Talitropsis sedilloti is a species of flightless wētā, in the family Rhaphidophoridae (cave crickets, cave wētā, or camel crickets), endemic to Aotearoa New Zealand. This species is common in forests throughout New Zealand and during the day can be found hiding in holes in tree branches.

Description
Cave wētā have extra-long antennae and long, slender legs. They lack hearing organs (tympana), but they are sensitive to ground vibrations, this is enabled by pads on their feet. Specialised hairs on the cerci and organs on the antennae are also good at capture of low frequency vibrations in the air.

Talitropsis sedilloti adults range from about 14mm for females to 18mm for males.  Adults are a shiny, pale orange brown. Their hind tibiae have two rows of prominent spines on either side down most of the length. This feature helps distinguish them from other tokoriro (cave wētā) as others species have very fine spines. Juveniles are darker in colour with an evident yellow diamond on the dorsal abdominal surface.

Taxonomy

Talitropsis is a New Zealand genus of wētā belonging to the family Rhaphidophoridae, all species have small to medium bodies and live in forests not caves. Two species are found only on the Chatham Islands, New Zealand.

The species T. sedilloti was first described by Bolívar in 1882.

Biology

Life history
The life cycle of T. sedilloti is usually complete in about two years. They need eight months to hatch from eggs from the time of laying, however, time span of the juveniles and adult is hard to assess. December and January is the optimal time of the year that adult start to be observed at night foraging. Mating has been observed in April.

Female T. sedilloti have long ovipositors used for laying eggs into soft wood, moss and soil. Palps and ovipositor are used to find a suitable spot, as the correct texture are a prerequisite for egg-laying, they are particularly choosy on the spot, often testing before selecting. There are maximum of two eggs laid in the same spot. Oviposition reach its peak between April and June, and hatching usually peak between December and January. Compound eyes of the embryo become visible through the chorion during embryo development stage. A dark brown cap appear at the vegetal pole of the egg just before hatching. Sometime the chorion becomes transparent and the embryo can be seen quite clearly through it. The number of pre-adult instars is variable both inter- and intraspecifically.

Diet
Cave wētā have small mouths. Although they are arboreal, they do not appear to utilise leaves as a nutrient source to any extent, instead, they eat fungi, algae and lichens growing on trees and rocks. Although protein is a preferred meal, they are not known to attack, but scavenge on any dead insects that they come across.

Some observations suggests that cave wētā "lick" native slugs, however, this is not officially reported. The licking behaviour in cave wētā is suspected as they can gain moisture and some nutrients from the slime.

Sexual dimorphism
The adult female is easily distinguished from the male by having a long, scimitar-like ovipositor projecting from the posterior end of its abdomen.

Distribution and habitats

Habitats
Talitropsis sedilloti is widely spread throughout New Zealand's main islands and several small islands. In general cave wētā love damp, dark, cool environments, and are only active at night. Talitropsis sedilloti  are found in rain forest habitats  where they hide during the day in hollow tree branches using the same sort of tree holes as used by tree wētā (Hemideina).

Talitropsis sedilloti  is common in various forest types on both main islands of New Zealand, and occurs in low numbers on Stewart Island.

Juvenile T. sedilloti are observed in the leaf litter of mixed podocarp-coastal forests and at night on tree trunks of D. squarrosa, P. ferruginea, W. racemosa, and P. hallii. Adults are found on trunks of P. ferruginea and D. cupressinum, both of the tree species are characterised by thick flaky bark that can provide ideal microhabitats for these wētā.

Distribution

Click here and here to be redirected to see the distribution of T. sedilloti in New Zealand.(update on distribution is currently under investigation).

Talitropsis sedilloti is wide spread across mainland New Zealand and genetic studies using mtDNA have found intraspecific genetic distance within this species are as high as 4.4% (max).

References

Rhaphidophoridae
Cave weta
Insects described in 1882

Talitropsis sedilloti


Omegaverse, also known as A/B/O (an abbreviation for "alpha/beta/omega"), is a subgenre of speculative erotic fiction, and originally a subgenre of erotic slash fan fiction. Its premise is that a dominance hierarchy exists in humans, which are divided into dominant "alphas", neutral "betas", and submissive "omegas". This hierarchy determines how people interact with one another in romantic, erotic and sexual contexts.

Genre characteristics
The Omegaverse has abstract premises for which it could be considered a fantasy genre according to the conventions established by Todorov, but the high specification of its characteristic elements suggests that it could also be considered a literary genre in itself. Its main peculiarity is that characters have two sexes: a main one (male or female), decided by their external sexual organs, and a secondary one, that manifests during puberty, determined by their internal reproductive system. It's usually chosen from one of the following, each of which also corresponds to some distinctive character traits:
 Alpha (α): socially (and in some interpretations, even biologically) dominant, physically built, short-tempered and a natural leader;
 Beta (β): depending on the story, they are regular human beings, or have a mix of Alpha and Omega traits, or their own unique traits;
 Omega (Ω): submissive and gentle, calm and a peacemaker.

