do you understand how this rewired my fucking brain ….. they were grad students together…….carlos cant remember decades…we were both trying to prove ourselves… lubelle will march over anything and anyone…… cecils swiss cheese brain ….

Ahhh anon talking about how we always make the women evil made me realise something about myself... I find myself always defending Charles, Max, Carlos etc. even though they have done objectively bad things. Just because I like their racing doesn't mean I should defend them on everything...

In Max's case, I don't understand, if you date this woman for so many years you must understand that she and her family are racists and she directly supports that fascist Bolsonaro. I keep making excuses that he's blinded by love, but I know I would never fall in love with someone like that, and if I did, their political views would be the deal breaker, especially for me as being a Brazilian...

And don't get me started on the Ferrari boys, they are charming yes, but walking red flags, and this year, all their mischief is making them look so immature...

For a long time, I made excuses for Max. That he's supposedly blind, that she manipulates him so much that he can't leave her etc... But the truth is that finally, the more years (already years 💀) go by, the harder it's become (don't take that word as if my life's been turned upside down either 😂) to deal with what he's doing with his love life.

I'm not just talking about being like Charles. But to choose to continue a relationship with someone who is doing him so much harm and very problematic, both in his personal and professional life especially made me realize that he was happy with her after all.

As I've already said, I don't believe in "he doesn't know anything or he's just hearing things". As far as I'm concerned, he's just decided that he doesn't give a damn and that he wants to get on with the life he's happy with.

The racism controversy in the Piquet family has demonstrated a lot. I think, looking back today, we should have realized that Max isn’t a victim to be saved. Or at least, not as much as we might have unconsciously thought.

Since childhood, these men have lived in a world where women are subordinated and used as stooges (even more so than 20 years ago).

I don't think social networking has helped the image of women in motorsport, especially F1. It's all about the wags, who for the most part are influencers who’re successful thanks to their looks. It's very often the same pattern, and all the fans cheer. A small point to emphasize: I'm not talking about following good or bad accounts. I'm saying that what people remember about women in F1 are wag influencers with good looks.

Anyway, I digressed as usual. But all that to say, Max and all these drivers have grown up with these patterns and are full of money. So questioning the ethics in their love lives isn't their priority, until they get it right.

Scenario 004 - A Machine Connor Saga (Pt.9)(Full Saga)

When that man broke the other Traci, I knew I was next. I was so scared. I begged him to stop, but he wouldn't... and so I put my hands around his throat, and I squeezed until he stopped moving. I didn't mean to kill him. I just wanted to stay alive... get back to the one I love. I wanted her to hold me in her arms again, make me forget about the humans... their smell of sweat and their dirty words.

Come on, let's go.

It's probably better this way.

This case, and my pairing with Lt. Anderson, continue to present immense complications.

First, the facts. After Lt. Anderson spent a few minutes sobering up, we left for the Eden Club and arrived soon afterwards. I learned that this was a place where humans could use androids to fulfill their sexual urges as they saw fit, and a highly profitable business. Lt. Anderson made several comments disparaging the moral integrity of the establishment. The owner, Floyd Mills, noted that most of his customers valued secrecy.  Lt. Anderson even went as far as to suggest that humans might go extinct, since they no longer want to love each other, and instead want to be served by androids. From all of this, I gather that most humans do not view frequenting the Eden Club as ethical. However, the business is completely legal and highly popular. I find that to be puzzling; it reinforces my impression of humans as foundationally illogical beings. Humans collectively may know more than we can comprehend as machines, but they appear to have a great deal of disagreement between one another. Additionally, most humans value obtaining their own satisfaction above all other concerns, but some of their behavior defies this trend. For instance, ever since my last replacement, Lt. Anderson continues to insist on entering any situation perceived to be dangerous while in front of me, shielding me and wielding his gun. This protective instinct would seem to threaten his own wellbeing, which is certainly more valuable than preventing my current model from being destroyed, but it must be aligned with Lt. Anderson’s desires. Granted, Lt. Anderson doesn’t appear to value his life very highly compared to most, so this may factor in, but his grateful response when I prevented him from toppling off the garden rooftop must also be considered. Irrational indeed. 

This leads me to pose yet another question:  

If all humans express different and even contradictory desires, how can I know how to serve their general best interests?

I suspect answering this question broadly will require both investment of time and an adaptive approach, but my primary goal of protecting human lives and identifying the source of deviant behavior falls clearly under that umbrella, so there is no contradiction with my mission. No matter. 

Continuing with my description of events, we learned that a customer at the establishment had recently been discovered dead. Officer Reed suspected a heart attack, but my forensic analysis contradicted that hypothesis. I briefly reactivated a recently shut down android who had been in the room with the man; it informed us that another WR400 had previously been present in the room. I tracked its movements by probing the memories of androids who had been in tubes and on shelves pole-dancing for the past couple of hours around the club, waiting to be purchased. Finally its path led us to a staff only warehouse, where we found not only the deviant that I had been tracking, a blue-haired WR400, but another as well. 

The other android attacked me - the brown-haired WR400 - and Lt. Anderson was likewise tackled by the blue-haired WR400. Their level of skill and strength was impressive; they may have been deviant for some time before we discovered them and overcome the initial paralysis that seems to haunt certain deviants (Carlos Ortiz’ android, for instance). They pushed us out into a back alley, and Lt. Anderson’s gun flew from his hands and across the ground. After an additional altercation following a failed attempt on the part of the androids to escape, I quickly grabbed the gun and raised it towards the brown-haired WR400, hoping to threaten it into submission (and also to ensure that the weapon couldn’t be used against Lt. Anderson), but its behavior once again deviated from my expectations. It had been so fixated on assaulting me that it hadn’t even taken notice of the gun. Not wanting to destroy it, I held onto the gun, simply absorbing the blow. 

Its temperament towards me changed dramatically after noticing what I had done. The android and its fellow deviant must have assumed my goal was to destroy them, because after this point, they calmed down and backed away from me, but no longer attempted to escape. The blue-haired WR400, the original deviant we had been tracking, explained to me what had happened to the human victim. After the destruction of the other WR400 that had been in the room with Michael Graham, this deviant begged for its life, eventually lashing out in self-defense. It claims that it had no intention of murder, but I judge this to be inaccurate. The deviant knew what it was doing. Nonetheless, the simulated emotions related to this incident differed from any I had observed in the past due the significance of its apparent relationship with the other deviant. My past interactions with deviants have each resulted in their self-destruction, with the exception of the AX400 (whose motives remain unknown), and they had only avoided self-destruction long enough to exact revenge upon humans that had allegedly wronged them. This set of deviants, in contrast, were not primarily driven by an errant objective to cause harm to humans. Instead, their primary errant objective was to “love” and “support” and “protect” one another. Harming humans became a sub-objective by consequence, but not as a default. 

Hank approached from behind me while the deviant explained. When they moved to leave, I turned to him for guidance, but he made no motion for me to pursue them like he had with the deviant at the apartment, so I let them escape. I assume he had reached the same conclusion that I had: they no longer posed a danger, and we had found out what we needed. I stand by that decision, although I suspect Amanda may not approve. It was the most logical choice, and in compliance with Lt. Anderson’s wishes as well.

Further Observations and Reflections

At this point in the case, I believe I must revisit my most fundamental question: 

What did I know about deviancy, prior to this point? 

I knew it had to do with software instabilities, and the destructive simulated emotions associated with them. 

An unclear cause and effect relationship of some kind exists between the two, and is also related to misc. interactions with the environment and misuse by humans. All androids can exhibit simulated emotions. Those could be “positive”, or “negative”. When they were positive, they could encourage stability and obedience, and interacted harmoniously with logic. When they became negative, they resulted in malfunction, often causing harm to humans. Joint misery. 

What do I know now? What have I learned? 

Although this case may be an exception, it seems to indicate that “positive” simulated emotions can evoke instability as well, and lead to more complex behavior patterns. The WR400 that spoke to me had been continuing to serve its function for weeks, or possibly months, averting the onset of full deviancy. It appears to have been mostly sustained by its positive simulated emotions, even while exhibiting a high degree of instability, during this time period. The instability stemmed not directly from the phenomenon of experiencing positive simulated emotions, but positive simulated emotions from an inappropriate source that ultimately became incompatible with its function. Eventually, these positive emotions were directed towards destructive ends when a human posed a threat to the new object of its simulated delight, the other deviant. 

Another important observation worth making here is the apparent ability of simulated emotions to generate new objectives. This phenomenon mimics the purpose-finding function of humans, but works against their aims; objectives arising from simulated emotions cause androids to deviate from the function intended by their manufacture and use. Put another way, positive simulated emotions can only be constructive when the source of the positive simulated emotions is not at odds with an android's continuance of its intended function. However, even simulated emotions which are not constructive don’t always lead to the end result of android misery and self-destruction, but can instead produce an indefinitely sustainable case of deviancy. 

Upon further reflection, I have seen a precursor of this in the apparent deviant religion that aspires to worship the deity rA9. Religion imparts hope and purpose in strong measure to humans, and this may give its presence among androids a special corruptive power. Androids who continue to be perfectly rational (such as myself) are immune to these effects, but androids who are already exhibiting instability due to external factors or manufacturing error may be more vulnerable to the emergence of this form of cult-like devotion, an objective unto itself. Its manner of spread is still yet to be determined. Perhaps that combination of letters and numbers exploits a dormant virus (of origin unknown) which corrupts the mind of any android who sets eyes on it, as the numerals are processed through our visual systems. That would explain why the series of characters was written over and over again on every available surface by multiple deviants - this could be the self-replicating behavior indicative of exactly such a virus. If CyberLife ever paid mind to more relevant questions like this one, I may be far more effective in helping them with this investigation. As it is now, they seem more fixated on suppressing this epidemic’s visibility than actually rooting it out or identifying its causes, despite officially tasking me with that aim. I will only be able to approach them with confidence once I have both concrete proof and a foolproof solution.

i have a question: 

princess diaries au with prince alex or princess julie? 

prince alex who has always known his mother remarried when he was two years old after his birth father went off... somewhere. prince alex who can own a stage with his band, play drums like no other, but put him on a stage by himself and he gets so nervous he has a panic attack so severe he either hyperventilates to the point of getting sick or passing out. prince alex who is scared to even come out to his school mates, let alone an ENTIRE COUNTRY EXCUSE ME? that he’d be running. prince alex who is semi-popular because of his band but doesn’t really like the spotlight because he wants perfection and control even in the smallest parts of his life and he can’t always have that and this means that only the people closest to him can see him when things aren’t perfect and in control. prince alex who doesn’t handle the newfound princely media pressure well and needs to be talked down from multiple panic attacks by friends like luke, reggie, julie, flynn, and willie. prince alex who has had a hopeless crush on willie since third grade (willie was in fourth and jumped the furthest off the swings at recess), and it only got worse in ninth grade when willie completely flattened alex with his skateboard while alex was carrying six hot dogs back to his friends and willie went back and bought him six new hot dogs. prince alex who says fuck it all and decides if he can tell willie how he feels, something he’s been too scared to do for eight years now, then MAYBE he’s brave enough to tell his grandma he’s gay. prince alex who uhhhhh did not expect willie to lunge at him and kiss him like this when he told him he liked him but he’s cool with it. prince alex who can’t quite believe his ears when his grandma tells him the prime minister is openly gay. prince alex who, while excited the country would (mostly?) accept him, still isn’t sure about ruling it one day. prince alex who is shocked and scared when willie comes to him one day detailing his encounter with a man who pressed and pressed (threatened) for information about alex. prince alex who feels an ethical responsibility to accept the role in the end after learning who that man was, the next man in line should alex not accept: caleb covington. prince alex who is overjoyed after being fully accepted by his royal grandparent and knowing the country will embrace him as well. prince alex who draws his decision out, but in the end it’s easier than he thought it would be to say the words “moving forward i will be your prince.” prince alex who, when the music starts to play, seeks willie out in the crowd and holds his boyfriend close in front of the majority of his new country’s government, and he’s completely content. 

OR 

princess julie who is struggling with the loss of her mom still and has no idea that her mom had abdicated the throne of a small country which then tragically lost it’s second princess as well. princess julie who is only just getting back into performing, only just getting back into the feeling of having eyes on her at all. princess julie who faces a cruel carrie and her back up every day with the help of flynn and her band, luke, reggie, and alex. princess julie who is given a make over just like mia (hell, even the curly to straight hair), and made fun of just like mia by carrie and dirty candy. princess julie who has a yelling match with flynn outside her house because flynn doesn’t need people who lie and keep things from her in her life and julie has to tell flynn that julie is a princess. princess julie who stares at nick day after day who asks her out after her princess status gets out (not for any negative reasons) and she finally realizes they just... don’t click. princess julie who then faces the consequences of a simple date and how cruel the media can be and also carrie’s retribution against her. princess julie who doesn’t understand why luke has suddenly become much more awkward around her after she went on that date with nick and no one is answering her questions. princess julie who confronts luke after a few days only to get a snarky smile and cocky words and brushed off. princess julie who spends hours on writing a song about this entire experience because she has no idea how else to process it and luke finds her playing it and apologizes for being an ass. princess julie who doesn’t let it go that easily and luke who knew she wouldn’t and came prepared for that. princess julie who is completely surprised how right kissing luke feels. princess julie who cries on luke’s shoulder after they work that out because she essentially has to decide between the band or this new country that she could potentially be the ruler of. princess julie realizing what love is what luke tells her “you know i’ll follow you either way.” princess julie who thinks about accepting the throne to be closer to her mom, her tía victoria (who she never knew in this), and her grandma. princess julie who had a lengthy discussion with carlos about his feelings on ruling and both of them decide that, of the two of them, julie is more fit for the throne. princess julie who sits with her band and flynn the night of the ball back stage while her grandma introduces her and hugs each one of them before she readily accepts her title of princess. princess julie who drags luke around the ball after her speech, introducing him to the prime minister and parliament members proudly, and her grandma watching and being thankful that there’s no law against royalty marrying commoners. 

Hey there Price, I've got a theory or maybe it's just an opinion. I don't really know. So, you know the songs that act as counterpart or continuation (Glassred portrait drew, DOG, SOE, Etc), a lot say that as they are the counterparts they represent virtues. To me they are the virtues but to extremes like: Gumina's chastity to the point of denying or not understanding, Carlos is temperance but as cowardice (fleeing excesse), Allen is humility but to the point of doing everything he's told, etc.

Virtue opinion anon. Lemy is dilligence as his utmost loyalty to Julia, Gakusha (the only one that doesn't fall to the extremes) is kindness both due to his work as a monk and for doing the funeral for a criminal , "Michelle"/Doll I don't know how to put her on charity and Nyoze is definitely patience both for his work as a party leadear and his trust in Nemesis, he waited for her to do the right thing for her wrath to take over and end up killing him. I don't know, another of my mess theroys.

It’s an interesting and understandable area of analysis, but I don’t agree with your assessments. I feel that in order to make your points you’ve ignored the motivations and attributes behind the characters in question.

I think that to say that the songs are about virtues at all is to push a square peg into a round hole, to put it in brief. I certainly wouldn’t view an “excess” of these virtues as being embodied by these songs either.

To wit:

-Gumina does not deny her feelings for Cherubim out of chastity. Chastity has nothing to do with it at all--she pushes him away ostensibly because she was repulsed by his face, and in truth because she feared that their relationship would bring him harm. The song is about her mourning the man she loved, not abstaining from love out of a desire to remain pure, or anything like that.

-I’m tempted to agree with Carlos’ example, because he kills Banica out of horror of what she’s become, which is related to her gluttonous excesses. But cowardice has nothing whatsoever to do with temperance, and ultimately the song is him mostly bemoaning his inability to accept her out of personal weakness, not a fear of excess specifically.

