Ya'll want to know the funniest shit?

I'm researching the era when Alastor was alive right now to get a better idea of both his character, the life he lived before Hell, and to hash out a backstory for him.

And so, apparently, Alastor lived through the Prohibition (which was basically the United States government illegalizing the manufacture, transportation, and sale of alcohol because they thought it was the cause of a lot of domestic violence and child abandonment).

Alastor canonically died in 1933.

Do you know how long the Prohibition lasted?

From 1920-1933.

ALASTOR LITERALLY DIED THE SAME YEAR ALCOHOL BECAME LEGAL AGAIN. CAN YOU IMAGINE HOW BITTER HE MUST'VE BEEN?

The Prohibition officially ended on December 5, 1933, and now my headcanon is that Alastor died December 6, 1933. Literally the day after he could legally drink all the booze he wanted.

I am learning a LOT about New Orleans and the era Alastor lived through (including the gay community in the city at the time) which has been a lot of fun, and I just wanted to share that tidbit because it is so fucking funny to me.

✨🏳️‍🌈 Deities, Saints, Crystals, and Herbs For All Your Gay Magick Needs 🏳️‍🌈✨

Note: This was originally posted on my blog, themysticbitch.wordpress.com.

Happy Pride Month, my loves! June is upon us, which means it’s all gay, all the time for the next few weeks. Being queer is a big part of my life and my identity, so I wanted to do something special for Pride. The end result was my most recent video, which you can watch here.

In that video, I try to get through a ton of information in as little time as possible, so I decided to post a written version here for anyone who wants a more solid starting point for incorporating these deities, saints, herbs, and crystals into their own practice. I’ve tried to be as inclusive as possible here — if I’ve missed something that seems obvious to you, please let me know in a comment so I can update the list!

Spiritual Patrons For LGBTQ+ Folks

Patrons For WLW:

Artemis (Greek goddess): Artemis is considered a “virgin” goddess, but it’s important to note that the word “virgin” had a different meaning in Ancient Greek culture. The one thing we know about Artemis for sure is that she was not romantically interested in men, for whatever reason. Artemis swore never to marry or have sex with a man, and she lead the Hunters of Artemis, a group of all-women warriors who spent their days hunting and roaming the forest. She is associated with the moon, archery, the forest, and the hunt. Some of her common symbols are bows and arrows, stags, hunting dogs, and the moon. She was worshiped by the Romans as Diana.

Freyja (Norse goddess): Freyja is a Scandinavian goddess of sex and sexuality, as well as sorcery, wealth, war, and death. I decided to include Freyja in this list because she is associated with sex and sexuality, especially of women, but is not associated with pregnancy or motherhood like many other sex goddesses are — her children are rarely mentioned in the surviving myths. All we know about her husband is that he was lost, leaving Freyja single for all intents and purposes. She is noted for being bold in her sexual pursuits, sleeping with whoever she pleased. She is a goddess for any woman who wants to get in touch with her femininity and sexual power, regardless of sexuality. Some of Freyja’s common symbols are gold, amber, cats, and falcons.

Saints Perpetua and Felicity (Catholic saints): Perpetua and Felicity were African Christians who were persecuted by the occupying Roman government for their faith. Perpetua was a noblewoman — Felicity was one of her slaves. The two women were arrested together and sentenced to prison — eventually they were publicly executed. Some of Perpetua’s letters to family and friends survived, so we actually have a firsthand account of her imprisonments. From these letters it is clear that Perpetua and Felicity were very close, and historians have long speculated that they may have been romantically involved. Today they are considered unofficial patron saints of same-sex couples, especially women. You can buy medals and prayer cards for both of these saints from online Catholic stores. Like all Catholic saints, they can be honored with a white candle and/or Three Kings incense (this is the incense blend used by churches).

Patrons For MLM:

Apollo (Greek god): Apollo was the twin brother of Artemis, and has a similar history with the LGBTQ+ community. The Ancient Greeks had a very fluid attitude towards sexuality, but today we would probably classify Apollo as either bisexual or pansexual. There are myths that explicitly mention him having male lovers. Apollo was very close with his sister, Artemis — perhaps an early example of MLM/WLW solidarity? Apollo is associated with the sun, prophecy, healing, and the arts, especially music and poetry. Some of his symbols include the lyre, a laurel wreath, a bow and arrow, and a python. He was also worshiped by the Romans.

Freyr (Norse god): Funnily enough, we have another brother/sister pair. Freyr was the brother of Freyja, and he shared her association with sex and abundance. Freyr was a primarily agricultural god, and was believed to bring spring rains to nourish the growing crops. One of his strongest associations was with male sexuality — in fact, he was often depicted in art with a giant, erect penis! Like his sister, Freyr was more associated with the act of sex itself than when what comes after. Freyr is an excellent god for any man looking to get in touch with his own masculine power, regardless of sexuality. Some of his symbols are a boar, a ship, and a phallus.

Saint Sebastian (Catholic saint): Saint Sebastian has long been considered an unofficial patron of gay men, and the story behind this association is a wild ride. Unlike Saints Perpetua and Felicity, there is no historical evidence that Sebastian was queer. He was a martyr, and according to legend he was executed by being bound to a tree and shot with arrows. When the Plague hit Europe, Sebastian was often called upon for protection — this was the beginning of his popularity as a saint. Baroque artists created a lot (like, A LOT) of paintings of Sebastian that depicted him as a beautiful, muscular young man, clad in a loin cloth, gazing passionately up at Heaven as he was pierced with arrows. As you might imagine, he became something of a sex symbol. In fact, Sebastian became so popular with the gay men of Italy that he had his own cult! You can buy medals, prayer cards, and candles dedicated to Saint Sebastian, and again, he can be honored with a white candle and/or Three Kings incense.

Nonbinary and Genderfluid Patrons

Loki (Norse god): Technically, Loki is a jötunn (a frost giant), not a god, although he was formerly allied with the Aesir and lived in Asgard. Loki was a shapeshifter, and was known to take female forms as well as male. In fact, he once took the form of a female horse and gave birth to a foal! Loki is probably one of the most explicit examples of a genderfluid deity in European mythology. However, some pagans choose not to work with Loki. He is sometimes considered a “negative” god because of his association with mischief and chaos, and because he ultimately betrayed the Aesir. It is up to you whether to work with him or not, although I would definitely advise you not to bring Loki into a circle with any of the Aesir.

Odin (Norse god): The common image of Odin in pop culture is of a fierce warrior-king, but this is not historically accurate. Odin was often depicted as an old man in traveler’s clothes, and he was associated with several cultural taboos. Though he is definitely identified as masculine, Odin ruled magick, which was considered feminine in Scandinavian culture — it was dishonorable for a man to practice such “woman’s work.” Odin knew that some things transcend gender, and he is a wonderful patron for anyone looking to break away from traditional gender roles. Besides magick, he rules war, strategy, death, astral travel, and knowledge. Some of Odin’s symbols are ravens, wolves, his spear, and his armband. I personally burn mugwort incense when working with Odin. He was also worshiped by Germanic and Anglo-Saxon peoples as Wodan.

Archangel Gabriel (an angel honored in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam): Gabriel is usually identified with masculine pronouns, and “Gabriel” has became a common man’s name in many countries — but in art, Archangel Gabriel is often depicted with feminine features, and sometimes even with a clearly feminine body. This is because Gabriel is strongly associated with the Divine Feminine and with feminine energy in general. Gabriel rules pregnancy and female reproductive disorders, and is responsible for the care of children. He is also associated with the moon, a common symbol of goddess energy. Angels have no true gender, so they are all androgynous in nature, but Gabriel is especially so. Because of this, he is an excellent patron for nonbinary people. Some of Gabriel’s common symbols are a trumpet, a white lily, the moon, and water. Incenses associated with him are frankincense and camphor.

Honorable Mention: Santa Muerte (Mexican deity/folk saint): Santa Muerte may not be trans, nonbinary, or genderfluid herself, but she’s a fascinating figure and deserves a place on this list. Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte (“Our Lady of the Holy Death”) is a personification of death, and is called on for healing and protection by her followers. What is especially interesting is that Santa Muerte is considered a protector of all outcasts from society, including all LGBTQ+ people and especially transgender people. She is even invoked in same-sex marriage ceremonies in some parts of Mexico! Her worship has recently spread to the United States, with churches dedicated to her in California and New Orleans. You can buy statues and altar candles in her image. Common incenses for honoring Santa Muerte include copal, myrrh, and rose.

UPDATE: I’ve been told that worship of Santa Muerte is part of a closed cultural tradition, and is therefore not open to people outside of Mexican and Mexican American culture. I’m leaving her in this post because I still find her story uplifting, but I do ask all of my followers to please be respectful of this beautiful goddess and her cultural roots. I think we can find hope in her role as a pro-LGBTQ+ deity, while respecting that she is not ours to worship or work with. 

Correspondences For LGBTQ+ Issues in Meditation and Spellwork

As I mentioned in one of my previous YouTube videos, magick is the act of manipulating the spiritual energy that permeates the universe. Every part of the natural world, including plants and minerals, has a different type of energy associated with it. If you want to connect with a certain energy (like the energy of romance, for example), you can surround yourself with things that correspond to that energy to make the connection easier.

