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The Real Truth About Golodomor and Collectivization in Ukraine
This issue, which was, it seems, on everyone's lips just recently, is all but forgotten. The propaganda machine in the West and Ukraine worked overtime to beat it into everyone's head: Russians have created golodomor – sometimes translated incorrectly as "holodomor," to kill the poor Ukrainians. The issue has died down because Russians finally started responding with real facts of what had actually happened. This enduring part lie and part twisted truth was created as anti-Russian propaganda mega-tool well before the 2004 #Yushchenko/ #Tymoshenko/ #Poroshenko Orange Revolution in order to drive a wedge between Russia and Ukraine and convince Ukrainians that Russia was the arch-enemy. How could it not, if they killed – what number did they conjure out of thin air? – 20 million of Ukrainians! I have news for you, if the evil Stalin killed 20 million Ukrainians, the country called Ukraine would have long been a desert.
The golodomor story was generated the same way as the now infamous meme "I am a Ukrainian" depicting a pretty, smiling girl with flowers on Kiev maidan (no nazi thugs and Molotov cocktails in sight). It was born in a Virginia, USA propaganda lab.
But while the actual lie can't be published in the MSM any more as the truth is already out, the #Soros-financed distorted history books, and Western/ Ukrainian media won't retract it, so it gets spread and repeated over and over again. Unfortunately, Russia was always far behind the US and UK on the propaganda front – and presently we are observing the results of the Russians not paying enough attention to the important infowar issue.
Yesterday, one of my readers mentioned the golodomor issue in a comment, adding that Russians did that to Ukrainians causing millions of them to die of starvation. I've heard this before and it had been on my mind for years. I understand how people would come to believe this lie, considering the absolute info vacuum. I've decided this was as good a time as any to clarify this issue once and for all.
Background: as you can see from my bio, my mother was Ukrainian, from a farming family. I had a couple of aunts in Ukrainian villages, and an uncle and aunt who lived in a city, but came from the farming stock. My whole family was into story-telling and since I was a child, I heard many stories about family history and various events they had experienced. Avid listener, unlike many of my contemporaries, I was always a history buff, even as a 5-year old.
So, let's look at the facts, and for dessert, at my own family/friends experiences. After my story, everything will become "crystal-clear," as they say in Russia… and Ukraine.
Collectivization and golodomor did take place. There were problems, but hardly in the magnitude quoted. The meaning and logic behind these events is also being grossly distorted. Lenin was long dead by the way – collectivization took place in the end of 1920s – 1930s under Stalin.
Collectivization meant that peasants/farmers had to unite into farms, mostly voluntarily, but sometimes not. Collectivization is interpreted usually that Stalin (who was not Russian, but Georgian by the way, and who is still considered a national hero in Georgia) wanted to eliminate private property as soon as possible, including individual farms. There was an element of that, but the real reason was economical. USSR was in a desperate situation when the West tried to strangle it economically. Remember that just mere 6 years prior the country was in total ruins after the brutal Civil War. In addition, there were several bad years with poor harvest. This was a fight for survival – a life and death situation. To prevent hunger, the USSR leaders decided to expedite a conversion of the agriculture to socialism. Notice, most farmers were not touched until early 1930s, except in those cases where locals formed collective farms – kolkhozs – of their own initiative. USSR partially produced and partially purchased tractors from Ford. The goal of the Soviet industrialization and the usage of a tractor was to achieve the increased output compared to a horse and plow. However, individual small farmers couldn't afford a tractor. To get a tractor – given for free by the state – you had to unite in a collective farm.
Poster about collectivization reads: "Comrade, join us at the kolkhoz."
So, collectivization started, encouraged by the state and led by the overly zealous locals. In many, if not most situations, the process was peaceful and amicable. People were explained the advantages of joining, they argued, talked, voted, decided, signed and the next day, woke up as a kolkhoz. However, clearly there were excesses as well, depending who was the ring leader locally. Sometimes, those who resisted were "relieved" of their cattle and land, which was collectivized. Of course, it has to be understood that their property was still theirs, but now they owned a share of all combined property of the kolkhoz, as in a coop. The issue was that those who owned more, didn't want to share. Sometimes these people took up the arms.
It has to be underscored that just like today, the West recruited those who were angered by collectivization to commit the acts of sabotage. Many well-documented cases are known of someone burning stables with cattle in them, damaging wheat fields and killing kolkhoz leaders.
Perhaps the collectivization was not well-managed; perhaps it was a hastily prepared event. The unbending positions of local activists are possibly also to blame. But could they have acted any different being shot at? There was an issue of adequate instructions from the top – no instructions were sometimes possible because this grand social experiment was never before attempted in history, and also because it was perhaps underestimated by the communists how much some of the peasants didn't want to part with their property.
This miscalculation is easy to understand: the people who masterminded USSR already lived in their minds in communism, when all property would be shared. To them – why hang on to your meager private property if in about ten-fifteeen years the whole country would live in a fairy tale abundance of communism, sharing everything? They simply couldn't understand why farmers didn't want to part with their stuff, happily signing up for kolkhozes in droves. And yes, they did think that communism would be built in the USSR by around 1943-45.
From this perspective, it is very easy to understand why the West, primarily UK and US, but let's not forget France and Germany, HAD to sabotage USSR at all cost. Remember, we are dealing with the first ever social mega-experiment to convert the entire society into something very different in a planned manner, and in a very short time span. This was a serious attack against capitalism, as far as the West was concerned. Of course, USSR didn't attack anyone – it just wanted to build a better life for its citizens. The fact that some people were unprepared for this grand experiment is a different story. However, it was supposed to be a peaceful experiment within USSR/Russia's own borders.
But as we see from everything that is going on even today, the West never let Russia develop peacefully. UK (GB) was gradually losing its influence and empire; USA was in the middle of the 1929 Crash and Great Depression; Germany had a lot of trouble recovering after WWI. Simple people everywhere started looking at the USSR as the only beacon of hope.
Fast forward to today. Does that by any chance sound familiar?
Meanwhile, the capitalist system was suffering blow after blow. The thought that went through the minds of power/economic elites was: what if the Russians are indeed able to build communism in ten-fifteeen years? What if they do achieve a fairy-tale prosperity as a result? People in the West will want the same. Russian example could create anti-capitalist revolutions all over the world. Everyone from Ford to JP Morgan, Kennedy to Rothschild, was afraid to lose their wealth and property. They financed the sabotage of the collectivization, and watched with glee as USSR struggled. But the USSR recovered way too quickly, despite all odds. Collectivization was more of a success than they expected. By 1939, USSR started living quite prosperously. That's why it was necessary to simultaneously help Hitler rise to power, with the idea that he would attack USSR and destroy it.
I am not defending collectivization. It was premature to do so at that time. True communist society is only possible when people's consciousness is on a very high level. This is the Star Trek society and we are very far from it. In today's world, some would thrive in the coop environment. We see this in examples of progressive eco-villages and spiritual communities all over the globe. Others prefer private property and there is nothing wrong with that either. People should have free choice to do what's best for them, until their consciousness rises to the level when this is the only, and best, way for them to live.
It's like slavery. The consciousness of humans had to rise enough for everyone to understand that slavery was wrong. Let's recall that in the 19th century USA slavery was a norm; that Great Britain thrived on the international slave trade; that as recently as 1960s, there was still widespread racial segregation is the USA.
Choices are great and necessary; however, at the time when the West was doing everything to strangle the young Soviet State, and by extension, destroy Russia, USSR had very little choice.
Now it becomes clear why Ford, Kennedy, Bush, IBM and many others financed Hitler. Hitler would have never been able to build and arm his multi-million army within several short years without credits and massive technological infusion from the US and UK. The idea was to sick him on the USSR, so to prevent USSR from becoming prosperous and making the West look bad. Destroying USSR/Russia was plan A. If that could not be achieved, then at least USSR had to be slowed down. And along the way, discrediting everything Soviet and Russian was an icing on the cake. They achieved plan B quite well.
However, as we well know, the Hitler plan got a tiny bit out of control. I don't think it really worried those who masterminded it though. What is 100 million dead, if the wealth of Rothschilds, Rockefellers, Fords, Morgans, was now safe and multiplied.
And USSR was tied up for years, first busy fighting the nazi invasion; later, mourning the 27 million dead and rebuilding the country from ruins.
Capitalism was safe.
However, just imagine how different the 20th century could have looked if there was no WWII and USSR was able to build its bright future unencumbered. Would it have built the epically abundant communism by 1945? I don't know, perhaps not. But the map of the world would have looked very differently for sure. USSR would have done much better, and the West – much worse.
Back to collectivization and golodomor (= death from starvation): it took place in the early 1930s. It happened for several reasons: 1. Peasants sometimes didn't care for fields and cattle that they felt wasn't theirs after it was taken into kolkhozes. 2. Sabotage, burning and poisoning of cattle and fields by foreign agents. 3. Mistakes of authorities, both central and local. 4. Several bad years of drought and poor harvest in parts of Russia and Ukraine.
This is very important! Collectivization and golodomor were NOT Ukraine-specific phenomenons. Same exact results from collectivization happened in rich agricultural areas of Russia, such as Povolzhie and Kuban. In fact, the real hunger was in Povolzhie (the Volga region). Golodomor is a Russian word, not Ukrainian. Everyone suffered. So, making this into a Ukraine-specific issue is clearly a disgusting propaganda ploy.
There was never a secret made of golodomor in Russia – as a child I studied it in my Soviet history books. Perhaps, Russians were a little too self-punishing about it. The overall cost of golodomor was probably two hundred thousand lives, and it was a huge tragedy. I doubt more than 20,000 died in Ukraine. Much, much more died in Russia. Soviet government purchased grains from Iran to feed the hungry, but it was a little late by the time the grain arrived. I am sure golodomor was the consequence of several tragic coincidences. Mishandled collectivization was multiplied by the sabotage and burning of crops, poisoning of water, blowing up kolkhoz property, and killing of the live stock by the foreign agents. However, the worst problems were drought and poor crops in the same period. Without that, the golodomor would probably never happen.
Incidentally, Stalin's repressions intensified mainly during and after golodomor, and they were a direct response to the malicious sabotage of the country's agriculture.
My personal experience:
Personal experiences can help us put the two and two together, or they can obscure the facts – it all depends on one's attitude. I once received an angry comment from someone who never got over his Ukrainian great-grandpa (this one really knows how to hold a grudge!) having lost a horse and cows in the 1930s, when "bad Russians came to take them away into a kolkhoz." Of course, as I said, this in reality meant that everyone now owned a share of everyone's horses, cows and fields. Kolkhoz means collective property, in other words, a coop.
The conclusion made by that commenter from his great-grandpa personal experience: millions died, and I was bad and dishonest that I spoke positively of Russia. Just imagine the logic! I would like to know for one how could millions die, including this person's ancestor; who then told him all these horror stories in such detail?