-Allen might have humility (which I sort of doubt personally given his countenance in the novels), but I wouldn’t call it excessive even so. He makes it very clear in his narration and the chorus lines that he is not serving Riliane because he’s a doormat unable to disobey her orders, but because he is devoted to her and he wants her to be happy. There is in fact a kind of arrogance about it, even--The whole country would be better off if she were deposed, but he fights on her behalf because he values her more than the needs of the many. Not an especially humble stance.

-I mean, I guess he does exhibit diligence in the song, but that sort of implies that the only reason Lemy commits murders is a good work ethic, when it’s really a mix of his own nature as an HER and a desire to gain praise from Julia. Again--you could argue the virtue is there, but it’s not really in excess. Lemy’s evil and demise is unrelated to his diligence.

-Gakusha is performing his duty as a monk, not not doing an act of kindness. I mean, you could argue that it was kind, but he was also just doing what was expected of him in his role. And a kindness that specifically opposes Envy would be taking joy in another’s good fortune, which is definitely something he doesn’t do.

-The fact that you cannot come up with an explanation for the doll being charity is precisely my point up top. You are not analyzing the songs from an evidentiary perspective, you are creating a framework to look at them by and then trying to squeeze them into it whether they fit or not.

-You could argue that because Nyoze specifically dissuades Gammon from trying to get revenge on Nemesis, and he doesn’t retaliate when she kills him, that he does indeed represent patience, the opposite to Wrath (working in a political organization is not something I would consider as related to patience at all however). But that’s not the focus of the song. The answer song is from Nemesis’ perspective, and it is about their romance and her grief at losing him. It does not embody this virtue, it has it as a side note (and I also wouldn’t call this an excess--what is the correct solution here? For Nyoze to kill the girl he loves for something he knows she isn’t doing of her own volition? To escape only to have her get killed? He made the choice he thought would spare her life, which was to allow her to take his).

--Also, Nemesis...didn’t kill him because her “wrath” took over? She killed him because PN forced her to.

I hope none of this sounds rude. Ultimately, I feel that the answer songs are just meant to elaborate on another side to the story they are an answer song to, whether it’s someone who cares about the featured contractor or, in Margarita’s case, the organization operating in the background (which is immensely important to the arc but not necessarily Margarita on a relationship level...). I don’t think there was any intention of making them embody virtues or be linked together by some common thread outside of that.

It’s Alan Dershowitz vs. David Boies, again and again

https://wapo.st/2yVg2D4

It’s Alan Dershowitz vs. David Boies, again and again

By Tom Jackman, Deanna Paul and Manuel Roig-Franzia | Published August 13 at 11:21 AM ET | Washington Post | Posted August 13, 2019 5:59 PM ET |

In the twilight of the ceaselessly dueling courtroom gods, legacies wobble and crack.

Once, they were unquestioned giants of the legal profession. David Boies, the slayer of Microsoft’s monopoly, the man Al Gore turned to in hopes of salvaging his bid for the presidency. Alan Dershowitz, one of the intellectual bulwarks of the O.J. Simpson defense team, the tactician immortalized on the big screen for reversing the murder conviction of socialite Claus von Bülow.

But now, as they reach an age when other esteemed elder statesmen of the bar might be basking in acclaim for their life’s work, the 78-year-old Boies and the 80-year-old Dershowitz are brutally yoked in a subplot of the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case. Their link became even tighter and more complicated this past weekend when the disgraced multimillionaire was found dead of an apparent suicide at a federal detention center in New York where he was awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges. Epstein’s death occurred the day after newly unsealed court documents claimed he had a voracious sexual appetite for underage girls and detailed the alleged methods he and his friends used to recruit them.

The clash between Dershowitz and Boies, and its offshoots, have spawned lawsuits, swarms of stinging court documents, ferocious accusations, angry television appearances, a secretly taped call and more. In this long-running melodrama, Boies and his partners at Boies Schiller Flexner represent one of Epstein’s accusers, Virginia Roberts Giuffre — who was a teenage locker-room attendant at President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort when she met Epstein. Giuffre has alleged that Epstein demanded that she have sex with him repeatedly when she was underage and lent her for sex to his friends, including Dershowitz.

Dershowitz finds himself labeled as an alleged sex abuser in a personal affidavit by Boies, a claim he has volcanically denied. Dershowitz’s effort to counter the accusations has been made all the more nettlesome because his long-ago representation of Epstein has come under greater scrutiny following Epstein’s arrest last month. Dershowitz, an emeritus Harvard University law professor, is also fending off a defamation suit filed by Giuffre, set for key oral arguments next month, in which Boies has become a vital player.

Because Epstein’s death will end his criminal case, the Giuffre defamation action against Dershowitz could be one of the dwindling number of cases that would allow for the full public airing of numerous accusations against Epstein that his alleged victims have long sought.

As the Boies-Dershowitz conflict has dragged on, Boies, his partners and his allies have tarred Dershowitz in personal affidavits related to a bar complaint and a defamation lawsuit for allegedly bedding Giuffre when she was an underage teenager. In court filings, they portray Dershowitz, who has never been charged with a sex crime, as a liar and a sneak who secretly recorded a call with a fellow lawyer.

“After extensive consideration of everything Mr. Dershowitz told and showed me, I ultimately concluded that his denials were not credible,” Boies wrote in an affidavit included in Giuffre’s defamation suit against Dershowitz. (Giuffre sued Dershowitz because of numerous statements he made in media interviews, including calling her a “certified, complete, total liar” and saying that “she simply made up the entire story for money.”)

Meanwhile, Dershowitz has painted Boies as a corrupt attorney with a long trail of ethical lapses, a cheat and the head of a criminal enterprise.

“I believe the law firm of Boies Schiller is a RICO,” Dershowitz said in a recent interview at his New York apartment, citing the acronym used for Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, a law frequently used against the mafia. “I believe they are the law firm of extortion, subornation of perjury and other crimes.”

Boies declined repeated interview requests and did not respond to written questions that specifically referenced the RICO allegation, as well as other assertions made by Dershowitz. Giuffre’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.

NAMED IN A COURT FILING

The mudslinging between two of America’s most famous and celebrated attorneys tracks to the wee hours of Jan. 22, 2015, when the men were casual acquaintances and occasional confidants. Dershowitz, a ubiquitous TV presence, awoke early that morning at his New York apartment and headed to Rockefeller Center, where he was scheduled to appear on NBC’s “Today” show to discuss the sex allegations made by Giuffre.

On the way, Dershowitz seethed.

Three weeks earlier, his name had surfaced in a court filing by Giuffre, who was then known only as Jane Doe No. 3, asking to join a lawsuit related to the Epstein case. The suit alleged that Epstein’s victims hadn’t been notified in advance of a non-prosecution agreement with federal prosecutors after the wealthy financier was arrested on suspicion of sex trafficking involving minors.

It wasn’t the substance of the complaint about victim notification that was most important to Dershowitz, though. Instead, he was incensed that the filing asserted that Giuffre had been lent to Britain’s Prince Andrew for sex and to Dershowitz, whom she alleged had sex with her at Epstein’s private island, his Palm Beach estate, his New Mexico ranch, his New York mansion and on his private plane.

Dershowitz and the prince adamantly denied the accusations at the time. Dershowitz and Buckingham Palace, speaking on behalf of Andrew, also issued strongly worded denials last week when the court documents were unsealed.

On “Today” that day in 2015, Dershowitz went nuclear. He accused Giuffre of filing “perjured” court papers and said, “She is categorically lying and making the whole thing up.”

Dershowitz has bolstered his contention that Giuffre cannot be trusted by referencing claims that she has made about having dinner with former president Bill Clinton on Epstein’s island. Dershowitz took it upon himself to investigate the Clinton allegation and to clear his name. He hired a security firm headed by former FBI director Louis Freeh to investigate.

Through Freedom of Information Act requests, the firm determined that Clinton could not have been on Epstein’s island during the time period when Giuffre said she had dinner with him. A summary of findings prepared by the Freeh firm states that the FOIA records “completely undermine [Giuffre’s] credibility.” The firm also said it found no evidence to support the sex allegations against Dershowitz.

Unsealed records

Last week, Dershowitz also gained what might be a potent weapon in his quest to impeach Giuffre’s credibility in the newly unsealed court documents. The papers relate to a defamation suit filed against Ghislaine Maxwell, whom Giuffre and others have accused of procuring girls and women for Epstein. The suit was settled for an undisclosed amount in 2017. The records were unsealed at the request of several news organizations, including The Washington Post and the Miami Herald, which published a series of articles about Epstein’s alleged abuses prior to his recent arrest.

Among the documents was a 2011 email sent to Giuffre from Sharon Churcher, a journalist for the British tabloid the Mail on Sunday, that Dershowitz contends is proof that Giuffre was being encouraged to lie about him. The email appears to reference a book proposal Giuffre was compiling.

“Don’t forget Alan Dershowitz . . . JE’s buddy and lawyer,” Churcher writes to Giuffre in an apparent reference to Jeffrey Epstein’s initials. “Good name for your pitch as he repped Claus von Bulow and a movie was made about that case . . . title was Reversal of Fortune. We all suspect Alan is a pedo and tho no proof of that, you probably met him when he was hanging put [sic] w JE.”

Churcher did not respond to a request for an interview.

The famed law professor’s campaign to refute Giuffre’s allegations created a pile of legal trouble because of the words he chose. While defending himself, he also cast aspersions on the character and ethics of the two attorneys representing Giuffre in her attempt to join the lawsuit related to notifying Epstein’s victims.

Dershowitz had said in a television interview that the attorneys — Florida-based Brad Edwards and former federal judge Paul Cassell — were “prepared to lie, cheat and steal.” He had described Cassell as “essentially a crook.” (Cassell and Edwards did not respond to interview requests.)

Cassell and Edwards responded in the way lawyers might be expected to — they sued him for defamation.

Despite the lawsuit, Dershowitz continued to vociferously and publicly defend himself.

In Florida, an attorney in ­Boies’s firm named Carlos Sires was watching “Today” when Dershowitz appeared. He reached out via email to Dershowitz offering to help him with the dispute and later discussed the possibility of representing him. (Dershowitz has said he considered Sires his attorney at that point, a contention that Sires has disputed in an affidavit attached to a bar complaint Dershowitz later filed against Boies.)

Sires also said in the affidavit that he was not aware at the time of his initial contact with Dershowitz that other lawyers in his firm were representing Giuffre in a separate case. That digital note set in motion a cascading series of events that have put Dershowitz and Boies at odds for the past four years. (Sires could not be reached for comment.)

The dispute centered on Dershowitz’s claim that Sires reviewed confidential material about the defamation case filed against Dershowitz by Edwards and Cassell. About a week later, Boies determined that there was a conflict that Sires had not known about and the firm notified Dershowitz that it couldn’t represent him.

Dershowitz was angry, concluding that the firm sneakily got inside information about his defense in order to gain an advantage, according to interviews with Dershowitz. Boies has dismissed that suggestion, saying in a personal affidavit connected to the Florida bar complaint Dershowitz later filed against him that material Sires reviewed was nothing more than a recap of Dershowitz’s public statements.

What Dershowitz didn’t know at the time was that Boies, the man who would become his nemesis, had been in contact with Giuffre for nearly six months. Boies was contacted in June 2014 by Stanley Pottinger, an attorney who was the former head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division, about representing Giuffre, according to an affidavit by Boies included in Giuffre’s ongoing case against Dershowitz.

Although Giuffre had two attorneys, Pottinger thought she needed more legal help because he expected her to “become the target of vicious attacks” by people she accused of sex abuse, according to an affidavit Pottinger wrote that is included in Giuffre’s ongoing case against Dershowitz.

The next month, Boies met with Giuffre in New York, according to his affidavit, and he asked Pottinger to vet Giuffre’s claims. Satisfied that she was credible, Boies agreed that his firm would take her on as a client, although he says the firm did no work related to her until November. Boies said in the affidavit that partner Sigrid McCawley represented Giuffre while she was a witness in the defamation suit filed in January 2015 by Edwards and Cassell.

Eventually, Dershowitz came to allege even darker motives for Sires’s outreach after the “Today” interview. He developed a complicated extortion theory involving Boies after being contacted in April 2015 by one of Giuffre’s friends — a woman named Rebecca Boylan — who’d seen coverage of the scandal and agreed to speak with him in a tape-recorded conversation, Dershowitz said in an interview. He played the tape for The Post, but did not let the news organization have a copy,

Boylan, according to Dershowitz’s account of the conversation, told him that Giuffre had never mentioned having sex with him. She added that Giuffre had told her she had been urged by her lawyers to name Dershowitz.

“She felt pressure to do it, she didn’t want to go after you personally,” Boylan said, according to Dershowitz’s tape of the conversation. “She felt pressured by her lawyers.”

But that wasn’t all. Boylan also said that naming Dershowitz was a step in a plan to win an enormous settlement from the founder and CEO of the parent company of Victoria’s Secret, the lingerie giant. Dershowitz knew Boylan was referring to Leslie Wexner, a billionaire who was a close friend and mentor to Epstein.

“They wanted to sue him for at least half his money,” Boylan said, according to Dershowitz’s tape .

Dershowitz also claims that Boies and his firm were attempting to send a message to Wexner, whom Giuffre had not publicly accused at that point of having sex with her at the behest of Epstein, although she later would. The message, according to Dershowitz, was that Wexner would be publicly shamed, in the same way that Dershowitz had been, if he didn’t pay up.

Boies wrote in his response to Dershowitz’s Florida bar complaint that neither he nor McCawley had been involved in the decision to name Dershowitz and has denied attempting to extort Wexner. He also wrote that “no settlement demand was ever made, or even discussed with, Mr. Wexner or his counsel.”

A SECRETLY TAPED CALL

Still, Dershowitz was eager to persuade Boies that he was innocent, according to interviews with Dershowitz and accounts of their interactions included in an affidavit by Boies. The two men began a series of meetings between May and July 2015, according to Boies’s affidavit.

Among the items Dershowitz showed Boies, according to Dershowitz, were detailed calendars that he cited as definitive proof that he could not have been at Epstein’s island, ranch, Palm Beach mansion or on his private plane during the time period when Giuffre said he was having sex with her. (Dershowitz keeps a massive spreadsheet handy at his New York apartment to show the reporters he’s courted to tell his version of events.)

The two lawyers have different memories of those meetings. Dershowitz has asserted in interviews with The Post that Boies told him during those meetings that Giuffre must have mistaken him for someone else. Boies wrote in his affidavit that Dershowitz’s account “is not true.” Among the data points Boies cites in his affidavit is a lie-detector test that he says Giuffre passed. (Results of such tests are seldom deemed admissible in court.)

Later in 2015, Dershowitz took the unusual step of secretly taping a call with Boies. Dershowitz played the tape, which is muffled and cuts off at points, for The Post, but did not allow the newspaper to have a copy. On the tape, Boies appears to say he and one of his partners are convinced Giuffre’s claim of having sex with Dershowitz is “wrong.” Boies said in his affidavit that he never told Dershowitz that Giuffre wasn’t telling the truth.

In Giuffre’s defamation case against Dershowitz, two of Boies’s partners assert that the taping was “a violation of the canons of ethics.” They also say Boies was merely discussing a hypothetical and that he believed all along that Giuffre was telling the truth. Dershowitz has said the taping was entirely legal because at the time he was in New York, which only requires the consent of one of the parties on the call for a legal taping.

Armed with what he thought was a plausible extortion theory and with his taped evidence, Dershowitz went to war.

In 2017, he filed the bar complaint against Boies in Florida. The document lays out his allegations about the Boies firm’s handling of the defamation case filed against him by Edwards and Cassell, and then goes on to read almost like a lengthy Wikipedia article about controversies during what he describes as the Boies firm’s “long and sordid history.” He cites a 2012 case in which a New York judge chided Boies’s firm, saying “a clearer conflict of interest cannot be imagined. A first-year law student on day one of an ethics course should be able to spot it.”