A lot of the love spells that I’ve been able to find online use correspondences that have a strong association with straight romance. Obviously, some symbols are universal, but I wanted to find some correspondences that can specifically be used for manifesting same-sex romantic relationships. Here’s what my research turned up:

Correspondences For Love Between Two Women:

Rose Quartz: Rose quartz is considered the stone of unconditional love, and it can be used universally to attract love of all kinds, not just romantic. I think this crystal could be especially useful for women seeking a feminine partner, because it has a very strong feminine energy. Rose quartz is also strongly associated with self-love, and teaches us the important lesson that the best way to attract love is to start by loving ourselves. You could incorporate it into a love spell, wear it as jewelry, or meditate with it to align yourself with its loving energy.

Moonstone: Sometime’s called “the woman’s stone,” moonstone is very strongly associated with womanhood and with feminine sexuality. It is said to attract love and to increase passion in existing relationships. Unlike many other crystals associated with sex, moonstone has a very peaceful energy and can be used to calm anxiety or to soothe tense situations. Moonstone is a great stone for any woman looking to reconnect with her feminine power, or for increasing passion in an existing relationship between two women.

Violets: Violets have been associated with romantic love between women since the Ancient Greek poet Sappho of Lesbos (from whom we get the words “lesbian” and ‘sapphic”) used them as a symbol in poems dedicated to her female lover. In the Victorian era, queer women would give their lovers bouquets of violets instead of roses. (In the Victorian “language of flowers,” violets represent faithfulness.) In magick, violets are used to attract love and to increase luck in romantic endeavors. They are also edible — why not brew a violet tea and drink it as a love potion?

Correspondences For Love Between Men

Malachite: In many ways, malachite is the masculine counterpart to rose quartz. Despite its strongly masculine energy, malachite is deeply healing and works to open and unblock our heart chakra, as well as to heal any heartbreaks we may not quite have gotten over. Malachite is also considered the “salesman’s stone,” and can be used for situations where you are trying to “sell yourself” to a potential lover by giving a good first impression. Some people are afraid to use malachite because it is “toxic” — although it does contain copper, which can cause health problems if consumed in high amounts, wearing malachite or holding it against the skin is definitely not enough exposure to cause an issue. As long as you don’t eat your malachite or dissolve it in water, you will be fine.

Red Jasper: This is a wonderful stone for men looking to recharge their sexual energy, or to spice up an existing relationship. Jasper in general is associated with courage and charm, and for this reason it is often recommended to people involved in the performing arts, like actors and singers. Red jasper has a strong masculine energy, and is associated with the root chakra and our connection to the earth. Red jasper is an excellent stone to work with if you are dealing with sexual anxiety, or anxiety over being open about your sexuality. Meditate with it to feel more grounded, courageous, and stable.

Green Carnation: Although the connection between green carnation and queer men is not as ancient as the connection between violets and queer women, it is still well established. Oscar Wilde, who was openly gay, is said to have begun the trend of wearing a green carnation as a signal that he was seeking a man as a lover. Other men in Victorian England began to follow the trend, and the association still stands. In magick, carnation is said to enhance creativity and magickal power. Since it acts as an amplifier for other magickal energies, a green carnation can make any love spell more effective, especially for men seeking men.

Crystals and Herbs For Trans and Nonbinary Folks

Note: I said this in my video, but I feel like it bears repeating here — magick is not a replacement for mental healthcare. If you are struggling with gender dysphoria, I strongly encourage you to seek professional counseling if at all possible. None of the herbs, crystals, or spells mentioned below (or anywhere in this post) are intended as a replacement for medical or psychiatric treatment. If you are already taking medication of any kind, be sure to research potential interactions before ingesting any herb for magic or holistic purposes.

Chrysocolla (for trans and nb women): I first learned about chrysocolla from an episode of the Fat Feminist Witch podcast called “Not Every Goddess Has a Sacred Womb.” That episode discussed issues with equating womanhood to motherhood (or even just to having a uterus), and chrysocolla was brought up as a crystal with strong feminine energy that wasn’t tied to uterine health. This is a great stone to meditate with to get in touch with your own goddess energy, without any biological associations. Chrysocolla is also strongly associated with new beginnings, which may make it a useful spiritual tool for anyone who is just coming out of the closet.

Green Tourmaline (for trans and nb men): Much like malachite, green tourmaline is strongly associated both with masculine energy and with the heart chakra. It is a stone of masculine authority, and can be used either to get in touch with your own power or to help in overcoming emotional issues related to a father figure in your past. Tourmaline in general is said to convert negative energy into positive, which makes it ideal for overcoming any difficult situation.

Damiana (for trans and nb men AND women): Known by the scientific name Turnera diffusa, damiana is currently being clinically studied for its ability to balance hormones in all sexes. In holistic healing, damiana is commonly used to treat sexual problems — this is another one that may be useful for increasing sexual confidence. It is also said to help relieve anxiety and to decrease stress. Damiana is available both as herbal supplements and as a tea.

Angelica or Dong Quai (for trans and nb women): These are two different names for Angelica sinensis, which has been used in folk medicine for hundreds of years. It is often used to relieve symptoms of menopause because it increases estrogen levels when taken regularly. Angelica is also a powerful magickal herb, and is popular in American folk magick. It is sometimes associated with Archangel Gabriel, who I mentioned earlier, and is used for protection and healing. Angelica is available in teas and supplements, though it is usually marketed as “dong quai” in these forms.

Ginger (for trans and nb men): Lab studies found that ginger significantly increased testosterone levels in male rats. Human studies are still underway, but the research that has been done indicates similar benefits for humans. In magick, ginger is considered a magickal “power up” of sorts, and is often added to spells to add power or to speed up results. You can use ginger to increase your own masculine power, and to infuse yourself with a little bit of its sweet and spicy energy. Ginger is available both as a supplement and in teas, and of course it can be used in cooking.

This ended up being a way bigger project than I originally planned, but my research turned up so much good information that I wanted to share. I hope that some of this is helpful to all of my fellow gay witches out there, and I hope that you all have a magickal and blessed Pride Month.

P.S. I’ve actually written three different love spells based on this research. One is for men seeking men, one is for women seeking women, and one is for people who either don’t associate strongly with any one gender or don’t care about the gender of their partner. I was going to include those spells in this post but after seeing just how much info I had to cram in, I decided to give them their own post. You can find those spells here.

Every October UCF celebrates Diversity Week. This year’s dates are October 14 - 18, and the theme is Empowering Equity. University-wide departments and groups champion the breadth and culture within the UCF community, and work to increase acceptance and inclusion for everyone at UCF and the surrounding communities.

 One of the fantastic things about UCF is the wide range of cultures and ethnicities of our students, staff, and faculty. We come from all over. We’re just as proud of where we are from as we are of where we are now and where we will be heading in future.

 UCF Libraries will be offering a full slate of Diversity Week activities. To learn about the upcoming events visit: guides.ucf.edu/diversityweek

 Join the UCF Libraries as we celebrate diverse voices and subjects with these suggestions. Click on the link below to see the full list, descriptions, and catalog links for the featured UCF Celebrates Diversity titles suggested by UCF Library employees. These 12 books plus many more are also on display on the 2nd (main) floor of the John C. Hitt Library next to the bank of two elevators.

 And thank you to every Knight who works to help others feel accepted and included at UCF!

  Girl, Stop Apologizing: A shame-free plan for embracing and achieving your goals by Rachel Hollis In Girl, Stop Apologizing, Rachel Hollis sounds a wake-up call. She knows that many women have been taught to define themselves in light of other people—whether as wife, mother, daughter, or employee—instead of learning how to own who they are and what they want. With a challenge to women everywhere to stop talking themselves out of their dreams, Hollis identifies the excuses to let go of, the behaviors to adopt, and the skills to acquire on the path to growth, confidence, and believing in yourself. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

 It Ain't So Awful, Falafel by Firoozeh Dumas Zomorod (Cindy) Yousefzadeh is the new kid on the block . . . for the fourth time. California’s Newport Beach is her family’s latest perch, and she’s determined to shuck her brainy loner persona and start afresh with a new Brady Bunch name—Cindy. It’s the late 1970s, and fitting in becomes more difficult as Iran makes U.S. headlines with protests, revolution, and finally the taking of American hostages. Even puka shell necklaces, pool parties, and flying fish can't distract Cindy from the anti-Iran sentiments that creep way too close to home. Suggested by Cindy Dancel, Research & Information Services

 Lean in: women, work, and the will to lead by Sheryl Sandberg with Nell Scovell Lean In continues the conversation around women in the workplace, combining personal anecdotes, hard data, and compelling research to change the conversation from what women can’t do to what they can. Sandberg provides practical advice on negotiation techniques, mentorship, and building a satisfying career.  Suggested by Katy Miller, Research, Education & Engagement

 Out of Many Faiths: religious diversity and the American promise by Eboo Patel In this inspiring and thought-provoking book, Patel draws on his personal experience as a Muslim in America to examine broader questions about the importance of religious diversity in the cultural, political, and economic life of the nation. He explores how religious language has given the United States some of its most enduring symbols and inspired many of its most vital civic institutions―and demonstrates how the genius of the American experiment lies in its empowerment of people of all creeds, ethnicities, and convictions. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

 Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi Persepolis paints an unforgettable portrait of daily life in Iran and of the bewildering contradictions between home life and public life. Marjane’s child’s-eye view of dethroned emperors, state-sanctioned whippings, and heroes of the revolution allows us to learn as she does the history of this fascinating country and of her own extraordinary family. Intensely personal, profoundly political, and wholly original, Persepolis is at once a story of growing up and a reminder of the human cost of war and political repression. Suggested by Cindy Dancel, Research & Information Services

 Reclaiming the Black Past: the use and misuse of African American history in the twenty-first century by Pero Gaglo Dagbovie In this wide-reaching and timely book, Pero Gaglo Dagbovie argues that public knowledge and understanding of black history, including its historical icons, has been shaped by institutions and individuals outside academic ivory towers. Drawing on a range of compelling examples, Dagbovie explores how, in the twenty-first century, African American history is regarded, depicted, and juggled by diverse and contesting interpreters—from museum curators to filmmakers, entertainers, politicians, journalists, and bloggers. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

 Savage Feast: three generations, two continents, and a dinner table (a memoir with recipes) by Boris Fishman The acclaimed author of A Replacement Life shifts between heartbreak and humor in this gorgeously told, recipe-filled memoir. A family story, an immigrant story, a love story, and an epic meal, Savage Feast explores the challenges of navigating two cultures from an unusual angle. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

 Text Me When You Get Home: the evolution and triumph of modern female friendship by Kayleen Schaefer From Broad City to Big Little Lies to what women say about their own best friends, the stories we're telling about female friendship have changed. What used to be written off as infighting between mean girls or disposable relationships that would be tossed as soon as a guy came along are no longer described like that. Now, we're lifting up our female friendships to the same level as our other important relationships, saying they matter just as much as the bonds we have with our romantic partners, children, parents, or siblings. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

 The Best We Could Do: an illustrated memoir by Thi Bui This beautifully illustrated and emotional story is an evocative memoir about the search for a better future and a longing for the past. Exploring the anguish of immigration and the lasting effects that displacement has on a child and her family, Bui documents the story of her family’s daring escape after the fall of South Vietnam in the 1970s, and the difficulties they faced building new lives for themselves. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

 The Moment of Lift: how empowering women changes the world by Melinda Gates In this moving and compelling book, Melinda shares lessons she’s learned from the inspiring people she’s met during her work and travels around the world. As she writes in the introduction, “That is why I had to write this book―to share the stories of people who have given focus and urgency to my life. I want all of us to see ways we can lift women up where we live.” Melinda’s unforgettable narrative is backed by startling data as she presents the issues that most need our attention―from child marriage to lack of access to contraceptives to gender inequity in the workplace. And, for the first time, she writes about her personal life and the road to equality in her own marriage. Throughout, she shows how there has never been more opportunity to change the world―and ourselves. Suggested by Sandy Avila, Research & Information Services

 Tinderbox: the untold story of the up stairs lounge fire and the rise of gay liberation by Robert W. Fieseler Buried for decades, the Up Stairs Lounge tragedy has only recently emerged as a catalyzing event of the gay liberation movement. In revelatory detail, Robert W. Fieseler chronicles the tragic event that claimed the lives of thirty-one men and one woman on June 24, 1973, at a New Orleans bar, the largest mass murder of gays until 2016. Relying on unprecedented access to survivors and archives, Fieseler creates an indelible portrait of a closeted, blue- collar gay world that flourished before an arsonist ignited an inferno that destroyed an entire community. The aftermath was no less traumatic―families ashamed to claim loved ones, the Catholic Church refusing proper burial rights, the city impervious to the survivors’ needs―revealing a world of toxic prejudice that thrived well past Stonewall. Suggested by Richard Harrison, Research & Information Services

 Womanish: a grown black woman speaks on love and life by Kim McLarin Searing in its emotional honesty, Womanish is an essay collection that explores what it means to be a black woman in today’s turbulent times. Writing with candor, wit and vulnerability on topics including dating after divorce, depression, parenting older children, the Obama’s, and the often fraught relations between white and black women, McLarin unveils herself at the crossroads of being black, female and middle-aged, and, ultimately, American. Powerful and timely, Womanish draws upon a lifetime of experiences to paint a portrait of a black woman trying to come to terms with the world around her, and of a society trying to come to terms with black women. Suggested by Megan Haught, Teaching & Engagement/Research & Information Services

Most random place I’ve visited in a long while:  Mobile, Alabama.  When I first found out that I got to go I was neutral in my excitement.  And then I started researching; and then I got there; and then I fell in love.  Mobile, Alabama’s theme for the city is “Born to Celebrate” and really, that’s the vibe everywhere and I love it.

Being the birthplace of Mardi Gras in the South and founded by one of the brothers who also founded New Orleans, it’s already in position to be cool.  You don’t hear a lot about Mobile as a destination or a party city, but it is.  It’s not a party city like Las Vegas or the Daytona Beach of the 90s, but it’s a place full of fun and pride.  And it’s delightfully gay which added to how welcome I felt and how much I loved Mobile, Alabama.  Anyways, here’s the scoop on Mobile and why I can’t wait to return with my whole family.

Locale of Mobile, Alabama

Mobile is at the very south of the Great State of Alabama on the Gulf of Mexico.  It’s located where five different rivers meet.  It’s surrounded by lush live oak forests and meandering waterways.  It’s a short drive to the beaches of the Gulf.  It’s a pocket of awesome in a place thought of as the Deep South.

Mobile has its own airport (MOB) and has two major interstates feeding into it.  You can arrive in Mobile, Alabama via cruise ship or private charter.  Basically, what’s stopping you from getting there and having an incredible time?

History of Mobile

It’s in Alabama.  That’s enough to make somebody who hasn’t been think about all they’ve heard, read or seen on TV about Alabama.  Just stop right there:  Mobile is completely different in nearly every way.  Yes, of course there are people who are stuck in the 1860s or the 1950s, but they’re not as common as you’d think.  Here are some interesting tidbits shared with me by Mobilians during my visit (but might not have factual backing):

Mobile was the first city in the south to elect an African-American mayor with a white majority vote.  

Mobile was the only major city in the South that didn’t have a civil rights march due to several very active public groups that worked to change local laws, including desegregating schools, prior to government mandate. They’ve had protests, but weren’t at the forefront of marches in the 60s.

Mobile has Gay Pride celebrations with lots of community involvement in addition to being involved in Mardi Gras activities.  

It’s the most progressive city I’ve been to south of the Mason-Dixon line.  Love it!

And Mobile, Alabama is an old city; it’s older than New Orleans.  Founded in 1702 Mobile has that same French influence you’ll see in NOLA, but it’s had it for longer.  And here’s a fun fact:  at one point Alabama was actually its own country (for a few days), and if you know where to look you can see references to it throughout Mobile.  And then there’s Mardi Gras… We’ll save that for last.

Top 5 things to do in Mobile, Alabama

Every city you’ll ever visit has a few super awesome things that will keep visitors coming back or talking about for a long time.  Mobile is for sure one of those places, but we’ll keep it short and sweet… like a beignet.

Exploring Mobile’s neighborhoods

Seattle, San Francisco, Portland… all three are great cities made of beautiful and fascinating neighborhoods.  And so is Mobile!!

Downtown Mobile

Downtown Mobile, Alabama is really nice.  The buildings aren’t too tall and there are countless sandwich and coffee shops giving it a quiet, small city feeling.   And downtown is right next to Dauphin Street, which is the main drag and is highly entertaining.  The people of Mobile have been exceptionally active in restoring their city since the 1960s so the whole area west of the financial district is charming, historic and full of fun.  At night, it’s lit up with twinkling lights, neon, marquees, glowing bar lights…. Strolling through downtown Mobile at night is a must.

Oakleigh Garden and DeTonti Square Historic Districts

Being such an old city, Mobile has some incredible residential neighborhoods including seven historic districts.  Just north of the downtown area is the DeTonti Square Historic District.  Some of the homes here are so old and ornate that they’ve each been under renovation for… well, forever.  Walking through the neighborhood you’ll find a combination of Gulf Cottages, Federal style and shotgun houses.  Each of the homes as it’s renovated is held to strict standard for color and outdoor features to keep the district as historically accurate as possible.  A homeowner can pop into the paint store in Mobile, say where they live, and leave with a color palate for the exterior of their house that is historically accurate and perfect.

Tip:  as you’re exploring the neighborhoods of Mobile, Alabama look at the historic markers and coats of arms on the restored houses.  You’ll learn all kinds of fun facts about the city and be able to impress all your friends when you bring them back!

Another beautiful neighborhood to wander through is the Oakleigh Garden Historic District.  Here, in addition to the beautiful and interesting homes, you’ll find some of the most impressive live oaks I’ve seen anywhere in the South.  And wandering the streets below the oaks and past the shotgun houses you’ll eventually get to the Church Street Graveyard.  It’s right by the old library so you can’t miss it.  This beautiful old cemetery has some of the oldest graves in Mobile, Alabama, including that of Joe Cain, the re-founder of Mardi Gras.

Photo tip:  photographing the live oak neighborhoods and cemeteries is best in the LATE afternoon.  The filtered light makes for interesting shots with much softer shadows.