Omegaverse fiction typically focuses on wolf or other canid-like behavior in humans, especially as it pertains to sexual intercourse and sexuality, which is described as instinctual, responding to animalistic physiological stimuli. This includes rutting and heat cycles, pheromonal attraction between Alphas and Omegas, penises with knots (used to "knot", or tie, the partner to an Alpha during copulation, an action known as "knotting"), scent marking, imprinting, breeding, mating rites, pack structures and potentially permanent psychic bonds with a mate. Between Alphas and Betas, only females can carry on a pregnancy, but male Omegas are often envisaged as being able to become pregnant via a uterus connected to the rectum, and Alphas can impregnate regardless of their main gender.  To make penetration and impregnation easier, male Omegas often have self-lubricating anuses.

Since Omegaverse is a type of folksonomy, some of its aspects are included or excluded at the discretion of the story author. Sometimes Betas are absent, or other intermediate designations such as Deltas and Gammas are added. The genre often features other fantasy elements, such as the presence of werewolves or other fantastical creatures. Some works introduce a rigid caste system, where Alphas are depicted as the upper class elites while Omegas are at the bottom tier and face discrimination and oppression because of their physiology, creating an example of biological determinism. In darker stories, this results in non-consensual or dubiously consensual intercourses, forced pregnancies, Omegas kidnapping and sexual slavery.

Omegaverse works are most frequently focused on male-male couples composed of an Alpha and an Omega, though heterosexual Omegaverse works have been produced, and by 2013, about 10% were labeled male/female. Some subvert the genre tropes, telling stories about illicit relationships between Alphas, Omegas who hide their smell using chemical pheromones so that they are not a victim of biological prejudices, or dominant Omegas and submissive Alphas. Non-traditional couples are often featured in Japanese Omegaverse works.

While the terms "A/B/O" and "Omegaverse" can be used interchangeably, the first one often refers only to the sexual dynamics, while the second one is preferred when the story is set in a new ideological world. Some prefer to avoid use of the term "A/B/O" as its spelling resembles a racial slur towards Aboriginal Australians.

History
Professor Kristina Busse has described Omegaverse as a "seemingly perfect storm" of tropes that already existed in fandoms. For example, the 1967 episode "Amok Time" of the American television series Star Trek introduces the concept of pon farr, the Vulcan mating cycle wherein Vulcan males must mate or die. Pon farr became a popular plot concept for fan works in the Star Trek fandom, particularly fan fiction focused on the Kirk/Spock pairing. The concept of mating and heat cycles among humans was subsequently adopted by other fandoms, and later became a staple of the Omegaverse subgenre. Ursula K. Le Guin also wrote, in her 1969 novel The Left Hand of Darkness, about an extraterrestrial androgynous world with hermaphroditic characters and mating cycles named kemmer.

The origin of the Omegaverse is typically attributed to the fandom surrounding the American television series Supernatural, as a fusion between werewolves and the male pregnancy subgenre of erotic fan fiction. Another source of inspiration could have been the science fiction drama Dark Angel, where Supernatural actor Jensen Ackles plays a soldier with feline DNA, and female characters go into heat. The first works recognized as A/B/O were published in mid-2010: that year in May, a writing prompt was shared on a LiveJournal community dedicated to Supernatural, mentioning "alpha" males having knots on their penises, and "bitch males" without the knots, inspiring user tehdirtiestsock to write I ain't no lady, but you'd be the tramp, a real person fiction work focused on actors Jared Padalecki and Jensen Ackles as an Alpha and an Omega, which was published on July 24. Despite not using the term "omega", the story created many of the characteristics later associated with the Omegaverse genre.

Over the next few months, other anonymous authors shared similar stories, until on November 9 a new writing prompt mentioned Alpha, Beta and Omega men for the first time, spurring the creation of three works. By June 2011, the term "Omegaverse" and its dynamics had become commonplace; the following month, the first femslash Omegaverse work was published, and the first use of the tropes outside the Supernatural fandom was recorded.

The genre subsequently expanded in popularity to other fan communities: first to those focused around Sherlock and X-Men: First Class, then it quickly reached other fandoms like those of television series Hannibal, Teen Wolf, Glee, Doctor Who and movie The Avengers. A Chinese translation of an A/B/O Sherlock fanfic posted on website Suiyuanju around October 2011 introduced Omegaverse to Chinese slash fan circles, from which it spread to danmei original novels.

