Favors: Andrew Cunanan, Gianni Versace, and the Largest Failed Manhunt in U.S. History, a 450-page tome the journalist Maureen Orth published in 1999. Much of the book is devoted to the life story of Cunanan, the 27-year-old spree killer who shot Versace in 1997. Her reporting is thorough and revealing, but much of her analysis is dated. When Orth explores Cunanan’s demimonde of meth, escorts, sugar daddies and BDSM, it feels as though she’s unaware that this milieu isn’t representative of gay male culture as a whole.

Especially considering that Murphy—who is gay and has created some groundbreaking queer characters—has also been known to perpetuate the occasional homophobic stereotypes, the interplay between the book and the series is bound to give us plenty to discuss. At the very least, Vulgar Favors is handy for determining which parts of the show are confirmed fact and which are purely conjecture. (I’ll also be using Deborah Ball’s House of Versace, a breezy history of Gianni, his family, and the brand from 2010, along with a few other sources.)

I don’t want to call these recaps “fact-checks,” though, because fiction doesn’t have any responsibility to stick to the official record. Instead, I’ll look at how the discrepancies between what Orth dug up and what Murphy depicts reveal the show’s real agenda. These pieces may take a different form from week to week, but since the premiere was mostly a reenactment of the crime and its immediate aftermath, we’ll start with some pretty basic background stuff.

July 15, 1997

Orth’s book ends with the death of Versace and the intensified hunt for Cunanan, who had already killed four men by the time he came to Miami Beach. American Crime Story begins with the murder and goes backward from there. It’s a promising approach, because the real suspense here is in the question of how the smart, charismatic, cultured young man we meet in flashbacks ended up on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.

The show sticks fairly close to the facts in recounting what happened on the day Gianni Versace (Édgar Ramírez) died. He really was returning home from an early-morning excursion to buy magazines when Andrew, played by Darren Criss in a performance that’s already riveting, gunned him down on the steps of his palatial home (more on that later). One bullet also killed a turtle dove—a symbol that initially led authorities to suspect a Mafia hit. While Versace’s longtime partner, Antonio D’Amico (Ricky Martin), stayed at the designer’s side, the couple’s neighbor Lazaro Quintana chased Andrew until Andrew pulled a gun on him. Versace was rushed to Jackson Memorial Hospital, where he was declared dead at 9:21 AM.

Cops really did spot someone who matched Andrew’s description on the roof of a parking garage around the same time, but he escaped. (Orth doesn’t mention them tackling the wrong man.) It’s not clear what he was doing later that day, when police found the stolen red truck Andrew had abandoned and he became the suspect. The scenes that show him changing into fresh clothes and watching gleefully as the media descends on Versace’s house aren’t just plausible; they underscore how easily Andrew blended in among the town’s gay beachgoers.

One character to keep an eye on is FBI agent Keith Evans (Jay R. Ferguson). The Bureau was searching for Cunanan long before he killed Versace, and Evans was its man in Miami. Sadly, he was also inexperienced and unfamiliar with the city’s gay community. Sgt. Lori Wieder, the lesbian cop played by Dascha Polanco, wasn’t on the scene that day, but the officers who were there did find boxes of undistributed Wanted flyers in Evans’ trunk. The scene where the pawnshop owner complains to police about the legally mandated transaction form she’d filed a week earlier, which included Cunanan’s full name, is another embarrassing real-life detail. But the emphasis Murphy, who directed the episode, places on Evans’ neglect of his assignment is crucial, because it’s the first suggestion that law enforcement’s homophobia—its literal fear of engaging with gay men—contributed to its failure.

October 1990

Did Versace really know his killer? Well, sort of.

It’s true that Versace designed the costumes for a production of Capriccio at the San Francisco Opera, and stayed in the city during its run in 1990. At the time, Cunanan was living rent-free in Berkeley with his friend Liz Coté (Annaleigh Ashford), who Orth describes as a “rich and spacey debutante,” and her husband, Phil Merrill (Nico Evers-Swindell)—the couple we see in the flashback. A fixture in SF’s gay scene, Andrew met Versace at a club called Colossus. But, Orth reports, it was the designer who approached him: “I know you,” said Versace. “Lago di Como, no?” he asked, referring to his Italian lake house. It was, most likely, a flimsy pickup line. Andrew, who’d never been to Italy but had also never heard a flattering lie he couldn’t get behind, went along with it. On another night, Versace, Andrew, and a local playboy named Harry de Wildt were spotted together in a limo.

That dreamy encounter after the opera, though? It’s pure fantasy, although Andrew was known to lie about his Filipino father knowing Imelda Marcos, owning pineapple plantations and having a boyfriend. What’s important here is the conversation about Andrew’s future. “You are creative?” Versace asks, and his date answers in the affirmative. In fact, the only things Andrew ever created were fictions about himself, passed off as fact. (I won’t get too deep into that, because his lying is sure to come up later in the show.) “I’m sure you’re going to be someone really special one day,” says Versace. The distance between Andrew’s ambitions and the life he ended up with—as well as the reasons why he was such a failure—is going to be important.

The Family Business

The episode’s strangest divergence from the facts comes during the same scene. Versace explains the history of his company’s Medusa logo, recounting that he first spotted the image while playing in ruins as a child in Calabria. In fact, as Ball notes in House of Versace, he borrowed his logo from a door knocker at the Milan palazzo he bought in 1981. Perhaps we’re supposed to suspect Versace is a liar, too, but I’m inclined to believe the line is pure exposition, a hint of the designer’s humble beginnings that will soon become relevant to Andrew’s story.

Meanwhile, Versace’s mourning siblings/business partners, Donatella (Penélope Cruz) and Santo (Giovanni Cirfiera) provide some insight into the company’s status in 1997. Poor Cruz, normally a fantastic actress, has a thankless role (and a distracting accent) in this episode. All she does is sob, scream and provide dry background info that writer Tom Rob Smith doesn’t bother surrounding with believable human dialogue. For the record, it’s true that Santo, the oldest Versace sibling and the company’s most pragmatic voice, wanted to take the business public. And Gianni, after accepting a large dividend to subsidize his lavish lifestyle, agreed to do so. The plan was to make an initial public offering in the summer of 1998. It never happened. Two decades later, Gianni Versace S.p.A. remains a billion-dollar private company. None of this is particularly interesting, so here’s hoping it becomes relevant to the Cunanan story eventually!

Gianni Versace’s Fucking Insane House

There isn’t much art in this workmanlike premiere, but it does begin with a shot of the clouds painted over Versace’s bed that leads to a lovely, nearly wordless sequence contrasting Gianni’s civilized morning with Andrew’s primal scream. If you paid attention to the Renaissance-style art and the stained-glass windows and the gold accents and the massive tiled courtyard, it probably occurred to you that Versace’s home was totally off the wall. (“If Donald Trump had taste,” I said to myself, “this is what Mar-a-Lago would look like.”) Surely it was exaggerated for TV?

Actually, it was not. Built in 1930, Casa Casuarina, as the home was known, was inspired by Christopher Columbus’s son Diego’s residence in the Dominican Republic. In the courtyard of the 20,000-square-foot villa were busts of Columbus, Pocahontas, Mussolini and Confucius (all of which Versace kept). After Versace bought the property in 1992, he spent a million dollars restoring it. An army of artists and artisans filled the place with murals, mosaics and baroque furniture. Versace published a typically bizarre coffee-table book about his many bonkers properties in 1996, and in it you can find photos of the family frolicking poolside at Casa Casuarina alongside busy interiors and shots of naked men ironing. My favorite page shows a close-up of a burger, fries and a milkshake served on gilded Versace china, atop an ornate gold table. America! If you can’t track down a copy, this Google Image search should give you an idea. Look, here’s a bare-assed dude with a lampshade over his head! See you next week!

#acs versace #vice #recap #review #article #2.01 #january 2018

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soft922-blog · 6 years

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Something to take inspiration from: Flaneur

Flaneur is part literary magazine, part culture journal, part serialized, interdisciplinary art object. The Berlin-based creators describe the publication as a "vessel." Each issue focuses on a specific street in a specific city across the globe, then explores each locale through idiosyncratic interviews, photo essays (with off-kilter layouts), poetry, illustrations, and even more abstract stylistic devices. "I don't think that Flaneur actually really is a magazine," Grashina Gabelmann, the co-editor-in-chief, told me. "I think it's just that we chose to present these streets in the magazine format."

Created in 2013 by Ricarda Messner (now the publisher), Flaneur is about to release its fourth edition, focused on Rome. While past issues have featured streets in vibrant, artist-hubs like Berlin, Leipzig, and Montreal, the Italian capital was a change of pace for Messner, Gabelmann, and Fabian Saul (the other editor-in-chief). Rome is full of history, but the city's present state felt stagnant and dry to the team, as well as the locals they spoke with while putting together this issue. As a result, they picked the most tourist-y and obnoxious street in the ancient city to be its nucleus: Corso Vittorio Emanuele II.