The last neighborhood that I wanted to mention is the Church Street East Historic District.  This is actually where I stayed, at the Malaga Inn, and I loved it.  In the morning I could walk past wrought iron railings and find Mardi Gras beads in the bushes.  At night, there were gas lamps.  A few blocks away was Fort Conde and the Plaza for Mardi Gras events.  The historic charm is there along with bustling activity.  If you’re not staying in this neighborhood, as least pay it a visit.

Eat all of the deliciousness

Where to begin?!  Let’s just say that between blue crab legs and beignet sandwiches I was never hungry or bored with food. Here’s just a taste of what I found and no doubt anybody else could discover even more yum.  Here are three tasty beyond tasty ideas for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Wintzell’s Oyster House – anything with the tiny crab legs or the shrimp in ANY of their sauces and styles.  And their Oysters Monterey were my favorite.

Panini Pete’s – so the beignets are amazing and much more dense and, dare I say it, more delicious than other’s I’ve add throughout the South.  And they’ll make you a bacon and egg sandwich on a beignet!

Noble South – this is where I learned the Southern cooking isn’t all butter and butter.  Even though there were some beautiful meat dishes being served, my vegetarian collection of courses was an unforgettable surprise.  Especially the squash blossoms.  Perfect.

I had all kinds of other great food, but these three hot spots rang the bell for me.  Each was delicious and totally unique to dining I’d find anywhere in the Pacific Northwest.

Gab with EVERY local Mobilian you meet

OMG, you don’t even have to try to do this.  I met so many great people just walking around Mobile.  Some of my favorite characters included I got to talk to were actually the many different servers in the restaurants I ate at.  Ms Pinky at Wintzell’s Oyster House had a new phrase for how delicious each dish was.  The gentleman at the Mardi Gras museum had amazing stories about festivities through the years and strength and presence of the LGBT population of Mobile, Alabama.  One of the four different servers I had when dining alone at a sidewalk cafe didn’t want to talk about Mobile, but about my kids and all the weird things about being a parent.  

And then Spring, our breakfast server one day.  She was a delight.  We chatted about food and Mobile and Mardi Gras, and then art.  She’s an artist whose medium is beads.  How perfect for being a Mobilian from the birthplace of Mardi Gras.  

Tip:  take a look at Mardi Gras bead art. It has got to be my new favorite medium and motif.  So intricate and takes much more patience than I’ll ever have.

Someday when I’m bored and just want to gab, I’m going to book a plane ticket to Mobile and just go cafe hopping inviting random people to sit with me and drink iced tea.  Or sweet tea.

…and sometimes the locals will dress up with you…

Airboating in the Mobile Delta

We got to take the kids on a airboat ride through the mangroves of the Everglades and it was awesome!  Here is Mobile I had another opportunity to do an airboat ride and it was just as fun but totally different.

We headed just out of town to the Spanish Fort area where we met Captain Geoff.  In addition to being an airboat captain, he’s also a naturalist, so boom, sold. We had three really unique ecotours in Florida and doing the airboat with Captain Geoff was equally thoughtful and educational.  Between the care he showed in his boating and the knowledge he imparted with great intent, Airboat Express is definitely in the top ecotours I’ve been a part of (including some amazing ones in Montana and Alaska).

The highlight of the Mobile Delta airboat tour was definitely the wildlife.  There were all kinds of fascinating birds and really unique vegetation, but this was the first ecotour I’d done that took us past alligator dens and nurseries.  We saw some enormous gators, yes, but getting to see baby alligators swimming or crawling all over each other was a real treat.

Tip:  if you have kids with you for an airboat tour, be sure they have sunglasses.  This helps keep the wind out of their eyes and they’ll have a much more enjoyable experience.

MARDI GRAS EVERYTHING

As I’ve mentioned several times Mobile, Alabama is the birthplace of Mardi Gras.  The city really is born to celebrate like their motto says.  So, for starters, the Mardi Gras museum is pretty darn cool and interesting. And weird.  If you happened into it without any preface you might think you stumbled into the Inauguration Gown gallery at the Smithsonian…but full of drag costumes.  I’ve never seen such lavish regalia.  So much embroidery and beadwork.

And then there are the strands of beads.  Everywhere.  On my first night in Mobile I went for a walk and my eyes kept darting around to find beads in the trees and on lamp posts left over from the recent Mardi Gras celebrations.  I went on a tour driving around the many historic neighborhoods and sights and was given my own strand of Mardi Gras beads. They’re now sparkling somewhere in Mobile, reminding somebody else that there’s another celebration around the corner.

When you spend your time talking with the locals and gabbing it up with your server you’ll see that everything is related to Mardi Gras.  

“What have you got going on this weekend?” “Oh, I have a meeting with my mystic society.”  

“Oh, when did you do X, Y and Z?” “Well, it was just after Mardi Gras and…”

“Any big plans coming up?”  “I know that there’s a ball I am attending at Thanksgiving… It’s the start of Mardi Gras.”

Seriously, you can’t escape it and that’s just fine.  Seeing how excited and how dedicated each person is to EVERYTHING Mardi Gras is bizarre and inspiring.  It is a complete sense of community. Hopefully we’ll get to experience Mardi Gras in Mobile, Alabama in the next few years. It’ll be amazing.

So I know Mobile might not have been on your radar before today, but doesn’t it sound fantastic and aren’t you ready to plan a trip? I can’t wait to return with my family and have an awesome time making Mardi Gras memories and more.

Want to pin it for your own travel planning to Mobile or the South in general? Go for it!!!

Mobile, Alabama: top 5 ways to celebrate a surprising gem of a city Most random place I’ve visited in a long while:  Mobile, Alabama.  When I first found out that I got to go I was neutral in my excitement.  

The Man Who Murdered the Sixties

It’s been a half-century since Charles Manson and his loopy minions conspired to commit a series of murders that still fascinate and flabbergast the world.

Manson, who died in prison in 2017, would savor the attention he continues to attract, including in this summer’s Quentin Tarantino film (“Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood”) and several new books,  including my own.

In March 1967, at age 32, Manson was a fresh federal parolee who stumbled into San Francisco as American ingenues in peasant dresses and bellbottoms—runaways, hitchhikers, and lost souls—were streaming in for the Summer of Love. His timing was impeccable. The patchouli-scented sexual revolution created a perfect petri dish for his predation.

Using prison-honed talents as a con man and middling skills as a guitarist and singer-songwriter, Manson soon began building a cult of as many as 35 young hippies, three-quarters of them women.

He would spin campfire lectures for his stoner clan featuring Psych 101 dogma about projection and reflection. He basted their brains in a mix of Jesus Freakiness, Dale Carnegie hucksterisms, Norman Vincent Peale’s sunny-sided platitudes (“You are perfect!”), and the buggy self-help triangulations and “dynamics” of his prison-library Scientology.

Charles Manson. courtesy Oxygen

They believed he was a godly mystic.

The writer David Dalton nailed Manson in eight words: “if Christ came back as a con man.” Joe Mozingo of The Los Angeles Times said, “He was a scab mite who bit at the perfect time and place.”

Using the playbook of pimps and cult patriarchs, he isolated troubled young women from their past lives and controlled their bodies and minds. He was the Wizard of Oz for libertines, and he as much as told them so.

Susan Atkins, who became one of Manson’s most prolific killers, said Manson often mocked his own followers’ blind faith.’

“He said, ‘I have tricked you into doing what I want you to…It’s like I’ve got a bunch of slaves around me,” she told a grand jury in December 1969, after her arrest.

The Enigma of Charles Manson

Manson was an enigma on many levels.

The “Manson Women” Photo courtesy Oxygen

He was a racist and sexist imbued with the old-timey sensibilities of an Appalachian upbringing. He preached female subservience and racial segregation, and his young followers lapped it up in the midst of a flowering civil rights movement and on the cusp of modern women’s liberation.

Many were willing to kill for nothing more than Manson’s validation.

“You can convince anybody of anything if you just push it at them all of the time,” Manson once said, “…especially if they have no other information to draw their opinions from.”

Just 29 months after Manson began assembling his naifs into a communal Family, these “heartless, bloodthirsty robots…sent out from the fires of hell,” as a prosecutor would describe them, carried out a series of proving-ground murders in Los Angeles over four weeks in the summer of ‘69 that still has a place of prominence in America’s storied pantheon of crime spectacles.

The primary motive was money to allow the Family to finance a retreat to California’s Death Valley to ride out the race war that Manson predicted was coming.

The first victim, the Family’s good friend Gary Hinman, was Killed on July 27. Two weeks later, on Aug. 9 and 10, Manson followers killed the pregnant actress Sharon Tate, coffee heiress Abigail Folger, Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, and five others in acts of casual savagery that remain a peerless mashup of celebrity, sex, cult groupthink, and bloodlust.

Police outside 10050 Cielo Drive in Hollywood where the blood-splattered bodies of Sharon Tate and her four friends were found. Photo by George via Flickr

“It had to be done,” one of the killers, Leslie Van Houten, explained after her arrest. “For the whole world’s karma to be completed, we had to do this.”

Writer Dalton, who covered Manson for Rolling Stone, called him “the perfect storm” for 1969.

“It was the conflation of mystical thinking, radical politics, drugs, and all these runaway kids fused together,” Dalton told me.

“The world seemed to be in death spiral of violence, and we thought the whole hippie riot was about to begin to save use all. We were going to take over and everything would be cool. In fact, the opposite was happening, embodied by Charlie Manson.”