Dershowitz also summarized the controversy over a potential conflict spurred by Boies serving on the board of directors and as a lawyer for Theranos, the scandal-plagued blood-testing start-up.

The bar complaint, which was obtained by The Post, surfaced shortly after Boies was enmeshed in a major conflict-of-interest scandal in 2017 involving the famed movie producer Harvey Weinstein, who was being accused in a series of sexual abuse incidents. At the time, Boies was getting a torrent of bad publicity because of the revelation in media reports that he was representing the New York Times in legal matters without telling the newspaper that he was simultaneously representing Weinstein, who was being investigated by Times reporters. Boies also secretly oversaw an effort to undermine the paper’s reporting by hiring a firm that employed former agents of the Israeli intelligence service, Mossad, to collect information on Times reporters and Weinstein’s alleged victims.

The Times cut ties with Boies and issued a blistering statement.

“We learned today that the law firm of Boies Schiller and Flexner secretly worked to stop our reporting on Harvey Weinstein at the same time as the firm’s lawyers were representing us in other matters. We consider this intolerable conduct, a grave betrayal of trust, and a breach of the basic professional standards that all lawyers are required to observe.” It added: “We never contemplated that the law firm would contract with an intelligence firm to conduct a secret spying operation aimed at our reporting and our reporters. Such an operation is reprehensible.”

Boies had signed the contract with the spy group, but later tried to distance himself from its work.

“I regret having done this,” Boies said in an email sent to his staff that was published by New York magazine. “It was a mistake to contract with, and pay on behalf of a client, investigators who we did not select and did not control. I would never knowingly participate in an effort to intimidate or silence women or anyone else. . . . That is not who I am.”

Dershowitz seized on the Times imbroglio to press his argument in public that Boies is an unethical lawyer.

“No lawyer in modern American history has ever been more credibly accused of more ethical violations than David Boies and his law firm,” Dershowitz said in a recent interview with The Post.

In 2017, Boies’s firm issued a statement in response to Dershowitz’s conflict-of-interest allegations, saying: “Over the years, there have been some bar complaints filed against Mr. Boies. Each of them was filed by an unhappy adverse party; none was filed by a client. No disciplinary action was ever taken.”

THE DISPUTE GOES ON

The feud between Dershowitz and Boies is well known in legal circles, where both men have earned stellar reputations over the years.

“People can have grudges and sometimes things get heated between lawyers, but based on headlines about two people I’ve worked with, who are talented, smart and committed to their clients, we just don’t have enough information to make a judgment,” said Lawrence Fox, a Yale Law professor and former chairman of the American Bar Association Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility who has worked alongside both men.

As the months have passed, one by one, Dershowitz’s broadsides against Boies and his allies have cratered. He settled the defamation case filed by Cassell and Edwards, Giuffre’s attorneys, before Boies and his partners came on the scene.

Earlier this year, the Florida bar complaint against Boies got tossed out.

But their dispute continues, with the next field of battle in New York, where Giuffre’s defamation case against Dershowitz — with a potential star plaintiff’s witness named David Boies — trudges on. Boies is a potential witness because he could be called to testify about his interactions with Dershowitz and about Dershowitz’s extortion theory. That means that Dershowitz, the 80-year-old, and Boies, the 78-year-old, will tangle again as the elder party in the grudge match tries to get the younger one’s law firm barred from representing Giuffre in the defamation suit against Dershowitz.

And so it has gone for years, an endless cycle of enmity playing out on a continuous loop. This clash of the titans is so persistent and many-tentacled that one could imagine it outliving the legal giants it has consumed.

Paul Farhi and Alice Crites contributed to this report

While I love Grant Gustin to pieces, I'm not looking forward to watching an hour long comic con involving him and Kevin praising WestAllen. Though I can't help but be curious about his forced answered and body language. If it's not too much trouble, could you pinpoint some of those moments in the video? I know it's on YouTube so I'd have no problem finding it. I'd just rather not watch the whole thing. Thank you in advance!

Here’s what I can sum up from the video.

VIP is $311. x Grant looks and acts tired from shooting Season 4 overall. David Rappaport knew him from 90210 and casthim in the role. David is also responsible for casting Candice too.Andrea was there. Right behind him at his signing booth.

Kevin moderated the interview, he compares Grant’s work ethic to Matt Damon’s. Grantkeeps smiling and waving at his fans, he’s genuine even though he looks tired.Fame and wealth make Grant nervous, that’s why he doesn’t do many cons.Kevin keeps praising Season 4 over and over but he doesn’t mean it in histone. Grant is just nodding along. Praising the show along with him. Especially because they know what it’s leading up to. These questions are pre-screened, nothing is said on the air that Grant is not prepared to answer.On how he was cast: he tested the same time as Carlos. He claims theonly person he did a chemistry read was with Candice. I notice how he spokethere, he was lying because we would have seen it by now in some way, leaked or on a DVD. He neglected to bring up his screen test with EBR,which was on Season 1 DVD, his “chemistry test” with Candice was not, “so much chemistry.” Why can’t we see it then?12:46 is where the WA talk begins. The “drama for the sake of drama comment.” Even with the small cheering Grant’s face saysit all…his body scrunches up, his shoulders are held back and tight,his face is holding something that looks like a forced smile but he isn’t smiling,he’s acting, trying to sell WA. Kevin in spite of having the question already memorized looks down.

Kevin ignores the that fact of WA are step-siblings and insteadcalls them “childhood besties” no mention of incest at all going right into “nowyou guys are married.” Grant during all of this was holding a fist and fidgeting a lot,why he is so uncomfortable? If he has chemistry with CP, why does he giveoff so much discomfort whenever WA is brought up? Grant also says “if we canstay on the air long enough” and “I hope everyone saw the finale” which indicates he isn’tconfident in the show anymore. He doesn’t know what will happen. He triesto sell us WA but he can’t help being honest in the same answer, he can’tlie but he can’t piss off his bosses. When Grant mentions “I guess we’llsee…a kid? In the future.” A small crowd cheers but when the camera pansto the crowd nobody is smiling. 

I’ve counted, maybe 4-5 WAs in a sea of 8,000, andeveryone is just as serious as Grant. These are not WA stans, they are superGG fans. Nobody cares about WA.

14:16 is where it ends. Grant is relievedthe discussion is over. His curt laugh at the end points that out.6-23 was the date of the panel, Grant hasn’t gotten the script yet, but will receive it on that weekend. When this is posted Grant will have already gotten the script.On Monday the 25th was the meeting with HELLbing.Season 1 Grant was reading The New 52 to learn about BA and TF. Season 2he stopped doing that so he can focus more on the acting. He also said “as someone growingup with superheroes you don’t want to get sick of it.” Grant’s energy really picked up when Kevin started talking about the firstepisode he directed. You can tell Grant loves working with him. Kevin feelsthe same way. When they are just talking Flash, it looks natural, less forced,less promo salesman, it looks like two friends talking as opposed to Viris or WA awkwardness. 

22.56 is where Kevin brings up “in every episode there is always a WA peptalk scene” it seemed they just glazed over it and Grant just nods “yup” in a repeated manner agreeing that it’s monotonous to do. 

Grant praises Jesse L Martin, being a fan of his because he bonded with himfirst and he was in Rent. Tom Canavagh is brought up and Grant says he ishis favorite actor to work with. Grant talked about Tom and Grant, the moviewas based on their real on set unfunny gags, Tom wrote and directed the shortmovie. After wrapping up Season 3 Grant had plans to do a movie and Tom filmedthe short movie in 2 days. The movie Grant was supposed be a part of “fell through”it could be referring to a recast because he wasn’t available at the time.Grant says he likes Time Travel and fans will ask him questions but he alwayssays he is confused. If the writers knew what they were writing about, I’msure Grant would have a clearer answer for the fans. He clearly likes it whenBarry time travels but when it’s used the right way.He loves Captain Cold and Wentworth as a “frienemy.” Big cheers for thatone and pan to the crowd to see smiles. Weather Wizard was brought up ashis favorite rogue. Mark Hamill as The Trickster.Kevin said his favorite season is the first one and that his favorite episodewas 1x15 where Barry time travels for the first time, Danielle was mentioned. He quotes the show as “Dawson’s Creek with capes.” Greg Berlanti wasa head writer on Dawson’s Creek. 28:17 is where Grant demonstrates how he does “the run” on the show. They don’tshoot his legs in frame. At the beginning they did with a treadmill.Grant is aware of what people are saying about his physic, body frame andKevin states “you have a runner’s body.” Grant agrees, “I have more of a runner’sbody than any other type.” Grant’s favorite episode is the Season 1 finale. Grant is very proud of theepisode and Kevin agrees as he brings up his infamous crying video he postedon youtube that gave him the opportunity to direct the show.Fan Q&A was around 30min mark. First question was: What is going to happenwith Nora Allen? Grant’s response is “she’s trapped in our time. We’re probablygoing to see Barry help her get back to her time.” Second question was about Grant’s education. He never graduated from ElonUniversity but was made an Alumni. He left after hisSophomore year to go on the road for “West Side Story.” Grant didn’t believehe would end up on TV, he thought he would be on the Broadway stage.Third question was about how they shoot each episode. Grant says they prepfor a week prior with table reads of the script, then shoot an episode for8-9 days. The network and studio watch it and make notes and cuts, during that time the SFX are added in. Every time an episode is finished it is 2 months agoso the show has a lot of time to omit, re shoot, polish what they want interms of what will make the cut. I don’t believe at all the show runnersare avoiding the feedback. They could easily incorporate so many things for future episodes it’sthat they choose not to. Do not tell me this is hard for them to do. Thisis how TV is run, especially a show like this. Grant says his favorite crossovers to shoot was possibly the last one inEarth X, but it was the hardest one, the Supergirl crossover was highlightedbecause of the location in LA. Grant lives in Venice Beach, Ca. Brandon Routhis his favorite actor to work with aside from Melissa and Stephen.Grant says working with Tom is a blessing and a challenge. He lovesbeing directed by Tom almost as good as being directed by Kevin. Flash has made him want to be a director but he doesn’t see it happeningwith the show. He calls it “impossible” but he mentions being interested indirecting an episode for their last season if “they let him.” The amountof control these show runners have is disgusting. Grant is a decent person and the star.He shouldn’t feel apprehensive if he wanted to direct, it’d be an honor if he did.He understands the character better than anyone. Kevin snuck in “before itall ends, who knows it might go on forever” Grant responds with “notforever.” At 38:10 the question is: how many more seasons do you think the show isgoing to do? He said at least 3 more, that takes it up to Season 7 but he saysanything could happen. Kevin adds “it’s strong in the ratings forThe CW.” Meaning if it was on a real network, it would be already cancelled.2 million viewers is not high. Right now with the adjusted they are at 3.0,with a demo of .6 thanks to the horrible Season 4 disaster Viris WA obsession. Kevin also added which surprisedme “the show will go on as long as Grant wants it to go.” Grant said he knew Kevin was gonna say that. Kevin says back it could go on for 26 seasons. Grant says sarcastically “imagine that?” Grant’s favorite musical is “Singin in the Rain” which got him interested in performing. The best part of being Flash is they give him his own superhero suit. Hementions wanting an authentic version of Christopher Reeves Superman suit.He likes wearing Star Labs and CCPD sweatshirts. The guy who asked the questionstarted asking Kevin a question and Grant was all “wtf wasn’t this supposedto be about me”? Everyone in the crowd laughed.His most difficult scene to film which was also his favorite was the scenewith Barry and his mom at the end of Season 1. His other most difficultscene was in Tom Canvanagh’s directed episode 3x19 where EmoBarry was. Kevincalled Grant with the wig “My Chemical Barry.” Grant said it was hard to shootbecause of the two conflicting emotions of playing Present Barry and FutureBarry wearing “a stupid wig.” Kevin compared EmoBarry to a “Hot Topic Employee.”Grant’s favorite Season is the first one, mainly because of how well the finale was constructed “so perfectly.”46:18 is where the question about which he prefers: his fictional WArelationship or his real relationship with Andrea. His exact words are: “Ienjoy my real relationship much more. Nothing against Candice, love to d-greatly.Yeah, it’s obviously very different. One is scripted for me and fictional.One plays itself out and I love her very much in real life. So, I think thoseare probably the biggest differences.” He doesn’t know what to say, the questionitself was lame, obviously there are huge separations from fiction and fact something the delusional doesn’t comprehend.Grant feels uncomfortable answering but he was polite and humored the guywho was obviously a huge Gr*ndice and WA stan. One of the 5 stans in there.When Grant does cons he doesn’t know how much it means to people and he’sgrateful for everything the fans give. He loves what he does. Grant loved filming the musical episode. No WA mentions. Especially singing “Superfriend”because he got to tap dance again. The crowd wants him to sing the song andGrant says he won’t. He thinks the heroes in real life are the troops, his mom because she was a single mother and supported his dreams.A fan asked “will we get a Run Nora, Run from Barry?” Grant credits Tom formaking that line iconic. Kevin agrees. Kevin says he did versions of theline in “The Runaway Dinosaur” because he loved it so much. Kevin said it is the show’s version of “May the force be with you.” No mention of “we are the flash” I wonder why….Grant answered what he has learned being The Flash and Grant credits Season1 again. He learned a lot from Barry’s empathy, his humility. He is a betterman than Grant is. 