"How cool would it be to take the most annoying street where everyone thinks there's nothing left to discover, and then find something new in it?" explained Gabelmann.

The Rome issue features a photo essay where two photographers walked down Corso Vittorio separately and documented it with disposable cameras. It also includes an account of an experimental performance piece the editors organized in Italy in which they asked locals to "donate" water to a Roman ruin—the idea being to make the city less dry. But even when heavily conceptual, Flaneur never feels patronizing, nor does it fetishize the cities it focuses on.

I recently talked to Messner and Gabelmann about the newest edition, and how the publication has grown over time. Baudelaire would be proud.

What inspired you to create a magazine? Ricarda Messner: It was always pretty clear to me when I graduated that I always wanted to do something on my own. I never really knew what I would end up doing, but I always just had this feeling that I didn't see myself in this nine to five job. And then I came back from New York and the plan, the love, didn't work out. I was inspired by movies.

I always loved mixing also disciplines with each other, you know? And this is also what the magazine reflects. It has photography, it has architecture, it plays around with different layers. It made sense to me to try the concept with one-street-per-issue in a print format.

What inspired the one-street-per-issue theme? Messner: It had to do with returning to Berlin and rediscovering a town that I never really liked before. New York was my thing, and I always envisioned myself there. Then I was back again in Berlin, and I knew I had to have a closer look at it. I remember that I was looking out the windows at my parents' place a lot because it was so quiet compared to New York. I kept thinking about how my neighbor must have a completely different relationship to the street I spent 12 years of my life living on, and was now staring at out the window once again. And there was something interesting about taking something concrete—literally and figuratively, in this case—but then exploring it through a variety of forms with a sense of freedom. In the end, the street is being used as a storyteller with Flaneur. And that's the thing: When you walk down a street, you can't sum it up.

How has the magazine evolved since it began? Messner: Maybe two weeks ago, G and I sat down to discuss what we're learning from issue to issue—what we're really doing here, or what this thing is. We're realizing more and more that we're not a classic or traditional magazine, and we're also not going to communicate this. It should be clear from opening the front page.

Grashina Gabelmann: We didn't want to go with a travel guide approach where you end every article with a shop listing, address, map, etc. As I got more involved, I realized this was not the direction I wanted to be going in. It's not very interesting, and I think Ricarda felt that way as well. And then when our other editor Fabian came in, Flaneur got its literary twist. Fabian is integral to the conceptual and abstract aspects. He studied philosophy. So he brings in this literary, artistic feel.

Can you tell me about this upcoming issue, number four in Rome? Gabelmann: Rome was really a strange, unique experience. Berlin and Montreal are cities that have a strong cultural network. There's money and support for artists there, and both attract young people who make art. Leipzig has a weird underdog thing, which I think you can feel by reading our issue on it. But Rome is this ancient city that has such a history of art and culture, and it's really struggling to be modern. It was the first city where we felt that people actually needed our presence—even if that sounds patronizing or dickish.

Messner: Well, we offered some Romans a platform to talk about their home to people outside Rome.

Grashina: Yes, not to belittle anyone, but we did offer this. We organized a performance piece in Rome, and this one man described to us how the city is so fucking boring, so dry, and you can't even touch the ruins. There's no way of interacting with the city. It's like a live, sprawling museum, and Romans feel really trapped, in a way. He said something like, "I really want to turn the city into lakes so we can actually do something with the ruins." And so we said OK, yeah, let's do it.

Within two weeks, we had this performance planned. We printed out all these posters and signs that said something like "Rome is a boring and dry; Romans want water," and put them around the ruins. Then we made a little model—like a mini ruin—and put water in it with fish and had that in front of the ruin. We asked every passerby, "Hey, don't you want this to be a lake? How much water do you want to donate to turn this into a lake?" There was a fountain right next to the lake, so every time someone signed the petition, they had to take water from it and pour it into the ruins to symbolically start the lake. So we got people to pour in water, and then people were wearing bathing suits and towels and it became this public celebration and performance. The reactions from the Italian people who helped us were so overwhelmingly positive. They said, "Hey, we haven't done anything like this in months, or even years. We really haven't had the motivation or drive."

Messner: This project is documented in issue four. We videoed everything, so, we'll have a little documentary online, and an article in print. We'll include the posters and the scribbles and the behind-the-scenes details of creating this performance piece.

On the back of the book, the abstract or manifesto makes it clear that you guys aren't trying to capture the essence of a street or say, "This is it. This is Rome all summed up." Can you expand on that idea? Messner: You have to have this kind of mentality, because we're not from Rome. We only spent two months in Montreal—and even less time in Leipzig. What can we tell them about their city, after all? It's more about the discussion and the constant exchanged ideas related to an experience in a certain place. The artists who contribute work for Flaneur come from many disciplines and countries, and they are really free to create whatever they want.

How have people from each city responded to the Flaneur issues focused on their homes? Messner: In Leipzig, I felt like the initial response was, "Oh, these hipsters are coming and they're fucking ruining our town." They'd flick through the magazine and say, "Oh, I would have done this differently."

Gabelmann: Well, like, yeah, then you make a magazine. But anyway, their attitude to the final thing really matched our experience in the city. Our actual contributors were super happy with the result, but I think we sold 20 magazines at the launch party—not a big success. I don't know about Rome, but I think they will be proud.

You've had four issues now on four distinctly different streets in four cities. Why did you choose those specific streets in each city? Gabelmann: We had never been to Rome before, so we behaved like newborn children there. It was a very different approach, compared to the Berlin issue, which was very personal. Close to the Coliseum is the old political center of Rome. Basically from there to the river is a main traffic spot and it's busy. It's a street filled with both Romans and tourists all the time. So Fabian and I were in Rome for a week in the summer to find our street, and we had a really difficult time picking one at first.

At the end of the week, we met an architect and he said to us, "Oh, Corso Vittorio has something from every epoch of architecture and it's interesting." And we had no idea which street he was talking about. He replied, "That's impossible, you have to pass that street to go anywhere." We googled it and realized we were on that street three times a day, every day. But since it's so hectic and all the points of interests are on little side streets, we never looked it up and actually took in the street. So that was the initial interest: How can a street that's so busy and so important be that easy to ignore? At first, most Romans were irritated and asked us, why would you choose to represent Rome with that ugly street? And then on second thought, they were like, "Oh, OK, actually that's pretty interesting." Think of it this way: I'd love to do Broadway in New York. How cool would it be to take the most annoying street where everyone thinks there's nothing left to discover, and then focus on that place and find something new in it?

What do you think has succeeded most about Flaneur so far? Messner: Well, it's independent and I can also give the contributors and designers freedom to come up with crazy things. This is kind of my prime goal as a publisher: to offer this independent platform for these creative people to go wild with, for as long as possible.

Even our designers Michelle Phillips and Johannes Conrad [both of Studio Y-U-K-I-K-O] come to these towns with us, and this is why every issue of Flaneurlooks different. They each have their own design voice, plus you can see that we play with the medium as well—there are fold-outs, different sorts of paper, and various art styles and mediums in each issue that make sense just for that issue.

Gabelmann: I think another big thing is that we don't go to Rome and interview an artist about his work, and then publish some photos of his work that's been in galleries, alongside the interview. But rather, we meet that artist and then come up with a concept with him on the street—like that performance piece—which is specifically conceived for Flaneur.

I always think about one of my first lectures at university where the professor explained that a magazine is just something that holds something. Like, a gun has a magazine case. A magazine is a vessel. I don't think that Flaneur actually really is a magazine. I think it's just that we chose to present these streets in the magazine format.

#6IMAG001W

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db-best · 5 years

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The Recipes We Can’t Wait to Cook From This Fall’s Best New Cookbooks - Grub Street

The fall cookbook lineup. Photo: Stella Blackmon/New York Magazine Fall is just a few weeks away and with that comes the energy to take on new projects or cook elaborate meals for the hell of it. Nothing goes better with that renewed sense of momentum than a new cookbook, and lucky for us, this is the time of year when great new cookbooks come out on a near-weekly basis. Grub combed through the dozens of cooking guides arriving between now and November and looked for the recipes we’re most excited to cook in our kitchens over the next few months. Here are the 12 cookbooks most worthy of your bookshelf.

