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fuck-customers · 3 years

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Hello lovelies, been a while since I submitted. But this time I'm submitting on behalf of my friend. Let's call her Bev (not her real name obvi). Long post ahead, tl;Dr at bottom.

Bev used to work at my university's Filet of Chix. She became blue shirt in like two years. She was very good at managing and keeping the line going, which I even saw personally when I went in there some days. She ended up leaving due to a mix of medical concerns and high school level drama over the summer.

Around June of this year, she decided she was gonna find another job. She ended up applying and immediately getting hired on at a local ice cream store. She was excited. It paid 8.50 but with tips it could be up to $12 or $16 an hour - which is no problem during the summer as their tips jars are constantly overflowing. Bev was excited for the pay increase, seeing as how she was leaving a job that only paid her $10.05 an hour.

Bev starts, and her location is actually six buildings down from where I work. I go get her on my lunch breaks, take her to work, she rides home with someone else at the end of the night (cant drive due to her previously mentioned medical issues) It's a good arrangement. She gets along with her coworkers, her coworkers even start being buddy buddy with me.

Then the shit hits the fan maybe like. Three weeks into her starting. There is another girl who has been there for a while, let's name her Lee. When Bev was looking for a job and had inquired about the ice cream store hiring, Lee encouraged her as a) they desperately needed help and b) Lee bragged that she was able to afford tattoos with how much tip money they got. Bev even admitted that she may have had a slight crush on Lee forming (despite us having known her for five minutes, bless) so we figured she was chill.

Bev starts working and it's a few shifts before she finally works with Lee, who is considered a shift lead. The more Bev works with Lee the more they start to rub each other the wrong way - Lee gets snappy and rude during rushes, starts to panic, Bev instinctively takes control to get people out the door. Lee apparently sees this as Bev trying to come in and take her position as shift lead - which Bev does not want as she just wants money to be able to buy groceries with. Lee starts to get short with Bev. Doesn't talk to her unless it's to tell her to go clean bathrooms or take out trash. Lee also likes to hide in the back on her phone, only stand at the register on her phone, or stand in the way of everyone trying to get ice cream scooped and all that IN FRONT OF GUESTS. She also makes openly crude sex jokes in front of kids, makes customers uncomfortable complaining about her own health issues, and even cussed out a customer for clarifying what flavor they wanted when someone ELSE was working on scooping the order.

"Wow Kyrie, that doesn't sound like very appropriate behavior for a shift lead at an ice cream store." You're right. Which is why Bev complained to the owner. Along side some other coworkers who are also fed up with Lee's behavior. Not to mention if you go on Doodle and look up this ice cream store there are reviews literally complaining about Lee's behavior, one star reviews. Supposedly there are also cameras in the store that record audio as well. Lee has apparently been coached and fussed at about her behavior before, even before Bev started working there.

The place is short staffed, so letting her go is a tough decision apparently. Lee is also the only one who can reliably go back and forth between this location and the one in a town 30 minutes away, supposedly. Lee tells me this when I come in to drop off Bev one day and I need ice cream as I can feel myself getting light headed from having not eaten. Lee is excitedly chatting with me, not even acknowledging Bev trying to clock in at the damn register but can't because Lee is blocking it.

Bev complains to the owners again. Owners tell her they will talk with Lee. This pattern of Lee being rough with Bev continues for a couple of weeks. Some days I go in after I get off work because I want the sugar, and Bev is working. I witness the behavior Bev has talked about - Lee hiding on her phone, Lee making tasteless jokes, one time Lee even came over to my table during a rush to complain about her hip while a large group of families were placing orders and everyone else was running around scooping ice cream and making cones and ringing them up - Bev included.

Even better: Bev's medical issues make it so sometimes she'll have minor seizures and needs to sit. Owners said they understood, there's a stool she can sit on to ring out customers, just bring in a doctor's note when she can. Bev is in the process of getting an official doctor's note when the owners decide to take away the stool and say that no one can sit because Lee will sit on it on her phone in front of customers. They also start to doubt Bev's claims about her medical issues when the doctors note doesn't come in after two weeks (her fucking doctor up and left the practice and the office staff didn't want to produce a note until they heard back from the doctor. Lovely!)

Junp forward to about a month and a half after Bev starts working there. Classes start back up so Bev only works weekends.

She goes onto the app they use to check schedules and sees that she's not even been rostered after her last shift. She mentions it to another shift lead she's on good terms with who says they will mention it to the owner. Bev decides to just take the days off to catch up on school work.

The following week she can't even log onto the app. Says her credentials are invalid. She goes to change her password and it won't even let her do that as the app is saying she's not even in the system. Calls me up after I get off my job that day to talk about it - as she's going through other issues and this is the straw that broke the camels back. Why can't she even log in to see when she's working now? Is it because she's complained about Lee? When it has been presented that Lee is a problem in that workplace? She texts the shift lead she's on good terms with again, who says they'll ask the owner what's going on.

Today (Sept. 6th) Bev messages me. She had apparently submitted a request to officially rejoin the scheduling app and it was rejected by the owner of the store. Good shift lead knows nothing. A couple days ago I had gone into the store to get my parents some ice cream (their request) and Lee was still working there; her and the other employees still acting buddy buddy with me. So I know that Lee is still there but Bev isn't.

It appears, my friends, that Bev has been let go in the most UNPROFESSIONAL manner I have ever seen. She's not even been contacted by the owners about missing any shifts - not that it appears she even had any to miss.

I question the legalities of this. Yes, unfortunately we live in an at-will state and I have heard of things like this happening before where people technically are "fired" by not being scheduled or even contacted by management. I'm encouraging Bev to apply for unemployment to help her while she's in school, since I think she has a case here. It sucks, but I think she'll benefit in the end as she can now focus on her school and hopefully get a source of income elsewhere.

Tl:Dr- my friend Bev quits Christian chicken store to work at an ice cream store. Starts off well, rubs arms with another employee who has been known to be a problem child. Bev ends up being the one let go without even being told anything by management. She wants even there three months.

#submissions #fuck customers #cashier problems #fuck co-workers #fuck retail #embarrassing #server problems #fuck coworkers #fuck managers #retail law #tw:#long post

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still-single · 2 years

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HEATHEN DISCO 11/21/2021

LISTEN. Good soundtrack to you posting weird Cthulhu or selfie or sex/bondage shit on here or whatever you do for work.

https://www.mixcloud.com/mosurock/heathen-disco-show-271-21-november-2021/

HOUR 1

Hard Feelings – Love Scenes

James Brown – Let Yourself Go / There Was a Time / I Feel All Right / Cold Sweat (live)

Fire-Toolz – (e)y(e)s w/o a brain%

Rider/Horse – Sleeping in the Box

Hard Corps – Sacred Heart

Terrine – Carotte Cake

Caroline K – Mirrorball

Thug – Don’t Inter-Fear

Laughing Gear – In a Tank

SiP/Prezzano – Seneca Falls

HOUR 2

Low Life – Hammer and the Fist

Rollerskate Skinny – Bow Hitch-Hiker

Dwaal Troupe – Start a House Fire

HITS – 500 Square Foot Labyrinth

Siouxsie & the Banshees – Painted Bird

Snake Corps – Victory Parade

Come – Submerge

Bitchin Bajas – Island in the Sun

Shop Assistants – Before I Wake

Grouper – Unclean Mind

Chateau – Archdiocese

Endless Boogie – Bad Call

Tyvek – Underwater To

Government Issue – Understand

Ignition – Consequence

New Age Doom & Lee “Scratch” Perry – Fly in the World

Pays P. – Laca de Lacanal

HOUR 3

KG – Sex Toy Box

Meat Beat Manifesto – I Got the Fear Pt. 2

L’Trimm – We Can Rock the Beat

Bleep – In Your System (Joker Mix)

Magazine 60 – Don Quichotte

Clan of Xymox – Mesmerised (Peel Session)

Eris Drew – The Message / Ride Free

Second Layer – Underneath the Glass

Crawler – Stone Cold Sober

David Christian and the Pine Cone Orchestra – Lockets, Drop-outs and Dragnets

CIA Debutante – The Janitor

Clear History - Morsels

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gilmoregirlsrevival2016 · 4 years

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Season 1 Gilmore Girls References (Breakdown)

Yay! All the season 1 references have been posted. Before I start posting season 2, I wanted to post this little breakdown for your enjoyment :) It starts with some statistics and then below the cut is a list of all the specific references.

Overall amount of references in season 1: 605

Top 10 Most Common References: NSYNC (5), Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory (5), Taylor Hanson (6), Leo Tolstoy (7), Lucky Spencer (7), Marcel Proust (7), PJ Harvey (7), The Bangles (8), The Donna Reed Show (8), William Shakespeare (10)

Which episodes had the most references: #1 is That Damn Donna Reed with 55 references. #2 is Christopher Returns with 44 references

What characters made the most references (Only including characters/actors who were in the opening credits): Lorelai had the most with 237 references, Rory had second most with 118, and Lane had third most with 48.

First reference of the season: Jack Kerouac referenced by Lorelai

Final reference of the season: Adolf Eichmann referenced by Michel

Movies/TV Shows/Episodes/Characters, Commercials, Cartoons/Cartoon Characters, Plays, Documentaries:

9 1/2 Weeks, Alex Stone, Alfalfa, An Affair To Remember, A Streetcar Named Desire, Attack Of The Fifty Foot Woman, Avon Commercials, Bambi, Beethoven, Boogie Nights, Cabaret, Casablanca, Charlie's Angels, Charlie Brown cartoons, Christine, Cinderella, Citizen Kane, Daisy Duke, Damien Thorn, Dawson Leery, Donna Stone, Double Indemnity, Double Mint Commercials, Ethel Mertz, Everest, Felix Unger, Fiddler On The Roof, Footloose, Freaky Friday, Fred Mertz, Gaslight, General Hospital, G.I. Jane, Gone With The Wind, Grease, Hamlet, Heathers, Hee Haw, House On Haunted Hill, Ice Castles, I Love Lucy, Iron Chef, Ishtar, Jeff Stone, Joanie Loves Chachi, John Shaft, Lady And The Tramp, Life With Judy Garland: Me And My Shadows, Love Story, Lucky Spencer, Lucy Raises Chickens, Lucy Ricardo, Lucy Van Pelt, Macbeth, Magnolia, Mary Stone, Mask, Midnight Express, Misery, Norman Bates, Officer Krupke, Oompa Loompas, Old Yeller, Oscar Madison, Out Of Africa, Patton, Pepe Le Pew, Peyton Place, Pink Ladies, Pinky Tuscadero, Ponyboy, Psycho, Queen Of Outer Space, Rapunzel, Richard III, Ricky Ricardo, Rocky Dennis, Romeo And Juliet, Rosemary's Baby, Sandy Olsson, Saved By The Bell, Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, Schroeder, Sesame Street, Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Sex And The City, Sixteen Candles, Sleeping Beauty, Star Trek, Stanley Kowalski, Stella Kowalski, Stretch Cunningham, The Champ, The Comedy Of Errors, The Crucible, The Donna Reed Show, The Duke's Of Hazzard, The Fly, The Great Santini, The Little Match Girl, The Matrix, The Miracle Worker, The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Outsiders, The Shining, The Sixth Sense, The View, The Waltons, The Way We Were, The Scarecrow, This Old House, V.I.P., Valley Of The Dolls, Vulcans, Wild Kingdom, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory, Wheel Of Fortune, Who's Afraid Of Virginia Woolf, Working Girl, Yogi Bear, You're A Good Man Charlie Brown