And here is the real story: My mother was from a village in eastern Ukraine. One of her ancestors was a Tsar's army officer, who fought against the Bolsheviks (Reds) in the Civil War, and when the Whites lost the Civil War, he emigrated to the West.
My father's family came from the central Russian Voronezh region and Moscow. The family name was one of the most well-known in Russia and the family was very rich. My father's grandfather, an idealist, sided with the Bolsheviks and when revolution came, he gave up his mansion and properties for the benefit of the people. He worked as chief engineer at the plant he formerly owned.
In my thriller, GOLD TRAIN (Accidental Spy Russia Adventure), I describe the story of the FSB operative Alexei and New York journalist Jade Snow. They both have Russian roots with aristocratic ancestry. Their story is in part my real family story.
My mother told me that her family had to give up their couple of cows and a horse during collectivization, too. No one died from hunger as the local kolkhoz provided enough. There was no one she knew of in the eastern Ukraine region of Dnepropetrovsk and Zaporozhie, where my mother's family was from, who died of golodomor. Think about it! I will repeat so it sinks in! Millions supposedly died, yet my mother never told me of a single person she knew, or her family knew, who died of starvation! If there was such a story to tell, believe me, I would have heard it!
It has to be remembered that collectivization or not, people kept their private gardens, chickens, ducks and geese. These were not collectivized. PUFF! Go the fictional millions of dead.
Now, to put in perspective the story of the millions of dead from golodomor, here is another story. I grew up in Odessa, where a large percentage of the population is Jewish. This is the story I heard more than once. My close friend Yury, who was Jewish, told this story, as did several other people. When German and Romanian troops were approaching Odessa during WWII, Russians knew what they did to Jews in occupied areas. The USSR leadership decided to evacuate the Jews to save them from concentration camps. Many, many trains were sent to Odessa. It was announced in the city that everyone who wanted to evacuate must get to the trains no later than at a certain hour. Most Jewish civilians (200,000 or more) were evacuated from the city on very short notice and taken to Uzbekistan. My friend's father grew up during the war speaking Uzbek. Once, we were watching a documentary about this evacuation, and my friend recognized his family walking in the dusty stepps towards the train parked well out of town (with so many trains to accommodate everyone, some had to be parked very far): a woman carrying a baby – his grandma with little aunt, a little boy – his father, and a man with a violin – his grandfather, who was the first violin of the Odessa Opera.
I heard similar stories from several other people. As a result of this mega-evacuation by the bad Russians, evil Stalin and horrible USSR, the lives of most Odessa Jews were saved. Compare that to what happened to the Jews all over the "kind" Europe.
Now, let's put this in perspective. 200,000 Jews get evacuated and I hear several different stories about that! 20,000,000 get killed during golodomor – and not a single story! I knew thousands of people in Ukraine, I had relatives and friends in villages – not a single story! I heard about collectivization and my mother's family's horses and cows, I heard about my father's family giving up their property, about the White Russian officer and his emigration, about how my mother's family survived under Hitler's occupation, about my father's family 18th-19th century history, about my father at Stalingrad, about a friend of the family who suffered from Stalin's repressions, about my mother's work on exotic Sakhalin, and much more… But NONE, Zero, zilch about anyone dying during golodomor!
The real story of how Ukrainians were, and are, treated in Russia: Ukrainians oftentimes were given a preference over Russians, as were representatives of other ethnicities. Westerners will recognize this as today's "political correctness." Being half-Russian and half-Ukrainian, when I turned 15, I could choose which nationality I wanted to put in my passport. I decided to put down Ukrainian, not Russian. Why would anyone do that if it wasn't beneficial?
If I had to choose again – guess what I would put down today?
These heads of the USSR were Ukrainian: Gorbachev, Khrushchev, Brezhnev. Stalin was Georgian. In other words, those who ruled the country for most of the 20th century, were non-Russian. Today, Russians treat Ukrainians as brothers, basically forgiving them everything, while Ukrainians yell everywhere that Russians are aggressors and enemy #1.
Who do you think benefits from all this?
Conclusion: the Ukrainian golodomor hoax is a typical propaganda ploy, created to make Russia look bad – what else is new? A monstrous LIE, as usual. Golodomor did happen and tens of thousands died. It was a tragedy for the entire Soviet people. Using such tragedy for the shameful purpose of driving a wedge between parts of the same people – Russians and Ukrainians – is beyond criminal.
Note: I am referring to "communism" here not as political ideology, but as advanced spiritual consciousness construct of the universal brotherhood of man. What I mean can be understood better by reading/listening to Osho, who referred to communism as a manifestation of Zen.
Dear readers! Make sure you read a very telling testimonial in the comment section about #golodomor in the Russian Povolzhie by Viktoriya Merkl!
Posted on June 12, 2014, in Forbidden History, Russia, Ukraine and tagged capitalism, communism, distortions of history, golodomor, golodomor lies, holodomor, kolkhoz, Russia, soros, soviet collectivization, soviet undustrialization, Stalin, Stalin repressions, truth, UK, Ukraine, USA, USSR, WWII. Bookmark the permalink. 30 Comments.
Thank you!
My grandma was Born in Saratov, Povolzhie, Russia, and I heard very much from her and my great-grandmother about that very bad "starvation" time happened in Povolzhie region. Every time when I was small I did not want to eat they told me that I should be happy having such a big variety of food, there was time when they had to eat grass in Povolzhie region.. My grandmother told stories about her and her sister sent to the woods or to Volga to find sth eatable while their mother went to work. They told about many died friends and neighbours. Very hard and very sad time.
My great-grandpa(first husband of my great-grandmother from Saratov was a rich man, they also passed collectivization. Yes, i remember my great-grandmother counting all they had "to share" due to the collectivization, but I never, never ever heard her complaining that that was wrong.
It always made me sad to hear how all the world would blame Russia for holodomor, which in fact, was just a period of very bad harvest and more people died in Russia than in Ukraine. I heard stories about that time from my relatives, from people who were witnesses of that time!
My blood is 50/50 Russian/Polish but I was born and lived 32 years in Ukraine, in Kiev. The same as you, after the USSR was broken into the pieces I had to decide which passport I would choose, I chosen Ukrainian. I still remember we hoped to have those small advantages and there already slowly appeared that strange.."sth in air" – with the meaning to live in Ukraine better to be an Ukrainian. Don't get me wrong – I love Ukraine, I love Kiev very much, I fly Kiev 1-3 times a year because of my parents, brother, relatives, friends… – I've been living in Germany for 13 years. I love Ukrainian language, so much that I sent my son to the Ukrainian school instead of a Russian one, because in spite of all that patriotism there were not so many who could speak nice without mistakes and adapted Russian words Ukrainian language. Now it is a bit better but 10 years ago – it was mostly Surzik.
It's heart-breaking what is going now in Ukraine, but the truth must be not forgotten
Very informative updating of my knowledge, Lada. Thank you.
What surprises me is that the Ukrainian character is such that it seeks further dominion over Russia by claiming itself poorly treated. I know much of Ukraine's origins as a people came out of the Russian territories south of Moscow, and to learn of the Ukrainian heritage of Gorbachev, Khrushchev, Brezhnev is telling. Ukrainians seem to have an aggressive personality, yet demanding advantage when they have already been treated well. Seeking the status of being European is perhaps just too much of a status thing for them to resist. Then, too, the general population has been betrayed, again; in that they had wanted to get rid of the corrupt power-hungry oligarchs and now have worse.
Giving up "stuff" for the supposed "high-spiritual" aspirations of communism can never work. ALWAYS, those interested in power rise to the top. Wealth is just a means to power. As the wealth curve increases those with wealth start sharing less and less the more wealth they have. Eventually the power thing takes over and they share nothing. Power and status is the only thing that is important to people. Getting paid a wage is satisfying. It gives people a sense of power and status. Doing the shared-ownership thing robs people of a personal sense of power and prevents striving for status… unless you are the one who understands the dynamics of grasping for and taking power no matter the system.
The Soviet system, just like all systems, befell to the dynamic of corruption. Leadership took power and status as a commodity to grow. Those with the inclination to do so, became the elite and powers-that-be within a system that sold idealism to the dupes who bought into the nice sounding aspirations of the "sell". The same thing happens in capitalism, but just in another way. Those who rise to the top would do so just as well in whichever system they were in.
There is however one difference, now, for Russia. Putin is on assignment. He may hold power and even do-power, but it is not for his self gratification of fulfillment. He is a Complete Design. His signature already exists in real-dimensions. He doesn't need power. It resides in him.
None the less, you may be happy to hear that this rogue false-dimension, with its bent toward doing-power to repeatedly produce distress and corruption, is being dismissed. In real-dimensions, there is no concept of money, or systems either, nor community for that matter, since the only things that qualify to exist there are Complete Designs, and as such are sovereign to self and to self alone.
Your readers may not like to hear it, but as an odd bit of esoteric history: Nixon and Reagan, and Bush 43, and Osama bin Laden are all Complete Designs, too. {notice i chose the present tense, "are", for all the names, though many are dead}
General Washington, General Lee, and General Potemkin were different designs, but they, too, were on assignment, as were Aspasia, Abigail Adams and Catherine The Great [the only time in recent history assignments was clothed in the female gender]. {notice how i phrased that: "an assignment were clothed … "}
They all had assignments, based on the #WhatIsNeededRule at the time.
Giving up "stuff" for the supposed "high-spiritual" aspirations of communism can never work. by the1irf.
Earthlings hardly can judge if high spiritual aspirations will work or not in a world that prohibits its testing under capital or marxist leaning systems. Insofar as America has had higher aspirations instead of absolute greed rule things have been better for the nation. I think this reality extrapolated indicates that highly regulated capitalism can work just like socialist ownership of banking, energy, transportation, etc. can work. There is no difference between Franklin and Marx. Marx credits Franklin with the invention of "The Labor Value" theory (see Columbia University Professor's intro to a printing of volume II of Franklin's work). Whatever system makes greed illegal will always work best and can easily be achieved by even a modestly enlightened society.
I am very thankful for your posts, Lada, and for the global perspectives presented by your various commenters. Indeed, we need a true geopolitical and global conscious-based perspective from all corners of our globe. Weighing and balancing our various perspectives with the truths shared from your readers, helps all of us to overcome various historical biases, and even the "-centrisms" so prevalent in the west. The odious geo-centrism of the appalling statement that the US is "exceptional, and the many other gross and egregious statements of ego-centrism on the part of the ruling tyrants in DC, is an embarrassment that sinks one beyond shame.
With your postings revealing the truth behind the veils of propaganda, we are coming to our own conclusions guided by that truth.
Have you already seen the news that "Poroshenko phones Putin after Russian tanks arrive in Ukraine," "The two leaders also discussed Poroshenko's proposed peace plan." The tanks crossed at the Luhansk border checkpoint. This should give a little goose to Poor-ol-shenko's cowardly sidestep. Help for the people of southeast Ukraine. It was shown that the people were being fired upon during the night with white phosphorus which only the US and Israel have ever been known to deploy against innocent people. A crime that cannot and must not go unpunished in a world criminal court for crimes against humanity.