A Place at the Table: New American Recipes From the Nation’s Top Foreign-Born Chefs The recipe: Shrimp-and-okra pancakes and charred-scallion dipping sauce Why: Because Korean-Creole crossover cooking is our new fall vibe. The beauty of this book is that whether you cook or not, it’s worth the purchase. First and foremost it’s a book about how some of the country’s best immigrant chefs made it in America, like Café Boulud chef Jae-Eun Jung, who was born in Korea, ended up cooking for Queen of Creole Cuisine Leah Chase, and then landed a coveted position at Le Bernardin. Here, all of those experiences blend into her shrimp-and-okra pancakes and charred-scallion dipping sauce. It’s just one of dozens of recipes, with other contributions coming from chefs Dominique Crenn, Edward Lee, Michael Solomonov, Daniela Soto-Innes, and others. Out September 24

Mixtape Potluck Cookbook: A Dinner Party for Friends, Their Recipes, and the Songs They Inspire The recipe: Vietnamese braised pork belly Why: Because where else will you find Eric Ripert and Q-Tip in the same cookbook? Of all our food-obsessed celebrities, Questlove is definitely the most connected. And that’s on full display in this new compilation of recipes from his friends in both Hollywood (Maya Rudolph, Fred Armisen, Jessica Biel, Natalie Portman) and the food world ( Eric Ripert, Greg Baxtrom, Kwame Onwuachi). And did we mention Martha Stewart wrote the foreword? The Roots drummer avoids recipes that are overly complicated — like this dead-simple recipe from D.C. chef Kevin Tien — making Mixtape Potluck much more accessible than most chef-y cookbooks, plus there’s a premade party playlist at the very end. Talk about a one-stop potluck shop. Out October 15

South: Essential Recipes and New Explorations The recipe: Crowder pea and hominy succotash Why: Because Sean Brock still has a lot to say about southern cooking. The last two years saw chef Sean Brock leave his Husk restaurant empire, give up alcohol, and welcome his first child. Accordingly, Brock is in the midst of a transition from hellraiser to torchbearer, and in this follow-up to the James Beard Award–winning Heritage, he achieves that with a guide to the foundations of southern cooking, like deviled eggs, smoked pork, and fried green tomatoes. But don’t sleep on the more obscure recipes, like this hominy and succotash dish. This is where Brock shines, bringing the South’s most obscure recipes to national light. Out October 15

The NoMad Cocktail Book The recipe: The Loisaida Avenue Why: Because it’s the ultimate guide to a very special genre of cocktails: hotel lobby drinks. The NoMad Cocktail book has actually been around since 2015, when it came as a part of The NoMad Cookbook, essentially making it the speakeasy of the drink-book world. But come next month, that will change with the official release of this illustrated guide by bartender Leo Robitschek, featuring recipes from the 2015 version as well as 100 new concoctions he’s put together. This sweet-and-smoky cocktail feels the most on trend, featuring jalapeño-infused tequila, mezcal, Angostura bitters, Chartreuse, lemon juice, and simple syrup — and it’s definitely worth making at home. Out October 22

Pasta Grannies: The Official Cookbook: The Secrets of Italy's Best Home Cooks The recipe: Domenica’s Raviole di valle Varaita Why: Because Italy’s best cooks are its grannies. In 2014, Vicky Bennison decided she wanted to learn how to cook at the elbow of an Italian grandmother, a project that became a super-popular YouTube channel and Instagram where she showcases so-called “pasta grannies” with names like Sperandina and Graziella. Next month, Bennison will release a book featuring all the recipes she’s compiled over the years, including this raviole (actually a type of gnocchi) made with old potatoes, light cream, Parmigiano Reggiano, and a boatload of butter. Out October 29

The Saltwater Table: Recipes from the Coastal South The recipe: Cumberland paella Why: Because the real seasons are Oyster, Vegetable, Shrimp, Heat, and Smoke & Cedar. The southern coast is long, stretching from Virginia to Georgia. More specifically, Cumberland Island, Georgia, where chef Whitney Otawka runs the Greyfield Inn (after stints at Hugh Acheson restaurants in Athens, Georgia). Though Otawka grew up in California, she’s spent the last decade learning the language of southern seafood. Accordingly, this book is divided into that region’s seasons, including oyster season (January through March), heat season (June through August), and smoke and cedar season (October through December). Though there are plenty of non-seafood options, the book shines when it digs deep into the region’s briny history and puts a spin on it, like with this paella featuring shrimp, flaky fish, littleneck clams, and Carolina Gold rice. Out October 22

Pastry Love: A Baker's Journal of Favorite Recipes The recipe: Apple-cider sticky buns Why: Because this is the new apple-cider doughnut. For her second book, Boston baker Joanne Chang dives into the recipes she loves personally, like strawberry slab pie, fig danishes, and the butter mochi she first tried in Hawaii. But if there’s one thing Chang is famous for, it’s her sticky buns. So you can bet we’ll be baking her apple cider take, which Chang claims are even better than the original recipe. Out November 5

The Gaijin Cookbook: Japanese Recipes from a Chef, Father, Eater, and Lifelong Outsider The recipe: Bagels with Japanese-ish fixings Why: Because this is how you embrace another culture without completely ripping it off. It takes a lot of chutzpah to write about Japanese cooking as an American, but if anyone’s qualified, it’s Ivan Orkin. In The Gaijin Cookbook, which gets its name from the Japanese equivalent of “gringo,” the chef embraces the fact that despite his incredible love of and appreciation for Japanese culture, he will never truly be Japanese. That being said, he’s learned a few things after running successful restaurants in the notoriously insular country. The book covers a lot of the basics — think tonkatsu, okonomiyaki, and ramen — but where it shines is with recipes like this Japan-inspired take on bagels, including cream cheese with powdered seaweed and shiso gravlax. It’s just simple enough to try out the next time you have the gang over for mimosas and bagels. Out September 24

Jubilee: Recipes From Two Centuries of African-American Cooking The recipe: Chicken and dumplings Why: Because this is how you share the history of African-American cooks. Back in 2015, Toni Tipton-Martin — the first black woman to hold a food editor position at a major publication — published The Jemima Code a compendium of two centuries of African-American cookbooks. Now, she’s turned all that information into Jubilee, which adapts many of the recipes she came across in her research for the 21st-century cook. Expect classic recipes like sweet-potato casserole and wilted greens with bacon, as well as this killer recipe, the epitome of comfort food. Out November 5

Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food for Having People Over The recipe: Coconut-braised chicken with chickpeas and lime Why: Because Alison Roman has managed to put together another eminently cookable book. It’s impossible to predict exactly which recipe in Alison Roman’s new cookbook will be the next Instagram superstar. Instead, Grub is excited about recipes like this one, because it exemplifies that classic Roman approach to cooking: well-known ingredients rearranged in interesting and compelling ways for young home cooks who want food that looks (and photographs) as good as it tastes. Out October 22

American Sfoglino: A Master Class in Handmade Pasta The recipe: Triangoli with pumpkin, butter, and sage Why: Because here’s your chance to see into the kitchen of L.A.’s pasta king. When Evan Funke materialized in the national food consciousness in 2017, operating out of a bigger-than-it-looks restaurant on Venice’s trendy Abbot Kinney Boulevard, Los Angeles had no choice but to bow to his pasta prowess. Two years later, it’s still basically impossible to get a last-minute reservation at Felix Trattoria, and why not: Funke is producing some of the freshest and most beautiful pasta west of the 405. But the man isn’t stingy with his knowledge. Just as he went to Italy and learned the art of pasta-making, he hopes you’ll learn from him in this book, with step-by-step instructions and detailed photographs of 15 pasta shapes from strichetti to cestini. Braver folks may want to jump right into the caramelle with artichoke, but we say start simple, like with this autumnal pasta recipe. Out September 24

Amá: A Modern Tex-Mex Kitchen The recipe: Kielbasa and potato scramble Why: Because who can resist a chef-y take on our nation’s greatest cuisine: Tex-Mex. Chef Josef Centeno made his name slinging Spanish-Mediterranean fare at his flagship L.A. restaurant Bäco Mercat, but at one point or another, all chefs return to their roots and the food they grew up eating. Centeno did just that with his Tex-Mex cantina Bar Amá, which the late Jonathan Gold once praised for its puffy tacos and sopa seca with kielbasa and octopus. Now, you can cook your way through the restaurant, including Centeno’s scramble, which is comprised of much more than its name implies (think: yellow onion, serrano chile, avocado, and two kinds of chilis), making it, as the chef points out, the perfect filling for homemade breakfast tacos. Out October 1

Eat like the experts.

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#Cookingtips #food

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sunrec · 7 years

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In his 1899 book The Theory of the Leisure Class, the economist and sociologist Thorstein Veblen wrote that “conspicuous abstention from labor … becomes the conventional mark of superior pecuniary achievement.” In other words, the richer one gets, the less one works and the more likely one is to try to show off one’s ample leisure time.

For a while, Veblen’s theory held, with few exceptions. But no longer. In the U.S., one can now make a good guess about how rich somebody is based on the long hours they put in at work. The wealthiest American men, on average, work more than those poorer than them.

With this workaholic lifestyle, though, comes quite a bit of prestige, a perk that the researcher Silvia Bellezza, a professor of marketing at Columbia Business School, has found Americans to be all too aware of. Bellezza is the author, along with Georgetown’s Neeru Paharia and Harvard’s Anat Keinan, of a recent paper in the Journal of Consumer Research about the prominence of an unusual status symbol: seeming busy.