The implausible Manson story cannot be separated from the context of its era, as some Americans were asking essential questions about what their country ought to be.

The half-decade of 1965 to 1970 saw ghetto riots, the emergence of a vibrant new psychedelic culture, shocking political murders, riveting space exploration, escalation of the war in Vietnam, and burgeoning protests of the same.

Two months alone in the summer of 1969 brought an extraordinary series of events. On June 28, a police morals-squad raid on the Stonewall Inn, a gay bar in New York’s Greenwich Village, touched off three days of rioting—and ignited the gay rights movement. On July 18, Ted Kennedy, surviving male heir to the American political tragi-dynasty, fled the scene of a fatal car wreck on Chappaquiddick Island, Mass. On July 20, the world watched on TV as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin took their stiff, bouncing strolls through moondust.

Among the viewers was a small group of friends and kin gathered at the home of Sharon Tate. Twenty days later, on Aug. 9—50 years ago today—four members of the same group would be savagely murdered by Manson’s second kill team. A week after that, more than 400,000 peopled endured organizational bedlam to attend the Woodstock Festival, 100 miles north of New York City. That same weekend, Hurricane Camille pounded ashore on the Gulf Coast, east of New Orleans at Pass Christian, Miss., killing 256 people.

The Sixties created Manson, and his crimes were an exclamation point to a turbulent decade.

A ‘Child of the ‘30s’

But as he liked to say, “I am a child of the ’30s, not the ’60s.”

He was born to a prostitute mother and drive-by father in 1934 and raised by relatives in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia coal country. He became a chronic juvenile delinquent who flailed his way through a Dickensian childhood. A tiny boy who grew into an elfin but sinewy man, he was locked up in reform school, jail or prison for all but a few years of his life from age 13 to the grave.

He spoke or wrote a million words about his life and crimes—in court, in letters, in media interviews. He bleated many excuses for his wasted life, almost always beginning with a lack of parenting and proper education.

Manson often played crazy, but that was a studied tactic. As Vincent Bugliosi, his prosecutor and biographer, told Time magazine before he died in 2015.

“His moral values were completely twisted and warped, but let’s not confuse that with insanity. He was crazy in the way that Hitler was crazy…So he’s not crazy. He’s an evil, sophisticated con man.”

Manson preached a homespun version of liberation theology—the freedom to be you. But a switch was flipped in the fall of 1968, when the Beatles released their White Album.

Manson convinced his followers that the world’s most famous band was sending him direct messages in the lyrics, including those of “Helter Skelter.” He imagined that Paul McCartney’s song presaged a race war that would induce the Family to retreat to a desert hideout, then emerge heroically and install Manson as a world leader and master breeder.

Manson recast his horny young stoners into a classic apocalyptic cult, prepping for end times. Growing impatient for the race war, Manson decided to “show blackie how to do it” by committing a series of murders and leaving clues meant to implicate the Black Panthers, that era’s subject of America’s ever-changing moral panic.

The starry-eyed plan was a failure on every level.

Before Manson “got on his “Helter Skelter” trip,” according to Paul Watkins, another follower, “it was all about fucking.”

Five former members of the Family, all senior citizens now, are still imprisoned, 50 years along: Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel, Charles Watson, Bobby Beausoleil and Bruce Davis.

Manson follower Lynette “Squeaky” Fromme was imprisoned for the attempted assassination of President Gerald Ford. Photo via YouTube

Many others have died, including Watkins and Susan Atkins.

Most renounced Manson long ago, although Lynette (Squeaky) Fromme, an early acolyte who served 34 years in prison for a 1975 assassination attempt on President Gerald Ford, self-published an autobiography last year that was largely dedicated to minimizing Manson’s culpability.

Atkins, who once seemed to enjoy her public profile as an illustrious sexpot murderess, had a personal reckoning before her death from brain cancer in 2009.

“In hindsight,” Atkins wrote in her memoir, “I’ve come to believe the most prominent character trait Charles Manson displays is that of a manipulator. Not a guru, not a metaphysic, not a philosopher, not an environmentalist, not a sociologist or social activist, and not even a murderer.

David Krajicek

“His long-term behavior is one predominantly of a practiced manipulator.”

She called him “a liar, a con artist, a physical abuser of women and children, a psychological and emotional abuser of human beings, a thief, a dope pusher, a kidnaper, a child stealer, a pimp, a rapist, and a child molester. I can attest to all of these things with my own eyes.

“And he was all of these things before he was a murderer.”

This essay is adapted from David J. Krajicek’s new book, Charles Manson: The Man Behind the Murders that Shook Hollywood (Arcturus).

The Man Who Murdered the Sixties syndicated from https://immigrationattorneyto.wordpress.com/

Author talks new book about overlooked LGBT tragedy

Author Robert Fieseler's new book, "Tinderbox: The Untold Story of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire and the Rise of Gay Liberation" dives deep into the events leading up to and the aftermath of the Up Stairs Lounge Fire, a tragic and unsolved arson that claimed the lives of thirty-one men and one woman on June 24, 1973, the largest mass murder of gays until the Pulse Nightclub Shooting 2016.

The tragedy went largely ignored until the mid-2000's for reasons the book explores in great detail. PGN spoke to Fieseler about the insights about the era he was able to uncover in the writing and documentation of this important piece of LGBT History.

PGN: Why did a tragedy of the scale of The Up Stairs Lounge Fire go forgotten and unrecognized for what it was for so long?

RF: The Up Stairs Lounge fire was swept under the rug during its era, which was 1973, primarily due to straight constituencies and then closeted gay constituencies in New Orleans being uninterested in any kind of mass reporting of a large-scale tragedy involving gay men. This was a period of time when homosexuality was almost a taboo topic in the New Orleans media and the national mainstream media. It would really raise eyebrows if you were to report anything involving the homosexual community that wasn't about arrests or anything of the like. It was the deadliest fire in New Orleans history, 32 deaths. It was initially presumed to be an amazing story. It was front page news for a few days. Then when it became clear who has burned and the nature of the location that had burned, that these were homosexuals that burned in a homosexual bar, then the stories dried up. It was a time period where people weren't quite ready to discuss anything on the level of a gay tragedy.

PGN: Why do you think younger generation can take away from reading this book?

RF: The dominant social institution governing LGBT life was the closet do it would be difficult to understand that the closet succeeded in shunting something under the rug so successfully from the context of a society where the closet still ruled. Whereas in the 21st Century you can got to the decriminalization of sodomy laws, it started to speak more to an open society that was increasing curious about the mysterious deadly event that occurred in New Orleans. New Orleans has a wonderful storytelling culture and New Orleans is fascinated with stories about itself. There were always these rumors about it but it wasn't until the 21st century that serious scholarship started to be published about it. From there it started to build on itself. There were news articles and books and documentaries. It's a shocking and tragic event in its own right. We're 15 years removed from Laurence V. Texas in 2003, when the Supreme Court struck down sodomy laws and decriminalized homosexuality, people are more interested in looking at the cause of the social institution and the Upstairs Lounge Fire is a really powerful way to look at the what the closet was in American society and how its governed lives.

PGN: Do you think that people will see any parallels to New Orleans circa 1973 and America in 2018?

RF: This alternate gay tragedy which occurred in the past seemed to give the Pulse Nightclub shooting so kind of context. It really did succeed in a surprising way to bring this decades-old history to the forefront. In a strange way the Up Stairs Lounge Fire was seen as an antecedent or some kind of parallel event. They're not exact mirrors of each other. They share some similarities and they diverge greatly in others. Those two events seem to comment on each other, especially in the eyes of the public, especially in the eyes of the public in the days and weeks that followed Pulse.

PGN: What inspired you to write a book about this forgotten piece of history?

RF: I'm a subculture reporter usually. I cover marginalized groups and overlooked people that make the world better for themselves. I've covered the subculture of canner in New York. I've covered ghost hunters and their long campaign of their attempts to reach some sort of legitimacy in their craft. I'm a queer person and I'm fascinated by human right and civil rights. I was looking for years for a subject in gay rights that has all the levels of complexity where I could delve into the dynamics of the closet of the times. That's what drew me to the Upstairs Lounge Fire. It a crime that continues to be unsolved. I wanted to try and tell a story that helped me understand and to help LGBTQ youth and allies to understand what it was like to live in those times where you had to hide yourself on a practical daily basis. What it was like to makeshift to live without undue strain in a very oppressive world. and this was a story that took me down those dark avenues.

Source: http://www.windycitymediagroup.com/lgbt/Author-talks-new-book-about-overlooked-LGBT-tragedy/64586.html

We imagined how an NBA expansion draft would look today

All 30 SB Nation NBA blogs joined in to imagine a future where the league adds to expansion teams. Here are the results.

The NBA is approaching a 14th season existing with 30 teams, the longest period of time that the league has gone without adding or losing teams. Ever since the Charlotte Bobcats — now Hornets — joined in 2004, the 30-team league has been a happy, if flawed, default.

The NBA is also experiencing a global boom. It’s making more money than ever before, highlighted by a record-breaking nine-year, $24 billion television deal that kicked in last season. It’s rapidly growing in popularity both in the United States, where 29 of the 30 teams are located, and globally, where more and more international players are introduced to the league. Given the way this world works, and how quickly the NBA is rising, it was no surprise when NBA commissioner Adam Silver said this about expanding to 31 or 32 teams:

“I don’t want to put a precise timeline on it, but it’s inevitable at some point,” he told C.J. McCollum. (Yes, that’s Blazers guard C.J. McCollum).