I'm just wondering what planet you are living on, Lada? I was in the Ukraine in September of 2013 to discover "my roots" and get a sense of where my parents grew up. I visited Zhitomir and the "alley of blood" where thousands of ethnic Germans were killed in the 1930's for no other reason than that they corresponded with German relatives in Germany. My mother's family lived in Ukraine for four generations, but suddenly they were "enemies of the state", collaborating with Hitler, and spies for the Nazi's. My mother's first husband was killed, as were many other relatives and friends of German background. They had given up their farm to the state, worked their butts off in the kolchozes, and their reward was now to be killed or shipped to Siberia. Wonderful ideology. . .this communism, and "Father Stalin" almost deserves sainthood. When my mother finally arrived in Canada, she kissed the ground and thanked God for allowing her to escape a madhouse she had lived in for 25 years. I'm sure you're very sincere; it's just too bad that you're so misguided.
Lilli Kehler
Hello again, Lada,
Wow! I ran across your website by accident, and wasn't even sure you were real. By the forcefulness of your response to my comments, I'd guess you are very real, indeed, and very passionate about your observations and beliefs. I think it's quite obvious to both of us that we are miles apart in our experiences, beliefs, and ideology — and that two people like us will, quite frankly, always be in a position of having to "agree to disagree." Having said that, I do feel I'd like to clear up a couple of things.
I hate no-one. I'm a Christian; a follower of Jesus. He tells us to love one another, and I try with all my heart to do that. In accordance with my Christian beliefs, I also try and give generously to those in need. But I loathe an ideology, such as communism, which brutally forces people to give up the fruit of their hard labor and mandates a "collectivization process" that takes away people's incentive and reduces everybody to poverty. Yes, I see "Red"; red inefficiency, red corruption, and red idealism that tries to turn people into robots. As far as "rage" is concerned, I think I felt a little of that when you passed judgment on my loving, courageous parents who suffered much, and never hurt a fly. "Sins of the fathers," indeed.
And that was only one of the freedoms that communism in the Soviet Union took away. You obviously believe and enjoy your meta physical beliefs and new age philosophies. In the 1930's, you wouldn't have had the freedom of religion to practice your beliefs. Almost every one of the pastors in the Baptist and Lutheran Churches across the Ukraine (many of whom were relatives) were shot for preaching the gospel in the 1930's. Please don't tell me that didn't happen; my mother saw some of that with her own eyes.
Some of my mother's family emigrated to Canada and the U.S. in the 1920's, but by the time she was old enough to apply, emigration was not permitted — even though her older brother was willing to sponsor her. Another freedom taken away; she couldn't leave when she wanted to. Her first husband was killed for corresponding with a cousin in Germany, who had sent a little money because they were starving. She then met and married my father, who (although he was of German background) was in the Russian military. Please don't underestimate my knowledge of history and the sequence of events. When Hitler invaded the Ukraine, my father (being in the Russian military) fought against the German invaders — only to find at the end of the war that he and my mother were considered "enemies of the State" because they were of German background, and because they were Christians. A good Russian friend (and local politician) warned them of their impending deportation to Siberia, and through a series of miracles, they were able to escape — first to Poland, then to Germany, and from there, to Canada. Let me also assure you that they were not spies, considered Hitler to be a monster, and stayed in Germany only long enough to get proper immigration papers. Both of my parents came from large families. My father's parents and all his siblings were sent to Siberia in 1944, and he never heard from any of them again. In my mother's family, one brother escaped to Canada as well; another one (who was also in the Russian military) survived and was sent to some northern outpost (about 30 miles from the Chinese border), and his children still live there today (in poverty). The other six siblings disappeared and my mother never heard from them again. Your rendition of what went on there during the Soviet era, and my families' experiences certainly differ. The two little German school friends that you refer to were probably the only two Germans left!! If you'll carefully look at statistics, there's almost no Germans left in the Ukraine today — except in overgrown, old cemetaries! And no, my parents were not angry, bitter people; they were courageous, hard-working people who were so grateful to have another chance at a decent life. I was only twelve years old when they purchased their first home in Canada, but I remember how excited they were to "own" a home again.
And now to flash forward to the Ukraine as things stand now. We travelled there extensively last September, visiting many villages and several of the larger cities (including Kiev). We learned to love the Ukrainian people that we met — and kept hearing the same refrain over and over: "We have western hearts and western souls, and we want to join the EU. Yanukovich is trying to sell us out to Russia, and we will fight with all our might to prevent that from happening." And fight they did, and I admire them for it. Putin is two-faced and manipulative and lest I be accused of "hatred" again, let's just say, I have no respect for him. I think he misses the old Soviet glory days and would like to have that kind of power and control again.
Well, this turned out longer than I expected. Sorry about that. And no, I don't live in Alberta. I live in beautiful British Columbia — where I can go to the church of my choice every Sunday and worship God — and thank Him for bringing my parents to this wonderful country. I don't know what New York is like, but I hope you're equally happy living there — in spite of your views of western agitation and corruption. My comments may be "warped" to you; is that the way you feel about everybody who disagrees with your views? Because — with all due respect — your truth is certainly not my truth!
Lilli Kehler
Hello Lada,
I think it's safe to assume that you and I will never have a meeting of the minds, but I did want to clear up one or two things.
First of all, I hate no-one. I am a Christian, and as followers of Jesus, we are taught to love one another. That doesn't mean that I have to love an ideology that was responsible for killing most of my parent's family.
It sounds to me (having glanced at some of your sites) that you enjoy and advertise your new age religion and meta-physical beliefs. Believe me, had you tried to do that in Russia in the 1930's, you would have suffered the same plight as many members of my mother's and father's families (especially the ones who were pastors): an enforced trip to Siberia or to get shot. And perhaps parts of Siberia are warm, but I don't think they noticed it in the salt mines.
Fourthly, and now we move into the current situation in Ukraine. We trekked through approx. 20 villages and several large cities in the Ukraine (including Kiev) in September, and what we kept hearing from so many people was: We have Western hearts and Western souls; in spite of our bad economy, we have experienced freedom in the last 20 years, and we will never be under Russia's thumb again. And it sounds to me like the new government is trying to listen and address the complaints in the eastern cities like Donetsk.
And last but not least, my parents are long gone, but they left me a legacy of love, courage, and faith — not in "a system" but in a God whom they deeply loved and worshipped. This country has been good to our family — and I am grateful. Your truth is not my truth, but I'm so glad we live in countries where we can "agree to disagree." Wishing you all the best in the path you have chosen.
@~Lilli …i read all your post…uff!…,and you said! ~Fourthly, and now we move into the current situation in Ukraine. We trekked through approx. 20 villages and several large cities in the Ukraine (including Kiev) in September, and what we kept hearing from so many people was: We have Western hearts and Western souls; in spite of our bad economy, we have experienced freedom in the last 20 years, and we will never be under Russia's thumb again. And it sounds to me like the new government is trying to listen and address the complaints in the eastern cities like Donetsk.~ ….gee wiz Lilli….just being there in september 2013…….i know you are a shill….go suck on your lemons…why i say this?, …you may ask…and i tell you… you know shit! ….and i drink ~stolichnaya~…straight….na zdrowie! po polsku…cheers…and ~Mir~
I don't know if it's just me or if everybody else experiencing issues with
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please comment and let me know if this is happening to them as well?
This may be a problem with my internet browser because I've
had this happen previously. Appreciate it
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Things must be bad – I've not done one of these posts for a couple of months, and yet there only seems to be about a month's worth of book purchases to document. Of course, this has resulted in a small victory in reducing the TBR, although it's still somewhat mountainous… I'd actually planned to keep my purchasing at low levels for a couple of months but, of course, as is the way of things, several authors whose books I read all had new works out – August and September seems to be a popular time to release books. Unless you're Whippleshield Books, that is…
Some new first editions and an old one. Research is Philip Kerr's latest, and about a James Patterson-like writer who's framed for the murder of his wife. Let's hope it's not a James Patterson-like book… Dark Lightning is the fourth in Varley's Thunder and Lightning series, following on from Red Thunder, Red Lightning and Rolling Thunder. I initially thought these were YA, but I don't think they actually are. All Those Vanished Engines is a new novel by a favourite writer, and the first from him since the Princess of Roumania quartet back in 2005 – 2008. I am excited about this book. Finally, Rubicon by Agnar Mykle is one by mother found for me. I looked it up and it sounded interesting so she got it for me. Mykle seems to be Norway's answer to DH Lawrence – his Sangen om den røde rubin (1956, The Song of the Red Ruby) was confiscated as immoral and obscene. Rubicon is the third book in a loose trilogy begun with The Song of the Red Ruby. If Rubicon is any good, I might track down Mykle's other works.
Some recent paperback purchases: We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves I bought because Karen Joy Fowler. I've been following Kinsey Millhone's career for a couple of decades and W is for Wasted is the most recent installment. Grafton has kept the series' internal chronology consistent, which means this one is actually set in 1988. Which sort of makes it historical crime fiction. Milton In America was a charity shop find. And Eric sent me a copy of his latest, a steampunk set in India, Jani and the Greater Game.
Now this is very annoying. I'd been impressed by Léo's Aldebaran and Betelgeuse series, so I was keen to read Antares. From Wikipedia, I learnt there were five episodes in Antares, so I waited until the final volume was published in English by Cinebook… and then bought all five books. But it ends on a cliff-hanger! Argh. It's not finished. So now I'm going to have to wait to find out what happens.
The DH Lawrence collection continues to grow. My father had the first two volumes of the Cambridge biography of DH Lawrence – The Early Years 1885-1912 and Triumph to Exile 1912-1922 – and I hung onto them. But I hadn't realised it was a trilogy, and when I started looking for a copy of the final volume, Dying Game 1922-1930, I discovered that hardback editions were hard to find. But I found one. I also have a couple more 1970s Penguin paperbacks to add to the collection: St Mawr / The Virgin and the Gypsy (a pair of novellas) and England, My England (a collection). I probably have their contents in other books, but I'm trying to build up a set of these particular paperback editions.
Some critical works on women science fiction writers. The Feminine Eye, edited by Tom Staicar, includes essays on Tiptree, Brackett, Moore, Norton, Cherryh and others. Magic Mommas, Trembling Sisters, Puritans and Perverts is a collection of Joanna Russ's essays on feminism. And The Battle of the Sexes in Science Fiction is a study of, from the back cover blurb, "the role of women and feminism in the development of American science fiction" and I really need to read it for Apollo Quartet 4…
More books for the aviation collection. USAF Interceptors is a collection of black and white photos of, er, interceptor jet aircraft from the Cold War. Not as useful as I'd hoped. Convair Advanced Designs II is the follow-on volume to, um, Convair Advanced Designs, this time focusing on fighters and attack aircraft. And for the space books collection, Russian Spacesuits, which I used for research for my Gagarin on Mars story – and will likely use again at some point.
Finally, more books for the underwater collection. The Greatest Depths by Gardner Soule is a quick and not especially, er, deep study of underwater exploration and exploitation. It covers the main points, including the Trieste's descent to Challenger Deep and the Ben Franklin's journey along the Gulf Stream. A Pictorial History of Oceanographic Submersibles does exactly what it says on the cover. It was cheap on eBay (although I demanded, and received, a partial refund because it turned out to be a bit tatty). And The Deep Sea is a glossy coffee-table book containing some nice photos of things at the bottom of the sea.