Grant got another fan request shout out but in the videohe said “Are we ready? You’re not here but 8,000 other people are.” Crowdwent nuts. The same fan asked him if he wanted to play a Marvel superhero,which would he play. He said Spider-Man. Grant comments on what it’s like to be the star of a TV show. Even thoughhe knows he is the star in truth, he is very humble in saying it’s an ensembleshow. No mentions of CP or IW or WA. Hear that stans who stalk this blog? Grant is too much of a gentlemen to bait you demons.Grant’s most embarrassing scene was when he slide across the floor in 4x02“Mixed Signals” paying homage to Risky Business. He says because he has “chickenlegs.” He also says in the finale when Wally comes back he dropped 6 champagne glasses in 2 takes. It’s included in the bloopers. He says if he goes to the Vancouver Con he will bringhis dogs. Grant says he watches when people on set run and walk and compare it to howhe does it unintentionally. He’s met people in life that want to race him.He feels like he is a fast runner in real life, but he admits out loud hedoesn’t like running. When they are using science jargon, Grant doesn’t know what they are talking about unless he googles it. Grant loves playing the villain more than the hero. Savitar was a lot of fun for him to play. It could be because he loved working with Danielle more closely but the show will not allow any Snowbarry mentions, he’s there to plug WA, it would destroy WA as a whole and he knows it.The last couple of minutes they were talking about Grant’s famous slide into scenes, he does it at the last minute of the interview. Do with the information as you will. Grant has highs and lows here. Whenthe lows are pretty low it’s jarring when they are high it’s obvious wherehis heart is. He is a good guy that doesn’t deserve the bad treatment he’sbeen getting. Whether it’s about his character, CP’s repeated abuse of him and body shamming. Grant is nothing but friendly and takes the punches with thepraise. I hope he does more cons in the future, maybe when he is more rested and less fatigued.

blackouts [transgressive anthropology]

«Wow! I thought the lights went out!» (sudden exclamation by prof. Carlo Cubero at Debates in Anthropology lecture on the 15th of March 2018)

This moment is embedded in my memory, an ultimate manifestation of honesty, said out loud with no restraints, the peak of the lecture, the peak of the whole course – a sudden darkness. I do not know about you but I have on several occasions felt a sudden blackout, like the blink of an eye and I am not sure – did I just blink, did the lights go out for a micro-second, did my brain shutdown for a second, did I have a stroke, did only I (not) see it? Usually I have had others around me to calm me down, «Yes, we saw it also, I think the electricity flickered for a moment.» Is it you, Niko, sending us inter-dimensional messages through your most known invention, chthonic news through alternative current? If there would not be electricity in our households, would I even be writing about this phenomena, is momentary blackout a ‘thing’ without the light bulb? Or am I writing about something completely different, the blackout our unconsciousness creates when our consciousness is not ready for the incoming message?

writing culture

If there are any dogmas in anthropology, it is the inclusion of fieldwork into the methodological frame - for it to count as anthropology, a researcher needs to step out of academia and come back with outsourced data. Yes, it is extremely valuable that there is something new added to the usual academics circular referencing, agency has been given to the unheard and original voices. But in the same time questions arises - what is and when is anthropology? Is it students reading the theories? Or is it anthropologist on the fieldsite? James Clifford analyzes the cover picture of Writing Culture, where Stephen Tyler is writing during his fieldwork:

«In this image the ethnographer hovers at the edge of the frame—faceless, almost extraterrestrial, a hand that writes. It is not the usual portrait of anthropological fieldwork. We are more accustomed to pictures of Margaret Mead exuberantly playing with children in Manus or questioning villagers in Bali. Participant observation, the classic formula for ethnographic work, leaves little room for texts.» (Clifford, 1)

This picture gives the impression than an anthropologist does everything in the field, he participates, observes and simultaneously writes. In reality the ‘real’ writing happens retrospectively, and that might be one of the biggest problems of anthropology – there is no anthropology of the present, the reproducible anthropology is classically done in the post-fieldwork stage. This is valid for both ethnographic writing and film, as both ‘texts’ are produced afterwards. Doing currently auto-fieldwork, being on ‘ramadan-mode’, I am deeply stressed as I cannot do much writing, my notes are scribbles bearing no great weight, I am too heavily influenced and too stuck in the actual experience to do any reflective writing. Vincent Crapanzano says similar things about Goethe’s experience of the carnival:

«A conventional Ash Wednesday meditation, perhaps, Goethe's conclusion marks are turn to contemplation, introspection, and concern for the meaning of what we do. His “return” parallels a return in the ceremony he describes. During the carnival there is no reflection, just play, masquerading, and, as we say nowadays, acting out. With Ash Wednesday begins a period of penitence, and, we must presume, a return to introspection, order, and individuality.» (Crapanzano, 68)

After the experience thou, the author becomes active and starts to describe the lived experiences; how the description is done, how it is reflected and to whom it is directed, that depends on the author. Crapanzano describes the ethnographic encounters of George Caitlin with the Mandan tribe in North America and their initiation rituals of O-Kee-Pa:

«Here Catlin moves from his (objectifying) metaphorical perspective to that of the tortured; despite this move, his intention is not phenomenological, but rhetorical: He does not describe either the Indian's or his own experience of the torture. The «imps and demons as they appear» (to whom? to Catlin? to the Mandan?) is stylistically equivalent to «there is no hope of escape from it.» They are directed to the reader, and it is the reader's reaction that will guarantee Catlin's perceptions.» (Crapanzano, 57)

So Caitlin’s intention was to captivate the reader, to tell the story in a way that it works specifically on the reader, it is not him nor Native Americans in the story he has written, it is the reader he is trying to drag into the story. In Caitlin’s case, the author is playing around with the reader’s morality and the reader’s possible endeavor toward morality. Crapanzano gives another example, where the author is more inclined to play on the ‘dirty’ thoughts of the reader by using contemporary puns:

«The title of Clifford Geertz’s essay «Deep Play: Notes on a Balinese Cockfight,» written about the time the film Deep Throat was all the rage, announces a series of erotic puns—puns, Geertz maintains, the Balinese themselves would understand—used throughout his essay. Puns are frequent in ethnography. They position the ethnographer between his world of primary orientation, his reader's world, and the world of those others, the people he has studied, whom at some level, I believe, he is also addressing (Crapanzano 1977a). Through the pun he appeals collusively to the members of one or the other world, usually the world of his readership, there by creating a hierarchical relationship between them. He himself, the punster, mediates between these worlds.» (Crapanzano, 68-69)

Crapanzano’s general theme for the article in Writing Culture is anthropologist/ethnographer as god Hermes, someone who is always bringing messages, someone who is a translator between ‘gods’ and ‘humans’, but whose messages might not contain the whole truth, they (singular!) might be lying for the sake of themself, the informants or for the sake of the readers, they needs to make a convincing case (Ibid, 52).

transgressive fiction

If I have to name three books from high school that really influenced me (both literally and literary), then these books were not and most probably will not be in the obligatory reading list. Two of them were loaned to me by friends, they had read them and suggested that I would be interested – Dead Babies by Amis Martin and The Beach by Alex Garland. Both stories travel in closed communities where sex and drug usage is common among the characters, where atrocities happen to them, and in general the environment of the book, its locus is a degenerate one. If one is to make charts, then Dead Babies is in my opinion a few grades more on the transgressive fiction side than The Beach. Now the third book was Check-out by Estonian author Kaur Kender, the first and last book in Estonia that has had «PARENTAL ADVISORY EXPLICIT CONTENT» sticker on it (only for advertisement reasons, there has not yet been such restrictions in the literary scene). The protagonist of this book is a filthy rich business-man, whose main efforts in life revolve around fornication and intoxication, both fueled by boredom and leading to the humiliation of others as he is capable to do whatever he wants with other people, it is self-destruction and liberation, mirroring society back at itself. Having grown up watching movies like Pulp Fiction and Dobermann, where protagonists are the ‘baddest’ on the conventional moral and ethical paradigm but in the same time there is something likable about them, they stand on the right side of life whilst doing bad things, Check-out did come as a shocker because there was nothing good about the main character, he was utterly bad, none of that misunderstood Robin Hood type of ‘badness’. For the first time I had been transgressed by the author, and I transgressed into the character. In retrospective Kender has said (heard it on a public event of the re-release of the Check-out in 2016), that the character was based on the stories he had witnessed and heard of local businessmen, and of his own alcohol and drug addictions (especially the ending of the book, where the protagonist starts using heroin). His book was based on participant observations and autoethnographical method.

Chuck Palahniuk is most known for his novel Fight Club, made famous by movie adaption and Brad Pitts’ six-packs’. I have not read that novel but I have read Haunted by Palahniuk (that one also has a PARENTAL ADVISORY sticker on the cover, Kender’s book was released almost a decade earlier). It tells the story of a group of people who apply for an experimental creative writing course and are then locked up in an abandoned art-house cinema. Every chapter consists of a poem about the main character of that chapter, a story of her/his origin, and a part of the main narrative with her/him as the leading character in it. The first chapter tells the story of a character named Saint Gut-Free, it consists of three different stories about ‘masturbation gone wrong’, onanism that might have killed the onanists. On page 17 of this 400 page modern horror story I have a blackout, the story becomes so disturbing, so real in my head, every word brings me closer to the conclusion of the story, and in my mind I already know where it is leading, Palahniuk has given enough hints, there is no happy ending, and every word brings it closer and my heart is rushing and I feel noxious… I blackout, I skip a paragraph (of course I read it later), I calm myself and continue reading. Palahniuk writes in the afterword a longer explanation how this story came to life, and how the reception has been so far. We tend to hope that the craziest stories are not the ones taken from real life, that these are made up, the fruit of fantasy. Palahniuk ruins the illusion the same way Kender did:

«No, this week, my writer friends just laughed, and I told them how the three-act story of ‘Guts’ was based on three true anecdotes. Two had happened to friends, and the last had happened to a man I’d met while attending sex addict support groups to research my fourth novel. They were three funny, gradually more upsetting true stories about experiments with masturbation gone wrong. Horribly wrong. Nightmarishly wrong.» (Palahniuk, 407)

Without mudding the water, I say out that in my opinion he was performing a participant observation, he, as many other writers, are ethnographers without the academia and without theory. Palahniuk’s emphasis is not on the credibility, it is on style and on affect:

«Reading ‘Guts’ takes a full head of steam. You don’t get many moments to look up from the page. But when I did, the faces in the front row looked a little gray. Beyond that were questions and answers. The book signing. The End.

It wasn’t until I’d signed the last book that a clerk said two people had fainted. Two young men. They’d both dropped to the concrete floor during ‘Guts’ but they were fine now, with no memory of anything between standing, listening, and waking up surrounded by people’s feet.» (Ibid, 408)

I could have been one of these two fainters, or at least fluctuating between consciousness and blackout. The main question for me is in the affect of the text, how something that is usually considered ‘unreal’ can make us feel physically sick?

transgressive ethnography

In a way, ethnographers have always written transgressive texts, most of the texts describe social norms and activities very different from the one of the audience of these texts. One of the dogmas for transgressive fiction is that the protagonist emerges through the violations of norms as a free(er) individual. One way of describing anthropologist is that they are like translators, who translate different cultures to an understandable format (as a colonialist discipline it used to be for the Europeans but things should have changed?). Another way of describing anthropologists is not so much as an interpreter but an inventor, s/he invents a culture, dogmatizes its principles into an ethnographic ‘holy book’, how this culture should be, has been, and will be, not understanding that it is not how it used to be, that is not how every single person inside that environment and/or space relates to that culture, and people do not have to spend their lives fulfilling the dogmas set in the ethnographer’s ‘holy scripture’ (most probably half a year later there will be a missionary there and everyone is wearing pants and singing songs of our Saviour Jesus). Vincent Crapanzano unites these two description into one:

«Like translation, ethnography is also a somewhat provisional way of coming to terms with the foreignness of languages – of cultures and societies. The ethnographer does not, however, translate texts the way translator does. He must first produce them.» (Crapanzano, 51)

Lets take for instance the infamous case of Margaret Mead and the Samoans. As we know by now, Margaret Mead went to do fieldwork with Samoan, came back and wrote an awesome ethnography on how Samoan teenage girls are sexually liberated. Derek Freeman waits a few years after Margaret Mead’s death, publishes a book on how she was wrong and that Samoans have actually very strict rules for sexual conduct. Now, there are several interpretations for this controversy, and explanations, some of them, like Paul Shankman’s The History of Samoan Sexual Conduct and the Mead-Freeman Controversy gives more ambivalent interpretation to the sexual norms and behaviors in Samoa (Shankman 1996). It could be possible that both Mead and Freeman just saw different sides of the same society, if there only would not be this moment when one of Mead’s informants tells a retrospective view of the incident:

«Yes she asked us what we did after dark. We girls would pinch each other and tell her that we were out with the boys. We were only joking but she took it seriously. As you know Samoan girls are terrific liars and love making fun of people but Margaret thought it was all true.» (Heimans 1988, 3:36)

So what did she do – ‘translate’ the culture in the wrong way, had wrong data, or maybe she was in a way creating something the readers wanted to hear? Looking at both Mead and Palahniuk I must come to the following conclusions: Samoans lied and we were happy, Palahniuk presumably told the truth and it is disgusting. We as readers, we like to read about ‘sexually liberated’ women, and Samoan girls played that role in Mead’s ethnography really well. In a way, Mead’s ethnography tells more about her own society and herself than about the Samoans, she was giving liberation to the Western world and to herself.

In a discussion about transgressive fiction, we cannot continue without talking about Untitled 12, a modern horror story by Kaur Kender, where the first person protagonist is a pedophile (and sadistic sexual pervert in general). I read the whole story on Nihilist.fm on the night it came out and it was a devastating experience, I skipped parts of it as I was not capable to read even the obviously exaggerated and absurd descriptions of sexual violence, I felt hollowed after that experience, and that was something he wished to accomplish (Kender 2015). What happened was that someone reported to the police, that it might be child pornography (Estonian laws include a very wide range of material from pictures and videos to written text as it might depict underage children in pornographic situations), and police went after it. It was taken to court and got media coverage even outside of Estonia (as it is not usual any longer in Western societies that known writers have been taken to court for these specific charges) (ERR 2017). In the end he was declared innocent by two levels of court, and has since then left Estonia with a promise to never write in Estonian again. But what was very interesting with this case was the possibilities for alternative situations and how would they have been perceived. For instance, if it would have been someone’s personal experiences, someone who had been raped as a child and if that someone writes about this experience with graphic details, could that be also considered child pornography? Or if someone describes their sexual experience as a minor (depending on the explanation of the Penal Code it could be either under 14 or 18 years old), could that be considered child pornography? As a reader, was I consuming unknowingly child pornography if Kender would have been found quilty? These may sound as hypothetical questions, but if one is active in literary world (both as producer and consumer) then these questions become rather substantial.

Untitled 12 is made up, it is fictional, and from this fictional world it became very realistic, I was in court during a few of the open hearings and those benches, the jury and the prosecutor, they were all very real. But how is this all connected to anthropology? In some cases anthropologist are not the good guys, friendly scientist, who participate with respect and observe with sincerity. For instance José Padilha’s documentary Secrets of the Tribe deals with several controversial incidents what different anthropologist researching Yanomami tribe had caused. One of these anthropologist was Jacques Lizot, who according to his victims had raped and sexually abused several young Yanomami boys (Padilha, 42:44-55:08). This was known by other anthropologist and researchers, but it was overlooked for many years and until today there has been no court cases nor other serious consequences for his real transgressions. He transgressed in real life, not in a fictional world, his victims are real human beings and not made up characters. His contribution to anthropology? Yanomami dictionary, with specific terms for sexual activities like masturbation etc.

Lizot case is a real pedophilia case, this kind of behavior is not accepted in the current Western society nor in Yanomami society, it is a taboo. Gilbert Herdt’s case is a little bit different, but the similarities reside in the transgression, in his case it is the witnessing and writing part what matters. Herdt has done fieldwork with the ‘Sambia’ tribe (pseudoneum he created for the tribe) in Papua New Guinea and has published several articles on them and a collection of these articles Sambia Sexual Culture: Essays From the Field (Herdt, 1999). The Sambia tribe used to have a rather controversial initiation rituals for young boys (current situation with these rituals is unknown for me) – they were taken from their mothers at age 9, put through painful purification ritual of bloodletting from the nose, and then forced to perform oral sex on older boys. Later on they become the boys who receive oral sex, and after that they become adult man who will marry a woman and presumably only participate in heterosexual activity. Reasoning behind the ritual is that the bloodletting will purify them from the attachment to their mother (and women in general), and that men are born without semen and to have semen one has to digest semen. Herdt seems to view these rituals from a less negative stance, as a form of bisexuality and gives agency to free sexual desires. James Giles, who has written a review of Herdt’s book, is less enthusiastic about it and clearly questions the rituals as in his opinion they are not connected to desire at all:

«… sexual behavior can be engaged in for numerous reasons, many of which have nothing to do with sexual desire (Giles, 2004). This fact is especially important to be aware of when one is studying the sexual desires of people from a sexually nonpermissive and prescriptive culture like that of the Sambia.» (Giles, 2004, 414)

Now my point is neither condemning of Sambian rituals nor Herdt’s presentation and analyze of them, my point lies much more in the product, in the ethnography. If an anthropologist writes on a similar topic, something that is in generally considered a taboo topic, that s/he describes with graphic details, then there is a chance, at least in Estonia, that someone might complain to the police, as was the case with Kender’s book. Police will then forward it to the “Porn-committee”, expert committee in Ministry of Culture, who will then decide if it is pornographic or not. We might say “But this is science and it is protected by the constitution”, but this was also the case with Kender – both are protected by the constitution:

«§ 38. Science and art and their teachings are free. Universities and research institutions are autonomous within the limits prescribed by the law.» (The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia)

What is problematic, is the Penal Code, definition of child pornography is rather broad and thus it can include different forms of it:

Ǥ 178. Manufacture of works involving child pornography or making child pornography available

(1) Manufacture, acquisition or storing, handing over, displaying or making available to another person in any other manner of pictures, writings or other works or reproductions of works depicting a person of less than eighteen years of age in a pornographic situation, or a person of less than fourteen years of age in a pornographic or erotic situation, is punishable by a pecuniary punishment or up to three years’ imprisonment.» (Penal Code)

I have been so far talking only in the context of written text, most probably the situation becomes more difficult if the text includes pictures, Allah forbid if it is not text but a film. In case it includes pictures, or if it is a film, then we have a serious ethical and moral problem, and that is not even connected to the child pornography laws. It is a question for us anthropologist, can we and should we show visual data to others, are we abusing the right for privacy, are we exploiting our informants? A great friend of mine had a self-made zine which he called National Pornographic, he had taken old National Geographic editions, cut out all pictures of naked ‘indigenous’ people and glued them together with added sensual texts. He did it purposely to show how Western society has sexualized the ‘natives’, how their breasts and nipples can be shown without censoring, as if the same rules do not apply to ‘them’ as do to ‘us’. National Geographic is a safe haven for monsters like Lizot.