Inevitable. That’s a strong word, but that’s where the league is headed.

SB Nation’s Tom Ziller is all over the logistics. You can read this explainer about what would need to happen for the NBA to vote for expansion, and also 13 places where the NBA could expand to, including two international options. (Not London!)

All those things have to be worked out by the smart people in the NBA before any expansion could be approved. We at SB Nation don’t have those same limitations, and we also know that there’s one especially fun thing about the process: The Expansion draft.

So, we are doing one of our own.

The concept is simple: all 30 teams can protect eight players off their roster, and the two expansion teams (it might just be one, but we’re going with two because it’s more fun) can pick from the remaining pool. They’d also get a top draft pick, but that’s not a major factor for this exercise.

We asked all 30 of our SB Nation NBA team blogs which eight players they would hold back from the expansion draft, and had them answer why.

Here’s who they protected and why:

Peachtree Hoops (Atlanta Hawks): Dennis Schroder, Taurean Prince, DeAndre Bembry, John Collins, Dewayne Dedmon, Mike Muscala, Ersan Ilyasova, Kent Bazemore

Celtics Blog (Boston Celtics): Isaiah Thomas, Gordon Hayward, Al Horford, Jae Crowder, Jaylen Brown, Jayson Tatum, Marcus Smart, Ante Zizic

Nets Daily (Brooklyn Nets): D’Angelo Russell, Caris LeVert, Allen Crabbe, Jarrett Allen, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeMarre Carroll, Jeremy Lin

At the Hive (Charlotte Hornets): Kemba Walker, Dwight Howard, Nicolas Batum, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, Cody Zeller, Frank Kaminsky, Malik Monk, Marvin Williams

Blog a Bull (Chicago Bulls): Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn, Lauri Markkanen, Denzel Valentine, Bobby Portis, Cristiano Felicio, Paul Zipser, Jerian Grant

Fear the Sword (Cleveland Cavaliers): LeBron James, Kyrie Irving (for now), Kevin Love, Tristan Thompson, J.R. Smith, Cedi Osman, Kyle Korver, Richard Jefferson

Mavs Moneyball (Dallas Mavericks): Harrison Barnes, Dennis Smith Jr., Seth Curry, Nerlens Noel (assuming he re-signs), Dirk Nowitzki, Yogi Ferrell, J.J. Barea, Salah Mejri

Denver Stiffs (Denver Nuggets): Nikola Jokic, Paul Millsap, Jamal Murray, Gary Harris, Wilson Chandler, Juancho Hernangomez, Will Barton, Emmanuel Mudiay

Detroit Bad Boys (Detroit Pistons): Andre Drummond, Avery Bradley, Tobias Harris, Stanley Johnson, Luke Kennard, Henry Ellenson, Ish Smith, Reggie Jackson

Golden State of Mind (Golden State Warriors): Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Patrick McCaw, Shaun Livingston, Jordan Bell

The Dream Shake (Houston Rockets): James Harden, Chris Paul, Clint Capela, Eric Gordon, P.J. Tucker, Trevor Ariza, Zhou Qi, Nene

Indy Cornrows (Indiana Pacers): Myles Turner, T.J. Leaf, Glenn Robinson III, Cory Joseph, Domantas Sabonis, Victor Oladipo, Thaddeus Young, Lance Stephenson

Clips Nation (Los Angeles Clippers): Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Danilo Gallinari, Patrick Beverley, Austin Rivers, Milos Teodosic, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell

Silver Screen & Roll (Los Angeles Lakers): Brandon Ingram, Lonzo Ball, Julius Randle, Kyle Kuzma, Jordan Clarkson, Brook Lopez, Larry Nance Jr., Kentavious Caldwell-Pope

Grizzly Bear Blues (Memphis Grizzlies): Marc Gasol, Mike Conley, Ben McLemore, JaMychal Green (assuming he re-signs), Deyonte Davis, Wayne Selden, Tyreke Evans, Brandan Wright

Hot Hot Heat (Miami Heat): Hassan Whiteside, Goran Dragic, James Johnson, Dion Waiters, Bam Adebayo, Josh Richardson, Kelly Olynyk, Justise Winslow

Brew Hoop (Milwaukee Bucks): Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker, Khris Middleton, Thon Maker, Malcolm Brogdon, Tony Snell, D.J. Wilson, Sterling Brown

Canis Hoopus (Minnesota Timberwolves): Jimmy Butler, Karl-Anthony Towns, Andrew Wiggins, Gorgui Dieng, Tyus Jones, Jeff Teague, Nemanja Bjelica, Justin Patton

The Bird Writes (New Orleans Pelicans): Anthony Davis, DeMarcus Cousins, Jrue Holiday, Solomon Hill, Cheick Diallo, Frank Jackson, E’Twaun Moore, Rajon Rondo

Posting & Toasting (New York Knicks): Kristaps Porzingis, Willy Hernangomez, Frank Ntilikina, Carmelo Anthony, Damyean Dotson, Kyle O’Quinn, Courtney Lee, Ron Baker

Welcome to Loud City (Oklahoma City Thunder): Russell Westbrook, Paul George, Steven Adams, Andre Roberson, Patrick Patterson, Alex Abrines, Enes Kanter, Raymond Felton

Orlando Pinstriped Post (Orlando Magic): Jonathan Isaac, Aaron Gordon, Arron Afflalo, Elfrid Payton, Nikola Vucevic, Terrence Ross, Jonathon Simmons, Marreese Speights

Liberty Ballers (Philadelphia 76ers): Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz, Robert Covington, Dario Saric, J.J. Redick, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarot, Richaun Holmes

Bright Side of the Sun (Phoenix Suns): Devin Booker, Josh Jackson, Marquese Chriss, Dragan Bender, Tyler Ulis, Eric Bledsoe, T.J. Warren, Alan Williams

Blazer’s Edge (Portland Trail Blazers): Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Jusuf Nurkic, Al-Farouq Aminu, Zach Collins, Caleb Swanigan, Maurice Harkless, Noah Vonleh

Sactown Royalty (Sacramento Kings): De’Aaron Fox, Skal Labissiere, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Justin Jackson, Buddy Hield, Willie Cauley-Stein, Harry Giles, Malachi Richardson

Pounding the Rock (San Antonio Spurs): Kawhi Leonard, Danny Green, DeJonte Murray, Manu Ginobili, Patty Mills, LaMarcus Aldridge, Davis Bertans, Kyle Anderson

Raptors HQ (Toronto Raptors): Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Serge Ibaka, Norman Powell, Delon Wright, Jakob Poeltl, O.G. Anunoby, Jonas Valanciunas

SLC Dunk (Utah Jazz): Rudy Gobert, Ricky Rubio, Dante Exum, Rodney Hood, Donovan Mitchell, Derrick Favors, Joe Ingles, Joe Johnson

Bullets Forever (Washington Wizards): John Wall, Bradley Beal, Otto Porter, Markieff Morris, Marcin Gortat, Kelly Oubre, Tim Frazier, Mike Scott

Then there’s the actual draft.

Using the players our team communities left unprotected, SB Nation’s Kristian Winfield drafted one team, while our Seattle Supersonics blog Sonics Rising — a hopeful and extremely likely expansion team whenever it finally happens — selected the other. They will unveil their rosters at noon ET.

NOTE: Per expansion draft rules, each new expansion team is limited to one selection per NBA team. Hence, some of the picks.

Remember the time we last did this?

Tom Ziller will take a stroll down memory lane to 2004, when the Charlotte Bobcats (now Hornets) entered the league. There were some odd players left unprotected and some fascinating ripple effects.

Who would you pick?

Now it’s your turn. Here are the five most notable players left unprotected at each position.

And here’s the full list. Pick four from each category (but not two players from the same team) and let us know your 12-man rosters in the comments section:

GUARDS: Malcolm Delaney, Terry Rozier, Isaiah Whitehead, Langston Galloway, Lou Williams, D.J. Augustin, Derrick White, Derrick Rose, Joe Young, Jawun Evans, Troy Daniels, Jamal Crawford, Frank Mason III, Michael Carter-Williams, Kay Felder, Darren Collison, Wade Baldwin, Jerryd Bayless, Brandon Knight, Fred VanVleet, Cameron Payne, Devin Harris, Jameer Nelson, Tyler Ennis, Andrew Harrison, Tyler Johnson, Matthew Dellavedova, Jordan Crawford, Shabazz Napier, Tomas Satoransky, Sean Kilpatrick, Briante Weber, Jose Calderon, Mario Chalmers, Shelvin Mack, T.J. McConnell, Pat Connaughton, Bobby Brown, Ian Clark, Semaj Christon, Randy Foye, Tony Parker, Archie Goodwin