subset: commoncrawl


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Solar Energy Tips That Will Save You A Fortune
Say hello to the same time.This form of energy is safe to use without harming the environment. If you're ready to begin with solar, read on for valuable advice and helpful tips. The amount of energy production is dependent on two things - the number of solar panels you have and their efficiency.You should do the right number of panels will be needed. You might be able to get away with having fewer panels that perform well may be better than purchasing many panels that aren't as effective. Photo-voltaic panels have two categories. Poly-crystalline panels tend to be cheaper but they are generally less efficient than mono-crystalline solar panels. Make sure to get the most affordable and efficient product to power your choices before making a final decision. Crunch your numbers if you want to invest in solar panels for your home. Depending on where you are, solar panels might be too expensive when overhead and output potential are taken into consideration. Solar energy is a great


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Five straight skinny reasons why *The Wire* is revolutionary, and TV's best-ever show.
1.) Real People
As with British and Australian films and TV (as well as Euro, Persian, Chinese and world film and TV, which I don't watch a lot of), the cast looks like real people. Many of them are. It's not that many of them are black, which they are, it is that the white people and the black people all look like real people, not Meg Ryan's post-surgery lips. As Liz Taylor used to say, "There are no real tits in Hollywood any more."
There are in *The Wire*, and it is thrilling to see. No orthodontia. No nose jobs. No videogenic lipstick of a coral shade only seen in nature on blow up dolls. The diversity of peoples' teeth, noses, skin textures, hands is beautiful to see. Sonia Sohn's epithelial folds are almost as titanic a thing of beauty to regard as James Gandolfini's eyes. The sets are natural colors too. Trees, water, blood, ruins.
2.) No Heroes
There is no star system. There are no heroes. The Hollywood/derriere garde/Aristotelian heroic system in which the story is the story of one handsome young guy does not exist in *The Wire*. They kill a protagonist off every season. The one you really love. McNulty, who is less the protagonist than the linking device, is far less attractive a hero than his creators believe (there is a lot of macho shit going on in the writing, a point to which I shall return.) And there is a reason the macho shits have the confidence to do that. And it's not just in the ensemble player system.
3.) Real Life Mimesis
It is mimesis. Simon and Burns created the stories out of real life, with which, as a reporter and a homicide detective-turned-middle-school teacher, respectively, they were fairly familiar.
You know, of course, that Hollywood scriptwriters are all old Poonies. That is, they wrote for the Harvard Lampoon before they all got jobs writing for the Simpsons.
Cambridge to Hollywood. Not a circuit famous for the intrusion of anything but ideas, some of them wholesome, but quickly forgotten. Hollywood writers don't know anything. They make stuff up. It's called diegesis, as I'm sure you recall, which means basically narrative.
Simons is instinctually clear on the difference between making shit up and being a good writer. He also puts his finger on what keeps old reporters from ever really being able to let go of – let's just call it, The Game. It's why people who are paying attention to real life, and writing mimesis, will come up with a killa new protagonist – D'Angelo, Stringer, Frank Sobotka, Michael and the lost boys – every season, because they're all out there. In the city. The major reason Simon's new effort Treme is a flop is because he doesn't know that city, and is falling back on tropes and stereotypes. And diegesis, like a Hollywood guy.
"God is not a second-rate novelist," Simon says. "God knows what he's doing, and if you just take what actually happened and marry it to where you want to go, it's better than if you thought of it yourself."
4.) The Back Channel Economy Is Ruthlessly Capitalist
The sharpest political lesson is not we're all together in The Game. Many people I respect argue this, eliding the point that ruthless capitalism is an I.Q. test for the underclass, apropos a season four episode in which a hopper repeats state senator Clay Davis' line about taking the money of people who are giving it, and the disgraced police major Bunny Colvin says goodbye to his superiors in the same terms Stringer Bell faces down his executioners. The egalitarianism of The Game, in which the good guys and the bad guys share values is a good point and an interesting one. The political smarm of the idea that sexist black thugs are capitalists just like Nice People is more easily felt when one recalls that Spielberg dedicated "Schindler's List", in which the capitalist saves Jews, to his dead capitalist mentor, Steve Ross.
To me the sharpest political point is not, perhaps, that the back channel economy, The Game, systeme D, is as resistant to the reform efforts of people like Stringer Bell and D'Angelo Barksdale as mainstream politics and economics. It is that the back channel economy is just as ruthless a capitalist system to all who do not conform to the macho shit norm as the mainstream economy. In other words, all the macho shits are playing on a level field and the rest of us can suck eggs.
5.) Cynicism As a Full Employment Mandate for Reporters
I disagree with Simon's politics, which seem to be that The City is failing because its institutions, including the back channel economy, are incapable of reform, due to the self interest of people like the master politician, the spider seemingly at the center of the web, the police commissioner Ervin Burrell. The image of a truly powerful black man in Burrell and his performance has gone under-appreciated. I appreciate it. And I disagree with Simon's apparent politic that no politics can or will save the city, and that only individual action, like Cutty's, can make a difference in anyone's life. I reiterate here that Cutty is a character invented by George Pelecanos, not Simon and Burns, to relieve the cataclysm of entropy Simon so enjoys depicting.
The cynicism is pretty much one of self –interest. A broken city is a reporter's full employment mandate, and a self-fulfilling prophecy. I have to think some more about the fallacies of cynicism; one of them is bullying. RIP, Hitchens.