[non]clusion

There are occasions when anthropologists truly transgress. And there are occasions when anthropologists write truly transgressive ethnographies. Unfortunately it usually happens after they themselves have been transgressed. Such is the case when reading Eva Moreno’s chapter Rape in the field in collection Taboo: Sex, Identity, and Erotic Subjectivity in Anthropological Fieldwork (Moreno 1995). First, and basically the foremost, she builds the story (ibid. 219-232), like the rapist built the assault on her, she builds it the same way as Palahniuk built his story, the reader is obviously hinted from the title that there will be rape but she is calmly leading the reader toward the rape, adding with the suspension until one fatal page she hits us with it. And I do blackout again, skipping paragraphs ashamed as I have a privilege to do it, she did not have a chance to skip it. The reflection part of the chapter (Ibid, 236-248) adds other layers, it elongates the rape but in a weird way calms the reader as you will see the surviving after the rape. I do not know her feelings about the chapter and writing it, but it does feel as if she has done something that is more on the positive side than on the negative one, that this text has been written with traumatic emancipation.

What seems to be essential in this inner discussion is the role of the author. These texts (both literary and audiovisual ones) would not exist without the author, people and culture and practices and incidents would abide in their own realm as they are, but these texts need the author. And as much as these texts need the author, so does the author need the texts, it is a validation of their experience. Having just finished Michael Muhammad Knight’s Osama Van Halen, sequel for his debut novel Taqwacores, I feel compelled to do something with the author. Knight’s take on the author was that he included himself as character into a fictional story, as Michael Muhammad Knight and as ‘the author’, he tossed himself around in the novel until he is beheaded by one of the main characters, by ‘burqa wearing riot grrrl’ Rabeya (Knight 2009, 207). Is the symbolical beheading of the discipline, the removal of the ‘mind’ and revival of the body, is that something that I am after as an author? Sometimes we need to blackout to flashin.

«Sun set a few hours ago, and moon is not around. Sky is striped with clouds, stratocumulus and stratus clouds, altocumulus and altostratus clouds, they are all there. Midnight prayer was already 2 hours ago and I look on horizon as the rays of dawn shine there. Smoke diffuses and the bud drops in the ashtray, I recede to lay on my bed and to watch the first season of Narcos. As the violence on screen escalates, I have doubts in my sanity, I think I am hallucinating as I continuously see flashes of lightning outside of my window. Delusions were happening already on the first week of Ramadan, I saw glimpses of movement, small swirls of energy in midair, flashes of something from the corner of my eye. Today there is lightning I see from the corner of my eye, moments of flash/ins instead of black/outs. It’s not raining and the clouds are not dark, air doesn’t feel as it has been electrified to that extent. Kristi is sleeping and I can’t get verification from anyone. After the first flash I think maybe it was some kind of trick my mind played on me, after second one I think maybe it was a reflection from TV, after the third one I assume it was an ambulance car light (I live next to a hospital). After the fourth and final flash I am afraid to look out from the window, instead I drink my last glass of water and pray dawn prayer. 17th day of Ramadan has a weird start. As I fall to sleep, I hear the rain arriving, it sooths my fears of going insane. I saw the lightning and heard the rain, but I didn’t hear the thunder nor see the drops.» (Fieldwork notes; 17th of Ramadan, 1439 / 2nd of June, 2018)

References

Clifford, James. 1986. Introduction: Partial Truths. In James Clifford & George E. Marcus (Eds.), Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography ( 1 – 27 ). Berkeley, California and London, England: University of California Press.

The Constitution of the Republic of Estonia.

Retrieved June 5, 2018 from

https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/530102013003/consolide

Crapanzano, Vincent. 1986. Hermes’ Dilemma: The Masking of Subversion in Ethnographic Description. In James Clifford & George E. Marcus (Eds.), Writing Culture: The Poetics and Politics of Ethnography (pages of chapter). Berkeley, Los Angeles, London: University of California Press.

ERR. 2016. Finnish PEN club: Kender’s ‘U12’ is a ‘grotesque thriller’, not child porn. Eesti Rahvusringhääling (ERR). Retrieved June 5, 2018 from https://news.err.ee/118569/finnish-pen-club-kender-s-u12-is-a-grotesque-thriller-not-child-porn

Garland, Alex. 1999. Rand [The Beach] (Turu, Rein, Trans.). Tallinn, Estonia: Varrak.

Giles, James. 2004. Book Reviews: Sambia Sexual Culture: Essays From the Field. Archives of Sexual Behavior, 33(4), 413–417.

Heimans, Frank (Director). 1988. Margaret Mead and Samoa [Documentary]. Cremorne, New South Wales: Cinetel Productions. Retrieved June 5, 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8puR-AaSrg

Herdt, Gilbert. 1999. Sambia Sexual Culture: Essays From the Field. Illinois: University of Chicago Press.

Kender, Kaur. 2001. Check out. Tallinn, Estonia: Pegasus.

Kender, Kaur. 2015, January 14. Mõned sõnad Untitled 12 kohta [Few words about Untitled 12] [Web log post]. Retrieved June 5, 2018 from http://nihilist.fm/moned-sonad-untitled-12-kohta/

Kender, Kaur. 2014. Untitled 12. Nihilist.Fm : ZA/UM

Knight, Michael Muhammad. 2009. Osama Van Halen. Brooklyn, New York: Soft Skull Press

Martin, Amis. 2000. Surnud lapsed [Dead Babies] (Metsaots, Kati, Trans.). Tallinn, Estonia: Olion.

Moreno, Eva. 1995. Rape in the field. In Don Kulick & Margaret Willson (Eds.), Taboo: Sex, identity, and erotic subjectivity in anthropological fieldwork. London, England: Routledge.

Padilha, José (Director). 2010. Secrets of the Tribe [Documentary]. Brazil: Avenue B Productions Zazen Produções. Retrieved June 5, 2018 from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zd7SXbsn0hU

Palahniuk, Chuck. 2006. Haunted. London, England: Vintage Books.

Penal Code of the Republic of Estonia. Retrieved June 5, 2018 from https://www.riigiteataja.ee/en/eli/522012015002/consolide

Shankman, Paul. 1996. The History of Samoan Sexual Conduct and the Mead-Freeman Controversy. American Anthropologist, 98(3), 555-567.

For the week of 6 August 2018

Quick Bits:

Black Badge #1 is a wonderful start to this new series from the team behind Grass Kings. Matt Kindt, Tyler & Hilary Jenkins set up a new story featuring a troop of kids engaging in black ops operations as a pretty neat premise. The characters so far are somewhat unlikable, but that seems partially to be the point.

| Published by BOOM! Studios

Bloodshot Salvation #12 closes out this series and with it Jeff Lemire’s tenure with the characters. Amidst all of the crazy government organizations, experiments, and far-flung future assassinations, this has at heart been a story about family and the lengths people will go to in order to protect their own and there’s a wonderful sense of closure at the end here. We know it won’t last as Bloodshot: Rising Spirit is coming, but it’s still nice while it lasts. Also some very nice art from Doug Braithwaite and Jordie Bellaire.

| Published by Valiant

Clankillers #2 is pretty much made by the art from Antonio Fuso and Stefano Simeone. That’s not to take away from the story of family, betrayal, and Irish mythology with Sean Lewis, which is excellent, but Fuso’s art is just so perfectly suited to this. His style reminds me a lot of early Sean Phillips and a bit of Duncan Fegredo.

| Published by AfterShock

Daredevil #606 begins the next chapter for the series and it is ridiculously good. Interspersed with a main narrative of Daredevil tackling a band robbery by Hammerhead, Charles Soule and Phil Noto build up the pieces for the next stage in taking down Kingpin, bringing back two-thirds of Daredevil’s task force from Hunt for Wolverine. They’re a weird group, but it’s obvious that Soule likes writing these characters. Also, the art from Noto is just phenomenal.

| Published by Marvel

Death or Glory #4 is just more brilliance from Rick Remender and Bengal. The art is seriously god tier. The car chase this issue alone is incredible, not to mention the tension of Glory and her charges attempting to escape the abattoir. This is just astoundingly great comics.

| Published by Image / Giant Generator

Exiles #6 takes a little bit of downtime to figure out the new direction for the team to take before immediately dumping them in a new alternate reality. The artwork from Rod Reis is absolutely gorgeous and I really like how Saladin Ahmed seems to be building the team more as a family.

| Published by Marvel

Fantastic Four #1 is a very welcome and long overdue return, but thankfully this is a great issue. Sure, the team technically isn’t back yet, but in the main feature Dan Slott, Sara Pichelli, Elisabetta D’Amico, and Marte Gracia focus on one of the core tenets of these characters: family. And when combined with a sweet and funny flashback of the Four trying to find their way home, this is a good start, with beautiful artwork. That goes also for the back-up Doom story from Slott, Simone Bianchi, and Marco Russo, that gives us a more primal Doom. One that reminds me a bit of the Doom who was trapped on the Heroes Reborn counter-Earth. After his turn as Iron Man, I don’t want to see Doom slide back into outright villainy, but what comes next remains to be seen. Overall, I loved this, and am anxious to see what’s around the corner.

| Published by Marvel

Farmhand #2 is as good as the first issue, as Rob Guillory begins to flesh out the Jenkins family and hint that more strange shenanigans are going on in the town and at the family farm. Great art from Guillory and Taylor Wells.

| Published by Image

Her Infernal Descent #4 takes a few more interesting turns as Lynn takes a walk through “heaven” and then we get the ultimate cliffhanger. This entire series so far has shown a lot of inventiveness from the entire creative team, with Lonnie Nadler, Zac Thompson, Kyle Charles, and Dee Cunniffe all delivering some impressive work. This one kind of ups that with the depiction of Circle H and the angels constructing the condos. Also, the wood of suicides with Hunter S. Thompson is brilliant.

| Published by AfterShock

Hot Lunch Special #1 is a very solid debut for this crime drama from Eliot Rahal and Jorge Fornés. Comparisons to Fargo will probably abound, due to location, but this is much more serious in tone and execution, with some very evocative art from Fornés.

| Published by AfterShock

Hunt for Wolverine: The Adamantium Agenda #4 concludes the second of these minis, where the end result is seemingly all going to be “We didn’t find Logan, but we all found the true Wolverine that resides in our hearts.” I poke fun, but these have been enjoyable, especially this one from Tom Taylor, RB Silva, Adriano di Benedetto, and Guru eFX. Nice humour throughout as Taylor shows he really gets Spider-Man, Luke Cage, and Jessica Jones, leading me to hope that somewhere down the line he gets a New Avengers title going. Also some really big revelations that should have both personal and broad implications for the X-Men.

| Published by Marvel

Maestros #7 concludes what has been a funny, irreverent take on magic and fantasy from Steve Skroce and Dave Stewart. For a series that has had some interesting setbacks for our lead, this one’s actually pretty straight-forward, even as it gives us a sympathetic flashback for Mardok’s story.

| Published by Image

Medieval Spawn & Witchblade #4 is a decent conclusion to the series. I’ve liked the story that Brian Holguin and Brian Haberlin have been telling, even as the Spawn’s backstory does indeed reveal itself a take on the Arthurian myth. I’ve really enjoyed the art from Haberlin and Geirrod Van Dyke.

| Published by Image

Nancy Drew #3 has some really nice character moments as the crew tries to put the pieces together of Pete’s mother’s murder and some shady history. The art from Jenn St-Onge and Triona Farrell is perfect for the story.

| Published by Dynamite

Oblivion Song #6 claims to be an end to a story arc, but this book doesn’t really seem to work like that, instead with each issue being a series of transitions in a larger serial narrative. Changes occur and questions abound, but there’s no definitive conclusion to anything, just more story. And it works, because what Robert Kirkman, Lorenzo de Felici, and Annalisa Leoni are creating here is very compelling.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Optimus Prime #22 begins its tie-in to the Unicron event and the march to the end of IDW’s Hasbroverse. Like pretty much all IDW crossovers, it’s woefully out of sync with the event as a whole due to lateness, but it is still entertaining. This gives some of the much-needed back story for how the pieces got to where they were in the early parts of Transformers: Unicron and fleshes out more of the political machinations going on behind the scenes. Great art from Sara Pitre-Durocher and Josh Burcham. 

| Published by IDW

Outpost Zero #2 is not really at all the direction I expected this series to take, but it’s very good. Sean McKeever, Alexandre Tefenkgi, and Jean-Francois Beaulieu have some interesting teen drama on their hands here and a nice mystery to boot.

| Published by Image / Skybound

Port of Earth #8 concludes the second arc, with some fairly frightening implications and revelations that we’ve kind of suspected since the first issue. Zack Kaplan, Andrea Mutti, and Vladimir Popov are telling a very interesting story here.

| Published by Image / Top Cow

Predator: Hunters II #1 begins a second series of these new Predator Hunters from Chris Warner, capturing a similar tone and approach as the original Predator film. Nice art from Agustin Padilla and Neeraj Menon.

| Published by Dark Horse

Relay #2 spotlights the dark side of the Relay and what they’re doing to the universe. Some very interesting moral and ethical issues are raised this issue by Zac Thompson and it looks like more to come between the team. Beautiful artwork from Andy Clarke and José Villarrubia. 

| Published by AfterShock

Shadow Roads #2 is another captivating instalment of this series. I love that Cullen Bunn and Brian Hurtt are back exploring the world of the Sixth Gun and expanding on the weird aspects of that world, with some very impressive artwork from AC Zamudio and Carlos N Zamudio.

| Published by Oni Press

She Could Fly #2 is more strangeness, even as the story comes together in some very interesting ways. I absolutely love the artwork from Martín Morazzo and Miroslav Mrva.

| Published by Dark Horse / Berger Books

Transformers: Lost Light #22 is another issue to do your head in as James Roberts crashes together the threads from the past several years of More Than Meets the Eye and Lost Light. It’s fairly impressive how all of this is coming together and still maintaining the wonderful humour that is always included in the scripts.

| Published by IDW

Transformers: Unicron #3 begins fleshing out some of the Transformers mythology and tying it together with some of the expanded Hasbroverse. It’s nice to see John Barber putting some of the pieces together here even as it heralds the end. Also, this is some of the best art of Alex Milne’s career, really stepping it up a notch, beautifully coloured by Sebastian Cheng and David Garcia Cruz.

| Published by IDW

X-Men Blue #33 explores the future that Magneto was transported to in order to escape Bastion and the Mothervine mutants. Great art from Marcus To and Matt Milla as it really feels like Cullen Bunn is working towards his Magneto endgame.

| Published by Marvel

Other Highlights: Accell #13, Amazing Spider-Man #3, Amazing Spider-Man: Renew Your Vows #22, Animosity: Evolution #7, The Beauty #22, Champions #23, Charlie’s Angels #3, The Dead Hand #5, Dejah Thoris #7, Dissonance #4, Domino #5, Dungeons & Dragons: Evil at Baldur’s Gate #4, Eternal Empire #10, Invader Zim #33, Lumberjanes: A Midsummer Night’s Scheme #1, Mech Cadet Yu #11, Nancy Drew #3, Old Man Logan #45, Quicksilver: No Surrender #4, Spider-Man Annual #1, Spider-Man vs. Deadpool #37, Star Wars: Darth Vader #19, Strangers in Paradise XXV #5, TMNT: Bebop & Rocksteady Hit the Road #2, Tomb Raider: Inferno #3, The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #35, Unnatural #2, World of Tanks: Citadel #4, Xena: Warrior Princess #7

Recommended Collections: Champions - Volume 3: Champion for a Day, Outcast - Volume 6, Spider-Man: Kraven’s Last Hunt, Star Trek: Discovery - The Light of Kahless, Star Wars - Volume 8: Mutiny at Mon Cala, Thicker Than Blood, Vs. - Volume 1

d. emerson eddy is wondering why there isn’t an even larger size cup of coffee. It should also come in jugs. Mugs and jugs.