In 2012, the notion of "fated mates" was introduced. In 2014 Omegaverse gained strong traction in Japan, acquiring market value with the publication of the first A/B/O manga in 2015. In 2016 the discrimination and power dynamics between Alphas, Betas and Omegas began to be outlined, and the idea of the mark or bite that chemically and biologically links couples together was created, while in 2018 the concept of the "inner wolf", an animal instinct guiding Alphas and Omegas, arose. Through her work Kanraku Alpha Enigma, manga artist Shinshi Nakai subsequently tried to add the "Enigma", a new type of character who can mutate their secondary gender, but the novelty was resisted by Omegaverse fans and had no impact or continuity.

Reception and analysis
Omegaverse has become both extremely popular and controversial in fandom circles. Some condemn it as revolting and sick, affirming that it reinforces patriarchal values and a rape culture, objecting to its roots in bestiality fiction and the power imbalances between genders. Conversely, others appreciate how it deconstructs bodies and gender roles, offering subversive social commentary on queer identity and oppression.

Academic opinions are equally divided between those who believe Omegaverse shows a new type of gender essentialism combined with homophobic and heteronormative elements, and those who see the space to give it a transgender reading. Delgado Díaz, Ubillus Breña and Cappello do not believe that the Omegaverse is linked to queer theory or transidentity, despite containing allegories to gender identity and the female condition (Omegas, both male and female, could be considered embodiments of the traditional role of women as housewives and mothers), whose purpose, however, is only that of frameworks to plots ranging from melodrama to horror. According to researcher Milena Popova, "the features of the A/B/O genre allow for the exploration of themes of power, desire, pleasure, intimacy, romance, control, and consent in a variety of ways", and it is used by writers and readers "as a tool to articulate and think through consent issues in unequal relationships". Similarly, Laura Campillo Arnaiz argues that dark Omegaverse works serve to gain control on the feelings of helplessness and humiliation that characterize it, creating a cathartic experience.

Angie Fazekas wrote that "[i]n the omegaverse, fans use traditional tropes of gender and sexuality to imagine a universe where queer sexuality is the norm and normative gender roles are often skewed and upended", but that they fail to offer real progressiveness since, like most of the other fan fictions, their works are predominantly focused on relationships between white men.

Impact
The Omegaverse exploded in popularity in 2017, quickly becoming a frequent subject of fan fiction writers. , over 39,000 Omegaverse fan works had been published on the fan fiction website Archive of Our Own, and over 70,000 as of 2020. In addition to these derivative works, Omegaverse has emerged as its own genre of original commercial erotic fiction: roughly 200 Omegaverse novels were published on Amazon from January to June 2020. It has also become a subgenre of both commercial and non-commercial  (manga featuring male-male couples). Given the positive reception in Japan, South Korea started its own production of Omegaverse manhwas, as well as China, although the censorship applied in this latter country has limited the genre popularity.

Beginning in 2017, the "Dom/Sub Universe" subgenre gained popularity, particularly in yaoi works in Japan; it uses BDSM elements, positing dominant and submissive as secondary genders, and draws inspirations from Omegaverse in its depiction of caste systems. In the "Cakeverse", a small part of the human population is divided into "forks", who have no sense of taste, and "cakes", people with a particular flavor that makes them irresistible to "forks".

Notes

References

Bibliography

Fan fiction
Slash fiction
Erotic fiction
Sexuality in fiction
Romance genres
Fantasy genres

Omegaverse


A bulb keel is a keel, usually made with a high aspect ratio foil, that contains a ballast-filled bulb at the bottom, usually teardrop shaped. The purpose of the bulb keel is to place the ballast as low as possible, therefore gaining the maximum possible amount of leverage and thus the most righting moment.  An example of a class of boats that use a bulb keel is the International 110 racing class, which uses a 300 lb (136 kg) cast iron bulb keel on a boat whose minimum racing weight is 910 lb (414 kg).

Since bulb keels work best on long, thin keels or daggerboards, they are generally not used on sailboats intended for shallow waters, but are most often found on offshore racing craft.  Daggerboards built like bulb keels are often referred to as "lifting keels", and they can be retracted into the boat to reduce the draft, and to allow the boat to be loaded onto a trailer.  Lifting keels are also more likely to be found on craft built for speed, as a winch or a set of pulleys is required to provide purchase to lift the heavy keel.

Some boats with lifting keels go so far as to allow the keel to be canted side to side, allowing the bulb to be placed to windward to reduce heel in high winds; this type of keel is called a canting keel, and is used in the newest Volvo Ocean Race's Volvo Open 70 class yachts.  It is also possible to shape the bulb into a horizontal foil, called a winged keel.

When the bulb protrudes past the leading edge of the keel, it is called a "T-bulb". It offers better performance (like required for racing), but is prone to hook into flotsam (like kelp or discarded fishing nets).