Bands, Songs, CDs:

98 Degrees, Air Supply, Apple Venus Volume 2, Backstreet Boys, Bee Gees, Black Sabbath, Blue Man Group, Blur, Bon Jovi, Boston, Bush, Duran Duran, Everlong, Foo Fighters, Fugazi, Grandaddy, Hanson, I'm Too Sexy, Joy Division, Jumpin' Jack Flash, Kraftwerk, Like A Virgin, Livin La Vida Loca, Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds, Man I Feel Like A Woman, Metallica, Money Money, My Ding-A-Ling, NSYNC, On The Good Ship Lollipop, Pink Moon, Queen, Rancid, Sergeant Pepper, Shake Your Bon Bon, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Sister Sledge, Smoke On The Water, Steely Dan, Suppertime, Tambourine Man, The B-52s, The Bangles, The Beatles, The Best Of Blondie, The Cranberries, The Cure, The Offspring, The Sugarplastic, The Wallflowers, The Velvet Underground, Walk Like An Egyptian, XTC, Ya Got Trouble, Young Marble Giants

Books/Book Characters, Comic Books/Comic Book Characters, Comic Strips:

A Mencken Chrestomathy, A Tale Of Two Cities, Anna Karenina, Belle Watling, Boo Radley, Carrie, David Copperfield, Dick Tracy, Dopey (One of the seven dwarfs) Goofus And Gallant, Great Expectations, Grinch, Hannibal Lecter, Hansel And Gretel, Harry Potter (book as well as character referenced), Huckleberry Finn, Little Dorrit, Madame Bovary, Moby Dick, Mommie Dearest, Moose Mason, Nancy Drew, Out Of Africa, Pinocchio, Swann's Way, The Amityville Horror, The Art Of Fiction, The Bell Jar, The Grapes Of Wrath, The Hunchback Of Notre Dame, The Lost Weekend, The Metamorphosis, The Portable Dorothy Parker, The Unabridged Journals Of Sylvia Plath, The Witch Tree Symbol, There's A Certain Slant Of Light, Tuesdays With Morrie, War And Peace, Wonder Woman

Public Figures:

Adolf Eichmann, Alfred Hitchcock, Angelina Jolie, Anna Nicole Smith, Annie Oakley, Antonio Banderas, Arthur Miller, Artie Shaw, Barbara Hutton, Barbara Stanwyck, Barbra Streisand, Beck, Ben Jonson, Benito Mussolini, Billy Bob Thornton, Billy Crudup, Bob Barker, Brad Pitt, Britney Spears, Catherine The Great, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Charles I, Charles Dickens, Charles Manson, Charlie Parker, Charlotte Bronte, Charlton Heston, Charo, Cher, Cheryl Ladd, Chris Penn, Christiane Amanpour, Christopher Marlowe, Chuck Berry, Claudine Longet, Cleopatra, Cokie Roberts, Courtney Love, Dalai Lama, Damon Albarn, Dante Alighieri, David Mamet, Donna Reed, Edith Wharton, Edna O'Brien, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Elizabeth Webber, Elle Macpherson, Elsa Klensch, Elvis, Emeril Lagasse, Emily Dickinson, Emily Post, Eminem, Emma Goldman, Errol Flynn, Fabio, Farrah Fawcett, Fawn Hall, Flo Jo, Francis Bacon, Frank Sinatra, Franz Kafka, Fred MacMurray, Friedrich Nietzsche, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Gene Hackman, Gene Wilder, George Clooney, George Sand, George W. Bush, Harry Houdini, Harvey Fierstein, Henny Youngman, Henry David Thoreau, Henry James, Henry VIII, Herman Melville, Homer, Honore De Balzac, Howard Cosell, Hugh Grant, Hunter Thompson, Jack Kerouac, Jaclyn Smith, James Dean, Jane Austen, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jennifer Lopez, Jessica Tandy, Jim Carey, Jim Morrison, Jimmy Hoffa, Joan Of Arc, Joan Rivers, Jocelyn Wildenstein, Joel Grey, John Cage, John Gardner, John Muir, John Paul II, John Webster, Johnny Cash, Johnny Depp, Joseph Merrick AKA Elephant Man, Judy Blume, Judy Garland, Julian Lennon, Justin Timberlake, Karen Blixen AKA Isak Dinesen, Kate Jackson, Kathy Bates, Kevin Bacon, Kreskin, Lee Harvey Oswald, Leo Tolstoy, Leopold and Loeb, Lewis Carroll, Linda McCartney, Liz Phair, Liza Minnelli, Lou Reed, M Night Shyamalan, Macy Gray, Madonna, Marcel Marceau, Marcel Proust, Margot Kidder, Marie Antoinette, Marie Curie, Marilyn Monroe, Mark Twain, Mark Wahlberg, Marlin Perkins, Martha Stewart, Martha Washington, Martin Luther, Mary Kay Letourneau, Maurice Chevalier, Melissa Rivers, Meryl Streep, Michael Crichton, Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, Miguel De Cervantes, Miss Manners, Mozart, Nancy Kerrigan, Nancy Walker, Nick Cave, Nick Drake, Nico, Oliver North, Oprah Winfrey, Oscar Levant, Pat Benatar, Paul McCartney, Peter III Of Russia, Peter Frampton, Philip Glass, PJ Harvey, Prince, Queen Elizabeth I, Regis, Richard Simmons, Rick James, Ricky Martin, Robert Duvall, Robert Redford, Robert Smith, Robin Leach, Rosie O'Donnell, Ru Paul, Ruth Gordon, Samuel Barber, Sarah Duchess Of York, Sean Lennon, Sean Penn, Shania Twain, Shelley Hack, Sigmund Freud, Squeaky Fromme, Stephen King, Steven Tyler, Susan Faludi, Susanna Hoffs, Tanya Roberts, Taylor Hanson, Theodore Kaczynski AKA The Unabomber, The Kennedy Family, Groucho, Harpo, Chico, Zeppo, and Gummo Marx AKA The Marx Brothers, Venus and Serena Williams (The reference was "The Williams Sisters"),Thelonious Monk, Tiger Woods, Tito Puente, Tom Waits, Tony Randall, Tonya Harding, Vaclav Havel, Vanna White, Vivien Leigh, Walt Whitman, William Shakespeare, William Shatner, Yoko Ono, Zsa Zsa Gabor

Misc:

Camelot, Chernobyl Disaster, Cone Of Silence, Hindenburg Disaster, Iran-Contra Affair, Paul Bunyan, The Menendez Murders, Tribbles, Vulcan Death Grip, Whoville, Winchester Mystery House

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desbianherstory · 5 years

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Lesbians free everyone, 1995. Credit: Urvashi Vaid; Gay Community News at a 1981 demo against US intervention in El Salvador. Urvashi Vaid third from right. Credit: Ellen Shub.

Veteran activist Urvashi Vaid on being a utopian in the 1970s, and how gay rights prevailed over liberation politics.

As a 17-year-old student in the US in 1975, I believed in utopia and struggle. I was an idealist with a practical streak. Utopia meant what it has to legions of progressives – socialize the benefits of prosperity to all people, and privatize the risk. We would get there through struggle.

Social movements were my home. I believed in their power – the women’s movement, the anti-apartheid movement, the movement against urban redevelopment, the anti-nuclear movement, the gay liberation movement, the racial justice movement. We printed brochures at Come-Unity press in New York, bartering with toilet paper and paper towels from our college bathrooms.

I joined LUNA (Lesbians United in Nonnuclear Action) in 1979, while I was also volunteering for radical weekly Gay Community News, organizing against violence against women with a neighborhood association, and protesting US intervention in El Salvador.

Liberation was the banner under which any young person with a political conscience marched. My understanding of liberation did not come from the feminist and gay activists with whom I worked, but rather from movements working to end colonial occupation and white supremacy. The African National Congress, who defined themselves as “a national liberation movement,” were my heroes.

To be for liberation meant to work for self-determination and freedom – in the Soviet Union, China, Nicaragua, El Salvador, South Africa and the US.

Through the anti-apartheid movement, I met a young radical Episcopal priest named Frank Morales who exposed me to another dimension of liberation. Frank worked at a parish in Poughkeepsie, until his radicalism got him moved to the South Bronx, where his radicalism got him moved again. Frank’s values were grounded in liberation theology, and the work of Gustavo Gutierrez, James Cone, James and Grace Lee Boggs, among others. We talked a lot about praxis.

Gutierrez argued that serving the poor and resisting oppression was central to the Christian faith, and defined liberation theology as engagement in the process of building a freer and more just society. He suggested there were “three levels or dimensions of liberation…First, …liberation from social situations of oppression and marginalization that force many…to live in conditions contrary to God’s will for their life. But that is not enough that we be liberated from oppressive socio-economic structures: also needed is a personal transformation by which we live with profound inner freedom in the face of every kind of servitude…Finally, there is liberation from sin, which attaches the deepest root of all servitude.”

Even as a non-Christian radical lesbian, I understood what he was talking about. Social justice work felt like a moral calling. And it was work I did on many levels. My gender and sexuality-based self-hatred was as much my enemy as external state repression or societal marginalization. Liberation theology taught me that achieving justice was a process and an outcome.

As I grew more active, I affiliated myself with the liberationist wing of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) movement. Here liberation meant the difference between a broad, intersectional politics and a narrower gay rights-focused one.

The former was a politics whose goals were always framed as “both/and”: opposing discriminatory laws and compulsory heterosexuality, securing family recognition for queers and ending patriarchy, being feminist and ending gender and sexual binaries.

This was the politics of the radical wing of the queer movement – it had existed before I came along and it exists today. But it was gay rights not liberation politics that prevailed.

The mainstream gay rights movement came to organize itself around claims of equality, not difference, or even justice. It was simpler to pursue equal protection than substantive justice, seek to be “in-laws” rather than revel in being sexual outlaws. Equality as it is currently articulated in the LGBT movement represents a politics of compliance with liberal capitalism rather than a commitment to ending the exclusions the system perpetuates.