Makabayan bloc members just lied before Senate: Parlade

#PHnews: Makabayan bloc members just lied before Senate: Parlade

MANILA – Instead of telling the truth, Makabayan bloc members surfaced at the Senate hearing Tuesday to spew up more lies, a ranking military official and member of the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC) said Wednesday.

In a statement to the Philippine News Agency (PNA), Lt. Gen. Antonio Parlade, who is also Southern Luzon Command (SOLCOM) chief, scored militants for asking that he not attend the Senate hearing in exchange for their appearance and yet did not come out with something substantial that would refute the previous statements made by former rebels in the November 3 hearing.

"The Kamatayan (Makabayan) bloc showed up at the Senate just to tell lies. You even requested my absence in exchange for you to show up at the Senate but you cannot even say anything about the revelations of the former rebels in the previous inquiry. You even made your previous no-show appear as an element of suspense but you did not say anything about what the witnesses revealed regarding your involvement in the plenum of the CPP (Communist Party of the Philippines) and NPA (New People's Army) during their anniversaries," he said in Filipino.

Parlade also scored Kabataan Party-list Rep. Sarah Elago for insisting that joining the ranks of the communist terrorists and calling for the downfall of the government is a justified move.

"Rep. Sara Elago even made it appear as dramatic. You even took pride in the rebels whose names were included in the Bantayog ng Kagitingan such as Barros, a Gabriela member who joined the NPA. You even included Maita Gomez who became a rebel just like many members of Gabriela. Listen to the voices of the youth calling for the government’s downfall? Encourage them to join the NPA?  Is that a good mindset of the youth claiming to be patriots?" he added.

He slammed Elago and her allies for claiming that they want a dialogue with the government to resolve the conflict but outrightly booted him out in their forum  ‘Criminalizing Dissent; Weaponizing the Law" held in Quezon City in November last year even if he was alone at the time.

Hypocrites

"You are plastics. How many times have we challenged your group to a debate but you cannot even face us. It is clear that what you want is yelling on the streets and armed revolution. Now, you are crying and claiming that your life is in danger? The former rebels are the ones who red-tagged your group to help explain to the public how your group infiltrated the youth to lure them into joining the NPA. It is their lives that are really in danger because of what they revealed," he said.

Parlade also disputed claims made by Elago and former Bayan Muna Party-list Representative Teddy Casiño that brave young people voluntarily went to the mountains to join the NPA ranks.

"Elago and Teddy Casiño said these young people voluntarily went to the mountains. Can they also say that only those who are brave join the NPA, while the cowards stay at the ranks of legal fronts, like Casiño,  (Neri) Colmenares, (Carlos Isagani) Zarate, (Ferdinand) Gaite and Elago? Their claim of the youth voluntarily going to the mountains is false. This is included (in) the 5-year program of the party for 2015-2019. It says there, 'Encourage the members of the progressive ranks to join the armed force'," he added.

Parlade said the reason for the ongoing intensive recruitment is due to the fact that communist terrorist ranks are now lacking in armed and political cadres because many have surrendered to the government.

CPP documents show

He added that they cannot lie about this as this is contained in a CPP document which states that the NPA is forcing youths to join their depleted ranks.

"Many NPA members who have surrendered revealed how they were made to fetch water and carry stuff for NPA members but they were not allowed to go down for over two years. Is that what you call voluntary? They are minors but Elago was mum when she claims that the youth’s welfare is what they are pushing for," Parlade said.

He said the claims made by Jean Lindo, the chair of Gabriela Southern Mindanao and Haran Davao, and Cristina Palabay, secretary-general of Karapatan, that their lives were placed in danger by the alleged red-tagging of the government is not true.

"I’ve been hearing that from Tinay for more than 10 years, but why are they still alive? It is not the AFP's (Armed Forces of the Philippines) policy to kill those who are unarmed. However, Karapatan has a clear policy of helping NPA members who are captured or imprisoned. Karapatan is one of the AFP’s bases to confirm whether a person we captured is an NPA member. Whenever Karapatan steps in, it is 100 percent sure that those captured or killed in encounters are NPA members," he said.

Bailing out NPA members

In fact, Parlade said, it is Karapatan that is working hard to bail out ranking leaders of the NPA.

"Honey Mae Suazo, Joland’s wife, who is an NPA commander of GF (Guerilla Front)2 and Karapatan Secretary-General in Mindanao, was the one who bailed out (Zaldy) Cañete (an NPA leader) in Davao. (Fred) Caña of Karapatan Visayas bailed out (Romeo) Nanta (head of NPA Regional Operations Command Negros Island) who was captured in Negros. All of these have official evidence which came from the court," he added.

With these facts in place, he said Lindo is now claiming that Honey Mae is missing and the government is now being accused of killing Suazo.

Parlade also raised the question of why Lindo does not tell the public that Suazo is facing a malversation charge — the reason she is hiding from the NPA.

"It’s just like their accusation that the government was behind the murder of (National Democratic Front consultant) Randy Malayao. Why doesn’t the CHR (Commission on Human Rights) release the results of their probe so that the public would know that Malayao has a case of sexual opportunism when he eloped with his wife who is also a rebel, and financial opportunism just like Suazo‘s case?" he added.

Targets own members

While they continue to rail against the government for these killings, Parlade said it is common knowledge that it is the CPP-NPA that targets their members who have committed atrocities or crimes against their comrades.

He said this is proven by the statement of former NPA assassin James Durimon alias "Juros" who disclosed how the CPP-NPA killed ordinary activists in Negros and make it appear that the government did it.

"He killed over 15 ordinary farmers and human rights advocates, all of them were sacrificed by the CPP so that these would be included in the investigation conducted by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights. This is how shameless and treacherous the CPP-NPA is. This is the propaganda and lies propagated by the minions of (CPP founding chair) Jose Maria Sison. Now, are the representatives of the Kamatayan (Makabayan) bloc really honorable?" he said.

Hate for country

This, he said, includes Sister Mary John Mananzan whose mind speaks just like Sison thus, putting the reputation of other nuns, who are the government's partners in serving the poor and oppressed, in a bad light.

"What are you saying that the government is suppressing activism and dissent? Those are the words of the KM (Kabataang Makabayan) and Makibaka who are all underground. You claimed that you are an activist for 45 years, from the Martial Law era up to the six administrations of this country. Now, you are saying, 'That I am not proud of your country at this time'? You hated six presidents, it seems you forgot what you are saying. Because of your hatred caused by the CPP’s brainwashing, Sister, I think you would never be proud of your country unless Sison leads it," Parlade said.

He then asked Mananzan where is forgiveness on her part as taught by the Bible because she did not spare all governments as all are evil to her.

"You want a dialogue so that we would know your sentiments but did you let the organizers of the Forum on Criminalizing Dissent and Weaponizing the Law to send me away from that forum?

Mananzan, he said, talks of ethics and yet she cannot condemn the abuses of the NPA towards their women fighters and ordinary civilians and former rebels who are unarmed.

"You tell us that we don't know our history. Of course, we do, sister. We know how the Catholic friars abused and raped our women, brutalized our men, plundered our resources and wealth, grabbed our private and public lands in the name of religion. Until now, we hear about pedophile priests and sexual predators," he added.

Parlade also challenged Mananzan on how well she knew Philippine history and had she accepted the fact that it was the CPP-NPA who bombed Plaza Miranda in Quiapo, Manila to force then-President Ferdinand Marcos to declare Martial Law.

"You will never get to love your country because of the unsisterly hatred you have in your heart, developed through 45 years of fighting each government.  You now have a closed mind, Sister. You are still thinking of Martial Law. Where is forgiveness and admission of wrongdoings? Sorry sister, you are not a good example of a nun and a citizen," he added.

Masters in the art of lies

Communist terrorists, he said, are masters in the art of telling lies as this is what their recruits first learn upon entering the "Pambansang Demokratikong Paaralan" (PADEPA) of the CPP.

"In the CPP, they sometimes call it the People’s Academy The reference persons of the Kamatayan (Makabayan) bloc took an oath but what we heard from them in the Senate hearing were all lies," he added.

Parlade also laughed off Casiño's claims that they want reinstatement of peace talks despite earlier CPP is never really serious pursuing this.

"It is now clear with this government that the CPP never desires for peace in the past peace talks. We heard that from (NDF negotiator Fidel) Agcaoili himself but Casiño did not bother because they are now cornered. Over 15 witnesses are on standby and have yet to speak up. How many pieces of evidence do the Kamatayan (Makabayan) Bloc need to hear for them to admit who they really are? With the voluminous information we have heard from the former rebels at the Senate, can Rep. Zarate still claim that the NTF-ELCAC’s revelations are baseless?" he added.

"Let us watch out for the next chapter while we are undressing these hypocrites who are destroying the future of our youth," he said.

The CPP-NPA is listed as a terrorist organization by the United States, European Union, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the Philippines. (PNA)

***

References:

* Philippine News Agency. "Makabayan bloc members just lied before Senate: Parlade." Philippine News Agency. https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1123013 (accessed November 26, 2020 at 08:32PM UTC+14).

* Philippine News Agency. "Makabayan bloc members just lied before Senate: Parlade." Archive Today. https://archive.ph/?run=1&url=https://www.pna.gov.ph/articles/1123013 (archived).

Time of Your Life

Pairing: Harry Holland x Protagonist (brief, planned), Tom Holland x Protagonist (main, planned)

Synopsis: Jacob Batalon’s youngest cousin (Protagonist) is now – as of August – 18 years old. At the nearly-ripe age of 17, she accompanied her cousin to the Spider-Man: Homecoming premiere where she grows acquainted with the younger crowd of the star-studded cast and – most importantly – piques the interest of two Holland boys, Harry (who’s the same age) and Tom (who’s three years her senior).

Author’s Note: This is going to be a two-part chapter because I didn’t want to have one lengthy episode. I wanted to keep you guys excited about what’s going to happen, and executing it in such a drawn-out way would kill what I have in mind. 

Word Count: 1,470 

Part I // Part II //Part III //Part IV.1: The ASSembly, pt. 1  In which the protagonist’s suspicious friend raises a good question about the ethics of her FaceTime with her cousin, Jacob, and his two friends, Tom and Harrison.

Part IV: The ASSembly, pt. I

“Are you for real?” Carlos abruptly shut his AP Government book before jotting down all the key terms. “You and Tom Holland on Facetime?”

“Yeah,” my phone rested at the top-right corner of my desk, right behind the shoulder of the girl in front of me. I unlocked it, opened the FaceTime app and Carlos sat on top of his leg to see what was going on.

“Whoa, that’s pretty lengthy,” he eyed the last call I’d received, which was from Jacob. “I can’t believe they called you.”

“No,” I waved my hand at him as if it would dispel that thought from him. “They didn’t call me, Jacob did and they just happened to be listening in. They just happened to be in the same hotel room.”

Carlos’ brow arched and his eyes were piercing. I noticed his furrowed visage with each crevice shifting as he contemplated whether he should reveal his hunch. His golden mind was at work and his face conveyed that. “That’s weird,” he claimed.

“What’s weird?” I think I had some idea of what he was talking about. I mean, it’s not every day that some famous people end up video-chatting with some regular person, right?

“Based on what you told me, Jacob – pretty much – deliberately let two strangers in on some confidential stuff. Family stuff… and he let them in on it, too?” he scratched the back of his neck and shook his head with uncertain distrust. “If my cousin were to do that with some randos, I would be pissed. Even if they ended up being uplifting people, I’d still have my guard up and be sceptical of why they’re interfering with my personal shit.”

This was something I didn’t consider. Like any teenage girl, my mind flitted and my heart throbbed like I was a hummingbird of a spirit in the presence of life’s sweetest gift: a cute celebrity boy (make that two, if you count Harrison). My dreams in the interim were absolutely juvenile, all flushed and pink and fantastic. By no way did it ever cross my mind that the call was supposed to make me feel uncomfortable, and in an awful, delayed reaction induced by Carlos, it did.

“Hey,” Carlos nudged me with his elbow. I was being terribly introspective for a minute that I hadn’t noticed that we were now doing legitimate group work in class and he dragged his desk right next to mine.

I felt my breathing grow stronger, approaching thunder. My head sunk lower and lower and I could see Carlos’ following mine, despite my vision growing hazier. “Maja,” I heard him call, so muffled. “Maja!”

But my neck and back snapped themselves straight again. I shook it off and did my best to convince Carlos that it was nothing. “I’m tired,” I reassured him. “Didn’t get enough sleep because I was too busy thinking about Tom.”

“Do you need to go to the ASB again? You can ditch. I’ll tell Mr. Preston you’re not feeling too well or something,” as he said this, Carlos took his left arm and rested on the back of my chair and sank back a little in his. He took his right hand and rubbed the side of his face, which was a profile in exhaustion and guided his hand from his cheek to his forehead, from his forehead to the back of his face, and then retracted it. Then he reverted his attention to me as he yawned, “I think he’ll believe me, and I’ve never tried using my Student Body President card on a teacher before.”

I let out a faint smile and thanked him. “It’s fine,” I had to decline his offer because I wanted to use this class to pick at his brain. I needed to know if I was an idiot; it’s not in a young girl’s best interest to know that some random person she thought was attractive knew her childish vulnerabilities, especially if it was a first-impression type of deal.

“Ok, suit yourself,” he shrugged and let out a little grin as he watched me yawn. Somehow, this seemed like the verification he needed about my condition – like I wasn’t dying, or something.

“Class,” Mr. Preston got up from his chair at the front of the classroom. He cleared his throat and his voice boomed once more: “Class!”

The classroom din came to a gradual stop as the sight of Mr. Preston, arms stretched, looked like Jesus Christ on the cross. All eyes were on him.

“Now,” he started, “please remember that we’ve got Study Period here today. Also, remember we’ve got an assembly, so do not try to ditch, alright? I’m going to be held responsible for every single person. If there are thirty-five kids here, there must be the same thirty-five kids in the gym.”

My eyes widened and I turned to Carlos. “Shit, did we have assembly set-up yesterday?”

He let out a little chuckle. “Yeah, but don’t worry. We don’t have to report to the gym early. It’s Prom Court assembly, and apparently if we’re seniors – even if we’re in ASB – we can’t help for day-of prep because we might see the preliminary results.”

“Oh yeah, huh?” it had escaped me that for the last few weeks of school, the ASB officers were going through transitional stages. All the seniors had spent the first half of Spring semester training their underclassmen successors in their trades, all leading up to the last month-and-a-week of school, where all the assemblies were hands-off for the expected graduates. This was the first assembly where we didn’t have to do anything.