The gleam of being both well-off and time-poor, the authors write, is “driven by the perceptions that a busy person possesses desired human capital characteristics (competence, ambition) and is scarce and in demand on the job market.” In a curious reversal, the aspirational objects here are not some luxury goods—a nice watch or car, which are now mass-produced and more widely available than they used to be—but workers themselves, who by bragging about how busy they are can signal just how much the labor market values them and their skills.

I spoke with Bellezza about why this dynamic has arisen in the past century, how America’s culture of busyness compares to other countries’, and her research into what she calls “alternative signals of status.” The conversation that follows has been edited for length and clarity.

Joe Pinsker: In your research, how did you determine that busyness is something people aspire to?

Silvia Bellezza: We were very inspired by this idea of bragging and complaining with others about how much we work and trying to understand whether it operates as a symbol of status in the eyes of others. So in one experiment, we presented participants with a person that’s posting status updates on social media that really speak to her busyness at work, compared to another person whose posts speak to a more leisurely lifestyle. We wondered: What would participants make of these people? Would they think that they are wealthy? That their status is high, or not? What we found is that in the U.S., people think that the busier person must be of higher status.

Pinsker: So, even though Veblen would predict the opposite, it turns out that you can boost your status by seeming like you're busy. What has changed from Veblen’s time to now that might explain this?

Bellezza: There’s definitely been a transition, if you look at the composition of the economy and the fact that most of the work that we’re doing right now is in services. These are jobs that require our intellectual capital, which require more thinking than the type of economies that Veblen was writing about, in which the primary sectors were agriculture or industry. Those used to be the larger part of the economy.

But I think that if we were to compare a developed economy with an economy that is primarily based on agriculture or manufacturing, I wouldn’t expect to observe this effect of busyness. It’s not that in Veblen’s time, working a lot wouldn’t be seen as something virtuous. It’s just that, compared to farming and manufacturing, there’s now a more competitive market for talent and human capital, such that the more you work, it must mean that you’re very sought after in the market. When we tell our participants that a hypothetical person is very busy, they immediately think about a white-collar type of job. But if we specify that it is a blue-collar type of job, the inferences in terms of status are significantly weakened. So it has something to do with the fact that a job that is primarily intellectual rather than working in manufacturing or in agriculture.

Pinsker: Is busyness as powerful of a status symbol when it’s displayed among coworkers, as opposed to friends?

Bellezza: I definitely think that when you’re using this as a brag, the audience has to be somehow knowledgeable—otherwise they won’t understand it, right? If you talk about being busy all the time, but maybe with your mother, you wouldn’t get the same response.

We haven’t addressed this question empirically, but we do find that people who think that if you work hard, you can make it to the top seem to be more likely to think that the person who is busy is higher in status. So if people are working all the time, they probably would know how to decode these signals from others, so the answer is probably yes.

I think another interesting aspect that we don’t really look at in our research is whether this operates in very workaholic environments. For example, I think that if you go to banking or consulting, in which the workload is heavy for everybody, showing that you’re even capable of having leisure time may signal that you’re actually really, really good, because the amount of work is high for everybody. But this is a little meta.

Pinsker: It’s the reversal of the reversal of Veblen.

Bellezza: Exactly. In Silicon Valley, apparently, I’ve heard that actually it’s not very fashionable to show that you’re working all the time, even if you are. So maybe there, just because they're entrepreneurs working all the time, it’s taken for granted that you’re working all the time. It’s actually that if you have time to go for a hike or on a bike ride, you’re cooler.

Pinsker: All of these dynamics we’ve been talking about have been things you’ve found while researching American culture. Can you talk about what you found when you compared Americans’ opinions to Italians’? And also, why you picked Italians to compare to?

Bellezza: We did a lot of research on different cultures and specifically the extent to which work and leisure matter and are central to the identity of the people. We thought that the U.S. is really representative of a society in which work is really praised and the Protestant work ethic is really, really strong—even the extent to which in the U.S. people don't even have the right to have paid holidays. And we wanted to compare this to a culture in which leisure time and what you do when you're not working is as central as work. Countries like Spain, Italy, Greece, and to some extent France, I think are really representative of this. And then, narrowing it down from there, I’m Italian and it was very easy to translate the surveys. [laughs]

So we showed Americans and Italians a vignette in which we describe a person who is either working all the time or is conducting a leisurely lifestyle, and they came to different conclusions about status. The Italians, as soon as you tell them that someone is not working as much, they immediately think the person is rich. But in the U.S., they think, “Oh, this person probably cannot work. There must be something wrong, and they're going to go back to work as soon as they can.”

In one country, we see precisely what Veblen was predicting, and in the other country we see the opposite. I think it’s very interesting that, when we're comparing Italy with the U.S., we’re actually looking at two developed economies. So to get to Americans’ busyness, what needs to be in place on top of the condition of there being a sophisticated market for human capital is a culture that values work and sees that as an essential element of identity.

Pinsker: As I read the paper, I couldn’t help but wonder what the endgame of this dynamic is in the U.S. Does striving to be busier, or at least striving to come off as busier, actually make people happier in any meaningful way?

Bellezza: I actually think that the two cultures we picked, neither actually gets the formula right in terms of happiness while also having an economy that's functional and working well. Working all the time is dysfunctional and becoming a workaholic society is not healthy. On the other hand, it’s also true that if you see how seriously Italians take their holidays, the country’s basically paralyzed for two months—if you want to get something done, if it’s July and August, it’s really complicated in Italy. I don’t think that’s healthy either.

As I worked on this paper I actually became more and more convinced that the countries that have the formula the most right in terms of balancing work and leisure are probably Denmark or the Netherlands, because those countries have a very high number of paid holidays and people really care about what they do, where they go in the summer, but on the other hand, their productivity per hour is very high. It’s probably a mix of the legal system protecting the right to holidays and an attitude toward work which is very healthy.

One thing though that I think is interesting is that in most of Europe, shops are closed on Saturdays and Sundays, which basically implies that people cannot run their errands on the weekend. This means they're obliged to do something with their free time and enjoy their leisure time, whereas in the U.S., because people get so used to these 24/7 types of shops, they run their errands on the weekend, whereas in Europe people get accustomed to going for a short trip or doing something other than chores. I thought that was interesting, because it seems we would always want shops to be open. But it’s funny how that backfires and detracts from our happiness.

#long reads #interview #psychology #simple living

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doomedandstoned · 7 years

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Italian Wrecking Ball NAGA Emerges With “Worm”

~Doomed & Stoned Debuts~

By Billy Goate

We’ve got a double-whammy for you today! Celebrated Naples threesome NAGA are back with an exclusive track and are opening up for their first interview in a while. If you’re new to the music of Lorenzo De Stefano (vocals/guitar), Emanuele Schember (bass), Dario Graziano (drums), I can’t think of a better description than their own: “…distortion, heaviness and nihilism to your ears. No concept, no bullshits, no happiness, just sound anger and frustration to exorcize and reflect the greyness and despair of contemporary world.” Now that’s something I can really raise my horns to.

Naga’s second album, ‘Inanimate’ (2016), is absolutely crushing (I raved about it in our quarterly ’Doom Around The World’). Since its digital release, the band has been picked up by Everlasting Spew Records, which is releasing Inanimate on CD on March 25th (you can order it here). For this special edition, NAGA has recorded a new single, which Doomed & Stoned is premiering today.

“Worm” opens with sparse textures. A dissonant theme is introduced in single string plucks. Soon, this erupts into a storm of cacophony. The vocals are ravings of madness. The dense atmosphere is one of opaque gloom, with sheets of rain pouring down from blackened, low-hanging clouds. NAGA has orchestrated a mood of perfect doom, something that echoes entirely throughout Inanimate.

Give ear…

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An Interview with NAGA Frontman Lorenzo De Stefano

By Mari Knox

Doomed & Stoned Italy)

You started playing music together almost 15 years ago, in the beginning with a band called KTER (Kill The Easter Rabbit) and later, in 2013, you have founded Naga. A long evolution that brought you good feedback since the debut album 'Hēn’ (2014). Your musical path is clearly the result of a strong partnership, something that’s hard to find. What does unite you? And what pushed you to start a band?

Basically, we are friends, kind of brothers, so it was completely natural to stick together and start up a band. We just share the same idea of music and life in general. We met in Lyceum and, at that time, in Naples it was not that easy to find someone to share the same idea of music with, and still this is the case. We both liked heavy stuff like Motörhead, Melvins, Slayer, and Electric Wizard so It was natural to come by and say “hey let’s start a band together.” Basically, we feel music in the same way and that’s what unites us. Then we found in Dario the natural 3rd part. I’ve played with many drummers, but Dario is the best one. He shares our musical tastes, he’s a really clever and skilled musician, and above all a dear friend. Now we have a clear idea of how our band has to sound, and that’s it.

Staying on topic, tell us how your songs come to life and what inspired the 'Inanimate.’ Is there a theme, a concept, to your song writing and how do the lyrics tie in?