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Spurs roll right by Thunder
SAN ANTONIO – Tony Parker scored 22 points, Danny Green made seven 3-pointers and added 21 points, and the host San Antonio Spurs used a dominant third quarter to decimate the Oklahoma City Thunder 112-77 on Wednesday night, rolling to a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
Tim Duncan added 14 points and 12 rebounds, and Manu Ginobili and Boris Diaw had 11 points apiece off the bench.
Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook each had 15 points, but the third-quarter barrage made spectators of both — not that they accomplished much when they did play. The star duo combined to shoot 13 for 40, including 4 for 14 in the third quarter.
Game 3 is Sunday at Oklahoma City.
Playing without Serge Ibaka and given two days to adjust to dropping Game 1 by 17 points, the Thunder performed worse.
Parker and Green each had eight points in the third quarter as San Antonio outscored Oklahoma City 33-18 in the quarter.
It was a shocking turn for the Thunder, who started well.
Oklahoma City opened more aggressive on both ends, especially defensively. The physicality disrupted the Spurs early and frustrated them emotionally.
Duncan was issued a technical foul with about 5 minutes left in the first quarter after complaining when Ed Malloy ruled he threw a hip into Durant.
It turned out the Spurs veteran had little to worry about, as the Thunder finished just 4 for 9 on free throws.
The Thunder scored five straight to open the game, with Westbrook's 3 capping the early run and producing what would become their largest lead of the series at 5-0.
Oklahoma City did not go under on pick-and-rolls as they did in Game 1, which allowed Parker more scoring opportunities. He took four shots in the opening five minutes. His first two baskets came on driving layups, including running right down the middle of the lane with Thabo Sefolosha trailing by a couple of steps.
San Antonio continued to struggle with its shot, but righted itself with offensive rebounding.
San Antonio closed the first half on a 25-8 run.
Green hit consecutive 3s to extend the Spurs' advantage to 55-44 with a minute left in the first half. San Antonio later rebounded a missed layup by Ginobili and Parker's errant 3-pointer, leading to a high-arcing 3 by Ginobili for a 58-44 lead. Ginobili then drew a charge on Westbrook's 3 on the ensuing possession.
Durant and Westbrook opened the game 9 for 26 in the first half. Durant had one field goal in the final 16 minutes of the first half.
Durant made his first two field goals of the second half, but did not have another for the rest of the half.
Oklahoma City went scoreless for two minutes midway through the third quarter as San Antonio built its lead to 76-50 on a pair of free throws by Duncan with 6:20 remaining.
Notes: Parker is one assist shy of becoming the 10th player with 1,000 career postseason assists. The list includes Parker's three favorite childhood idols: Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Michael Jordan. ... Oklahoma City's Perry Jones, who only played the final 2 minutes of Game 1, started the second quarter. He finished with two points in 24 minutes. ... Minnesota Timberwolves C Ronny Turiaf, who plays on the French national team with Parker and Diaw, was in attendance, as was musician Steve Miller.


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Credit Agricole wins end to Intesa lawsuit on toxic CDO
A U.S. judge threw out Intesa Sanpaolo SpA's lawsuit accusing France's Credit Agricole SA of causing $180 million of losses by selling it risky mortgage debt that was designed to fail, saying the Italian bank waited one month too long to bring its case.
U.S. District Judge Robert Sweet said Intesa had "no chance of success whatsoever" to recover its entire $180 million investment in a collateralized debt obligation known as Pyxis ABS CDO 2006-1, because it did not sue until after the five-year statute of limitations expired.
The complaint alleged that a Credit Agricole unit then known as Calyon had marketed Pyxis to unsuspecting investors as an investment based on residential mortgage-backed securities chosen in good faith by the independent Putnam Advisory Co.
Instead, Intesa said, Calyon concealed that it was hedge fund firm Magnetar Capital LLC that had chosen, and then bet against, the underlying securities.
Intesa did not sue until April 6, 2012, but claimed it beat the five-year deadline by having participated in an April 24, 2007 credit default swap related to Pyxis.
But Sweet said the latest relevant violation was the last date of an alleged misrepresentation or omission. He said this date was March 6, 2007, when Calyon sent Intesa an alleged fraudulent valuation for Pyxis.
Lawyers for Intesa, Credit Agricole, Putnam and Magnetar did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sweet said Turin-based Intesa could file an amended complaint within 20 days.
Magnetar was also implicated in a similar scheme involving another CDO, Squared CDO 2007-1, that resulted in JPMorgan Chase & Co's agreement in 2011 to pay $153.6 million to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission fraud charges.
Intesa's lawsuit is one of thousands filed in U.S. courts seeking to recover losses on mortgage-backed securities that ultimately proved toxic. These securities were a key cause of the 2008 global financial crisis.
The case is Intesa Sanpaolo SpA v. Credit Agricole Corporate and Investment bank et al, U.S. District Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-02683.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)


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Keith Olbermann's sudden departure left a vacuum of bizarre, vitriolic, non-sequitorial pronouncements fueled by spittle-flecked ideological obsession. This week Chris Matthews' Head stepped boldly into the void:
Good evening. I`m Chris Matthews in Washington.
Leading off tonight: Unrest in Egypt. Proving the Iraq war wasn't needed, these protests in Egypt, as well as in Yemen and Tunisia, are all aimed at dictators supported by the U.S. The demonstrations have not yet turned anti-American, but they could. These are the events the Bush administration hoped to encourage by lying about weapons of mass destruction and invading Iraq.
We feared KO's departure meant creative, bizzaro-world analysis like the above was a thing of that past at MSNBC. We should have known there were dimensions of Chris "Are You Hypnotized?" Matthews yet to be revealed. Odd, odd dimensions.


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Michigan Theatre
124 N. Mechanic Street,
7 people favorited this theater
Related Websites
Michigan Theatre - Jackson (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Butterfield Theaters
Architects: Maurice H. Finkel
Functions: Movies (Classic), Movies (Independent), Stage Shows
Styles: Spanish Baroque
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Jun 4, 2009 — Large theater speakers for sale
- Mar 22, 2006 — Master Plan Complete for Historic Michigan Theatre
- Oct 15, 2003 — Jackson's Michigan Theatre
The Michigan Theatre opened on July 1, 1930 with 1,739 seats, it was the last and largest of several movie palaces built in Jackson.
Designed in the Spanish Baroque style, it featured ornate plasterwork, marble, imported antique artwork, and walnut paneling. The terra-cotta facade and its rooftop cupola resembled a church from 18th century Spain.
The Michigan Theatre featured both stage shows and motion pictures, and was an entertainment mecca for Jacksonians for decades before ultimately closing its doors in 1978.
Its original-and-only-owners kept the Michigan in excellent condition during their tenure, and its original appearance has changed little since it opened, amazingly, other than an Art Moderne new marquee added about 1940, and its interior being painted over in a uniformly dark color scheme in the 1960's.
Since restoration began in 1993, over a million dollars has been put into returning the Michigan to its original glory, including restoring the original colors to the auditorium and lobby, regilding, and adding a new marquee which is more in line with the Michigan's original 1930 marquee.
Full restoration was virtually completed in 2009. The Michigan Theatre screens classic and art films, including children's matinees, and its stage is host to concerts and local theater productions.
Recent comments (view all 16 comments)
I agree with Patsy, it would be nice to see some interior photographs of the auditorium and lobby. It is wonderful to know that the Michigan theatre is being restored with such devotion.
ERD: Thanks for agreeing with me and hopefully in the near future we'll see some interior photos. I know that CT member, Lost Memory has posted numerous theatre photos and maybe LM will be able to discover some photos!
Lost Memory: Once again, thank you for the Michigan Theater photos. This theatre is absolutely beautiful and I regret not seeing this theatre, in person, when I was a student at Adrian College in nearby Adrian, MI.
Well, I'm honored that you posted them "just for me". Thank you kind friend and if I ever get back to the State of MI I will most definitely check out this hometown 'cinema treasure'!
Once again, this theatre is a wonderful example of a small town theatre that has been saved, preserved and cherished as this cinema is truly a 'treasure'. I hope the citizens of Jackson MI realize this fact!
Lost: Another great photo of a great theatre in Michigan!
Love this theatre's marquees!
View link
This link will take you to photos of the Michigan Theatre.
The photos look great! Very ornate auditorium which looks like it's been restored to the original color scheme
My Grandfather, Wirt S. McLaren opened the Michigan Theatre on April 30, 1930, where he was the manager for several years. I have the original newspaper clippings from that day. He also owned the Capitol Theatre in Jackson, MI as well as many other theatres in and around the Jackson area.
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.