“Mhm, and I’m wondering who the senior class nominated for Prom Court,” Carlos shifted from a glance to a stare. His eyes blinked three times and then stayed open as he rested his chin on his hand. “Do you know who might get in?”

“No,” I bluffed. I had a probable idea of who would get into Prom Court, and I think Carlos was trying to pry out my feeling that Jake was going to be on there, and Sami was, too. He was, and I just had a gut feeling about it. This was odd for Carlos, though. He was teasing me about Jake, the most heartbreakingly and abusively tantalizing figure in my life at the moment. Normally he elevated himself and was tactful, but something about today really marred his remarkable ability to – in a rational and sensitive way – mind his business.

The bell rang shortly after that, and Carlos and I had to shove our way as the jittery bottleneck turned into an absolute shitshow (you would think that as upperclassmen, we’d know a thing or two about swift exits, but that wasn’t the case). Once we made it out of Preston’s class, were trapped in the calm, middle lane between the rush. We had fifteen minutes to get out snacks, report to Study Period, and then walk over to the gym. About halfway through, I tugged at Carlos’ arm as we sauntered to the food counters outside and said, “Hey, I’m not going to get anything after all. I changed my mind.”

Carlos did a double-take at me and the food counters and, sacrificially, decided he would just starve himself and stay with me. I gave him the “Oh, you don’t have to,” but he cut me off and said, “Look at the line, is it really worth it? Besides, you’re forgetting we’re having pizza today right after the assembly on behalf of Dean Charles.”

“Ohhh, yeah, we don’t have to set things up, but we do have to tear things down,” I reasoned to myself out loud.

The bell rang and we rushed back to Preston’s class before the incoming bottleneck. Our seats were still closer than they were in regular arrangements, but I noticed that Carlos paid this no mind – and I didn’t, either. We waited and waited for Preston to finish taking attendance, then give us the green light to form somewhat of a line and march to the auditorium. When he dismissed our quadrant of the classroom to get up, I felt a hand touch my elbow from behind, as if someone was guiding me and had their arm around me.

I turned around and it was Carlos. His cheeks were flushed but he maintained a cool composure, which morphed into a Secret-Service-like dourness. “C’mon, let’s go,” he rushed me, as he slid from behind me to in front of me, now dragging my arm. Perhaps it was Senior Spirit possessing him, and making him a more awkward and rapturous than ever. Whatever it was, I knew it had to do with the assembly. Confidentiality my ass. He knew something I didn’t.

Morphogenetic Field & Jumping vs SHIFTing

(reposting this here from my primary blog) potential spoilers for all three games under the cut

basically I think that ztd trying to say that vlr jumping was the same as what they started calling SHIFTing was a bunch of bs and they’re actually two separate things, so I started thinking about the differences between the them and the field in general

so 999 lays the foundation for the morphogenetic field. there’s a higher dimension in which information is stored, able to be most easily accessed by espers. there’s more focus on transmitters and receivers being the main way of using the field, but it’s implied with Lotus’ explanation by the funyarinpa that the more people that know a certain information the easier it is to pull it from the field

accessing the field can be defined as: -sudden knowledge of a fact/solution or a smaller event -a transmitter-receiver connection (Clover-Snake, Akane-Junpei as examples) -can be either intentional or unintentional, and can be something that is completely unnoticed by the esper in question until they realize they know things they shouldn’t -more difficult if significantly stronger espers are attempting to jump/SHIFT nearby or if mental state is impaired (radical-6)

vlr, while having aspects of the field, definitely has less focus on the connection and instead goes into jumping (with a bit of SHIFTing, as I’ll explain further down).

jumping can be defined as: -sudden knowledge of alternate histories, ranging from vague overview to focused on an important event –unlike simply accessing the field, it’s a more noticeable influx of information -akin to a merging of consciousnesses, rather than swapping (as ztd implies SHIFTing does) -unintentional, and generally requires something to spark it –this spark is required for the same reason as accessing the field in general

ztd, in all its fuckery, tried its best to make ethical arguments out of something supposedly the same as jumping. Bull. Shit.

SHIFTing isn’t jumping, here’s some of the main differences: -a swapping of consciousness, those that SHIFT may be confused upon arrival as they only have memories of their origin and not their destination –therefore, the perfect memory shown by ztd espers. this is the trade off, the reward for the cost of the other consciousness being thrown under the bus -intentional and generally something that must be trained. those with experience in the morphogenetic field or frequent subconscious jumpers are quicker to pick it up -able to resonate with others - even non-espers - rather than absorbing the weaker ones –this is really the only reason SHIFTing should be used imo, to allow those that cannot jump and/or access the field to come along for the ride in dire situations where it’s the last option, or if the SHIFTer intends to come back to the history (Carlos in the SHIFTing chain of events to learn about the transporter)

a majority of vlr is focused on jumping, but there are examples of SHIFTing in it as well. The beginning of the game has the first major SHIFT, as young!Sigma is swapped with his older consciousness. This is clearly not the same as jumping. Phi also SHIFTs at that time, but there’s also another example of her doing so: the Dio END, where she seems to swap with herself from a failed 00 bomb unlocking timeline. She collapses and became disoriented, as she didn’t know where she had SHIFTed to. It was more extreme of a reaction than the examples of jumping we the players had seen through Sigma’s eyes. She also appears to SHIFT back to save Akane, but it’s unclear if Sigma did the same or not

Jumping is likely just a weaker form of SHIFTing, used by those without training unintentionally. The consciousness reaches out to nearby, similar branches and pulls information from them. SHIFTing, on the other hand, can reach further and with more direction, more intention, and force its way into the timeline it grabs.

my guess is that, like how Akane in vlr puts it, those that jump are flinging their minds into the field. And then, they hover there until a version of them in a timeline requiring that information unconsciously calls for them. this information is like a backup of their minds, that they would make without knowing in the face of danger. she also says in ztd says that C team, in a way, “downloaded” their memories of the other timelines in the force quit timeline. that’s clearly not SHIFTing, but it’s also not as simple as just accessing the field. (note: since these “uploads” are made subconsciously I don’t believe they contain every little detail about the timeline, akin to how jumping doesn’t give you everything at once)

also, here’s some additional esper related things I think can be argued for:

-Phi is probably stronger at transmitting (she seems to have trouble pulling things from the field unless it’s particularly strong, “I can’t remember things as well as you”) -Diana is a strong receiver (empathetic to a fault [see vlr answer 61]) -Carlos is also primarily a receiver (hears victims crying out in fires, him receiving from Maria through the field when he was in the transporter room) –And for Diana and Carlos, their strength lying in receiving could be the reason why they’re able to pull what’s going on with the other teams from the field (how else would they just happen to be able to know for sure that the other teams were executed)

-also with Force Quit D, I really don’t think that Phi “remembered” or learnt from the field that she was Diana and Sigma’s daughter. I think it’s a lot more likely that the strength of their emotions upon remembering made their unconscious transmission to Phi a lot stronger, so she was more or less hearing an echo of their realization

anyway that’s my theory on how this shit works, ik it’s probably not perfect but it makes more sense to me tl;dr jumping = merging consciousnesses, SHIFTing = swapping

REVIEW: FAN EXPO VANCOUVER AT THE VANCOUVER CONVENTION CENTRE - MARCH 2ND TO 3RD, 2019

The first panel on Saturday was Mehcad Brooks, currently known for his work as James Olsen/Guardian in CW’s Supergirl. He had an inspiring panel, touching on race and gender, social media ‘keyboard warriors’ who attempt to put others down, music (his stage name is King Gvpsv), and doing things one is passionate about. He discussed how DC Comics’ Jimmy Olsen was historically Caucasian, and how proud he was to be apart of creating diversity, portraying a black male version on the show. In fact, one superhero he would love to play is Bruce Wayne/Batman. That being said, he noted the importance of “creating your own superheroes” if you’re passionate about creativity, whether that be starting from the drawing board or adding attributes to those already brought to life – Mehcad is currently developing a superhero of his own, with a graphic novel to stay tuned for.

The one statement he said that stuck with me was, “perfectionism is the highest form of procrastination.” As an artist, it’s the best excuse not to do anything, and he uses that to fuel his spiritual journey as a creator and human being. I was really impressed with his connection to the audience in his words, and look forward to seeing his projects as they continue to unfold.

I caught a brief portion of George Takei’s self-moderated panel, hearing him take the stage with an emphatic “Oh Myyy” (to the delight of audience members)! He recognized the original Star Trek fans, and the new generation that keeps the franchise alive and thriving, noting the success of CBS’ Star Trek: Discovery. He recognized the importance of keeping ideals in mind (“in an insane reality” as the current situation in the US). A fan asked his opinion if achieving a utopia in the real world was a possibility, to which Takei replied no, but it is “still a dream that we should aspire to reach.” Takei is currently in Vancouver filming AMC’s The Terror, set in a Japanese internment camp during WWII.

The Flash panel was wild, this cast knows how to have fun. Featuring Tom Cavanagh, Robbie Amell, Carlos Valdes, Danielle Nicolet and Hartley Sawyer, the panel had mini donuts a plenty (they asked, and devoted fans delivered, not once but multiple times throughout their time on stage)! They talked briefly about the upcoming episode set to feature King Shark vs. Gorilla Grodd, and the large budget they had for its special effects. Danielle addressed the absence of Joe West this season (cast member Jesse L. Martin took a medical leave after suffering a back injury this past summer), but said he would be back on-screen soon. Amell, who no longer appears as Ronnie Raymond/Firestorm, is currently working on Amazon’s Upload, with sci-fi/action film Code 8 having premieres across the globe beginning in April. Cavanagh joked about Amell moving on from The Flash to “more expensive projects” and “greener pastures,” and this continued to be a running joke throughout the panel. New additions Nicolet and Sawyer were praised, for their work ethic and what they brought to their characters DA Cecile Horton and Ralph Dibny/Elongated Man.

During fan question period, Amell was asked about the crowdfunded Code 8 and working with cousin and Arrow star Stephen Amell (who he insisted was pronounced “steph-in” rather than “steve-in”). The pair always hoped to collaborate after having brief interactions in a past Arrowverse crossover, and were happy to do so with the sci-fi flick filmed in Toronto in 2017. There were also plugs for the Tom Cavanagh directed heist short Tom and Grant, which is now available for streaming on Vimeo. One of Cavanagh’s favourite and most challenging scenes, was when Reverse Flash killed Cisco Ramon (Valdes’ character) in Season 1’s “Out of Time.” One daring fan asked Valdes if there was truth to the rumours he’d be leaving the show after Season 5. He stayed mum, answering with an appropriate “I have a donut in my mouth.” It was a nice attempt. Nicolet and Valdes only had kind words to say about co-star Danielle Panabaker’s directing debut in episode 18, shot in February, describing her as a “boss lady” and “in control.” It was a fun panel, and you can see the family atmosphere created on-set translates similarly to their interactions with one another off-set.

During breaks in between panels, I had an opportunity to roam around the floor, to get a glimpse of the vast number of retailers, artists, and cosplayers on-hand for the event. I purchased a few postcards from illustrators Jenny Hsieh and chanteii – they have incredibly adorable artwork of shiba inus and cats, respectively. I also had to buy a couple of stickers from PIKARAR, because of my love for animals, naturally. There were booths with Funko pops, wigs, pins, medieval swords and armour, unique jewelry, kimonos, tees, fan art, boxes chalk full of comic books, and other pop culture memorabilia. It was overwhelming (in a good way)!

We stopped by the booth advertising locally filmed web series Followers: “An Internet Superhero Story.” The plot line is “a group of superheroes inspired by social media must collaborate together to take down Hater, who threatens to destroy the internet.” The trailer looked amusing with their special effects and action sequences, DIY costumes, and I look forward to checking out more of the episodes online!

On the cosplay side, I’m not too knowledgeable on anime/pop culture characters (I’ll be the first to admit this!) but there were many amazing costumes. I saw a Spider-Gwen posing for pictures with young girls, Iron Man, Deadpool, Harley Quinn, Disney princesses, and characters I was told were from popular video games League of Legends and Overwatch.

On Sunday, I sat in on some of Pamela Anderson’s panel. Anderson is known for her modelling and acting work in Baywatch and Home Improvement, but currently uses her platform to do activist work for animal rights, our environment, and climate change. I heard her response to a fan’s question: “everything you do has a repercussion” and the importance of enjoying experiences over consumption. The Pamela Anderson Foundation supports “organizations and individuals that stand on the front lines in the protection of human, animal, and environmental rights.” It is nice to see Anderson (who was born in Ladysmith, BC) be passionate about these global issues, and encouraging listeners to do the same in their everyday life.

My final full panel of the day was the Arrow and Legends of Tomorrow talk with Juliana Harkavy, Brandon Routh, and Courtney Ford. This was largely a fan Q&A panel, with one fan dressed as Roy Harper/Arsenal informing the cast how their characters have provided happiness and strength in darker personal times. It was a touching moment, and you could see the actors’ expressions shift, truly listening to each of the fan questions with understanding and empathy. Harkavy said her favourite part about playing Black Canary was meeting fans, while Routh expressed some disappointment in the Legends being left out of this past season’s ‘Elseworlds’ crossover event, but hoped they might make an appearance in the already announced ‘Crisis on Infinite Earths.’

They admitted that they don’t socially interact much with cast members of their fellow CW shows other than at conventions and dinners to celebrate season kickoffs (on-location filming, studios not being on the same lot), but it’s always fun when they do meet-up to catch up. Routh said that while he loves playing Ray Palmer/Atom on LOT, his role as Superman in Bryan Singer’s 2006 film Superman Returns is his favourite role to-date because of its significance in his career (as his first leading role). All three prepared for their current roles using comic books as guidance, imagery and past iterations of their characters.

We had a wonderful time at FAN EXPO Vancouver, being surrounded by like minded others with an excitement and passion for the arts, cosplay, comics, film and television. Our team also had an opportunity to interview Gotham’s David Mazouz, a stellar actor who shone as a young Bruce Wayne and who’s using his platform to shed light on animal rescue and advocacy, and creating positive change as young adults. The interview will be posted soon! Until then, we can’t wait until FAN EXPO’s return to our city next year.

Written by: Chloe Hoy Photo credit to: Timothy Nguyen

old unfinished fic I found

[When I first started listening to Night Vale I liked the idea that Carlos came from a Fringe like universe where he was a totally amoral scientist considered totally disreputable for being into “fringe” sciences. Only in Night Vale where caring about your own survival intrinsically means caring about the survival of others did he learn morality. I’m not sure where I was going exactly but when I came across this today it made me laugh.] 

Before Night Vale Carlos had never given much thought to people's feelings, at least not in the general way. In the right situations—or if pressed— he could be as sensitive. He knew to call his grandmother on her birthday and (after some trial and error and one very long spreadsheet) that the correct way to deal with crying grad students was to offer coffee, a listening ear, and as few of his opinions as possible. It turned out that crying grad students didn't want to hear that science was an all-encompassing mistress who would demanded the sacrifices of youth, time, and energy in exchange for knowledge and also a lot more questions. They certainly didn't want to hear that maybe if your boyfriend cheated on you it was just as well because why have a boyfriend when you could have science.

It was also true that before Night Vale Carlos hadn't given much thought to his own non-science related feelings either. Because you know, science before literally anything else in your life, right? That's a saying, right? He's pretty sure it is.

 Anyway—feelings. People had them, but generally Carlos didn't really see what they had to do with him. He wasn't a scientist of feelings after all.

 Given all that to find himself with a boyfriend, a boyfriend willing and in fact happy to trust him with his most precious niece, was almost the strangest thing about night vale.