Equality is a fine aspiration. It’s simply not enough. As the legal scholar and activist Dean Spade argues, declarations of legal equality by the state “leave in place the conditions that actually produce the disproportionate poverty, criminalization, imprisonment, deportation and violence trans [and LGBT] people face while papering it over with a veneer of fairness.” The conviction that legal and policy reform (formal legal equality) will change people’s lived experience (lived equality), and that rights once achieved will be evenly distributed, runs deep. US history shows both of these convictions to be false.

After the passage of the 1964 and 1965 Civil Rights and Voting Rights acts, the civil-rights leader A Philip Randolph observed that the movement suffered from the “curse of victory” in which equal rights had been achieved but “blacks still were not equal in fact.” Formal equal rights were a crucial first step; next had to come the struggle for black empowerment, freedom, and respect.

Today the institutionalized structures of white supremacy are evident in every arena, from disparities in health care access and health outcomes, to education systems failures in urban contexts, to the disproportionate criminalization of people of color. Equality was not enough.

Similarly, the women’s movement won many formal legal gains, and these achievements created new opportunities. But legal equality did not remove the glass ceiling for women in the workplace, nor end violence against women, nor transform women’s role in families, nor produce equal pay for equal work—men still earn $1.22-$1.32 to every dollar a woman earns, and that's only for white women. Being of colour only increases the disparity.

Today, neither the framework of rights, nor the framework of liberation, is adequate.

What is needed is a politics centered on ending poverty and expanding opportunity within and outside the LGBT movement. A focus on the survival and thriving of people, communities and the environment is a project of redistribution not liberation, of material solidarity not liberal ideas.

Such a politics is by definition particular, plural, not homogenous, as are the lives of LGBT people. A focus on lived experience takes race, economic status, gender, gender identity, ability, among other variables, into account, because these are part of what different queer people face. Its goal is to tear down and rebuild the current form of oligarchic, nationalist capitalism into a more societally accountable and responsible engine. How can asocial movements like the LGBT movement wield their creativity, political power and new status to build a world that does not privilege the lives and property of some while usurping and destroying the life chances of others?

A justice-oriented LGBT movement would start by ensuring the survival of all members of its community, to end poverty and violence. Tapping the economic privilege of some of its members, and combining the LGBT movement’s newfound political clout with the age-old queer experience of being outsiders, such a movement would seek jobs for all and a stronger social safety net.

It would work against the racial inequalities that are the legacies of racism and colonialism by foregrounding issues like criminal justice, sentencing reform and disproportionate policing and incarceration, disparities in health care access and care, HIV/AIDS criminalization, and wider access to HIV treatment. Such a movement would address LGBT youth homelessness by developing innovative mechanisms to finance new housing.

Further, a poverty-focused movement must realize that a focus on lived experience alone is not enough to forestall the environmental catastrophe, war-fueled violence, health disasters, and economic and resource based inequalities traumatizing millions of people today. To liberate the future, social movements need to build power to overcome forces of resistance.

Movements need strategies to win gains, but also to win governing power that can defend and stop the encroachment of progressive gains by reactionary forces and movements.

The chief reactionary force that threatens social justice movements (including the LGBT movement) is neoliberalism. Neoliberal policies have a paradoxical effect: they reduce the funding available for social services, but they increase demand for services through increased unemployment, dislocation, inequality, poverty and the abandonment of people who were previously supported by a social safety net.

One byproduct of this new demand is the rise of the nonprofit sector. The scholar Miranda Joseph insightfully argues that the nonprofit sector has become a metonym, a substituted concept, for the idea of community, at the very instant that such community has been undermined by neoliberal economic policies. Refocusing on poverty and survival provides a very practical and long- range agenda for activists. And it moves us away from arguments between rights and liberation, equality and freedom, belonging and transforming, and towards experiments in a new practice (new organizational forms, new alliances, new objectives) that as its goal the survival and flourishing of those considered disposable by capitalism and patriarchy.

In an historic address against the Vietnam War in April of 1967 titled A Time to Break Silence, Martin Luther King Jr called for a shift in the focus of the civil rights movement from racial justice alone to a broader focus on economic, social and global justice.

King said, “I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values. We must rapidly begin the shift from a ‘thing-oriented’ society to a ‘person-oriented’ society. When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism and militarism are incapable of being conquered.”

Is it possible to challenge and channel capital’s dominant power in these ways? As a radical, still an idealist, I still answer yes. It is possible for movements to shift and hold capital accountable, and to redeploy its productive power in socially valuable ways.

This is not the liberation of which I dreamt as a teenager. Yet, organizing to win the power still matters. It allows social justice movements to shape the systems and structures that distribute resources. And this is what will enable LGBT activists to truly create the possibility for freedom.

#urvashi vaid #writing

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globalworship · 4 years

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The Saints of Selma” (new contemporary icon)

The Saints of Selma” new icon by Kelly Latimore

Kelly writes,

This week marks the 55th anniversary of the crossing of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama when 600 non-violent civil rights marchers headed east out of Selma on U.S. Route 80 to raise awareness of the need for a federal Voting Rights Act.

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As Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II has said this week the March Continues. It is almost a waste of time to march across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, AL for historical remembrance, if we don’t use their lessons in our present day. It is my hope that this icon isn’t simply a reflection, but a symbol of purpose and action. “The Christian community, therefore, is that community that freely becomes oppressed, because they know that Jesus himself has defined humanity's liberation in the context of what happens to the little ones. Christians join the cause of the oppressed in the fight for justice not because of some philosophical principle of "the Good" or because of a religious feeling of sympathy for people in prison. Sympathy does not change the structures of injustice. The authentic identity of Christians with the poor is found in the claim which the Jesus-encounter lays upon their own life-style, a claim that connects the word "Christian" with the liberation of the poor. Christians fight not for humanity in general but for themselves and out of their love for concrete human beings.” James H. Cone, “God of the Oppressed” Those in the icon from left to right: Front row: Rosa Parks, John Lewis, Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott King, Ralph Abernathy. Middle Row: Amelia Boynton, Hosea Williams, James Forman, Jack Singleton-Synder, Andrew Young. Back Row: James Orange, Archbishop Iakovos, Annie Lee Cooper, Diane Nash, C.T. Vivian There are so many others that could be in this icon. Commissioned by Rev. Betsy Singleton- Synder Prints Available here: https://www.artpal.com/KLicons

https://www.facebook.com/kellylatimoreicons/

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Some photos from Birmingham and Selma during the turbulent times::

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Thanks to my friend Eric Lige for sharing these photos.

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daigina-3 · 5 years

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some fun movies im gonna watch!

with real lgbtq people writing, directing, and/or producing them! and who knows, maybe even ACTING in them, if you can believe it!!

First on the list, Ash Christian, who directed and starred in Fat Girls, an interesting looking movie from 2006. It’s not what you think its about, but it looks really cool. He also produced Hurricane Bianca (2016) and Little Sister (2016), which seems super punk rock.

also, Francis Lee, who recently wrote and directed God’s Own Country (2017), based loosely on his own experiences! I couldn’t find a lot of confirmation that he’s spoken about his sexuality, but he’s included on several “LGBT filmakers” lists, so.

and oh my GOD, Princess Cyd (2017) written and directed by Stephen Cone, a movie about a girl Cyd, who visits her aunt and for the summer and they build a relationship, while Cyd kicks off a romance with a non-binary (?) person named Katie. He’d also known for the 2015 film, Henry Gamble’s Birthday Party, about the closeted son of a preacher turning 17

#queer films #THESE actually all look so good i can't wait to watch little sister and princess cyd and fat girls!!!!!

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blackchristiannewswire · 6 years

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AME Church Releases Statement On 'Transition' of James H. Cone

The Council of Bishops of the African Methodist Episcopal Church has released a statement on the passing of black liberation theologian James H. Cone. The statement, which recalls the upbringing of Cone and his family in the AME Church, was signed by AME President Clement W. Fugh, General Board President Vashti McKenzie, Social Action Chairman Frank Madison Reid III, and the Church's Senior Bishop McKinley Young. The full statement is below, courtesy of Religion News Service. --BCNN1

The African Methodist Episcopal Church celebrates the life, work, and legacy of Dr. James H. Cone. Dr. Cone’s theological purpose and project were to challenge the theological idolatry of white supremacy while encouraging the Black Church to be “unashamedly black and unapologetically Christian.” His classic works Black Theology and Black Power (1969), a Black Theology of Liberation (1970); and God of the Oppressed (1975) powerfully challenged theological, social, political, and ecclesiastical business as usual. His latest publication, The Cross and the Lynching Tree, published in 2012 won the distinguished Grawemeyer Award in Religion. His spiritual autobiography, I Said I Wasn’t Going To Tell Nobody, will be released in the Fall of this year. His powerful and awakening books and writings earned him the title “Father of Black Liberation Theology”. Dr. Cone’s extraordinary skill in the classroom, the lecture hall or behind a local church pulpit, made him a theological prophet, mentor and role model to many. In the 1997 updated and expanded edition of Black Theology and Black Power, Dr. Cone expressed the meaning of his theological work this way: “I wanted to speak on behalf of the voiceless black masses in the name of Jesus, whose gospel I believed had been greatly distorted by the preaching theology of white churches.” The Bill and Judith Moyer Distinguished Professor of Systematic Theology at Union Theological Seminary, he touched, trained and molded generations of Ph.D. trained theologians and prophetic Christian servant leaders serving in pulpits and ministries around the world. Dr. Cone was truly a hero and shero maker. The African Methodist Episcopal Church was the spiritual crucible in which Dr. Cone met the God of the Oppressed. His memories of songs, sermons and life lessons he learned in the church of his youth run throughout his writings. He stood on the shoulders of some of the most exemplary AME Church servant leaders: Richard Allen, Jarena Lee, Denmark Vesey, Henry McNeal Turner, Ida Wells Barnett and Reverdy Cassius Ransom. Both he and his brother, Dr. Cecil W. Cone, Jr. grew up in the AME Church in Arkansas and were ordained itinerant elders in the AME Church. The Cone family’s commitment to the AME Church was a faith, family and freedom affair. They loved their church enough to never leave it. They chose to challenge their church to keep Richard Allen’s Dream alive by speaking and writing the truth in love. The Cones were proud to be AME members and the denomination was richly blessed by their contributions. Today, we pray for the sons, daughters, family, friends, and students that feel Dr. Cone’s loss deeply. The Connectional AME Church thanks God for the gift the Cone family shared with the world. May God in Christ comfort and strengthen them in their journey through grief to healing and wholeness. Dr. Cone achieved extraordinary academic and theological excellence. Because he knew Jesus and the power of His resurrection the works and witness of James H. Cone lives; his truth is marching on. Thank you, Dr. Cone, for the challenge to be the sons and daughters of the God of life, love, and liberation. The Council of Bishops of the AME Church Clement W. Fugh, President Vashti Murphy McKenzie, President of the General Board Frank Madison Reid III, Chair, Commission on Social Action McKinley Young, Senior Bishop ### Contact Dr. Jeffrey Cooper, General Secretary [email protected] 615-254-0911

#African Methodist Episcopal Church #AME Church #black liberation theology #Clement W. Fugh #Frank Reid III #James Cone #James H. Cone #McKinley Young #Vashti McKenzie

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bonobochick · 2 years

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The Courtship, ep 1x09 💪🏼 💃🏽

(streaming on Peacock)

gifs from ep 1x08 👉🏽 https://bonobochick.tumblr.com/post/682991587205300224/the-courtship-ep-1x08-streaming-on-peacock

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taffysannotatedsonichu · 6 years

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Sonichu 7 Page 18

AD COPY: Follow the hero behind the Electric-Hedgehog as Christian Weston Chandler leads his adult life, help him find his sweetheart, take down Mary Lee Walsh and other villains of his life. And many other adventures, puzzles, and minigames await.