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François Corteggiani was one of the most prominent contemporary French comic writers. He has written stories in many genres and styles, from adventure serials in the tradition of Charlier to humor comics in cooperation with artists like Pierre Tranchand, Philippe Bercovici, and Giorgio Cavazzano. Although mainly known for his writing activities, Corteggiani started his career as an artist.
After some small projects in his birth town Nice, he began his professional career in Paris in 1972. He worked in advertising and illustration, and produced over 1,000 pages for SEPP, a publishing company from Lyon, during a period of two years. He made his appearance in comic magazines like Spirou with 'Mucheroum', and especially in Pif Gadget. He was one of the artists of the title comic 'Pif le Chien', mostly in cooperation with Michel Motti. He also wrote and drew the feature 'Pastis', but eventually focused more and more on scriptwriting.
'Vivent les Vacances!' (Pif #489).
While writing 'Pif' stories for such artists as François Dimberton, Louis Cance and Yannick, he created several series with Pierre Tranchand from 1979. Starting with 'Chafouin et Baluchon' in Djin, they developed 'Marine Fille de pirate', 'Bastos et Zouky', 'Smith et Wesson' and 'L'École Abracadabra' for either Pif, Djin or Le Journal de Mickey throughout the 1980s.
'Bastos et Zakousky' and 'Smith et Wesson'.
Another artist with whom Corteggiani worked a lot from the late 1970s was Giorgio Cavazzano. He took over the writing of the 'Peter O'Pencil' ('Silas Finn'), that Cavazzano had created for the German magazine Zack with Tiziano Sclavi, and also of 'Capitan Rogers', that Cavazzano had originally made with Giorgio Pezzin for Il Giornalino. Cortegianni and Cavazzano also launched 'Timothée Titan' in Le Journal de Mickey through Strip Art Features. François Corteggiani created more humorous series with Philippe Bercovici, such as 'Robinson et Zoé', 'Testar le Robot', 'Grand Panic Circus', 'Téléfaune' and more.
François Corteggiani is additionally one of the main writers of Disney comics for Le Journal de Mickey since 1984. He has written over 1,500 stories and gags with characters like 'Mickey Mouse', 'Ellsworth', 'Supergoof' and the Ducks for both Hachette in France and Egmont in Denmark. His stories have been drawn by Claude Marin, Daan Jippes and many Spanish and Italian studio artists.
'Timothée Titan' and cover for Le Journal de Mickey.
By the mid-1980s, François Corteggiani proved to be a talented writer in the realistic genre as well in the pages of magazine Vécu. For this magazine and the collection of the same name by Glénat, he has created a great many historical comics during the following decades. These include the long-running series 'De Silence et de Sang' with Marc Malès (and later Jean-Yves Mitton, and Emmanuele Barison) and one-shots and shorter projects like 'Le Casque et la Fronde' (with Walter Fahrer), 'Le Bossu' (with Norma), 'Sundance' (with Michel Suro) and 'Sécession' (with Rachid Nawa).
'De Silence et de Sang' and 'La Jeunesse de Blueberry'.
Following the death of Jean-Michel Charlier in 1989, Corteggiani has continued 'La Jeunesse de Blueberry' with Colin Wilson and later Michel Blanc-Dumont for Novedi and Dargaud since then. He has also worked on a regular base for Soleil Productions from 1989 throughout the 1990s, creating series like 'L'Horus de Nékhen' with Georges Ramaïoli, 'L'Archer Blanc' with Jean-Yves Mitton, 'Yakuza' with Emanuele Barison, 'Saïto' with Norma and 'Les Ombres de la Lagune' with Giulio De Vita. Soleil also published Corteggiani's aviation western 'Thunderhawks', that he created with Colin Wilson and later Michel Suro for Strip Art Features. Besides these publishers, Corteggiani created 'Crin Blanc' with Michel Faure for Hachette, and 'Francis Falko' with Victor de la Fuente for Novedi.
Dargaud has published Corteggiani's thriller series 'Tatiana K.' between 1998 and 2004, for which the artwork was provided by Félix Meynet and Emanuele Barison. He wrote the children's series 'Les Bonheurs d'Agathe' with Caroline Leboucq for artist Claire Le Grand for Milan (2002-03), and made 'Raimond le Carthare' with Michel Suro for the same publisher in 2004. In 2005 he created another humor comic with Yves Rodier for Glénat: 'Simon Nian'.
Corteggiani was also active for the Italian press with several short stories for Playboy, Topolino and Il Giornalino. In 2004, he became editor-in-chief of the relaunched Pif Gadget magazine, for which he wrote many new 'Pif' stories, but also features like 'Kid Franky' and 'Monster Hôtel' (art René Mazyn) and 'Forg' (art Dominique Cèbe) under the pen name Pujol. In addition, he has been working on stories with classic characters like 'Zembla' (with Dominique Cèbe, 2006), Raymond Macherot's 'Sybilline' (with André Taymans, 2009), Jacques Martin's 'Alix' (with Marco Venanzi and Mathieu Barthélémy, 2012) and 'Les Pieds Nickelés' (with Herlé, 2012).
In 2020 Corteggiani and Dirk Stallaert completed an old unfinished 'Suske en Wiske' script, 'De Sonometer', that Willy Vandersteen had created for Tintin magazine in 1959, but never completed beyond eight sketched out pages. Stallaert stated he wanted to mimick Vandersteen's graphic style from that particular period as close as possible. On 29 August 2020 'De Sonometer' was prepublished in the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.
Corteggiani also contributed to 'Les Enquêtes de leurs Amis' (Soleil, 1989), a collective tribute album to Maurice Tillieux' hero detective 'Gil Jourdan'.
François Corteggiani passed away in 2022, a day after his 69th birthday.


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Tag Archives: Acid Jazz
THE RETURN OF GALLIANO came a big surprise to many including, former Talkin' Loud label boss, Gilles Peterson, who hosted their recent performance at the House Of St Barnabus alongside Denai Moore and Reginald Omas-Mamode IV. The concluding session to … Continue reading
Posted in Deep stuff, Is That Jazz? Tagged 2BO4, Acid Jazz, Bembe Segue, Earl Zinger, Galliano, Gilles Peterson, House Of Barnabus, Shawn Lee, Ski Oakenfull, Talkin' Loud, Valerie Etienne, William Adamson 2 Comments
EXTRORDINARY JOE : Terry Callier Passes To Other Side
There are some people that once you've met them you never forget them. Terry Callier was one of them. I first saw Terry perform at the Jazz Cafe in Camden Town and those gathered were there to pay their respects … Continue reading
Soul Jazz, Brownswood, Ninja Tune, Rough Trade… their future threatened by rioting & looters!
Ohhhh maaan… I was distressed to hear about the fire at Sony's DADC distribution centre in Enfield which was burnt to the ground during the riots. This is a tragedy… a tragedy that will seriously impact on the most creative … Continue reading
Posted in Urban runnings... Tagged Acid Jazz, AIM, Artificial Eye, BFI, Brownswood, Dogwoof, Domino, Drag City, Enfield, Guerilla, independiente, Kartel Creative, London riots, Looters, Mais Um Discos, MCPS, Mute, Ninja Tune, Pecadillo Pictures, PIAS, Riots, Rough Trade, Sony DADC, Soul Jazz, Soundway Records, Terracotta, Warp 6 Comments
Push – Back on the block & on a Mission!
Posted in Words, Sound & Power Tagged Acid Jazz, Dingwalls, funk, Galliano, Rare Groove, Seal, soul Leave a comment


text:
Well, there it is, as promised: The Grand Haul of my shopping trip.
- Sorel Caribou boots with leather upper and removable felt liners which make excellent slippers for sitting by the fire: $99 plus tax.
- latex-coated gloves for working in the cold and wet, plus cowhide gloves for working in the cold and wet with sharp edges and splinters: $20 for both pairs.
- two pairs of socks which are apparently an historic line of socks from which comes the original sock monkey pattern, which I cannot use because I used the cardboard as a fire starter last night, $20 plus tax. Yeah, expensive, but feet are important. Feet in boots need the right socks. First night I was wearing those fuzzy synthetic socks that are so cute and warm and they formed a velcro lock with the boot liners and I nearly gave myself an injury getting my boots off. With these there are no such problems. A wool/cotton blend, I believe, thick enough to protect against blisters.
- One bandanna. I would hate to live in the wilderness in the far West without a bandanna. It would just be wrong. I think this was like $7 or so.
- One pair hunter green velvet jeans $4.98 minus 30% at the till because they were on clearance. At an original $80-some-odd dollars, no shit they were on clearance! But saving an extra buck and change was nice. It was, in fact, hilarious.
- One pair clay-coloured twill jeans/work pants. For working. Because cold. Wet. Pointy. The woods are all these things. I think they were $9.98.
- One pair denim jeans with some stretch to them. I dunno why I bought these, actually. I tried them on the second day I was here and they were too small. Couldn't zip them up. Can now, though! In fact, I can put my full fist into the waistband of the twill jeans, at right angles to my waist. I'm gonna need a belt soon.
- One Vicky/Christina cocktail at Little Jumbo, about $17 with tax and tip, but no way was I going to be in Victoria without seeing my friend Janice for cocktails at Little Jumbo.
- Two bags of groceries purchased en route in Nanaimo. It was a Save On, if I'm not mistaken, and it cost $80-something, which, living as I have in Chinatown I am not used to paying, but I didn't have that, so I put the peanut butter and the Vanity Fair back and then Mme Metro bought me the peanut butter anyway and my bill came to $69 and yes, I had enough for that with like three bucks left over.
So that's the haul that my esteemed donors bought for me. You know who you are, and I cannot thank you enough.
From the sounds of it, my friend Brenda will be coming up-Island soon bearing fresh bedding for me (Shahee has loaned me an awesome sleeping bag which keeps me so warm some nights I don't light a fire at all), plates and cups and the like, and some camping equipment to make life easier. Another very kind person whom I met on Twitter has bought me a Swiss Army Knife, destined to be useful every single moment of its existence. And tomorrow the newest arrival to camp is going to see about putting a window into my cabin; he's handy with construction projects and mechanical items and may even fix the starter on the Beautiful Bus.
As distinct from the Magic Bus, which is an entirely different modified schoolbus a little farther along the trail. No, I'm not kidding.
The workshare here is about two hours a day, six days a week, which is not onerous but has a great deal to do with why I'm losing weight. Okay, so does having to walk two miles to the liquor store and not having any money when you get there. And the amount of meat I've consumed this week is: two bison sausages. Period. Otherwise, my protein comes from cheese, lentils, and free range eggs (no chickens here, but wait for it). And I'm not eating much that's been fried, not even eggs, and the condiments I use are limited because I have to carry them in here from town: sambal, peanut butter, ponzu sauce, soy sauce, Major Grey Chutney which can render even quinoa edible or almost, and that's pretty much it. Got some pasta, got some peppers and onions, got some rice noodles and quinoa and all the bloody kale you could ever eat.
The work itself is things like: breaking up tiles rejected from the factory, turning them into gravel, and spreading them in the potholes. Cutting up the tree trunks in the woodpile to manageable chunks. Bringing deadfall wood into the woodshed to dry out so it can become kindling. Picking up the garbage left behind by overnighters etc and cleaning up campsites in general in preparation for spring, working on the occupancy agreement (which I have been avoiding as it is already 41 pages long and I'd rather work on a simplified version, but the consensus model means a geometric increase in paper every time you make a change of any kind), breaking down and moving the old, full latrines and setting up new ones using the humanure composting system. It's pretty basic: you have two pails. One is full of sawdust and a scoop. You put a toilet seat on the empty pail and do your thing in it, then you cover that with sawdust. Eventually it turns into compost.
When I was talking about coming here I thought what I'd be doing was basically setting up systems for workshops and marketing those workshops to whoever…and there are a lot of people interested in this sort of thing. We have people here who can teach, people with skills. We've got some musicians, we've got a civil engineer who can design shelters for people (who can then build them as part of the workshop), we've got Shahee who can teach raw vegan food preparation and do massage and lead yoga and meditation, we've got surfers who can teach, we've got me, and the new guy in addition to being a competent mechanic is also a tai chi instructor.
At the moment, Symbiosis Ecovillage is a concept and an agreement but not yet a corporation, nonprofit, or registered society. So all of that is up in the air until some sort of legal framework is in place. Yes, I can work towards putting that legal framework in place, but there are things I'd rather do.
Like sit by the fire and share some Jameson's with my friends.
Like go down to the beach (which I've done only once, and I am ashamed of myself for that).
Like do a hike on one of the local trails. Like take a kayaking tour of Clayoquot Sound. Like build my own rocket stove and hot water system, and install a thermal converter so that one little wood stove can give me power, heat, and hot water.
Not that there aren't other distractions nearby in the great metropolis of Not-Ucluelet.