We have to distinguish the musical composition and the lyrics. The writing process is really natural like, “Hey guys, I have this riff. What do you think?” A major impulse comes from Dario, who I always say is the best guitar player of the band. He’s amazingly creative and our ideas really fit together. Basically, we develop every song from a riff then we add parts to that. I organize the structure and only at the end comes the vocal part.

I am the only writer of the lyrics since we started and, no, there’s no concept. Maybe I’d like to write a concept in the future, but right now I’ve got no time. The only remarkable theme of our lyrics is nihilism, but sometimes with a sort of bright side outside the Abyss. I am mainly inspired by my personal life and my lectures.

'Inanimate’ was initially released by Lay Bare Recordings in 2016. This year, you have chosen to reissue it whit a new track, “Worm,” on the thriving Italian label, Everlasting Spew Records. How did you get in contact with them and with this repress, what kind of improvement you have brought to the album?

The EP sold out in just a month. Lots of people asked us for a repress, so we just looked for someone interested in re-releasing our work. Luckily, we found Everlasting Spew, thanks to our manager Tito Vespasiani, who set up everything with the label. We have found in Giorgio from Everlasting a really helpful and cool guy. The label is young and ambitious just like us, so we can grow up together.

Obviously, we want to reprint to be something special, so we recorded the new track “Worm” that sounds more death metal oriented, in order to increase the impact of the album, and decorated everything with a brand new master by the almighty James Plotkin. You can’t go wrong with him.

Talk aboute bands or the records that have influenced you most as musicians and helped you develop your personal sound. Are there other kinds of influences, like art and literature, as well?

Speaking of the bands or albums I love, I have to mention, of course, the first five LPs of Black Sabbath, 'Abbey Road’ by the Beatles, '1969’ by The Stooges, 'Hell Awaits’ by Slayer, 'Bleach/In Utero’ by Nirvana, Celtic Frost’s 'Morbid Tales,’ 'Transylvanian Hunger’ by Darkthrone, Carcass’ 'Necroticism,’ Sonic Youth and, naturally, Neurosis and all the doom, sludge, and black metal stuff. We like also old Swedish death metal and some newer stuff from God City studios, Converge Nails, H.O.F. and so on.

But I have to say that no particular band has inspired us in our style. We try to be personal and evolve by ourselves in shaping the sound and in the creative process. Then, I really like to see live bands, most of all I am a music fan, and I like to capture here and there things I like in order to incorporate them in our music. It’s an important part, I’d say pedagogical, in developing our style.

Apart from music, I read more than I play guitar, so of course my interests in philosophy and literature are a huge part of my life and give me inspiration for my lyrics and atmospheres. I am not really into this occult or movie stuff, it’s just a cliché of our music genre. I prefer to write about my personal life and something that really touches me or that has influenced my life path, hybridized sometimes with philosophical themes. Nietzsche, Jünger, and Heidegger are a big influence for my lyrics, just like Sabbath are for my playing. I am just tired of bands that sings about voodoo magic, weed, barbarians, and fantasy stuff. It’s a little prosaic, or at least it does not work with us. Instead, I like Neurosis or Amenra’s lyrical approach. “Thrives,” “Hyele,” and “Worm” from Inanimate are a good example of that.

Photographs by Francesco Guerra

At the moment, you’re ready to play with Candlemass in northern Italy and this summer you will play in a big festival in Iceland (with a lot of important acts like The Dillinger Escape Plan, Neurosis, Sólstafir, Misþyrming and many more). How do you feel about playing live? Are there any past gigs that you think have been more important than others, something you still remember as “special”?

Playing live is the most important part. I really dig bands that kick ass live. We just try to be natural, to play at the loudest volume possible, and to be violent. We stay simple. We aren’t the band that takes too much time to sound check monitors and stuff like that. We like to be “in your face,” to come out and play. That’s why I regard NAGA basically as a punk/hardcore band, concerning the approach and attitude. We do not have any filter -- we like to play straight and direct, that’s all.

Concerning the past live shows, I would mention the Watchtower Festival in Pisa with Napalm Death, Church of Misery and The secret, where we met those amazing guys Michael, Lorenzo and Marco (from the Secret/Hyerophant), the Glue lab in Ancona, Tetris in Trieste, and two concerts in our city Naples, the first at Cellar with Marnero, and another on a harbor in the middle of Naples’s gulf called Molosiglio, two D.I.Y. concerts, fully packed with 200-300 people and lots of friends. Do not ever underestimate Naples’ scene. We belong here. It’s a lot better and hotter than others although not publicized.

During your musical career, you have seen lots of changes, first of all the “social-media” revolution, which can help bands to expand their possibilities outside their own country. What do you think about this and have you noticed some differences between past and present? What do you think about the current musical scene in Italy and abroad?

Social media are a double edged sword. It allows bands to spread their message and music around the world, but it’s something that could saturate the scene too. The problem with social media is that now you have to take care of lots of other stuff apart from music, the image, the posts, news and so on. I do not really like this aspect. Emanuele is a little more skilled than me in this, I am not good at it. But, of course, Facebook and Bandcamp have been helping us a lot, same goes with Discogs and eBay where you can spread your music worldwide. I knew our first record Hen was in the hands of Tad Doyle of Tad/Brothers of the Sonic Cloth or in the ones of Mike Scheidt of Yob and it was pretty amazing, since I’ve been listening to these bands since I was 15.

About the scene, I think that now there are many good bands around not only in our genre, the problem is sometimes the public and the live culture. In Germany, where I am at the moment, people go to see live shows buy merch and so on. In Italy, things are going slower, you have to plan carefully every event and so on. But I can not complain about Naples and Italy. In general, we have always had an amazing audience and a good feedback.

Speaking of Italian bands I’d mention above all Grime, Hyerophant, Messa, Caronte, Profanal, Fuoco Fatuo,Zippo/Shores of null, La Casta and Marnero, there are many others but these are the first coming to my mind right now.

Any closing thoughts for the Doomed & Stoned readers?

No hope, no joy, worship Naas.

Follow The Band.

Get Their Music.

Pre-Order 'Inanimate’ on CD.

#d&s debuts #d&s interviews #naga #naples #italy #doom #blackened doom #metal #everlasting spew records #mari knox #doomed & stoned

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ladystylestores · 4 years

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Black Designers in Europe Urge Action on Racism, Police Brutality – WWD

https://pmcwwd.files.wordpress.com/2020/06/buki-akomolafe-ig.png?w=640&h=415&crop=1

Europeans have embraced the Black Lives Matter movement and mobilized, with tens of thousands joining demonstrations in France, Italy, the U.K., Germany, Spain, Belgium, Denmark and Hungary.

Racism is a particularly complex issue on the continent. In some countries — like France, for instance — it is illegal to collect statistics on people’s race, ethnicity or religion.

But the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police has heightened awareness of police brutality and institutionalized racism, and deepened commitments to enact change.

Black creatives can feel isolated in Europe. Milan-based Stella Jean bills herself as “the first Black Italian stylist, member of the National Chamber of Italian Fashion, and unfortunately currently the only one.”

Here, Black creatives in the region share their experiences, challenges and hopes, while illuminating the unique situation of each European nation:

Olivier Rousteing, creative director of Balmain, Paris:

Olivier Rousteing Franck Mura/WWD

How do you feel about France in terms of its record on equality?

I think it’s hypocritical to say there is no racism in France. At least in America, they actually fight against it a lot whereas in France, we only started not so long ago. I think racism in France is more underlying, which means that maybe it’s less seen, but it still exists. It’s less obvious to people, but it’s still really present.

Because in France there is something that is unfortunately really strong as an idea and a vision of what is French: the generational aspect. So everything that has a background, that has a long family history — so the racism is more about where you are coming from in terms of family origins. America is such a new country, in a way, so the racism is completely different. It’s a fight between American citizens, whereas in France, sometimes they don’t acknowledge you as being French. You are always a guest. It’s really complicated.

That’s why I went to the demonstration because I think people need to acknowledge that there’s a lot of racism, but people don’t talk about it in France, that’s the difference.

When we speak about diversity in casting, look at a lot of fashion shows in France. And Paris is a city that is so mixed, so how come it came so late?

I can also say there’s a lot of racism in the press. When I did my fashion shows and there was a really strong diverse casting, I can tell you that some people from the press criticized me.

What’s your dream for the industry, especially here in France?

I have two hopes. The first hope is that this is not a trend, that this is not a topic that people love to talk about just to feel relevant because they have nothing else to say. Because there is something happening, right, which is really important — people are starting to have an awareness of their lack of reflecting the way the world is today.

But we need to be careful of who is doing that move, to make sure they believe in it, or are they doing that move for business purposes, or just for the relevancy of a brand in fashion?

I wish for the future, that when people are loud about it, it’s because they believe in it, and not because they are scared.