-Additional content will be avilable soon through the PlayStation Network.

-Custom C.W.C. and Sonichu character add-ons for Soul Calibur IV avilable soon.

Contact C.W.C. on his PSEYE enabled PS3 through the PSN

TITLE: Christian Weston Chandler’s Adult Chronicles

LOGO: A CWC Production

Coming Soon

RATING: Mature 17+ M Honest Content

LOGO: Playstation 3

LOGO: Wii

LOGO: Sega

LEGALESE: Sonichu is © 2008 by Christian Weston Chandler and all subsidiaries. All rights reserved. Playstation and the “PS” family logo registered by Sony. Wii is trademarked by Nintendo. Sega and their logo is registered by Sega. All rights reserved.

Here we see the first inkling of what would become Chris’s most famous fake game and the first one to not be Sonichu focused, Christian Weston Chandler’s Adult Chronicles. Plot wise it would seem to be similar to the Sub-Episodes - Chris fighting valiantly, with Sonichu and Rosechu serving mostly as backup, against Mary Lee Walsh and her band of evil jerkops and manajerks. For the longest time Chris was rather vague about what exactly the game would be like, until late 2017, about 9 years after he drew this, that Chris mentioned the game would be reminiscent of one of his new faves Life is Strange, a game I’m sure you will be able to find a lot about while browsing through this delightful website you’re currently viewing called Tumblr. Basically it’s a graphic adventure game where you can rewind time and it’s a fave of Chris likely because it’s also all about dykes dykes China. Presumably, in this fictional game of his, you would play as a third-person Chris who would explore Chris’s hangouts around Ruckersville and Charlottesville, interact with some of his friends (Chris singled out Megan and Anna McLerran) along with Sonichu and Rosechu and his parents, and fight off Mary Lee and the rest of Chris’s rogue’s gallery. A bit surprisingly the way Chris talked about the game in his “An Important Update” he implied that the final boss fight would be between him and his “Dark Half”, likely referring to Reldnahc and the climactic showdown between him and Mary Lee would happen earlier.

Chris hasn’t been the hero behind the hedgehogs in about five issues. Chris has been the hero in front of the hedgehogs, eclipsing them entirely.

Interestingly, this page’s reference to Mary Lee, even in the CWCipedia retconned comics, was never changed to Slaweel.

The cover shown on the game boxes themselves shows what appears to be the ending of the game - Chris stands victorious, the 4-Cent-Garbage symbol underneath his foot, the EHPs beside him. Strewn across his backyard are symbols representing Chris’s main foes in the comics: from top to bottom we have Naitsirhc’s blue goggles (from his original outfit), the smashed sceptre of Count Graduon, left slumped on its side like a discarded ice cream cone, the Jerkief’s delicious wooden badge, the severed mechanical sword arm of the Merried Seinor Comic, Mary Lee’s cracked hair devil horns helmet, and what appears to be the Robotnik medallion from Sonichu 1.

Shown above the games themselves are the two consoles Chris would develop this game for, Sony’s Playstations 2 and 3 and Nintendo’s Wii. One of the many facets to Chris’s unbreakable brand loyalty is his undying love for the consoles of Nintendo and Sony and hatred of those produced by Microsoft. Dubbed by him as the “HEXBox”, he has never offered any real reasons for this dislike besides basic console wars reasons. During Chris’s childhood, he showed an equal distaste towards Sony’s consoles due to his infatuation with Nintendo and Sega’s consoles. After Sega left the console market in 2002, Chris filled that void with a cheaply bought PS1, and it and its successors has become his ally and lover ever since.

The rating in the bottom left, “M for Honest Content”, has become another meme among Christorians as a way of denoting NSFW Chris material on sites like the CWCki.

Soul Calibur is a series of fighting games that’s ideal for beating up representations of your foes like deans that tear up your signs or artists that draw pickles on your FEMALE characters. Chris’s favorite character is Cassandra Alexandra, for obvious reasons.

That legalese at the bottom was almost certainly copied directly from something. Here’s some fun trivia for ya - the phrase “All Rights Reserved” has been obsolete in America since 1989 due to the US signing on to newer international copyright treaties that don’t require copyright formalities like “All Rights Reserved” such as the Berne Convention, and it’s never been applicable to countries outside of North and South America like Japan, where Sega, Nintendo, and Sony all originate.

#Sonichu 7 #advertisements #Christian Weston Chandler #sonichu #Rosechu #count graduon

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apastornamedrob-blog · 4 years

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I am Anti-White

I was writing a post for an assignment about racism in my Theology and Ethics of MLK class at Fuller Theological Seminary and thought I should share my thoughts more publicly. Check it out:

A popular Christian song is Mandisa’s “We all bleed the same.” In reflecting on my whiteness, I add, “but we don’t bleed as much.” Like Malcolm X mentioned, the African American who is more like the “field Negro” is bleeding on the streets (Video) while the “house Negro” is cozy with the master. Mandisa’s song highlights more problems than solutions and promotes whiteness. “Whiteness is a way of imagining the world moving around you, flowing around your body with you at the center” (Jennings, Fuller Magazine, 51).

To diminish racial issues today with a song like “We all bleed the same” is cheap reconciliation. Lee states, “evangelicals think forgiveness alone is sufficient in achieving reconciliation because this is what God did in Jesus Christ” (Lee, Fuller Magazine, 76). Whiteness has engulfed contemporary Christianity, neglecting the weak, normalizing oppression, and actually inviting others to join the fray as some sort of accomplishment (Jennings, 51).

We are not reconciling “them” to “us,” we are assimilating a “weaker” individual/group by perpetuating fear in a culture of conversion. Jennings is right to call intellectuals towards confronting the principalities of whiteness, greed and violence, and fear because “It is the evil that we are seeking to defeat, not the persons victimized with evil” (Washington, 87).

“What we need is a restless determination to make the ideal of brotherhood a reality in this nation and all over the world” (89). However, we cannot rationalize away our value of justice because, then, we just prove ourselves to be out of sync with core Christian values. The real issue here is “the integrity of the gospel itself and consequently, the integrity of our witness to the rest of the world – where the majority is blessedly nonwhite” (Pannel, Fuller Magazine, 48). It starts by exorcising whiteness from Christian intellectualism (Jennings, 51). This will happen in white reflection about whiteness, perhaps then we will all be antiwhite (Malcolm X, Playboy article in Cone, 101).

Where have you been alerted to your whiteness? A song? A movie? A friend? Sources: Cone, Martin & Malcolm & America: A Dream or a Nightmare, (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2018). Fuller Magazine #4, Reconciling Race. https://fullerstudio.fuller.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/fullermag-issue-four.pdf Malcolm X video mentioned: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kf7fujM4ag&t=62s Washington, A Testament of Hope: The Essential Writings and Speeches of Martin Luther King, Jr. (New York: HarperOne, 1986).

#jesusisthesubject #Jesus #Racism #whiteness #Seminary

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ember-of-sin · 5 years

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Writetober Day #1: Fear

Going to try some prompts from inktober/writetober, and see how it works out. Here’s the first day. Enjoy!

Hungry.

“Fucking Sudan,” Hamish Bertold swore, putting the cigarette to his lips and taking a long drag from it. The mercenary leaned back against the side of his jeep, looking up at the stars. “Fucking Sudan.” The Englishman looked over at the rest of his unit – Frederic Pashayev, a former Chechen guerilla, who’d giving up fighting for a cause once Russian artillery landed on his wife and child. Disgusted with both the failed separatist movement that couldn’t even save his own family and by the increasing number of Islamic fighters flooding into the country, the ex-Soviet had left his nation behind. Next to him, weaving his hands back in forth in a description of an event he’d probably mentioned ten times before was Jacques D’Entremot. Always well-groomed, even in a dirty fucking country like this, the Frenchman also loved fire. Perhaps a little more than he should, but not so much that Bertold had to make sure he didn’t go burning down a village for no reason.

Sitting on the hood of the car was the fourth member of their team; Anna Lee Smith, an American. ‘Little Orphan Annie’ whenever you thought she wasn’t listening. You didn’t find many women in this kind of work, but Smith was one of the exceptions. A head shorter than Bertold, she wasn’t squat or bulky, but built and definitely tough enough to lay out any man that thought she was an easy mark. Smith was also prone to starting bar-clearing brawls whenever she thought that she was getting less than the full amount of respect that she deserved.

Bertold ran a finger around his collar, desperate for even that temporary relief. It was a hot night here, so humid you could practically drink the air. “How much longer, Abdul?” he asked.

“Please, sir,” their guide offered in a voice of forced obsequiousness. ‘Abdul’ was not his real name. In the North, he was a devout Muslim convert. In the south of the country, he was an upstanding Christian by birth. For want of an actual identity, Pashayev had given him his name and it had stuck. “It will take however long it takes.”

“It better take less time than that,” Frederic commented darkly. They’d been waiting here, outside another shithole Sudanese village for the past four hours. Allegedly, Abdul had a contact here who would know where their targets were headed.

The mercenary ran a finger through his collar again. A very wealthy man had hired them after his very idealistic daughter had run off to join one of the aid agencies working in the country. A death squad had visited the girl’s camp. They had not been terribly impressed with the group’s humanitarian mission, and had objected to the dispersal of supplies, food and medical attention to the southern Sudanese. They had requested that all goods be turned over to them, as government authorities, for proper distribution. The medical personnel had not wanted to do this. The northerners had insisted. Quite strenuously.

Officially, the government knew nothing about the ‘Camp Holtisce Massacre’, where 87 southern Sudanese men, women and children were slaughtered, 7 foreign aid workers were butchered and one very wealthy man’s overly idealistic daughter was raped and murdered. The very wealthy man had pressured his government to take corrective measures, which amounted to a strongly-worded finger-wagging. The very wealthy man then spent a considerable amount of money to find out exactly who had carried out the Camp Holtisce atrocity and to contract, through appropriate channels, Bertold and his team. Who would, thank you, locate the team and make sure to express the very wealthy man’s extreme displeasure before sending them off to whatever lay in the hereafter.

A good job for good pay.