text:
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text:
Previously in this series:
Yuzawa – The Little Snow Country to the North
Japan | A Gastronomical Experience that Satiates
"Time flies when you are having fun". So goes the saying. Couldn't be truer than now, our last day in Yuzawa. The past two days have been a whirlwind. It's been nothing but a plethora of different new things to the senses – from the weather, to the food, to the culture. It really is one for the books.
But wait, the fun isn't over yet. We cannot leave Snow Country without having to experience winter activities it's famous for, right?
So, as is the usual routine, we wake up early to have breakfast at GaiA (that cute, little cabin at the edge of the woods).
Today however, we woke up a bit earlier than usual so we could maximize time.
Props to Yuki for cooking all of our delicious meals during our stay at the inn – the soup that was served upon our arrival (which I call the welcome soup), two of the breakfasts we had at gaiA, and the packed breakfast we had at the bus on the way back to Tokyo. She is such a sweet and nice gal, who had been nothing but patient and understanding to us 🙂 She probably find some of our customs weird but has managed to accommodate us still. For example, I don't think it's common for Japanese to put sugar in coffee (if they even drink coffee regularly at all). Doesn't seem like it. So when I asked for sugar for the group, she was kind of surprised that one small pack is not enough. It had to be a small bowl for everyone 🙂
These are the meals she made for us for our breakfast for the past two days. All of these are organic, by the way.
I particularly liked the set with the baked salmon. Delicious! Proof that going organic doesn't mean taste had to be sacrificed.
I also like the 'hippie-dippie/new age/people-of-the-earth' vibe of the place and the kind of lifestyle espoused by Yuki herself. Not something I expected.
I guess it would be nice also to put the spotlight on The Vintage Backcountry Inn Arimaya – our accommodation for the past three days.
It's a traditional ryokan, so everything you see here are antique, save for some modern amenities like TV & WiFi.
"Built in 1908 without a single nail, the original structure is a(n) exemplar of the exquisite traditional Japanese kominka construction"
There were just some modifications done with the heating, plumbing and lavatories to keep up with modern standards. But you get to sleep on a traditional Japanese futon and tatami mats. Also, please take time to read the house's history and how it was built in the about section of its page on Airbnb. You'd appreciate it more.
Now we proceed to our first destination – ski!
We went to the ski rental first to get some boots. The boots had to be clipped tight. So tight in fact one could get sore feet and legs afterwards. We then proceeded to the ski area which is really just around the corner – the Yuzawa Kogen Ski Resort.
Since none of us have any experience with ski, or any of the winter sports for that matter, we were first taught just the basics – the essential gears needed and how to put them on; some warm-up exercises; the basic techniques of sliding and stopping, and how to get up after falling. Also, how to move your way to the top of the hill and how to, sort of, put on the "breaks" while sliding down.
Me saying it like this makes it sound easy, right? Wait till you try it, haha!
I've fallen a couple of times and it was really hard for me to get up without having to resort to the "shortcut" – that of releasing the locks from the boots 🙂 The proper techniques (there are two of them) both require that you carry your weight through the use of the poles. Good luck with that, really 😉
I was also challenged going up the hill. Gravity always win pulling me down. Ski blades are extremely slippery, you know. Anyhow, it was an experience.
By this time we are feeling hungry already. We went to this beautiful place with the mountains as backdrop and had grilled meat, or what is called yakiniku, under a covered or roofed space outdoors, much like a gazebo, if not one already.
It's like having your typical picnic, only it's in the snow. There's lots of meat to be cooked and they are so delicious. I don't know how we managed to devour all of them up. Hungry much, I guess? 😛
After that wonderful lunch, next activity is riding a snowmobile from ski-doo.
This one's easy. Anyone who wants to satisfy their need for speed can try it here. Everyone gets to try one round with instructor and one round by himself. Lucky if you get picked to drive for the race afterwards.
It was an activity-filled afternoon. What we've learned and what we've been practicing for would be put to the test later with the mini-"Winter Olympics", of sorts.
I wouldn't be delving too much though, with the nitty-gritty of the games and of the other activities, so as to keep the element of surprise for the other groups who are yet to experience it 🙂 All I can say is be ready with your wit and brawn. You will need them. Good luck! 😀
As you can imagine, we were all exhausted by the end of the day. Nothing could be more joyful and nourishing than a nice meal like this below.
The main entrée to the left, which are thin slices of pork with some type of (what I understand) is a miso mixture at the bottom, and was cooked right in front of us, on our tables, with some special leaf for aroma, is super! It tastes really good. As we say in the vernacular, we were all "galit-galit" 😀
Not sure where we had the meal exactly, although below is the signage at the entrance. My online references direct me to the Yuzawa New Otani. I couldn't be sure, though. The itinerary says closing dinner at a typical izakaya, or watering hole.
But of course, this being our last day in Yuzawa, I wouldn't miss the opportunity getting pampered in what I think is the most quintessential of our Japanese experience – the onsen. People can go to Japan but they may not always experience this, let alone the Snow Country.
And that pretty much sums up my Yuzawa experience. Delightful! 🙂


text:
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|Oley, Pa.
|Oley Valley HS
2016-17 Cross Country: Ran in three meets ... just missed out on All-SoCon honors at the SoCon Championships after placing 15th with a time of 17:54.8 ... at the NCAA South Regionals placed 89th with a 6K time of 22:14.1
2015 Track & Field: Competed in five indoor meets ... earned the victory in the distance medley relay with a time of 12:15.05 at the ETSU Invitational ... finished 15th at the Samford Invitational with a 3000M time of 10:20.61.
2014 Cross Country: Competed in five meets ... won the UNCG Spartan Invitational 5K with a time of 17:30.7 ... placed third at the SoCon Championships with a 16:50.4 time to earn First Team All-Conference honors ... finished 42nd out of 196 runners at the South Region Championships 6K with a time of 20:46.0.
2013-14 Track & Field: Competed in five indoor meets ... notched a pair of collegiate bests including an eighth-place 4:59.75 time in the mile run at the Samford Multi & Invitational and a fourth-place standing in the 3000M at the A-Sun Indoor Championships with a 9:56.70 time.
2013 Cross Country: Competed in six meets ... placed third overall at the A-Sun Championships with a 17:41.1 time to earn first-team all-conference honors for the second-straight season ... raced to a 28th out of 194 finish at the NCAA South Region Championships.
2012-13 Track & Field: Competed in five indoor meets and six outdoor meets ... tallied three top-five finishes including being part of the distance medley relay team that placed third at the Niswonger Invitational with a time of 12:11.99 ... placed fifth overall at the A-Sun Indoor Championships in the 3000M with a time of 10:03.95 ... in the outdoor season, turned in a collegiate best in the 800M with a 2:15.65 time at the A-Sun Championships ... took the top spot in the 3000M at the Charlotte 49er Classic with a time of 10:13.73 ... placed third in the 1500M at the Lenny Lyles-Clark Wood Invitational with a time of 4:46.19 and in the 800M at the Radford Invitational with a time of 2:15.83.
2012 Cross Country: Competed in five meets ... earned Atlantic Sun Women's Cross Country Freshman of the Year honors ... placed in the top-10 in four events including a season-best third-place finish at the Blue Ridge Open ... earned first team all-conference honors with a personal-best time of 17:36.8 and a fourth-place finish at the A-Sun Championships ... finished 77th at the NCAA Division I South Region Cross Country Championships.
Prior to ETSU: A multi-sport athlete earning letters in field hockey, cross country, and track & field ... finished in 36th at the state meet and 6th in the district meet in her only year of running cross country as a senior ... was a state qualifier as a senior in the 800-meter and 4x800-meter relay after finishing runner-up in the district meet ... finished in third-place in the 400-meter to qualify for state as a sophomore ... helped her field hockey team to a county and district championship in 2009.
Personal: Born on June 9, 1994... daughter of Judy A. Fix and James C. Hirko Jr.... majoring in nutrition at ETSU.