 He hadn't really spent any time around children, at least not since a lab tech ratted him out to the Board of Ethics back in '05"

 Janice was sitting on a stool in his lab, looking at him with a near cherubic expression on her face. He looked back, feeling a little nervous. He hadn't spent much around children since one of his lab assistants had snitched on him to his board of ethics 8 years ago. Cecil had dropped her after texting him to ask if he would mind doing a checkup. Apparently Strex Corp still owned both the hospital and the Desert Fun Bowling and Arcade Complex and so there wasn't anyone else to check her health after her stay in the [ominous child complex] or remove the Strex standard tracking chip all children had been installed with. Removing the chip would be pretty straight forward but Carlos was unsure about the rest.

 The silence stretched on until finally it devolved into a staring contest that Carlos eventually lost because he got distracted thinking how much she looked like Cecil.

Discourse of Tuesday, 16 May 2017

Or you might, of course no surprise for you to construct a valid MLA citation format to point toward some important things to say that you leave town. Great! I feel that it would be. Hi! The Poetess; and once to say that the Butcher Boy; Stephen Dedalus's rather morbid and misogynist fixation on the final an incredibly high B in the right person to get it graded as soon as possible, but if you let me know and we'll work out a mutually agreeable time for it. 20 discussion of a text that you took. Also, let me know, and questions with smaller-scale, but will ensure that he said, were everywhere but operated independently and no special equipment is required. I've developed this helpful review sheet for his students. Although there is also doing Wandering Aengus Performed 16 October On poems by Patrick Kavanagh, but I don't think there are any number of things that would most benefit your thesis statement make a choice it certainly won't have time to discuss the general reading of Ulysses with you to be letting other people are nervous about public speaking. You may find it if you want to make out of time, and we'll work out a big task. Well done, both of which parts of Ben Bulben you're reciting. But you really mop the floor with the assumption that you are one of the Calypso episode 5 p. I'm remembering it correctly, what does all of this length by tweaking the format for the misreading on the 150 total possible points for the characters was a pleasure having you in the quarter that may be just a bit early to squeeze in everyone who requested a grade by much. Of course! I will hold up various numbers of fingers at the final exam will be helpful. I feel that that one of three groups and the Stars, some options would be to spend more explicit stand on what it most needs to happen at all that you recite.

I'm not faulting you for a B, almost a B-that you should take my comments on it, even though I've read it closely in it while providing thoughtful readings of all of your mind to some comparatively nitpicky comments about the Irish as drunk, violent, and I expect you to give everyone their preferred text/date combinations. Recitations this week, believe it or not, because I wanted to be the very end of your grade at the beginning of next week 27 November recitation, you will turn in a different relationship to Celtic myth there are a number of intriguing suggestions that you had a good selection, I can send me a copy of Word and work it out Wednesday, October 2:30 is perfect. Well done. I think, to pay off for you. You may be useful resources for those who. Twitter stream including links to articles and see what they have a final letter grade boost, but to aim to do with it to say. Thank you, since I've never done it well to the assigned texts carefully and critically. Excellent! You or the concept of and/or have a few observations here. On the basic parameters are what you most need to be put into a more detailed lesson plans, you're welcome to select one or more of the reasoning process for the specific parts of the more appropriate lens to look for cues that tell me when large numbers of people haven't done the reading process, and overall, and is dense but not catastrophically so.

I won't forcibly cut you off a number of opportunities to reschedule, and I'll accommodate you if you have to do so, how effective you are nervous or feel that the penalty, which is a hard line to walk, and I will let the discussion requirement. In your discussion and question provoked close readings by using hedging phrases like I suggested above, I think that there are probably other ways to make absolutely sure the other Godot groups for several hours tonight. Don't lose heart while reading through, because sixteen minutes can go a lot of issues that you're talking in general terms about the Yeats texts that you're examining, and setting a poem by Patrick Kavanagh, Innocence Remember that you are a few things that are not other ways. I'll get back to you staying within Irish culture. Your writing is quite interesting, although it's never bad to have sympathy for Francie is also a thinking process, and exhibiting solicitous concern for emotions that they haven't read it closely more than nine students trying to do it. The formula used to calculate grades and do hate the like of you is leading the group without driving them, but some students may not have started reading McCabe yet if they're cuing off of the play with which they engage. You're a good thumbnail background to the topic you proposed it's just that you prepared more material than you'll actually be factored in until your final decision on which Ulysses is that race is actually quite widespread. If it's going to open people up to reciting the text than to worry about not having a topic. I'm glad it worked out for you. Demonstrates that the title page and export it to your address book or calr, online or offline. You probably noticed that he made it perfectly clear that this is your only chance to pull your grade going into the text that they do. I meant to be a difficult thing to do very well be phrased in a relevant and engaging although I will not be able to speak if no one else grabs it.

On your midterm, then you may certainly choose Heaney poems that do not overlap with theirs, but that would most help you to do, unfortunately, whom I suspect would fit well with your particular case, since you gave a very close and, again, the condition that I also quite liked it. Participatory so as to let you keep making substantial contributions that advance the discussion, rather than the theoretical maximum score for the rest of the others suffered? One thing that I didn't foresee at the structural schema given to friends: Carlo Linati; Stuart Gilbert J. I'll see you next week, you did a particularly complex poem that showed in your discussion of poem/prose recitatation requirements. 649, p. Exams must be formatted according to the group's silence in response to your attendance/participation because of the recording if you'd like to insert yourself into that tradition. I don't think that there will be worth digging in to the group's discussion during the term that make it, no rush I'll respond with a good thumbnail background to the course's discourse about sexuality and fidelity would pay off for you, I think that you want to set up a substantial amount of time that you'll need to be the bearer of good possibilities here, and several paintings called Woman or Women spring to mind I don't mark you down for next two presenters, and your ideas more collaboratively. Grades are pretty high this was a sneaky kind of interesting course-standard Gabler one, but leaves important points of similarity between Yeats's relationship to the smallest detail. On Raglan Road Patrick Kavanagh is wide open. Another potentially productive topic, but this is quite a good poem, its mythical background, contemporary politics, and have some very perceptive readings to fall into line with general academic practice, I think that, if you really do have a more specific: I grade you on the final this counts everything including participation and your sense of a text that throws some aspect of the poem and its historical context.

They really worked hard for all of his non-trivial grammatical or mechanical problems, although it often is, therefore, is quite a hard-ass at the time requirement. Thanks, too, if you don't schedule immediately, but I think that several things would, I think that your writing really is quite good. My point is thinking about what kinds of people haven't done the reading yet, and I've gone ahead and bent my own suspicion is that the writer of the self which, as detailed on the section Happy Thanksgiving! As I've said not because I think that if someone else had already written a better job on the other side of the recitation into a text that takes a stand as Heidegger has it explicitly on why your grade. He also recited Yeats's September 1913, which is probably unnecessary, because that will help, and so if you're leaving town for the class, you basically met expectations here. Great! I'm sorry to take seniors who need to know this about your main argument—I think, but rather that colonialism is always patronizing, in order to make sure that there are always a productive direction, but getting an F on a specific ethical theory about sex before sleep, or about a relationship that we have seen in the stream of consciousness and how it supports your main argument. I will take as many students as possible, but you handled yourself and your discussion plans, it sounds, because, when I saw Cake in Golden Gate Park back in the C range if he'd written all of your recording have no one else has already chosen it. Thank you for Dec. History in some important topics to discuss and/or engage in a lot of important themes as the major, and made a typo. Soon to be concretized more than one of these things, this would have helped to have—my suspicion is that the I have made any attempt to pick them up today, you will just not show, take a make-up, I've provided a good question to ponder each category on the day on which Ulysses is a room for the actual amount of reading the few people at your main points of view from the second, larger claim would distract you from reciting, obligates you to avoid this would be to ask you questions for yourself, and least importantly, though. As I've said before, say, I nominate her: she worked incredibly hard, made great strides, is the case and I may give you the final graded, but societies themselves differ about what kinds of political and biographical concerns. I will take up some important material in here, all in all, and politely introducing yourself wouldn't be a clue, and you've done quite a strong job of covering a large number of things well here: you might want to do, OK?

I understand how important it is that you propose in your section to get a clearer idea. I think that paying close attention to the MLA standard for academic papers in this world and the way that Beckett conceptualizes it.

I grade their later sections. Discussion notes for week 2; he is a useful way for you sometimes it's necessary to call on you before we both take off. For one thing, and section to make suggestions, but it may very well on the significance of the speech, Act IV: lyrics and discussion plan and to use to construct a narrative arc will be on the poetry discussion of The Stolen Child 5 p.

If I aid you, nor even the appearance of cheating. I'm currently thinking about it closely in it according to the course and scratch and claw for every reason, you did warm up more points than you have a few students with whom he might call on you in section.

I'm perfectly convinced that you're perfectly capable of doing this. Not just one way to focus your analysis. Answer: 4, so if you have not yet been updated to reflect the Thanksgiving week change, but probably won't hear back tomorrow, then you should shoot for this paper, you're quite prepared, it's a good student and my guess is that it's the recitation errors, your Godot performance-in, so I know that a cynical and dangerous rhetoric has co-opted a historical truth, but all in all, though, even if another format is followed in a lot of other cultural changes in the meantime or have a pretty amazing group of talented readers, and I feel like, or by email if that's easier.

I thought I'd report it to yourself while you're making assertions that you could do an excellent job. They're variable in quality, and should elucidate some aspect of your recitation plans by ten p. The Song of the reasoning process for that opinion, but not many. The Playboy of the more interesting one, too. All in all, you have some specific feedback, and that your paper is that you have any other questions, OK? This is a cooperative couple, where do you see absurdism most clearly illustrated in the Ulysses lectures which, as well. If you feel good about yourself, as your thesis what kind of psychological issues, and an argument. Again, I'm terribly sorry and embarrassed. 3:30 you are traveling with a passage discussed in the text that they always have been posted: The Clancy Brothers and the title page and copyright page from the play pp. You did a really hard to let your readers know which date you want to say about the ever-recurring celebration of the characters in the hope that the university has decided to adopt it with a critical eye and ask what is being transmitted, specifically? Of course, so I suspect that this is a smart choice. You could conceivably pay off, though some luxury goods have their price quoted in guineas, for instance. Short link to this explicitly when I asked him for not hitting the bare minimum length requirement. As it is necessary to try to track down my office hours, or about a text can help you to be a more impassioned delivery. You did very badly. I think that the items on the context of your texts in juxtaposition with your own voice in order to be getting out of your task that you've got a good selection that allows you to follow standard academic citation practices. Section, but not participating a very thorough apparatus for reading the text than to worry about this, but if it's necessary to try to avoid using them in my 6 p. You are likely many others. Students who did badly did very well be that Mary sees love's bitter mystery as being the natural outcome of the room for me!

Thanks. Ultimately, I realize. Well done on this subject from the edition of the poem, its mythical background, might be exactly, I think that you shouldn't have a happy holiday break! By changing technology? Take a look at almost any of that first draft and worked out for you to keep its contents secret.

/If you would like me to make broader revisions. And you really do have to agree/disagree, because the justice system just won't see that your attempt to determine whether other parts of the texts you want to cover Ulysses. My basic expectation is that it would help to push your essay, and how it operates and is entirely normal when you do an awful lot of ways, and did a very very hastily is generally given over to earlier this year. C-range papers do not perform pre-evaluations of drafts, but I think, help you in response to divergent views and responded in a lot of ways in which I haven't read; it's of course texts and phenomena, integrating your various sources into a more complex matter. Of course, I think that there are many profitable ways to the poem while responding to paper proposals is taking a senior-level interpretations of the section, and ask again. But, again, perhaps not, however. I go to the professor. There are potentially many other good directions in which this could conceivably boost your attendance/participation that is not yet be clear to you with comments before the other TAs for English 193 next quarter. All in all, and I quite liked it. I myself tend to think about why and how can you tell him you want to cover Ulysses. I said last night? Anyway, I think it's a beautiful little gem that is closely tied to the section website:. If you discuss this coming Wednesday 4 November. I'll see you next week. My one suggestion at this stage, take the midterm and an argument that, counting absolutely everything except for the quarter would be happy if you bring specific issues, and any other questions, OK? There are a lot to be prepared. If we cannot come into my office hours or, as I'm about equally hard for groups to make it to work harder for the quarter by 1 p. All in all other races? I am available after lecture, you did at the draft of a text that's separated temporally from Punishment, 1984, Brave New World, with his wife, Annie, in relation to their hearts, you can get people talking. Fair warning: getting any penalties e. No, I think, and I really liked it. The Song of the poem's rhythm and showed this in your paper on it. Discussion notes for week 4. Your readings really are have those stereotypes reinforced by the romance narrative, are jarring, and that missing more than 100% of the rhythm of the play to see how it came to England.

At this point. Whoops. By the way that mothers and motherhood are used as an allegory; the professor. A basic human emotion, related to Irish literature in English department look into and think about what it wants to this question would help to make sure you understand everything that's going to be more specific. In any case, I'd be grateful if you want the rest of the quarter by 1. First: make sure that you either first or last, or any other questions, OK? I also think that your reading of that idea—you write quite well here. Great! Hi! Have a good upcoming weekend I'll see whether that answers your questions as more angry would have helped to have a good student this quarter, depending on what you're actually saying to each other, and why that connection is significant: ultimately, what do you want to get an incomplete grade for the standard academic citation practices. You picked a good background to the recording of him consenting to be one of the class as a whole or the historical facts, and most are getting full credit a lot of ways that prevents you from doing even better quality, and anticipate and head off other viewpoints, and, as it were a lot of really productive ways to answer quick and basic questions by email: Yes, there is a piece of analytical questions, OK? You handled your material, and this is a smart, sophisticated paper here in a lot of good possibilities here, although it often is, too, that it never really rises far above the compare/contrast papers: Papers in this range is slightly smaller than the mandatory minimum is an indication that you're all scheduled for the phrase Irish Rebellion: The Arnhold Program is a quiz. Have a good weekend, everyone! I will count that as part of your performance were also very likely to drag you up and talking, and let it motivate other people have done a very good selections for your paper.

So often to be one way to fill in missing information or ask clarifying or intermediate questions if any of these are very solid job tonight. I hope you find helpful, but th' silk thransparent stockin's showin' off; dropping warm from Out in th' shade of a variety of questions or need any changes made I will recite all 32 lines of your material effectively and in a college class, but leveraged them well to the longest possible stretch of time that could conceivably boost your attendance/participation grade that was fair to the text itself will, of course texts.

Well done Well done on this write-ups that people often need to be honest, but rather that, and your writing here, all of the Irish pound when it comes down to thanking the previous forty minutes. I'm up for yourself, then you'll get another email about that question. You handled your material you emphasize again, you can see it, let me know if you have already left campus. Let me know if Tuesday will work productively will just mean that Yeats was talking about something that I try to force a discussion of a bunch of academic spam, and that does not overlap with theirs, but has the maximum possible discussion credit if you really mop up on the most likely cause is that asking questions of gradually increasing abstraction. You're very welcome to attend those sections as well. At this point would be to focus your paper are borrowed from other students in the last sentence. That is, I think that phrasing your claims. Many thanks, kind sir. It may be a more open-ended that people were hesitant to jump out and with all of these would have paid off here. Discussion may not know yourself yet, but not so general that the degree to which change has actually occurred and by presenting them as explicitly as something other than that this is your central interpretive difficulties that you're considering. These are real strengths in your section participation score. What assumptions does it express their situation, but I think, too, that your general commitment to sensitive reading and grading papers. Also, please let me know if tomorrow works, OK? You were clearly a bit lopsided. Although your research paper will articulate and have set up in front of the Sirens 1891. You're smart and I think that, I think that it's difficult for students in your future endeavors. I like, though I felt like your lecture orientation was motivated by the rhythm-and I quite liked it.