Bertold’s team had been tracking the northerners for some time now and were almost on them, but somehow they’d given him the slip. They’d moved into the small, out-of-the way southern town to do what came naturally to genocidal lunatics – at least Bertold had thought so, but the notable lack of shots and screams showed a restraint that was totally out-of-character for the northerners. Either they had decided to give peace a chance, or they had figured out that Bertold and his team were tailing them and were either a) lying in wait, or b) had snuck out of the village either to escape or circle around and then ambush the mercenaries.

No matter how it went, Hamish did not like the possible outcomes. He’d fallen his unit back off the main roads far enough that they should be able to spot any flanking attempts, but there was no sign of life from the village ahead.

Abdul had gone ahead to signal his contact there, and received the ‘wait’ response. Which only made Bertold and his team more nervous.

Smith and D’Entremot had swept the area three times already; no sign of flankers and Abdul had checked with his contact again, got another ‘wait’. So, what the fuck was going on?

“This is ridiculous,” Pashenyev growled. “If they’re going to fucking come at us, then come at us already.”

“Maybe they’re bunkered down, thinking the same thing?” Anna suggested, cradling a sniper rifle that seemed two sizes too big for her.

Hamish nodded to himself. No point in waiting any more; if there was a trap, they might as well go in to spring it. “Move out, then. We’ll leave the jeep here.”

“And, you can be assured that will I safeguard it valiantly,” their guide promised.

Frederic grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and gave him a shove. “You’re on point,” the Chechen growled.

“Motherfucking Christ,” Smith whispered in horror as the cone of light from her flashlight played over scene of carnage.

There’d been no sentries.

No drunks loitering around the outskirts of the town, no children sneaking out of bed, no men and women carousing. There was only the stench of blood, the hissing of small, unattended fires and the crackling of glass from shattered windows underfoot. There were no bodies. Only bloodstains splashed against walls and doors, dirt and fences. Bits of bone, pieces of entrails. Drag marks leading off into the savannah.

The crude wooden floors of huts were splashed with dark, reeking fluid. Fingernails had curled deep scratches leading in floors, door frames and windowsills. The woman’s nose crinkled at the mingled scents of blood and urine, the actinic musk of perspiration underlying everything. Not, not just perspiration; fear.

Anna could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She didn’t know why; she’d fought on a dozen different battlefields, seen and done things far worse than this empty village but here… it was wrong. Indefinably, inescapably wrong. Something… something bad had happened, beyond even what her eyes were telling her.

They shouldn’t be here.

-run-

It was a whispering, chittering voice in the back of her skull, repeating the mantra over and over again. Run. Run. Run.

The mercenary played her flashlight over the walls of the house she was in, a squat and simple one-room hut. There; something on the walls, some kind of writing, it looked like. Smeared on the planks in a shaking hand, barely legible, it trailed off into an indecipherable scrawl as its author was dragged away:

They are h...

Inside her, the voice grew louder, but she shoved it away and backed out of the empty house, continuing her sweep of the village, and if a shiver of movement caught her eye, it was only ever the rustling of grass or some litter that had caught in the wind.

“This is wrong,” Abdul said, clutching his own pistol tightly. “Death squads leave the bodies as a warning. This is not a regime were people are disappeared. Not like this.”

“Yeah? So where are they?” Hamish demanded, playing his light over a broken bicycle. The dirt beneath it had been torn up with frantic movements, a dark stain in the dusty soil. A busted watch lay discarded in the dirt, its strap torn, the glass face broken. The mercenary knelt down to pick it up. It had stopped over six hours ago, even before the death squad had gotten here.

That was impossible. It meant-

“Ham,” Anna’s voice crackled through the radio. “Get over here. We’re in the village square.”

“What’d you find?”

“Our targets.”

The death squad; a dozen men armed with a variety of weapons, from machetes and hammers to AK-47s and even an RPG or two. Not that it had done them much good. These bodies were still here, left out where they’d fallen, their manner of their deaths telling a very distinct tale.

They’d come to the town to rape, pillage and murder and found it just as empty. Fanning out to search for the villagers that they’d believed to be hiding, they’d been hunted down and killed themselves, picked off one by one. In houses, searching closets. In the street, standing guard, or when they’d tried to run.

One of them was slumped at the wheel of one of their vehicles, a jagged chunk of metal imbedded in his skull, thrown with considerable force and accuracy.

“Their magazines are still full,” Jacques pointed out, touching a finger to the barrel of the driver’s gun. It was no warmer than the Sudanese climate allowed for. “Whatever happened, happened fast.”

“It must have been the villagers,” Pashayev said, his fingers tapping against his submachine gun in a cadence continually increasing in tempo. He felt it too. It was in the air. Something wrong had been here. “The villagers. They decided to not to put up with these fuckers’ shit and gave a little back.” He didn’t sound like he believed it, but Bertold could see Frederic was rattled. They all were. There was something about this place

“Yeah, you think?” Smith spat, shining her flashlight into Frederic’s face. “You think a village of goat-farmers just up and killed a dozen men and then ghosted off into nowhere again like the fucking SAS? That strike you as plausible?”

“Maybe the old man hired someone else for the job,” Jacques snapped back, stroking his natty little goatee. “They just got here first. Some other merc troop.”

“No…” Bertold mused. “We would have heard. And nobody on the market is this good.”

“Then what the fuck happened here?”

“More to the point,” Anna raised her hand. “Why do we care? The targets’re dead, we’re not. Let’s go get paid. Do we really have to play the horror movie cliché of ‘explore the spooky village’?”

Jacques nodded. “I agree. Answers are for people who care to ask questions. Let’s not.” There was an edge to his voice and Bertold looked over at his companion; he was feeling it too. They all were.

“All right,” he said. “Let’s-”

“Wait,” Abdul put in. “We must find our contact.”

“‘Our’ contact?” Pashayev grunted.

Hamish pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sure he’s fine. He probably lit out when he saw us coming in.” Burn the village, run away run away never come back.

The Russian laughed. “Didn’t want to be mistaken for another spook in the dark.”

Whatever Abdul had been about to say in reply was cut off by a startled shout from Anna. “Movement!”

Hamish spun, lifting his gun and sweeping the flashlight beam across the empty village; there. Someone had just run between two houses. He gestured to his team, Frederic and Jacques breaking off to slip around while he and Anna moved in. Abdul remained where he was.

The clear night was starting to cloud over; only the orange glow of the small, still-burning fires and the thin cone of light from Hamish’s lamp provided any light at all as the moon’s glow was slowly devoured. He flicked off the flashlight, unwilling to give away his position. Ahead of him, he could hear raspy, frightened breathing, the scrape of feet over dirt. His nose twitched.

-blood-

The village reeked of it, stunk of fear and pain. He didn’t want to be here. He wanted to listen to the gibbering voice inside him and just run, run until he no longer could and pull the ground in over him. Instead, he forced himself to take another step and then, another.

His head throbbed, the flush of adrenalin making his entire body shake. I know this, some ancient part of him quavered. I… remember this. Long-forgotten, buried beneath generations of human primacy, some atavistic part of him shivered in uncomprehending horror. That … there was no word to describe it. The human sense of smell was vestigial compared to that of other organisms and the scent of blood and death, ash and befoulment in this place was almost overpowering, but beneath it… one particle in a thousand. A million. A billion. There was no definable odour, but he could still feel it. It was everywhere. This is a bad place, that primitive voice whimpered.

Beside him, he could hear Smith, the hitch of her own breathing telling him that she felt it too. Their eyes met, each of them wanting to run, each of them shaking off the primitive instinct as nothing more than the willies. But, the little voice insisted, growing louder. You’ve seen worse. You’ve done worse. Why this place?[/i]

He remembered a tidbit he’d heard on one nature program or another. The scent of a ferret so terrifies rabbits that some die of fright before they ever see it...

Stop it! he ordered himself as he continued down the alley. A ray of moonlight pierced through the clouds as they briefly thinned out. There was a shadow on the other side of nearest house’s corner. Hamish slid sideways, cursing himself for the scuffing his feet made in the dirt. You’re better than this!

So thick in the air, he could almost feel it, making every nerve scream in primal terror, he forced the incomprehensible fear away and moved closer, adrenalin starting to make his arms shake.

As the moon’s light retreated again, he gestured for Anna to give him a little space as he whirled around the corner. There was a startled cry as he swung the barrel of the gun into the face of a terrified girl.

The man who today went by the name of Abdul swore to himself and kicked a furrow in the beaten-down dirt of the path. He didn’t like this, anything about this. Jamal should have been here waiting for them when they arrived, even if the village was like this. It wasn’t like him to play these sorts of games.

Waiting for the mercenaries to return, Abdul sighed with disgust. He headed to Jamal’s house, forcing himself to loosen his grip on his pistol, but each time he inadvertently found his hands tightening about it painfully, like a child with a security blanket worried about the Boogeyman.

He passed by a patter of red in the silhouette of a man and suppressed a shudder, recalling too many local tales of the jinns. In some tales, they were harmless tricksters. In others, they were malign spirits. Still others… Abdul shook himself. Superstitions, he told himself. That was all.

There; he was at his destination, a small chicken coop on the edge of town. Jamal’s brother owned it and it would not be out of place for his contact to be seen here; that was why they had chosen it. There was a cluttering of clucks from the hens; they were all cowering in their coop, heads cocked at Abdul, terrified eyes staring... almost expectantly.

Abdul suppressed the insane urge to scream at them, demanding that they tell him what they had seen. He paused, catching some motion in his peripheral vision, but when he turned to look, there was nothing. Just another stupid bird.

He found the small shed that Jamal contacted him from, frowning as he picked out a strange shape in the dirt. It was Jamal’s flashlight. Why would it…? He turned it over in his hands, freezing as his fingers touched something sticky, warm and wet. With a suddenly shaking hand, he drew his own flashlight and shone it on the ground, revealing the thick, matted bloodstains there.

“No…” he whispered.

“Khalikh,” he heard someone call his name, his real name.

He looked up, seeing a form slip behind a house. “Over here,” the familiar voice called.

“Jamal? Is that you?”

“Over here, Khalikh,” Jamal called. “Over here.”

His heart pounding, the man vaulted over the fence, rushing to the building, and rounding the corner, but there was no one there.

“Khalikh,” the voice called, a little closer. There – in the shadows between this house and the next, he could just make out a human form. “Over here. Hurry.”

“Yes, yes. Just stay there.”

“I’ll stay,” Jamal promised. “Khalikh, come here.”

Khalikh stepped into the darkness. “What happened here, Jamal? Are you all right?” the other man did not respond. “Jamal? Are you hurt? Say something!” He fumbled with the light, almost dropping it before turning it on, a spotlight shining on the ground, catching the dried pool of blood there perfectly, a fresh drop splashing onto the crimson soil. The blood drained from Khalikh’s face as he panned the beam up over the figure. “Jamal,” he whispered, reaching up to close his friend’s eyes. Left here like… like…

…like bait.