My second hope for the future is that [race] is no longer going to be a topic. Because I’ve been at Balmain for 10 years and people have been asking me for 10 years, “How do you feel to be just one of the few Black designers in the fashion industry?” In a weird way, I hope that in 10 years this is no longer going to be a question because there will be so many more.

Sometimes what I feel in fashion is that they love to put you in a box — depending on your background, what you can do. Here we need to be really careful, because skin color doesn’t define the style of your clothes.

You always insist a lot on the French-ness of the brand, and your French-ness as well.

When I got appointed at Balmain as creative director, people didn’t mention my skin color and I think you can see that two ways: Either you see that there’s a lack of color in the country and you don’t want to mention it, or maybe you don’t see it. And this is a question that I never had the answer to.

It’s complicated in France, because there’s the ideal of the Republic — and that all are equal under the Republic. But we don’t live in an ideal world, and racism is present.

People are scared to talk about it in France. It’s really the elephant in the room.

It was good to be at the demonstration because you could see it was the movement of a new generation. It was not only skin color demonstrating, it was every color of the world in Paris. That was so beautiful to see that an entire generation now wants to change the world. And I think COVID-19 helped as well in a way because the sense of togetherness is something that we went through with COVID-19. We realized we have one world. We have one Earth.

Now with the Black Lives Matter movement, it’s a moment where we seize this feeling of togetherness and we all fight together against racism.

Kithe Brewster, designer, Paris:

Kithe Brewster Courtesy

How would you rate your country’s track record in dealing with racism and inequalities? Do you think the BLM movement will have an impact?

America has definitely had a spotty history where inequality is concerned. Firstly, I have lived most of my adult life in Europe. However, as an African-American, my finger is always on the pulse. It’s important to stay connected especially when living abroad. I feel like we have made a lot of progress, but then we all stopped working on leveling the playing fields. In my vision, we as a country, and even globally, have to reach a point where the anger dissipates, then we can all work together to move forward. I understand the anger, and watching it from abroad makes me very angry. Yes, America can do much better. As for the BLM movement, it has already brought about so much dialogue. It has changed the entire world. We will be different from this point on. What’s important is, how do we move forward? How can we bring about a solution? Which I think is simple: we must start with the basics, improve the living conditions and the basic economic situations across America. Why is it OK for people to live that way? I want to go into impoverished areas and build up these areas. Look at the Lower Eastside Girls Club — it’s an amazing example of empowerment.

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race? 

I believe history will show that I have had to leave my country on two occasions, in order to get a chance to be judged solely on my talent. At age 19, I decided to change career direction and become a fashion editor. I have had an incredible career. I honestly believe I would not have had the same success, had I not had the wherewithal to go to Paris to start my career. I was then sought after, as a European artist, to return to America. Having looked at the careers of Josephine Baker and many other African-Americans, I knew that in my own country, I would not be given a fair chance. Sadly, 20 years later, as I launched my design career in NYC, after four seasons I found myself in the exact same position. Seven years ago when I launched my company, I was one of very few African-American designers showing in NYC. And there is no reason I should not have been covered by the major fashion publications in America. I came out of the gate with forward innovative designs that were completely ignored by Vogue and Bazaar, and the other mainstream fashion publications. After features in WWD and The Washington Post, the others just never got around to covering my shows. As the only American for four seasons to attempt to show haute couture in Paris, and one of five Americans to ever show here in the 150-year history of the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne, I have again been ignored and not covered. I am, however, thrilled that in the four years since my relocation, there have been so many amazing African-American designers who have gained exposure.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality? 

The huge houses that have the money to invest in charitable organizations must use their resources to empower the African-American communities by being a part of things that show the communities: “You matter to us.” As far as police brutality is concerned, it’s about the power of huge corporations standing up and saying, “We are against this and we demand change.” It’s been so powerful to see so many companies stand against racism. This is empowerment.

View this post on Instagram

Like many people right now I feel tearful and I feel tired. I don’t want to comment on the anger, grief, frustration and everything else I feel. I do want to say that it is time for for the entire fashion industry to stand shoulder to shoulder in solidarity with their black family, friends, employees and customers. Every designer, every shop, every corporate group, all press – everyone who loves black culture, who has been inspired by black culture and who profits from black culture directly and indirectly (and that really is everyone) needs to speak up now, state their position and demand justice against systemic racism. Our industry is one of immense wealth, influence and power – often adjacent to the people and institutions that run our countries. This has never been an issue for black individuals, community activists and those fighting for decades for change to resolve alone. For those of you outside the black community who have in the past watched similar events unfold in horrified silence, uncomfortable with your position in this struggle, worried to offend or unsure of how to help – know that your black friends need you now to hear us, take action, and step up. @ldnblm @naacp @aclu_nationwide

A post shared by Martine Rose (@martine_rose) on Jun 1, 2020 at 8:12am PDT

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

I think seeing us, and seeing all races, is a great start. Just seeing in their vision an inclusive creative team. If you want to reach a diverse audience, then you have to be able to envision a diverse casting. One thing that bothered me in my career as a stylist was the cliche that the inspiration of the show is a certain period, and the designer did not see certain races in the casting. Whether it’s historically accurate or not, we have the power to rewrite history and envision a casting where everyone is reflected. These companies must hire more designers and creatives of African descent and other races that are not represented. It’s time to present a world view. True story: I remember working at Ralph Lauren and fighting for a young unknown called Liya Kebede, then with Pauline’s models, to be included in the show. The casting team had confirmed two other African models. I kept going to Ralph as her card was removed to say, “We must have her.” Ralph agreed, and he personally loves African models. But ultimately, the designers have to say to casting, “I want beauty of all shades to represent my brand.” And this has to reflect in all aspects of products and advertising.

What role can the media play?

The media can play a very significant role by really looking for talent. There has to be more diversity in the levels of profiles that are featured. Just do the work, really look, and you will discover brilliant talent from all races.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment? 

I’m beyond excited about restarting work post-COVID-19, and post-racism awareness. It’s a wonderful post-war feeling of moving forward. We all have a responsibility to care and to just be kind and to disregard habits that we all know now are harmful.

Edward Buchanan, founder and creative director of Sansovino6, Milan:

Edward Buchanan

How would you rate your country’s track record in dealing with racism, and inequalities?

Out of one to 10, I would say two. There are no checks and balances here In Italy. It’s almost as if the majority of Italy has no idea of Italy’s history of colonialism. Racism has a history here and the conversation is heavily avoided.

Do you think the BLM movement will have an impact?

Absolutely. It feels as if there has been a collective howl that has been boiling up for almost 300 years. BLM is a way for us to organize our activism: The organization also represents in a way the digital age we live in, which has been pivotal in telling our stories that were not always heard.

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

Where do I start…from unfair job placement opportunities, to having to consider making others comfortable in public spaces. l am reminded daily that I am a Black man living in Milano.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

Pushing for legislation. Laws protect. If there are no laws which are clear cut and defined, Black bodies are not protected.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

The fashion industry has to be taken to task. We first have to offer educational opportunities to disadvantaged communities to encourage them that they are welcome into this industry. Executive recruiters have to be controlled and assure fair placement opportunities. Schools need to recruit from within Black communities. Companies have to realize that you cannot have a conversation about inclusion from the outside if you are non-inclusive on the inside.

What role can the media play?

The media has saved lives and also exposed lost lives. We have to safeguard journalists and use the media intelligently. Collective non-biased communication has far reach.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

Being actively involved in educating and not being silenced.

Stella Jean, founder and creative director of Stella Jean, Milan:

Stella Jean Andrea Benedetti

How would you rate your country’s track record in dealing with racism, and inequalities? Do you think the BLM movement will have an impact?

If you are asking me if #BlackLivesMatter in Italy, I would answer that legally, yes. Article 3 of the Italian Constitution of 1948, like the Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948, makes sure that systemic racism doesn’t take place in Italy. In reality, we constantly face a wall of indifference and denialism. I realize and can rationalize the extreme fatigue of my country in admitting that there is a racism issue in Italy. But it doesn’t justify constant denial. Nowadays I read very good suggestions and passionate advice of my compatriots, directed toward certain aspects of the critical situation happening now in the U.S. I think that a portion of this passion and blame should be used to target what’s happening in Italy because we also have a critical situation when it comes to the integration of minorities into the society, and the incongruity with which they are treated. These are things that are happening in total indifference of certain stakeholders. I believe that we should start tackling these issues that are local. To begin with, what happens here under your noses, in your own house every blessed day in a different form than what is witnessed overseas, but with a shared hateful matrix. About the BLM’s impact, I’m terribly afraid that last-minute activists, and the ones who used to act like nothing was wrong and now jump on the bandwagon, will not be there tomorrow when the spotlight fades and the indignation returns to its familiar custom of distance and daily indifference.