WINGS: Jeremy Lamb, Dwyane Wade, Iman Shumpert, Corey Brewer, Chandler Parsons, Tim Hardaway Jr., Kyle Singler, Alec Burks, Dwayne Bacon, Dorian Finney-Smith, Luol Deng, Nik Stauskas, Evan Turner, C.J. Miles, Tyler Dorsey, David Nwaba, Malik Beasley, Nick Young, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Sindarius Thornwell, Josh Hart, Wayne Ellington, Quincy Pondexter, Lance Thomas, Doug McDermott, Evan Fournier, Brandon Paul, Thabo Sefolosha, Jodie Meeks, Luke Babbitt, Johnny O’Bryant, Reggie Bullock, Omri Casspi, Troy Williams, Bojan Bogdanovic, DeAndre Liggins, Mindaugis Kuzminskas, Michael Beasley, Jerami Grant, Garrett Temple, Bryn Forbes, Marco Belinelli, Abde Nader, Justin Holiday, Wesley Matthews, Wesley Johnson, Okaro White, Darius Miller, Jared Dudley, Bruno Caboclo, Nicolas Brussino, Marcus Morris, Joe Harris, Treveon Graham, Eric Moreland, Rodney McGruder, Rashad Vaughn, Furkan Korkmaz, Jake Layman, Vince Carter, Semi Ojeleye, Jeff Green, Justin Anderson, Derrick Jones Jr., Rudy Gay, Mario Hezonja, Terrance Ferguson,

BIGS: Dwight Powell, Kenneth Faried, David West, Ryan Anderson, Kevin Seraphin, A.J. Hammonds, Spencer Hawes, Taj Gibson, Omer Asik, Jahlil Okafor, Tyson Chandler, Meyers Leonard, Georgios Papagiannis, Pascal Siakam, Ian Mahinmi, Miles Plumlee, Jon Leuer, Gershon Yabusele, Quincy Acy, Robin Lopez, Trey Lyles, Jon Leuer, Zaza Pachulia, Chinanu Onuaku, Udonis Haslem, Greg Monroe, Alexis Ajinca, Joakim Noah, Nick Collison, Bismack Biyombo, Alex Len, Pau Gasol, Jonas Jerebko, Chris McCullough, Aron Baynes, Timofey Mozgov, Josh McRoberts, Boban Marjanovic, John Henson, Cole Aldrich, Amir Johnson, Ed Davis, Daniel Theis, Trevor Booker, Edy Tavares, Khem Birch, Lucas Nogueira, Ekpe Udoh, Mason Plumlee, Anthony Tolliver, Kevon Looney, Tarik Black, Ike Anigbogu, Ivica Zubac, Mirza Teletovic, Dakari Johnson, Kosta Koufos, Tony Bradley, Channing Frye, Darrell Arthur, Damian Jones, Brice Johnson, Thomas Bryant, Joffrey Lauvergne, Joel Bolomboy, Jason Smith, Tyler Lydon, JaVale McGee, Al Jefferson, Willie Reed, Zach Randolph

Social Work

RETURN, THE

Directed by Kelly Duane de la Vega, Katie Galloway

After California's "Three Strikes" law was amended, thousands of lifers were suddenly freed, but re-entry presented problems for the lifers, their families and their communities.

In 2012, California amended its "Three Strikes" law--one of the harshest criminal sentencing policies in the country. The passage of Prop. 36 marked the first time in U.S. history that citizens voted to shorten sentences of those currently incarcerated. Within days the reintegration of thousands of "lifers" was underway.

THE RETURN examines this unprecedented reform through the eyes of those on the front lines--prisoners suddenly freed, families turned upside down, reentry providers helping navigate complex transitions, and attorneys and judges wrestling with an untested law. At a moment of reckoning on mass incarceration, what can California's experiment teach the nation?

DVD / 2016 / (Grades 9-12, Adults) / 84 minutes

REAL LIFE 101: HELPING OTHERS

A drama therapist will introduce Gracey to a fascinating type of therapy that combines acting and psychology techniques to help people overcome some of life's most troubling issues. Then, Gracey will introduce us to an occupational therapist and learn how she works with her patients to do things like eat, bathe, and dress themselves, so they can live independent lives. Plus, Shawn will talk with a social worker who works in hospitals with patients to assist them on their continued path to recovery.

DVD / 2014 / (Senior High, College) / 18 minutes

CODE BLACK

Directed by Ryan McGarry

Unprecedented access to the ER at Los Angeles County Hospital provides a doctor's-eye view into the heart of our complex and overburdened healthcare system.

In his vivid and thought-provoking filmmaking debut, physician Ryan McGarry gives us unprecedented access to America's busiest Emergency Department. Amidst real life-and-death situations, McGarry follows a dedicated team of charismatic, young doctors-in-training as they wrestle openly with both their ideals and with the realities of saving lives in a complex and overburdened system. Their training ground and source of inspiration is "C-Booth," Los Angeles County Hospital's legendary trauma bay, the birthplace of Emergency Medicine, where "more people have died and more people have been saved than in any other square footage in the United States."

CODE BLACK offers a tense, doctor's-eye view, right into the heart of the healthcare debate - bringing us face to face with America's only 24/7 safety net.

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 81 minutes

FACING FEAR

Directed by Jason Cohen

A former neo-Nazi skinhead and the gay victim of his hate crime meet by chance 25 years later, are reconciled and collaborate in educational presentations.

In this Academy Award-nominated short documentary, worlds collide when a former neo-Nazi skinhead and the gay victim of his hate crime attack meet by chance 25 years after the incident that dramatically shaped both of their lives. Together, they embark on a journey of forgiveness that challenges both to grapple with their beliefs and fears, eventually leading to an improbable collaboration?Kand friendship.

FACING FEAR retraces the haunting accounts of the attack and the startling revelation that brought these men together again. Delving deep into their backgrounds, the roots of the ideologies that shape how they handle the reconciliation process are exposed. Self-doubt, anger and fear are just a few of the emotions they struggle through as they come to terms with their unimaginable situation.

DVD / 2013 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 23 minutes

REFUGE: CARING FOR SURVIVORS OF TORTURE

Directed by Ben Achtenberg

Refugees, asylees and caregivers share their stories to help professionals and volunteers understand the needs of the more than a million survivors of torture rebuilding lives in the US.

It's estimated that more than a million refugees, asylum-seekers and other immigrants to the United States have been victims of politically motivated torture. They come here from all parts of the world -- some legally, some undocumented, some with families and some very much alone. They live in major American cities and in small towns. Some survivors bear visible scars, but many more have been wounded in ways that remain hidden.

Advocates for torture survivors, dedicated healthcare and social service professionals, and hundreds of citizen volunteers have united to create programs throughout the country that provide care and support to survivors who have come here to make new lives.

This documentary highlights five treatment and support programs in Minneapolis, Atlanta, the Boston Area, and Washington, DC. Based on interviews with dozens of survivors and with the professionals and volunteers who are helping them to heal, this film is a tribute to their courage and dedication, and a call to action.

DVD (Closed Captioned) / 2013 / (Grades 10-12, College, Adult) / 57 minutes

WHAT'S ART GOT TO DO WITH IT?

Directed by Isabel Fryszberg

What's Art Got To Do With It? is a documentary by occupational therapist and filmmaker Isabel Fryszberg that explores the power of art and community in an age of fiscal restraint. The film affords an insider's view of Toronto's Creative Works Studio, an occupational therapy program, spearheaded by Fryszberg, that fosters healing and recovery through the arts. Shot over the course of a year, What's Art Got To Do With It? follows studio members as they devotedly prepare for an annual art show. In between painting canvasses, firing clay sculptures, shooting photographs, and composing songs, members candidly share what it is like to cope with severe and persistent mental health challenges and addictions. We are humbled and enlightened to learn of their setbacks and triumphs.

What's Art Got To Do With It? is embellished by powerful images of art and a sensitive score composed by Bob Wiseman. From its opening shot of a Toronto streetcar to its final coda at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibit, the film confirms that, through the power of artistic expression, one can develop a new life and a sense of belonging in a complex world.

DVD / 2012 / 47 minutes

FROM THE GROUND UP

Directed by Beth Gage & George Gage

Five 9/11 widows of New York firefighters pay tribute to their husbands by accomplishing extraordinary feats in their communities, turning evil into good.

FROM THE GROUND UP follows the widows of five New York firefighters ten years after 9/11. It's their journey, two steps forward and one step back, through tears, depression, and laughter to triumph over tragedy. It's five women finding strength to forge through madness and comfort their children while the world watches.

FROM THE GROUND UP is a personal and emotional account of how 9/11 permeates the lives of these women. We see how this tragedy has strengthened them, forcing them to dig deeper to give new meaning to their lives, empower their families and make a difference in their communities. Turning evil into good, they lift our spirits and honor their heroic husbands in the most fitting ways they can imagine from building a library, starting several foundations and instituting the hugely succesful Tunnel to Towers run.

DVD / 2011 / (Grades 9-12, College, Adult) / 30 minutes

STRIKE DICE! BETTING ON MY FATHER

By Natalie Picoe

Addiction can break up families, and often does. This is the story of a daughter whose father, an addicted gambler, left the family when the children were young to pursue his addiction in Las Vegas. As a grown woman, Natalie goes to Las Vegas in search of her father, where she finds him homeless, gaunt, and unwashed, but still driven by the desire to gamble. Despite her best efforts, he is, at first, unwilling to acknowledge his addiction and accept the help he needs.

This is a chronicle of a daughter's struggle to get her father off the streets and back into society, and to be accepting of a less than perfect father, who still nonetheless is her one and only dad. Over time she ameliorates his condition, finding him shelter and social services. She also tries to help him conquer his addiction and seems to be partially successful. By the end of the film they have become father and daughter.