“Khalikh,” Jamal’s voice called from behind him. “Over here.”

“Please!” she begged, cowering away from the mercenary. “No hurt!”

As keyed-up as he was, Hamish almost pulled the trigger anyways. “Who are you?” he demanded, his nostrils flared. “What happened here?” He could barely form the words, his breath ragged and hoarse in his throat.

The girl – her skin was lighter than that the southern Sudanese African population, pressed herself up against the wall as if trying to flatten herself against it. “Don’t hurt me! I’m afraid!” She didn’t look more than twenty years old, if that. Kill her! some part of Hamish shrieked in rising panic.

“It’s okay,” Smith tried to reassure the frightened girl, but could barely form the words. Run, her mind screamed even louder, a shriek that bubbled up from the deepest, darkest recesses of racial memory. Run from her! But even as that voice screamed and gibbered, another insisted that everything was all right, that she didn’t have to be afraid, that she just had to reach out and help the girl…

“I’m afraid,” the young woman repeated.

“You don’t have to be,” Smith tried, swallowing back her own terror, forcing herself not to retch. Her legs were shaking. “We’re here to help you.” She had to help her; the poor thing was so frightened, she had to, to get closer and…

..she took another step.

“Please,” the girl said – did her lips twitch just then? – pulling deeper into the shadows, but letting Anna approach. “I’m afraid.”

Something’s not right. Hamish realized, pulling himself out of his stupor. He grabbed his radio. “Jacques, Fred – come in.” There was nothing; only static. “Abdul.” No response. “Anna, let’s-” Smith was reaching for the girl. Yes, that was the thing to do. Run! Don’t be afraid. Never stop, never stop! Hamish grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

“The fuck, Bert?” Anna demanded, but the mercenary captain’s eyes never left the young woman in front of them, his gun still shaking in his one-handed grip.

“Don’t hurt me,” the girl sobbed, so small and frightened. “Please. I’m afraid.”

The moon returned, filling the entire village with cold, clear light. It lasted only seconds, but that was enough. The shadows vanished and Hamish could see the dark stains covering the girl’s clothes, the dried blood around her mouth… and the green cats-eye gleam of her gaze. She was beautiful, but… wrong somehow, her near-Arabic features perfect; too perfect. As if someone had tried to sculpt a human, but didn’t quite realize what one should be. She saw his realization. Her eyes glittered with reflected light as she smiled, exposing a too-wide mouth full of gleaming teeth. “Please help me,” she begged in the same pleading tone. “I’m hungry.”

Shoot her! Shoot her shoot her shoot her now! Hamish’s mind shrieked, but he couldn’t make himself pull the trigger. It was all he could do not to run, his heart pounding in his ears like thunder, his entire body shaking. He backed away from the girl, pulling Anna with him, each step an effort not to throw the woman at the thing in front of him and flee in blind panic.

There was a flicker of motion and the girl was gone, as if she’d only been his imagination.

“She was there,” panted Smith. “She was there.”

“Yeah,” Hamish nodded, checking behind them. “Yeah, she was.” He grabbed his radio. “Abdul, Jack, Fred. Where the fuck are you?” Christ, her eyes. Her mouth. Was that just a… a trick of the light? He almost staggered as faded, washed-out memories threatened to overwhelm him. No, not memories. Not really. No faces. No images. No sounds. But they were there, a terrifying recognition. His knees buckled, but he kept control of his stomach, clutching the radio as if it were a lifeline to sanity. His conscious mind struggled to make sense of atavistic memories, interpreting them as fragments, scenes played out over and over so many times that they’d imbued themselves directly in his genes. A warning, dormant for generations but now shrieking as strongly as any other primal instinct.

-screaming, dragged off into the darkness-

-gleaming green eyes in the dark, Cheshire grins of sharp teeth-

-the scent of them filling the air, nostrils flaring, hooting in rage and fear, a fist clenched in panic-

-they are watching, always watching-

“We’re here,” Jacques answered, his voice crackling through the radio, pulling Hamish out of his spell.

Bertold pulled himself back to his feet, trying to calm himself, but he was still shaking, that fear was still there, eating away at him. He had enough firepower to kill this village himself and he’d gotten the shakes over a ninety-eight pound waif? What the fuck happened here? What were those things? “Christ, you assholes take a vacation or something?” Focus on them. On them, nothing else. We’re getting out of here, that’s what matters.

“We’re here. Are you coming?”

“Fuck you,” Hamish growled. “We’re pulling out. Now. I can’t raise Abdul. You seen him?” Yes run run run run.

“No.”

“Too bad for him, then. I’m not waiting. We’re leaving.”

“Where are you?”

“We didn’t go far, jackass,” Hamish snapped. “You?”

“Over here.”

“Thanks. Very helpful.” Bertold had reached the village square again, the dead death squad still laying where they’d fallen. He staggered and almost fell; looking down, he saw what had tripped him. The flashlight from Frederic’s uniform. There was a spot of red liquid on the lens. Hamish picked it up, the blood draining from his face. “Jacques… let me speak to Frederic.”

“I’m here,” Pashayev’s Russian burr growled through the comm. It sounded just like him. “Are you coming?”

“Yeah. Yeah, we are…” Hamish said, acid bubbling up his windpipe. Just like the girl.

From behind them, he could hear a soft, flowing melodic cry. The girl. She was crawling over the thatched roof of the nearest house, arms and legs moving like a spider, feet dug in, ready to spring. She was staring at them, her eyes shining green in the reflected firelight, the blood around her mouth glistening wetly. There was no malice in her expression, just… intensity. She opened her mouth and sang again.

Something nearby answered her, a hushed, taunting whisper in Jacques’s voice: “Over here.”

Hamish let the flashlight fall from his hands, looking to Anna for… what, he didn’t know, but the woman was gone. He looked back up at the girl, watched as a long, bifurcated tongue ran over her lips and the blood there. It was fresh.

Her expression never changed as she continued to stare. Patient. Wary. Hungry. Name. My name is Hamish Bertold, he told himself. “I know what you are,” he said; barely a whisper, his mouth was dry. He forced himself to scream it: “I know what you are!” I have… I have survived worse than this. I have killed dozens of men. I am a human man, top of the food chain and I am not afraid. I am not afraid. I have a gun and all she… they have is… is…

I know what you are, she seemed to say, his imagination filling in her part of the conversation. And it is simple. Prey.

It was only the smallest gesture, really. The girl slid her tongue out towards him, a beckoning gesture. His courage failed entirely and Hamish opened fire, screaming incoherently, the weapon bucking in his shaking hands as he sprayed bullets in all directions, hitting nothing. In seconds, the weapon clicked empty and he threw his gun away, running for all he was worth. His lungs burned as he ran, his heart thudding so hard it felt as if it would explode, but it didn’t matter. It didn’t matter where he ran, just as long as it was away.

Rabbits and ferrets…

There was a rush of movement behind him and he looked over his shoulder, he had a glimpse of green and white as he tumbled to the ground, flailing, shrieking and gibbering in blind panic as warm breath blew over his face and sharp teeth closed on his throat.

“Please,” even over the sound of his own screaming he heard someone speaking in Anna’s voice. “I’m hungry.”

#writetober #fear #horror #proximal flame #writing

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the-record-obituaries · 5 years

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Sept. 4, 2019: Obituary

Jerry Alexander, 73

Brother Jerry Ander Alexander, age 73 of North Wilkesboro passed away Sunday, September 1, 2019 at Woltz Hospice Home in Dobson

Funeral services will be held 2:00 PM Wednesday at Northside Baptist Church with Pastor Jason Seth Whitley, Brother Jason Lee Whitley and Mr. Jason Richardson officiating. The body will be placed in the church at 1:00 PM. Burial will be in Middle Cross Baptist Church Cemetery. .

Jerry was born October 19, 1945 in Wilkes County to Roy Clinton and Lura Mae Stone Alexander. He was a member of Northside Baptist Church and was a pastor for 16 years.

In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by his wife; Judy Brown Alexander and one brother; Earl Alexander.

He is survived by three daughters; Sandy Richardson and husband Wayne of Hays, Dawn Alexander and Pam Alexander both of North Wilkesboro, one grandson; Jason Richardson and fiance' Chelsey Berry, and one great grandchild; Carly Richardson, sister; Mary Nell Williams of North Wilkesboro, brother; Mayford Alexander and wife; Thelma of Roaring River and sister-in-law; Jane Alexander of Rock Creek.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Northside Baptist Church, PO Box 2731, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659 or Mountain Valley Hospice, 945 Zephyr Road, Dobson, NC 27017.

Fellman Cheek, 84

Preacher Fellman Cheek, age 84 of Roaring River, passed away Sunday, September 1, 2019 at his home.

Funeral services will be held 2:00 PM Wednesday, September 4, 2019 at Calvary Baptist Church with Pastor Mark Hall, Pastor Brian Cardwell and Pastor Larry Stone officiating. Burial will be in the church cemetery.

Preacher Cheek was born January 29, 1935 in Wilkes County to Ell and Mary Elizabeth Gentry Cheek. He was a member of Maple Springs Baptist Church. Preacher Cheek dedicated over 50 years of his life to preaching the Gospel. He was Pastor at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church in Wilkesboro for 4 years, Calvary Baptist Church in North Wilkesboro for 40 plus years where he was Pastor Emeritus, Grassy Knob Baptist Church in Union Grove for 3 years and Maple Springs Baptist Church in Ronda.

In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by his wife; Betty Jane Billings Cheek, four sisters; Geneva Hudler, Ozena Myers, Mary Hemric and Rosie Hanes and three brothers; Willard Cheek, Clemmon Cheek and Marvin Cheek.

He is survived by a daughter: Karen Souther and husband Grant of Millers Creek, two sons: Tam Cheek and wife Jan of North Wilkesboro and Jody Cheek and wife Heather of Ocean Isle; six grandchildren: Joseph Cheek (Missy) of Charlotte, Todd Mathis (Lisa) of North Wilkesboro, Carisa Meade (Bradley) of North Wilkesboro, Thomas Cheek (Jordan) of Yadkinville, Andrew Cheek and Aiden Cheek both of Ocean Isle; six great grandchildren: Kaitlyn and Makayla Cheek, Amber Mathis, Slater and Alarie Meade and Sydney Cheek, and one sister Edna Norman (Paul) of Thurmond.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Woltz Hospice Home, 945 Zephyr Road, Dobson, NC 27017

Jordan Adams, 33

Mr. Jordan Ryan Adams, age 33 of North Wilkesboro passed away Saturday, August 31, 2019 at his home.

Funeral services will be held 2:00 PM Wednesday, September 4, 2019 at Christian Fellowship Mission Church with Pastor Roger Wagoner officiating. Burial will be in the Taylor Cemetery.

Mr. Adams was born August 4, 1986 in Wilkes County to Gary Walter and Kim Holbrook Adams. He was a 2005 graduate of North Wilkes High School and worked for Hobes Ham.