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

I’ve had to deal with multiple insults and aggressions; what still affects me today is indifference. It’s the most redoubtable of enemies. I share the point of view of Gramsci: “Indifference and apathy are parasitism, perversion, not life.…That what happens, the evil that weighs upon all, happens because the human mass abdicates to their will.” Being Black in Italy means learning how to deal with racist speech from the early age of seven years old. To tame the pain and resist until you react, to first of all insults, then to blackmails, lastly to aggressions. It’s a routine of normalized barbarism that builds a path with obstacles, where you inherently learn how to constantly be alert. Even the safety you might get because of who your family is doesn’t represent a safe haven. It might be written on a piece of paper that you are Italian, yet you – with the dark skin – simply are not Italian, and you simply cannot be. That’s why, back in February during the last Milan Fashion Week, I decided not to showcase my collection, since the situation I was facing was no longer acceptable. And I could not fathom holding a fashion show as if nothing serious is happening. We chose to realize a social awareness project instead: “Italians in becoming.” The new multicultural Italy is highlighted through the portraits of 20 women: Italian beyond all prejudice, Italian beyond every shade of skin tone, and regardless of physical characteristics or beliefs. I spoke out about our struggles in a campaign that featured 18 women who fought and did not bend, I opened the door for you to get a glimpse of our reality in Italy. This projects aims to portray these women not as victims, but as active agents of a change that is, willingly or unwillingly, already well underway. We have felt racism on our skin and in our soul, and we offered our voices to reach out to you. We did it with smiles because we do not let ignorance pull them down. Yes, we have always been here and will continue being here until a cultural change takes place.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

Discrimination in Italy happens through multiple and diverse shades, many characteristics of it are different to discrimination in the U.S., yet the source and impulse of racism is the same. We have to work on different forms of brutality occurring in Italy.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

I’d ask the Italian fashion industry to stand by us with the same determination and emphasis they had when they had to post black squares, trendy hashtags and beautiful declarations on diversity and inclusion. This would demonstrate they not only adhere with the message of the highly performing hashtags and their strong statements, but that they also understand the implications, allowing them to be coherent with their intentions and, consequently, their actions. The bridge of multiculturalism necessarily needs shoulders to bear the weight. Therefore we need them as well, we need real effort and consistency to allow this path of communication to flow. I’d ask to not turn their back when minorities talk about how they cannot breathe here, suffocated by local indifference.

Let’s start passing the mic, amplifying the voice of men and women of color. Allow young Black people to be part of your teams. Skin color shouldn’t be the reason for which you hire someone, yet it shouldn’t be the reason for which you don’t either. I’m not asking for extreme measures to be taken, but valuation of merit can never be subordinated to color. I’d also remind to those with generous hearts that in Italy there also are organizations of African-Italian youth who would highly appreciate support and could use funds to sustain their fight for survival in this country.

What role can the media play?

It is important that intentions and statements are supported by the noble practice of information divulgation, which includes highlighting racism in Italy. I am well aware that the first step is the hardest one and the most uncomfortable, but if we don’t start opening our eyes and acknowledging the existence of the problem, we will never get to a solution.

There is a need to take a break on talking about us — it’s time to talk with us. Exactly like what you are currently doing. By doing so you are inviting people to research, learn about our history, hear our voices and inherent desire for justice. Hopefully, you will understand us better and will take action to amplify our voices because we, Italians of different backgrounds, feel the same way as Americans: we can’t breathe. I hope this conversation, which finally highlights our voices in the media, will exceed the mystical realm that is a trend and a simple click, and will stick to your realities from now on, promoting understanding, the embrace of multiculturalism and acceptance. I hope you wish to stay determined, anti-racist and I hope you will continue manifesting when facing injustice.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

When I intervened during the protest in Piazza del Popolo, the plaza was packed with youth of all shades of the world, and I was able to see the magnificence of my country — its strong multicultural roots. Everyone was united. Far from political colors and idealist opportunism. We were screaming together, and after going through childhood and adolescence as the only Black girl in school, in my neighborhood and during swimming lessons, for the first time in my life I realized that: I am not alone. We aren’t alone anymore. I ask to everyone: please stay here when the lights fade. Help us to lead the fight against prejudice, as fighting apathy is a complex battle indeed! I am certain that the only way to overcome this is together. Otherwise, we will have all lost.

Leni Charles and Cherelle J, designers and founders of Kids of the Diaspora, Vienna, Austria:

Leni and Cherelle J Charles Marko Mestrovic

How would you rate your country’s track record in dealing with racism and inequalities? Do you think the Black Lives Matter movement will have an impact?

Leni Charles: When we talk about Austria, we have to differentiate between Vienna, which is a cosmopolitan capital, and other cities in more secluded areas. Until recently, a right-wing populist party was part of the governing coalition and racism and inequalities were not a priority on the agenda. But this year, it was replaced, so that’s a hopeful sign. Ignited by the Black Lives Matter protests in the U.S., 50,000 people showed up in Vienna for peaceful protests against racism. This definitely is a game changer for people of color. This momentum creates attention and space to make other people listen to our stories. It’s a chance for us to create unity and equity together. Its a matter of the heart.

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

Cherelle J: One of the biggest challenges is to learn to understand we do not need anybody to validate our worth — we carry it within. It was also a struggle to find balance between accepting to nurture a system that doesn’t represent you on the one hand, and creating your own definition of beauty, body and success on the other hand. Finding our own answers against all kinds of mainstream standards is the proof of the unique strength we have developed.

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ALL OF THE ABOVE! Make-Up Artists, die mir sagen “Ach, du bist ja nicht so dunkel, das bekomme ich hin.” Oder “Oh! Mir sagte keiner, dass Sie Schwarz sind!”… Produzenten, die mir verbieten mein Natural Hair zu tragen, weil es “zu viel” für den Zuschauer sei und “nicht ins Bild passe”… Beleuchter, die das Licht „ausnegern“ (einstellen wenn’s zu dunkel ist und angepasst werden muss, das „hat man früher so gesagt“)… I know, all of us können Stories rausholen. Meine größte Errungenschaft ist die Tatsache, dass ich diese Dinge ansprechen kann. Dass ich mich traue zu erklären, warum meine Haare beispielsweise so bleiben wie sie sind und warum unser Haar nicht „unprofessionell“ ist. Und es mir egal ist, ob ich den Job dann machen „darf“ oder nicht. Trotzdem schminke ich mich meistens lieber selbst, wenn ich die Visagistin vorher nicht schon kenne, damit ich diese möglichen und super unangenehmen Momente umgehen kann. Damit ich nicht grau aussehe und erklären muss, dass das Make-Up einfach wirklich zu weiß ist. Und ICH mich dann schuldig fühle. Für mich ist es absolute Normalität mit gemachten Haaren ans Set zu kommen. Darüber denke ich nicht mal nach! Dass Magazine mich explizit wegen „meiner Persönlichkeit“ anfragen, ich keine Zeit habe und dann nach Absage eine andere Mixed Frau mit Afro sehe… Und ich mich dann frage, ob ich jetzt der Diversity Token war oder ob’s dann doch die Personality ist? Kleinigkeiten, die auf Dauer nicht nur nervig sind. Kleinigkeiten, die weißen Models oder Moderatorinnen bestimmt nicht so bekannt sind wie uns. Just think about it. Und 4: wichtig zu verstehen: meine Mutter ist eine weiße Frau und mein Vater ein Schwarzer Mann. Ich also für viele Menschen „nicht zu dunkel“. Look up mixedrace / lightskin privilege und achtet mal darauf, wie die erfolgreichsten und sichtbaren Schwarzen Frauen aussehen. Wie Rihanna, Jorja Smith und Beyoncé oder wie Lupita Nyong’o? Genau. Thanks for the slides to @themerrymary

A post shared by Aminata Belli (@aminatabelli) on Jun 11, 2020 at 11:59am PDT

 What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

L.C.: The fashion industry should stop using any kind of discrimination to their advantage and sincerely help promote true natural beauty in diversity. Not only by showing inclusiveness in magazines or runways, but also in their internal structures. By now, companies should have realized there are more goals to achieve than just Black numbers. A long-term goal of any company should be to ban social injustice. New doors and new worlds will open when people finally meet at same eye-level.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

C.J.: They could actually give us a call. We have done enough research over the years and are more than ready to help promote inclusion and change from within.

What role can the media play?

L.C.: The media is so powerful in making people look at things differently. If this power is used to really make a change in perspectives, as in coming from a good place in the heart, the changes will come faster than we think. It is important to take away people’s fear of change, by focusing on solutions rather than problems. And that’s where the media can kick in in helping to educate people and in shaping the mood.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment? 

C.J.: The kids of the future. Stay tuned!