text:
On ABC news, I ran across this quote from Rudy Lopez, of the Los Angeles police department:
"[This is an] extremely tense situation," Lopez said. "We call this a manhunt. We approach it cautiously because of the propensity of what has already happened."
Propensity? Really, Rudy? Propensity? In the words of Inigo Montoya: "I don't think that word means what you think it means" – LMAO!


text:
It's been a while since I wrote a post about one of my storytimes, but last night's was particularly fun, and the kids loved all of the books. Here's what we read:
Little Red and the Very Hungry Lion by Alex T. Smith
This book has been nominated for the Irma Black Award, and I had a blast reading it to two classes of second graders last week. The storytime crowd loved it too. When Little Red's Auntie Rosie develops a bad case of spots, Little Red sets out through the jungle to bring her some spot medicine. On the way, she meets a sneaky lion, who plots to shove Auntie Rosie in a cabinet and disguise himself in her clothes. Unfortunately for the lion, Little Red is not fooled. Before the lion has a chance to react, Little Red has given him a fashionable (and hilarious!) new hairdo, made him brush his disgusting teeth, and changed him into a lovely pink dress. The kids laughed out loud at the illustrations!
It's a Tiger! by David LaRochelle; illustrated by Jeremy Tankard
I had the kids stand up and mime the motions to this one, because it takes the reader on a journey through the jungle, where the tiger pops up unexpectedly among vines, under leaves, and even in the uniform of a boat captain. The kids loved spotting the tiger hidden in the illustrations, and running in place whenever I said, "It's a Tiger!"
Lion Lessons by Jon Agee
I'm a big fan of Jon Agee, especially since he gave a wonderful presentation at my son's school a few years ago. This book was fun for the kids to act out as well, since they got to stretch, and roar, and pounce. It's the story of a boy's effort to earn his "Lion Diploma" from a very hard-to-please instructor.
Naughty Kitty by Adam Stower
Another hidden tiger book. This is a cute story about a girl named Lily, who blames her adorable gray kitten for some very destructive behavior. The kids enjoyed spotting the tiger on each page, and the feeling of knowing more than the main character. The surprise ending made them laugh too.
We're Going on a Tiger Hunt
Instead of the usual bear hunt, we went on a tiger hunt. This is a great way to give the kids a chance to move around in between books. I like to ham it up by pretending to get a grasshopper stuck in my shirt, wiping the mud off my feet, and shaking myself dry from the lake. There are lots of variations, but this the script I use, with the kids repeating every line:
We're going on a tiger hunt!
(We're going on a tiger hunt!)
It's a beautiful day!
(It's a beautiful day!)
We're not scared!
(We're not scared!)
We're coming to some grass.
(We're coming to some grass).
Can't go over it.
(Can't go over it.)
Can't go under it.
(Can't go under it.)
Have to go through it.
(Have to go through it.)
Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! (Rubbing hands together)
We're coming to some mud.
(We're coming to some mud.)
Can't go over it.
(Can't go over it.)
Can't go under it.
(Can't go under it.)
Have to go through it.
(Have to go through it).
Squilch! Squelch! Squilch! Squelch! (Clapping hands together).
We're coming to a lake.
(We're coming to a lake.)
Can't go over it.
(Can't go over it.)
Can't go under it.
(Can't go under it.)
Have to swim across it.
(Have to swim across it.)
Splish! Splash! Splish! Splash!
We're coming to a cave.
(We're coming to a cave.)
Can't go over it.
(Can't go over it.)
Can't go under it.
(Can't go under it.)
Have to go inside.
(Have to go inside.)
It's dark in here…
(It's dark in here…)
It's cold in here…
(It's cold in here…)
Two yellow eyes…it's a tiger!
Swim across the lake!
Run through the mud!
Run through the grass!
Into the house!
Slam the door!
Lock it!
We're never going on a tiger hunt again!
Fun with Scarves
Something I've been meaning to blog about is my recent addition of scarves to my storytimes. Our library recently received a set of play scarves, and I found some fun, easy songs that we do each week with them. It's a part of storytime, along with the instrument play at the end, that the kids look forward to each week. Here are the two songs I do most often:
Popcorn Kernels
To the Tune of Frere Jacques (Are You Sleeping?)
Popcorn Kernels, (hold scarf bunched up in one hand)
Popcorn Kernels,
In the Pot,
In the Pot.
Shake 'em, shake 'em, shake 'em, (shake hand)
Shake 'em, shake 'em, shake 'em.
Till they POP! (throw scarf in the air)
Till they POP!
Icky Sticky Sticky Bubblegum
(Click on the triangle to hear the tune)
Icky Sticky Sticky Bubblegum (stretching scarf between hands)
Bubblegum, Bubblegum.
Icky Sticky Sticky Bubblegum,
Sticking my hand to my nose. (put one end of the scarf on your nose)
1-2-3 UNSTUCK! (throw scarf in the air).
Repeat, sticking the scarf to different body parts: belly button, eyebrow, etc.
CRAFT: Fork Painted Lion
I found this fun and easy craft on CraftyMorning.com. I put out plates with orange paint (along with other paint options for kids who wanted to do something different), along with googly eyes, markers, and plastic forks. Some of the kids smeared the paint to make the fork prints less obvious.
The Lion and the Little Red Bird by Elisa Kleven
This is one of my all-time favorite picture books. A little red bird wonders why a lion has a bright green tail. She follows him for the day, until he disappears into his cave, but the next day his tail is orange! The reason for the lion's colorful tail is a mystery until one stormy night when the lion rescues the bird, and brings her into his cave. A sweet story with beautiful illustrations.
The Hungry Lion or a Dwindling Assortment of Animals by Lucy Ruth Cummins
Another nominee for the Irma Black Award this year, this funny book lists a wide assortment of animals sitting next to a hungry lion. On each page, there are fewer animals, although the reason for their disappearance will come as a surprise.
The Tawny Scrawny Lion by Kathryn Jackson; illustrated by Gustaf Tenggren
One of my favorite Little Golden books, this is the story of a lion who terrorizes all of the other animals, until a rabbit brings him home to enjoy some carrot stew with his large and entertaining family. I used to read this book over and over when I was a kid, and I love it still.
What are your favorite books about lions and tigers?


text:
Two Poems
By Tikuli
I linger unperceived
in the labyrinth of solitude,
not knowing the onward path
or the path of my return
I see a flight of stairs
a portal to a past forgotten
the contours of shadows
create a landscape of dreams
something forgotten stirs,
a lost memory returns
from between somewhere and nowhere
seeking something nebulous
that is always out of reach
two a.m. on Delhi's post-rain Sunday
I try to wash away the sleepiness
from my insomnia laden eyes
pick a fresh sheet of paper
spread clean water till it sheens
like fresh snow on a sunny day
clean and load the brushes with colours
drop and watch in wonderment
as the colours bleed and waltz
into the white stillness
the ripe colours of autumn,
a drop of sea, the harvest fields,
the washes of sunsets layer after layer
and a moon laid on lake waters
a tender breath of green
a river filled with apparitions,
here now – then gone
wet roads winding around echoing hills
the crisp autumn breeze
floating across the valley
steam rising from a coffee left at the deck
my eyes closed I feel the calm glow
of lights at the water edge
the silent shadows
the peace of the submerged river banks
I dip my brush again as the pigeons rise
followed by the squirrel
and the upstairs neighbour
pounding fresh ginger for morning chai
the trees rise, the day rises
night slowly walks towards summer morning
Tikuli is an internationally published poet, author and blogger from Delhi whose work has appeared in print and online literary magazines including Le Zaporogue, MiCROW 8, The Smoking Book (Poets Wear Prada Press, US), Life And legends, Levure Littéraire 10, The Enchanting Verses Literary Review, Open Road Review, Cafe Dissensus, Mnemosyne Literary Journal, Dissident Voice, Women's Web, Tuck Magazine, The Criterion, Peregrine Muse, Knot Magazine, Asian Signature Magazine, The Bombay Review, The Thumb Print – A Magazine From The East, The Peacock Journal and The Peacock Journal Anthology, TEKSTO- The People's Magazine, Guntur National Poetry Festival Anthology, Melange – a Potpourri of thoughts, Le Zaporogue Print editions and the much acclaimed Chicken Soup For The Indian Romantic Soul(Westland). Her debut poetry book, Collection of Chaos, was published in 2014 by Leaky Boot Press. Her second book of poems Wayfaring was published in 2017 by Leaky Boot Press. Her third book of poems Duets, written in collaboration with James Goddard, was released in November 2018. She blogs here.
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Cafe Dissensus Everyday is the blog of Cafe Dissensus magazine, based in New York City and India. All materials on the site are protected under Creative Commons License.
Read the latest issue of Cafe Dissensus Magazine, "Revisiting the Partition of India", edited by Kamayani Kumar, University of Delhi, India.


text: The CW has renewed five of its current shows, the network announced today. Arrow, Reign, The Originals, The Vampire Diaries, and Supernatural will all be back next season, which accounts for half of the CW's programming hours. No word yet on the fates of Beauty and the Beast, The Carrie Diaries, or The Tomorrow People, plus the CW still has Star Crossed, which premieres next week, and The 100, which comes out in March. At TCAs a few weeks ago, CW president Mark Pedowitz said he wouldn't be making final decisions on Carrie and Beast until May, so whatever sort of fan campaigns those shows might inspire should probably start organizing themselves now.