He was preceded in death by his father; Gary Walter Adams and grandfather; Roscoe Holbrook and great grandparents; Glenn and Alsie Douglas.

He is survived by his mother; Kim Holbrook Taylor and husband; Terry of McGrady and two sisters; Kandace Thorley and husband Terry of Charlotte and Rylee Taylor of McGrady, grandparents; Betty and Carvin Brown of Millers Creek and his girlfriend; Meagan Smith and special friends; Mousey and Zae Zae.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to the Humane Society of Wilkes, PO box 306, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659.

Bobby Yoder, 59

Bobby Jean Yoder, age 59, of North Wilkesboro, passed away Saturday, August 31, 2019 at Hugh Chatham Memorial Hospital in Elkin. Bobby was born February 4, 1960 in Tazwell County, Virginia. Bobby was one of the most amazing, hardworking mothers. She never met a stranger and was the grandmother of the century. She was loved by everyone who got to know her. Ms. Yoder was preceded in death by her parents, Robert Eugene and Idna Gladys Yates; brother, Timmy Yoder; and first husband, Joseph Haney.

Surviving are her sons, Joey Haney and spouse Courtney of North Wilkesboro, Randy Dowell and spouse Chelsea of North Wilkesboro, Joshua Dowell and spouse Nicole of Ronda; Gary Conley of Hays (nephew); grandchildren, Preston Dowell, Dominic Haney, Kaitlyn Haney, Kierstin Dowell, Haylie Dowell, Zach Dowell, Emma Hartley, Journey Haney, Jedidiah Haney, Caston Dowell; siblings, Connie Jo Dodson of Winston Salem, Gerrie Hildebrand of Clemmons, Bessie Diane Hall of Wilkesboro, Robbie Yoder of Florida, Teressa Grey and Arlene Morgan both of Tennessee; nieces, Shannon Campbell and Crystal Conley, among other nieces and nephews.

A Celebration of life will be held from 1:00 until 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, September 7, 2019 at Crossfire United Methodist Church with Rev. Steve Smith officiating. Memorials may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis Place, Tennessee, 38105-9956.

Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.

Sue Summers, 81

Mrs. Sue Mathis Summers, age 81 of North Wilkesboro, passed away Saturday, August 31, 2019 at Wake Forest Baptist- Wilkes Medical Center.

Graveside services were September 3, at Mountlawn Memorial Park with Rev. Chris Lakey officiating.

Mrs. Summers was born January 21, 1938 in Wilkes County to Coy and Thelma Jarvis Mathis. She was a homemaker who enjoyed sports, gardening, cooking and her family.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband; Charles E. Summers, Sr., three sisters; Mary Sale, Lucille Johnson and Jean Anderson and one brother; Buddy Mathis.

She is survived by three sons; Charles Summers Jr. and wife Debbie, John Summers and wife Rosie and James Summers and wife Angela all of North Wilkesboro, three grandchildren; Adam Summers and wife Randee of State Road, Ashley Eller and husband Adam and Caitlyn Summers all of North Wilkesboro and four great grandchildren.

The family requests no food or flowers. Memorials may be made to Ebenezer Christian Children's Home PO Box 2777 North Wilkesboro, NC 28659 or the Humane Society of Wilkes PO Box 306 North Wilkesboro, NC 28659.

The family wishes to thank their mother's Home Health Care Team; Susan Shumate, Angela Fye and Angela Reins for their love, care and support that they have shown during this time.

Rita Harrold, 74

Rita Marlene Harrold, age 74, of Liberty, passed away Friday, August 30, 2019 at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro. She was born April 19, 1945 in Wilkes County to Boss and Ada Dillard Souther. Mrs. Harrold attended Julian Baptist Church. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Howard Harrold; and several siblings.

Surviving are son, Norman Harrold of Liberty; daughter, Marna Dunn of Tucson, Arizona; brothers, Terry Souther of Liberty, Carl Souther of Thomasville, David Souther of North Wilkesboro; and sister, Joyce Golds of Purlear.

Graveside service was September 3, at Zion Baptist Church Cemetery with Rev. Roger Jennings officiating. Memorials may be made to Zion Baptist Church Cemetery Fund, PO Box 372, Hays, NC 28635. Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.

Woodrow Dowell, 73

Mr. Woodrow "Woodie" Wilson Dowell, age 73 of North Wilkesboro, passed away Friday, August 30, 2019 at his home.

Funeral services were September 1, at Calvary Baptist Church with Rev. Mark Hall and Pastor Donnie Shumate officiating. Burial with Military Honors by Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1142 will be in the church cemetery.

Mr. Dowell was born April 20, 1946 in Wilkes County to Howard William Dowell and Annie Floss Wooten Dowell. He served in the United States Army during the Vietnam War. While serving in Vietnam, he was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and earned his Sharpshooter Badge (M-14) Rifle. He was retired from Wilkes Electric Armature where he worked as an Electrical Tech for 32 years. Woodie was a member of Calvary Baptist Church where he served as a Deacon for 40 years.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a sister; Grace Campbell and five brothers; Lonnie Dowell, Bob Dowell, Bill Dowell, Junior Dowell and Paul Dowell.

He is survived by his wife Jeanette Walker Dowell of the home, three daughters; Angela Wood and husband Kevin of North Wilkesboro, Patricia

Rhoades and husband Tim of Boomer and Crystal Billings and husband Michael of Hays, six grandchildren; Taylor McKenzie Wood, Avery Cheyenne Wood, Isaac Braden Wood, Brittany Paige Rhoades, Ashley Brooke Billings and Michael Matthew Billings and two sisters; Laura Byers of Wilkesboro and

Rosa Lee Neaves and husband Gerald of West Jefferson.

Pallbearers were Teddy Reed, Danny Byers, Clayton Anderson, Jody Phillips, Kipi Hamby and Greg Wingler.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Calvary Baptist Church PO Box 1516 Millers Creek, NC 28651.

Mary Gambill, 86

Mrs. Mary June Bishop Gambill, age 86 of Elkin, formally of the Brushy Mountain Community passed away Friday, August 30, 2019 at Woltz Hospice Home in Dobson.

Funeral services were September 1, at Reins Sturdivant Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor Joe Wood officiating. Burial was in Mountlawn Memorial Park.

Mrs. Gambill was born February 19, 1933 in Wilkes County to Paul Bledsoe Bishop and Mary Thelma Bumgarner Bishop. She retired from Cashion Oil Company as their Office Manager.

In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband; Buel Goodwin "Buck" Gambill, Jr., an infant son; Phillip Jerome Gambill and a sister; Bill Griffin and spouse Bill.

She is survived by a son; Jerome Gambill and wife Jennifer of Elkin, two grandchildren; Grace Elizabeth Gambill and Lily Hope Gambill, a sister; Jean Bullis and husband Glenn of Wilkesboro and a brother; Pete Bishop and spouse Betty of Wilkesboro.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation 110 East 42nd Street 16th Floor New York, NY 10017.

The family would like to Thank Mountain Valley Hospice for their care during this time.

James Higgins, 86

James Russell Higgins, age 86, of North Wilkesboro, passed away Friday, August 30, 2019 at SECU Hospice Home in Yadkinville. Mr. Higgins was born May 13, 1933 in Wilkes County to Major McKinley and Ethel Lou Handy Higgins. He was preceded in death by his parents; son, Austin Higgins; sisters, Hazel Handy and Nellie Mae Higgins Smithey; and brothers, Wayne and Clark Higgins.

Surviving are his wife, Nina May Watts Higgins; daughter, Sally Wambli Sina Win of Muskogee, Oklahoma; brother, Donald Higgins; five grandchildren; nine great grandchildren;

several nieces and nephews.

Funeral service was September 1, at Miller Funeral Chapel with Rev. Leon Church officiating. Burial followed in Edgewood Baptist Church Cemetery.

Flowers will be accepted. Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.

James Vannoy, 70

Mr. James Russell Vannoy, age 70 of North Wilkesboro passed away Thursday, August 29, 2019 at his home.

Funeral services will be held 2:00 PM Thursday, September 5, 2019 at Reins-Sturdivant Chapel. Bural with military honors by the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 1142 will be in Scenic Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends from 6:00 until 8:00 PM Wednesday evening at Reins-Sturdivant Funeral Home.

Mr. Vannoy was born August 29, 1949 in Wilkes County to Claude Vannoy Sr. and Selma Stokes Vannoy. He served in the United States Army and did 2 tours of duty in Vietnam.

In addition to his parents he was preceded in death by his first wife; Gloria Dean Pickens Vannoy and his second wife; Jean Remines Vannoy, one sister; Theresa Vannoy and three brothers; Ronald Vannoy, Claude Vannoy, Jr and Robert Lee Vannoy.

He is survived by two sons; Russell Vannoy and wife; Sandy of North Wilkesboro and Demetrius Vannoy of Florida, eleven grandchildren; Torrence Vannoy, Kirstyn Vannoy, Alisha Vannoy, Russell Vannoy, Sami Bell, Danisha Vannoy, Iesha Vannoy Deonte Vannoy, Shamori Vannoy Demetrius (DJ) Vannoy Jr., and Ejovi Vannoy, three great grandchildren; Kennedi Ascencio, Kassidy Ascencio and Bryton Lane, one sister; JoAnn Vannoy Gayles and husband Jackie of Wilkesboro and two brothers; Allen E. Vannoy and wife Jackie and Carl W. Vannoy all of Wilkesboro and sister-in-law; Anita Vannoy of North Wilkesboro.

Flowers will be accepted.

George Miles, 55

Mr. George William Miles, age 55 of North Wilkesboro, passed away Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at his home.

Private Family Memorial services will be held at a later date.

Mr. Miles was born June 17, 1964 in Flint Michigan to Jack D. Miles and Wilma L. Miles. He was an active member of the Wilkesboro Church of Christ. Mr. Miles was a Lab Chemist with Tyson Technical Services.

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a sister; Debbie and two brothers; Greg Dallaire and William "Bill" Miles.

He is survived by his fiancé Shauna Danielle Porter of North Wilkesboro and a sister; Jewel Cousino of Burton, Michigan.

Flowers will be accepted.

Gladys Castle, 83

Gladys Zora Castle, age 83, of Wilkesboro, passed away Wednesday, August 28, 2019 at Wake Forest Baptist Health-Wilkes Regional. She was born August 27, 1936 in Wilkes County to Wade Jonathan and Mattie Laws Castle. Gladys was a member of Northside Baptist Church. She always had a smile for everyone. Ms. Castle was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Ward Edward Castle; very special friend, Eugene Jarvis.

She is survived by her siblings, Lloyd Edward Castle and spouse Lorine of Wilkesboro, Evelyn Anderson and spouse Turner of North Wilkesboro, Mary Mash and spouse Jimmy, Ann Bishop, Grace James, David Castle (Heather Anderson) all of Wilkesboro; nieces, Melissa Mash Whitley and Rita Brown; several other nieces and nephews.