Buki Akomolafe, designer, Berlin:

Buki Akomolafe Leonor von Salisch

How would you rate your country’s track record in dealing with racism and inequalities? Do you think the BLM movement will have an impact? The situation in Germany is not comparable to the U.S. We don’t have the same history of oppression and segregation. But here, too, capitalism is based on a certain degree of exploitation, so there is structural racism, albeit much more subtle. I hope the Black Lives Matter movement will have a lasting impact. While it appears more like a trend for me at the moment, it spiked conversations in Germany. Our president just met with members of the Black community and, for the first time, white people really listen to what I have to say about my experiences. White people are starting to reflect on race-based privilege, and this awareness is new. Berlin just passed an anti-discrimination law on a federal level, something that still needs to be enforced nationwide. It’s coming late, but things are happening

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race? As a Black person, I’ve experienced microaggressions in school, in public offices and in the streets. People are asking me whether I can speak German — some are surprised that my German is good. Random people touch my hair without asking me for permission. In the past, in school, I needed to prove more and be better than my peers to even be seen. When I talked about experiences of discrimination, white people would accuse me of being too sensitive, as if my feelings of being marginalized came out of nowhere and shouldn’t exist or weren’t allowed. This is the first time I get validation for my feelings.

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I TOOK a PAUSE I needed to process what to FEEL and THINK, as I was too exhausted by the past events that happened to the BLACK DIASPORA. I was exhausted by my emotions, anger and frustration. I have cried and have been holding so much the past weeks… I was way too tired to THINK about continuing the ‚actual work‘, concentrate and FOCUS on my VISION of a SUSTAINABLE FUTURE. WE can only create an IMPACT if WE actively REST, RECOVER & HEAL ourselves and each other first. I choose to FOCUS on the SOLUTION and not on the PROBLEM anymore, cause it’s distracting the MIND. The fast fashion supply chain is full of discrimination, racism and unfair treatment. It’s based on it and BIPOC are the most affected. As a Black Designer with crosscultural roots, I want to build bridges between two contrasting worlds. BUKI AKOMOLAFE stands for DIVERSITY, FEMALE EMPOWERMENT, CULTURAL EXCHANGE, FAIR & ETHICAL TRADE. . #BIPOC #blacklivesmatter #blackbusiness #bukiakomolafe #blackfemaleentrepreneurs #blackempowerment #melaninass

A post shared by BUKI AKOMOLAFE (@bukiakomolafe) on Jun 11, 2020 at 12:16am PDT

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality? The fashion industry is based on exploitation. Producers prey on cheap labor in countries where human life is regarded as less worthy. Fashion companies need to rethink their production processes and the treatment of workers in low-income countries. Big brands with a broad outreach need to speak up. They need to really address the wrongs and not just make generic hollow statements. I haven’t seen more than superficial phrases, yet. They have to use their privileges to raise awareness and engage actively by calling out to their governments and by creating public pressure and taking responsibilities.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products? First of all, brands need to look into their internal structures: How are we producing? How are we treating our employees and environment ? Then, they need to show diverse beauty in their campaigns, not just for a season, but always. They need to include BIPoCs in their staff to change perspectives. And they need to speak openly about mistakes and create transparency.

What role can the media play? In Germany, the media can create visibility. It’s not just about getting one non-white person as a token to prove that racism exists, but about giving Black Germans and people of color a platform and let us discuss current social matters from our perspective. The editorial planning and staff also needs to become more diverse to reflect the changes in society and induce a shift towards more respectful and inclusive language.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment? I can see that especially white people are starting to reflect on themselves and their privileges. They have started to become more open and interested in experiences that don’t affect them directly. With the movement, Black people started to connect and empower each other, and that’s happening globally. Movements like Black Lives Matter and Fridays for Future are growing, and it all connects. There’s a feeling that something is moving. This makes me hopeful.

XULY.Bët RTW Fall 2020 Courtesy Photo

Lamine Kouyaté, founder and creative director of Xuly.Bët, Paris:

How would you rate your country’s track record in dealing with racism, and inequalities? Do you think the BLM movement will have an impact?

France’s colonial past, and the justifications it had to devise to preserve its interests as a major power, remained anchored within institutions and the collective imagination. A centuries-long relationship of vassalage, installed by military violence and lasting through today, following the independence achieved in different ways by African countries, contributes insidiously to the complex that fosters racism. All the institutional and media imagery — which tends to reflect a very poor and negative image of the Black population and former colonies (poverty, underdevelopment, overpopulation, immigration, crime etc.) — contributes to clichés and the system’s inertia.

The mobilization set off by BLM is taking on a global scale and now unites people, whereas for a long time it was stigmatized and concerned only the Black community. It is finally shedding a light on the ghastly death toll. It is exposing the arbitrariness and the inhumanity that strike the Black community.

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

Ignorance. Ignorance erected as dogma, clichés.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality? The fashion industry could leverage its power of attraction worldwide to be a place of resilience, a place of reconciliation, a place for shared humanity. It could be a place for dignity, by portraying an inclusive image of communities and their hopes.

What role can the media play?

Media plays a big role in exclusion (we all remember how Michael Jackson had a hard time getting on MTV) and often portray minorities only in a negative light. You would need to change the paradigm and elevate the debate by contributing to cleaning up minds and relaying the aspirations of minorities. What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

The youth of the movement, its universal scope worldwide feed the hope of a better world founded on freedom, universal love, peace and justice.

Kenneth Ize on the catwalk in Paris. WWD/Shutterstock

Kenneth Ize, designer, Lagos, Nigeria:

How would you rate your country’s track record in dealing with racism and inequalities?

I lived in Austria for the most important years of my life. And I mean, if I would have to rate the scale of racism there, I guess it would be 100.

That’s just the reality. It’s still my country. I love it so much. But then when it comes to representing inclusivity, it’s just zero. For example, I was the only Black child from secondary school all the way to university, and that was just 10 years ago. In Austria, you would hardly ever find a bus driver that is a Black person, or a person of color. It doesn’t exist. It’s just a white country.

I guess that’s also the reason I moved back to Nigeria, because I was just sick of it. In Nigeria, racism is systematic, some like to call it corporate racism. White people are still exploiting Africa ’til this day and this is why we have not grown.

Do you think that the Black Lives Matter movement is going to have an impact?

If people are talking about these things, every time it’s a discussion, then things are going to change. I definitely agree that the Black Lives Matter movement is making an impact.

What unique challenges do you feel you have faced due to your race?

Oh my gosh — going to school was the worst. Someone spat on my face once, and the teacher didn’t do anything about it, they laughed. Even at university, I experienced too many uncomfortable instances that still haunt me ’til this day, it’s just all so messed up. I’m just trying to understand why people are like this? Who teaches people to hate like this? It is so unnatural.

Do I even understand racism, truly? I was only able to make Black friends eight years ago, when I would travel to London and back to Africa. Through my Black friends, I started learning about myself, started understanding the world around me. Making my friends gave me the realization that I had experienced really harsh racism my entire life without knowing how to navigate situations. Now when I look back at my former life, I am overwhelmed by how normal racism was to me back then, I didn’t even know there could be another way. This is why I work so hard and celebrate my heritage and culture. I was taught to be ashamed of it for so long.

What should the fashion industry be doing now to fight racist policies and police brutality?

Give people a platform to tell their stories, support them with your influence and power. Racism is a humanitarian issue. Hire more people of color, give them opportunities to build wealth. It’s important for us to be included in everything, not take over everything, just be included! And it makes the work easier.

Even from a business perspective, it’s actually going to make you more money because then you have access to a wider audience. I don’t understand why it’s so arduous to do this.

We people who don’t have the power, who are working with those that have the power, now really need to start having these uncomfortable conversations.

We need to stop pretending racism is a POC issue. Racism is a white issue.

What should brands be doing to enact change from within, promote inclusion in their workforces and in their imagery and products?

Brands should educate themselves. They should listen, they should study. There are many resources available. They can even hire people to educate them on these issues. Once they have understood the situation, they will know what to do. Hiring more people of color is not the only solution if the company’s ethos has not shifted to accommodate them.

I remember handing out my portfolio to study. And the professor was like, “Why do you have a Black model here? Because they’re not going to buy the clothes.” That was the first day trying to get into university. And coming from a background where I really didn’t know much about my own race, I just thought, “OK. Wow. Really?” And then I started using white models. It’s just a lot. I was trying to just express my own culture in just one image.

What role can the media play?

I feel like the media should tell fair stories, they should not gaslight situations and continue to oppress the oppressed. Racism is not political, it is not economical, it is not social, it is life and death. People are dying, just the same way the coronavirus is killing people globally, racism is doing the same. We don’t side with the virus, so why should we side with racism. The media needs to lend its voice to the voiceless and amplify their cries.

What makes you feel hopeful at this moment?

If I am being honest, I don’t have any hope. I want to believe that this time will be different but people are still dying on the streets every day. I can only have hope in myself and my community, and make sure we are the change we want to see in the world. I am proudly Black, proudly African, I truly believe in what I do. I am thankful for my heritage and culture for being a constant source of inspiration. Why is it a topic that only three African designers are joining Paris Fashion Week? That’s an insult. That doesn’t make me feel good. The continent is full of talent, yet only room for three on the global stage — why?

We all just need to come together and change it.