An important film for courses in counseling, family relations and social work.

DVD / 2011 / 57 minutes

REAL LIFE 101: SOCIAL WORK

A career in Social Work can be very fulfilling for those who enjoy helping others. First, meet a Social Worker who helps individuals with disabilities find stable jobs. Then, visit a Victims Services Advocate from Safe House, an organization whose mission it is to end domestic violence. We learn how she helps victims of abuse recover emotionally. Finally, our hosts travel to New Orleans' Desire Street neighborhood to speak with the owner of an Outreach Ministry that provides young men with a second chance at life.

DVD / 2008 / (Senior High, College) / 18 minutes

WAYS WE LIVE: EXPLORING COMMUNITY - COMMUNITY ANIMALS

Directed by Heather MacAndrew and David Springbett

Leading thinkers explore community, work, time, values, and change.

What's happening to our sense of community? Even though humans are social animals who need interaction and a sense of belonging to survive, we have created a society -- in the industrialized countries at least -- where people are often too busy to build the kind of communities they say they long for. Women, in particular, feel they lack time to develop the relationships that make a community grow.

In COMMUNITY ANIMALS, some of today's leading thinkers, such as author Alan Durning, social historian Stephanie Coontz, Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez of the New Road Map Foundation, and Sarah van Gelder, editor of YES! A Journal of Positive Futures, explore fundamental questions of work, time, values, change and how we will live together in the next millennium.

DVD (Closed Captioned) / 1997 / (Grades 7-10, College, Adult) / 26 minutes

WAYS WE LIVE: EXPLORING COMMUNITY - FINDING US AND THEM

Directed by Annie O'Donoghue

Physically and mentally challenged people find community.

Who is "us" and who is "them"? For the last twenty years, most communities have been learning how to reintegrate those who for many years were cast as outsiders and were excluded from our communities: the mentally ill and the physically challenged.

But by concentrating on what is right with people, rather than what is wrong, various projects are proving that both the individuals and the communities are enriched.

DVD (Closed Captioned) / 1997 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 26 minutes

WAYS WE LIVE: EXPLORING COMMUNITY - MAKING SHELTER: MY HOME WITH OTHERS

Directed by Annie O'Donoghue

Co-ops and co-housing provide new models for building community.

A roof overhead isn't always enough to keep you warm. This program looks at how both the poor and the middle class have found the shelter of community by changing the ways they think about housing.

Examples include co-ops and new forms of co-housing where people live separately in tightly packed housing but often share a communal building and open space, as well as the responsibility of making decisions for the whole community.

DVD (Closed Captioned) / 1997 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 26 minutes

WAYS WE LIVE: EXPLORING COMMUNITY - RECLAIMING COMMUNITY

Communities in Toronto and Oakland take back and revitalize public spaces.

For centuries people have migrated to cities to find community; but for the last several decades in North America we have abandoned many of our common spaces-parks and public squares-leaving them to drug dealers and the desperate.

But all it takes is a few brave souls who refuse to give up on community to inspire their neighbors to take back public spaces. In Oakland, they've built a community garden in Lillie Lucket's backyard; and in Toronto's West Side the neighbors fixed up a community center in a big downtown recreational park and began a whole series of programs run by a wide range of community groups.

DVD (Color, Closed Captioned) / 1997 / (Grades 7-12, College, Adult) / 26 minutes

http://www.learningemall.com/News/Social_Work_1706.html

As i often am, that morning i was feeling equal parts martha stewart and marie leveau. In addition to being those two ladies, im also always the dude everybody LOVES to make halloween costumes with, since i have craploads of little knick knacks, trinkets, and odds and ends sitting around for years, waiting for a purpose. And that, folks, is what voodoo is all about: collecting simple things from around your world, creatively making your purpose their purpose, and sending their magick off to do what it does how it sees fit. Who knew all this shit around my house was a link to the universe?                  {{{{{{MIND BLOWN}}}}}} Before i digress further, back to my point..... That day being saturday, and me being a 35 yr old gay guy with a cat and an injured knee, I had an urgent need to do something exciting, but with some meaning....and almost always with glitter. This is why we craft. Both artsy-crafters and witchy-crafters; we're just lonely creative geniuses with sewing kits and glue guns and mason jars and quill pens and mortars and pestles. We're like pioneer folk, but gothier and with bluetooth capability. And, usually, we're kinda the shit. Again, it being a saturday, and with all the voodoo ive been studying, i immediately think "hmm, saturday...BARON SATURDAY!" A LITTLE BACKGROUND INFO... The baron i most often speak of is Baron Samedi (translated: "Baron Saturday"), but there are several Baron incarnations (LaCroix, Cimetiere, etc.) The barons belong to a group of loa called the ghede. In essence, the ghede are cemetery/death-related spirits, but they live right here among us in our world, and they are no angels.  They drink, they smoke, they cuss, they fuck, the are quite obscene at times. So basically, theyre that hot mess Laura from yr cousins wedding, right? Nope. They're better. Know why? Cuz the barons aint all doom and gloom. They can actually be helpful, albeit obnoxious  guardians who can sometimes help in dire situations. They also hold a very important place in the voodoo/hoodoo pantheon, because they are in charge of our exit from this life, and can help when things hang in the balance. Petition them carefully and dont expect special treatment...but if u offer some candy and alcohol, u just may luck out (still not Laura, i swear!) The ghede dance the banda, and they represent death and fertility. They each have a unique and fascinating story to tell.  Baron samedi is probably the most famous of the ghede, and his wife Maman Brigitte also plays a prominent role in their graveyard community. The baron is revered by new orleans  natives and tourists alike. In haiti to this day, the first male grave in a cemetery is dedicated to him, and the first female plot to his wife Brigitte. The Baron along with the rest of the ghede are celebrated on November 2nd (All Souls Day, Day of the Dead). The dark, skeleton-like images of the ghede have got a very halloween-y appeal for many, understandably. But they also have a significant religious, cultural, and practical appeal for like bazillions of people (according to the university of vague and exaggerated facts.com......ok, lets just say alot of people then). From africa, haiti, cuba, throughout the caribbean and south america.... and here in the states, specifically in louisiana. Each place has evolved its own traditions and spin on the original african Voudon tradition. But his tophat! His glasses missing one lens! His funerary style! His skull face!....Laura? Nope the unmistakable baron samedi! The loa are fascinating to learn about. Personally i find that, through creating items with the powers and symbols of a certain loa in mind, i can make a connection to them. I begin to understand them. I feel their vibe (like dig it man....no, but seriously). Do i believe a mystical being is possessing me in a supernatural sense when i serve the loas? No. I do however feel as if i invoke certain energies from the idea of them. They are powerful archetypes associated with specific numbers, colors, plants, animals, objects, and acts. Putting a human-like name, face, and personality to these energies is the best way to get to know them and their inherent power. 

         A) Smudge my sacred space (my home)

         B) Welcome ghede spirits/energies (by fanning towards me, prefferably when the moon is waxing)

         C) Get rid of ghede spirits/energies (by fanning away from me, prefferably when the moon is waning).....

                Plus....on the other side is a sacred mirror, perfect for mirror spells! Personally, ive seen similar feather orisha fans (and mirrors, but not fan/mirror combo), and i havent seen any dedicated to the baron or the ghede, though im sure they exist. But who needs their fans?!! I poured this one out from my heart and soul and, because i made it, my magick comes built-in. All of the details are specific to the ghede or the baron specifically, and quite honestly it made me feel closer to understanding what makes Baron Samedi a powerful image i can channel into my own creative magick.

There was no plan.

No specific end goal.

No list of supplies.

Just grabbin' and gluin' and beading with fervor until painstakingly perfect. I wouldnt stop until it looked like something the baron himself had commissioned from me. Beautiful in an honest way, and beautiful in its ugly aspects as well. The ghede have a twisted beauty that is awe-inspiring....

As the process continued, the art transformed. I was, in a sense, "possessed" by creativity. Quickly i grabbed anything i could use that has an association with the baron and the ghede:

Numbers 9 and 13.

Colors purple, black, and red.

Skulls and skeletons.

Crosses.

Nails.

Every detail bringing the baron closer.

By the time i was finished,  the entire table was a full-on Baron Samedi conjure altar:

Offerings of rum, coffee, and cocoa. Cigars. An image of a rooster. Candles. Incense.

And my fan. OUR fan. Without the idea of him and his signature style and tastes, none of this very real magick would have occurred.

Even if he is a mythical being or a metaphor, his mere history and unique character make him someone who will continue to carry magickal associations when focused on.

After the work was complete, i blasted "No time to cry" by sisters of mercy, danced a bit in my legbrace, and fanned the incense throughout my apartment, feeling as if those feathers were part of my very own wings.

I left the baron his rum, coffee, cocoa, rooster, and half a cigar in a nice black box with a bow. I wouldn't have felt right removing them (even in the world of the dead, there are no take-backs).

Finally,  i hung the fan, mirror-side down, on the inside of my front door. This is where i can interact with it daily, and also where it can best fan in the good and fan out the bad.

Though i never petitioned the baron for anything (it felt more like a fun boozy brunch with a friend than conjure), i left the experience  feel honored and powerful. And with a dope piece of magickal art.

Its nice having friends in high places.

P.S.  tell hot mess Laura, Baron Samedi says hello.