Funeral service was August 30, at Northside Baptist Church with Pastor Jason Whitley, Pastor Joseph Sturgill officiating and eulogy provided by Chris Bishop. Burial will follow in Moravian Falls Cemetery.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to Northside Baptist Church, 1105 Odell Street, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659.

Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.

Linda Koontz, 72

Mrs. Linda Arnett Koontz, age 72 of Millers Creek, NC passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday, August 27, 2019.

She was born July 17, 1947 in St. Augustine FL to Dalton and Catherine Tedder Arnett. Linda was a loving mother, grandmother and devoted wife. She was a remarkable cook and enjoyed hosting holidays with family. She was an avid traveler, who loved discovering new roads and shortcuts. She had a passion for quilting, trying new styles and patterns while creating incredible quilts. She played piano beautifully with one of her favorites being Nadia's Theme which could fill up the room, she was truly talented. Linda was very artistic and creative. Her favorite memories were baking Christmas cookies with her children and grandchildren and picking out Holiday decorations. Linda loved all aspects of life and tried to experience as much of it as possible. There are no words to accurately express the love she had for others. Linda touched and enriched so many lives and we know she will continue to enrich us all from heaven.

Linda is survived by her husband; Coy Alton Koontz, Jr. of the home, two daughters; Suzanne Koontz of Millers Creek and Ashley Weaver and husband, Rick of Melbourne Fl three grandchildren; Chase Vogt, Shelby Vogt, Sean Weaver, two brothers; Glenn Arnett and wife Lynn of St. Augustine Fl and Virgil Arnett of Georgia and her devoted dog Toby.

Graveside services will be held at a later date in Florida.

Peggy Greer, 73

Peggy Ann Greer, age 73, of North Wilkesboro, died Monday, August 26, 2019, at her home. She was born December 30, 1945. Funeral will be 1:00 p.m. Saturday, August 31, 2019, Harmony Baptist Church. - Miller Funeral Service

John Parker, 81

John Rufus Parker, age 81, of North Wilkesboro, passed away Monday, August 26, 2019 at Wake Forest Baptist Health-Wilkes Regional. He was born May 16, 1938 in Wilkes County to Coy and Kate Anderson Parker. John was a member of Oakwoods Baptist Church. He was a US Army Veteran, receiving a medal for carbine and rifle sharpshooter and was a butcher. Mr. Parker was preceded in death by his parents; sisters, Winnie Arrington and Martha Louise Parker McCulley and grandchildren, Valerie Dawn Teague, Jonathan Scott Teague.

Surviving are his sister, Antonia Parker Bailey and spouse R.C. of Winter Haven, Florida; step daughter, Jane E. Osborne of North Wilkesboro; step son, Larry Osborne of North Wilkesboro; great grandchildren, Cameron Teague and Kyleigh Teague; several nieces and nephews.

Funeral service was August 30 at Oakwoods Baptist Church with Pastor Christopher Clark officiating.

Burial with military honors by Veterans of Foreign Wars Honor Guard Post 1142 followed in Mountlawn Memorial Park.

Flowers will be accepted or memorials may be made to American Cancer Society, PO Box 9, North Wilkesboro, NC 28659.

Miller Funeral Service is in charge of the arrangements.

Pallbearers will be James Anderson, Robert Anderson, Robin Bumgarner, Randy Earp, Sr., Randy Earp, Jr., Ricky Walker, Lee Tedder and Ernie Absher. Honorary pallbearer will be Cameron Teague.

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piesack9-blog · 5 years

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The Linc - PFF names Alshon Jeffery as the Eagles’ most improved player from 2018

Let’s get to the Philadelphia Eagles links ...

Each NFL team’s most improved player - PFF Alshon Jeffery, Wide receiver: This one is more a factor of no one else on the Eagles taking much of a step forward. A lot went right for the Eagles to win the Super Bowl and unfortunately this past year a lot went wrong. Jeffery’s big deal was not one of those things though, as he hauled in 71.7 percent of his targets compared to 52.7 percent a year ago.

Eagles might be interested in trading for John Ross - BGN The Eagles had an official meeting with Ross at the NFL Combine, they attended his pro day, they put him through a private workout, and they brought him to Philadelphia for one of their top 30 prospects visits. In addition to all of this, there was a rumor that Ross was one of the five players the Eagles were targeting with the No. 14 overall pick. Ross was also one of the eight receiver prospects that the Eagles told Wentz to watch and give feedback on. In other words, the Eagles have done their homework on Ross.

The Kist & Solak Show #81: NFL Combine Preview Extravaganza - BGN Radio Michael Kist and Benjamin Solak get you prepared for the NFL Combine by highlighting all of the important parts of the process and who has the most to gain/lose! PLUS more news on the Timmy Jernigan front! Powered by SB Nation and Bleeding Green Nation.

Clearing up Timmy Jernigan’s contract situation - PhillyVoice Jernigan would count toward the compensatory pick formula, because the guarantees were removed, and the option was added. (In other words, they would be choosing not to exercise an option, as opposed to releasing him, the latter of which would negate his inclusion in the comp pick formula.)

Let the Rumors Begin - Iggles Blitz Howie Roseman should talk to the Bengals. See what they are asking for Ross. If you could pair Ross with Alshon Jeffery, Nelson Agholor, Mack Hollins and a rookie, that could be a good group. You can’t count on Ross as a sure thing, but he’s young enough and talented enough to take a chance on. If the price is right. I’m not sure what a fair trade would be, but I would go low on Ross just because of the injury concern. He could stay healthy for the next five years or struggle to get on the field at all. You can’t overpay for a guy like that, fast or not.

Le’Veon Bell flirts with the Eagles, but is that potential match realistic? - ESPN However, it would be premature to rule the Eagles out altogether. Their interest level would likely spike if those projections do not hold up. We saw such a situation play out with Alshon Jeffery during the 2017 offseason. Philly wasn’t expecting to be in play for Jeffery, but pounced and signed him to a one-year, $9.5 million deal once Jeffery determined the best course of action was to take a “prove-it” contract, which he parlayed into a hefty extension by year’s end. It could be that Bell doesn’t like the type of offers that come his way when free agency opens in a couple weeks. If that’s the case, a run for the Lombardi Trophy with the Steelers’ intrastate counterpart might go from intriguing to realistic.

Doubt Jason Peters at your own peril - NBCSP This time is different, They will tell you. Peters is 37 and his body will betray him sooner rather than later. Though more than serviceable last season, it was the first in which he was healthy and missed the Pro Bowl since 2007 — healthy being a relative term, seeing as he was in and out of the lineup all year. And the cap-strapped Eagles can save $10.5 million via Peters’ departure, so these are all things a fiscally responsible organization should probably consider. The day will come soon when the Eagles need to move on. Just not today. If Peters’ Hall of Fame career taught us anything, it’s that he can come back from this, too.

Howie Roseman’s Eagles draft history: What to watch for at the combine - The Athletic Draft likelihood: Watergun to my head, [defensive tackle] is the position of the Eagles’ first-round pick. I would also not rule out a trade-up if the Eagles see someone like Ed Oliver or Christian Wilkins falling and the memory of moving up for Cox takes hold of Roseman.

Who Can Boost Their Draft Stock the Most at the NFL Combine? - The Ringer No NFL team assigns too much importance to the combine’s athletic tests, but a performance for the ages could send a few players shooting up draft boards. For others, the weigh-in represents a chance to put some questions to bed. Which prospects will come out of this week as winners?

2019 NFL Combine Preview: Why It Matters - Rotoworld Now, more than ever, I know NFL Combine results matter. Teams use athletic testing in a variety of ways and many times with success. There are definitely examples of “workout warriors” being selected early and failing, but that can be said for any facet of evaluations. Yes, for teams the medicals and interviews matter to a great degree. But we do not receive that information, therefore my focus will be on the numbers generated from this week. Above all, context and perspective are important. More or less, the NFL Combine is broadcast as an event to run 40s and then participate in position drills. In the past there has not been an extensive focus on the shuttle, 3-cone, broad or vertical jump, unless a name or result pops out.

Le’Veon Bell, Tevin Coleman and the 2019 Free Agent Running Backs - Player Profile Let’s not mince words. Le’Veon Bell is looking to get paid. He didn’t walk away from more than $14 million last year just to sign a sweetheart deal with the Philadelphia Eagles in hopes of getting a Super Bowl ring. He’s looking to cash in, and really, who can blame him? Running back is frequently viewed as an easily replaceable position, and the success James Connor and Jaylen Samuels experienced filling in for Bell last year simply reinforces that mindset. It makes sense that Bell would want to extract the most value out of what will likely be his last long-term contract, but only a handful of teams have the requisite cap space combined with a glaring need at the RB position.

Report: The 2018-19 NFL All-Penalty Team – The Most Penalty Yards Given Up By Players in Each Position - SportFacts Every year we like to take a look at what player in each position netted the most penalty yards. It’s a fun analysis into what players are causing the most headaches for their coordinators. Below you’ll find a breakdown of the most penalized player in each position, and a list of our 2018-19 NFL Season All-Penalty Team. [BLG Note: No Eagles players made this list.]

Exclusive: Eagles Autism Challenge to expand its beneficiary applicant pool - Philadelphia Business Journal The football team assembled a nine-person scientific peer review panel to review applications. More researchers will be able to apply for funding from the Eagles Autism Challenge in year two.

What the suspension of Randy Gregory means for the Cowboys - Blogging The Boys Having said that, the situation is rather grim for the team. Had Gregory not failed the test, getting Lawrence back would have left the team in good shape as far as the starters go. Now they just have Taco Charlton and Dorance Armstrong under contract, and can also consider moving Tyrone Crawford back to DE full-time. Charlton has been disappointing for a first-round pick, and Armstrong did not show much during the past season. The defensive tackle position is also woefully understaffed, although they do have a couple of solid starters in Maliek Collins and Antwaun Woods. Crawford was valuable as a multi-position role player, and the team would no doubt prefer not having to move him full-time to the edge.

1 player at each position with the most to gain at the 2019 NFL Combine - SB Nation Defensive back: Nasir Adderley, Delaware. Adderley played his college ball at the University of Delaware, an FCS program. Adderley did a bit of everything for the Blue Hens while he played safety there. He can play in the box near the line of scrimmage, play in the slot against receivers and tight ends, and lay huge hits on receivers as they try to catch passes down the field. As it stands right now, Adderley is a fringe first-round prospect, but he can catapult himself into the top 32 with a strong combine. It’s one thing to show on tape that you can dominate FCS football — it’s another to show that athletically you truly belong in the NFL.

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Source: https://www.bleedinggreennation.com/2019/2/27/18242773/eagles-news-pff-alshon-jeffery-philadelphia-most-improved-player-2018-nfl-football-wide-receiver-wr

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