See also
Bulbous bow

References

Sailboat components
Sailing ship components
Nautical terminology

Bulb keel


Pavlos () or Pávlos () is a masculine given name. It is a Greek form of Paul. It may refer to:

Pavlos Bakoyannis (1935–1989), a liberal Greek politician
Pavlos Carrer (1829–1896), a Greek composer
Pavlos, Crown Prince of Greece (born 1967)
Pavlos Fyssas (1979–2013), Greek rapper and murder victim
Pavlos Giannakopoulos (1928–2018), a Greek businessman
Pavlos Haikalis (born 1958), a Greek actor and member of parliament
Pavlos Karakostas (1937–2002), a Greek author
Pavlos Kountouriotis (1855–1935), a Greek naval hero, twice President of Greece
Pavlos Kouroupis (1929–1974), a Greek officer in the Hellenic Army
Pavlos Melas (1870–1904), an officer of the Hellenic Army and hero in the Greek Struggle for Macedonia
Pavlos Papaioannou (born 1959), a Greek footballer
Pavlos Pavlidis (died 1968), a Greek shooter
Pavlos Sidiropoulos (1948–1990), a Greek Rock musician
Pavlos Tassios (1942–2011), a Greek film director
Pavlos Valdaseridis (1892–1972), a Cypriot writer, translator, and playwright

See also
Agios Pavlos (Άγιος Παύλος), a Borough of Thessaloniki
Apostolos Pavlos (Απόστολος Παύλος, meaning Paul the Apostle), a municipality in the Imathia Prefecture, Greece
Pavlos Vrellis Museum of Hellenic History, a museum in Ioannina, Greece

References

See also

Paul (name)

Greek masculine given names
Masculine given names
Given names of Greek language origin

Pavlos


The Internal Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation (; ) or IDRO was a Bulgarian nationalist and revolutionary organisation active in Romanian Dobruja from 1923 to 1940. It was labeled a terrorist organization by the Romanian government, though in Bulgaria it was regarded as a liberation movement.

The organisation was founded in 1923 under the leadership of Docho Mihaylov and on the basis of the Great Convention of Dobruja (Велик добруджански събор), a Bulgarian political organisation established in 1919 to fight against Romanian rule in Southern Dobruja. The IDRO detachments fought against the widespread brigandage in the region, as well as the Romanian administration in the region. Like the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation in Macedonia and the Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation in Thrace, IDRO demanded political autonomy of Dobruja under the mandate of the League of Nations raising the slogan for the establishment of an "autonomous Dobruja" under the supervision of the League of Nations and "Dobruja for the Dobrujans".

In 1925, a left-wing organisation named the Dobrujan Revolutionary Organisation (Добруджанска революционна организация) seceded from the organisation under the influence of the Bulgarian Communist Party. This wing militated for a Soviet Republic of Dobruja, which would either be part of a "Balkan Communist Federation" or to become a Republic of the Soviet Union. The division of IDRO significantly hampered the work of the organisation, although it continued its activity under different forms until 1940 when Southern Dobruja was restored to Bulgaria under the terms of the Treaty of Craiova.

See also
Dobruja
Internal Revolutionary Organisation
Internal Thracian Revolutionary Organisation
Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organisation
Internal Western Outland Revolutionary Organisation

References

Bibliography
 Национално-освободително движение в Добруджа 1878-1940
 Добруджанските младежки организации в България (1919-1934)Кристина Попова
 The Communist Party of Bulgaria; origins and development, 1883–1936, p. 200, Joseph Rothschild, Columbia University Press, 1959
 Communism in Rumania, 1944–1962, Ghița Ionescu, Greenwood Press, 1976, , p. 25.

Bulgarian revolutionary organisations
1920s in Bulgaria
1920s in Romania
History of Dobruja
Greater Romania
Organizations established in 1923


Potter Palmer (May 20, 1826 – May 4, 1902) was an American businessman who was responsible for much of the development of State Street in Chicago. Born in Albany County, New York, he was the fourth son of Benjamin and Rebecca (Potter) Palmer.

Retailing career
Potter Palmer founded a dry goods store, Potter Palmer and Company, on Lake Street in Chicago in 1852. Unlike many stores of the time it focused on women and encouraged their patronage.  Palmer instituted a "no questions asked" returns policy and allowed customers to take goods home to inspect before purchasing, which served to nurture the goodwill and patronage of Chicagoans. He made the store much larger and more distinctive than other stores of the time. Palmer was the first owner to advertise with large window displays that included price comparisons.

When Palmer's doctor urged him to get out of the business in 1865 because of ill health, he brought in partners Marshall Field and Levi Leiter. The trio joined forces and renamed the firm Field, Palmer, Leiter and Company. The store would eventually develop into the prominent Midwestern department store chain Marshall Field and Company.

Real estate career

In 1865, Palmer went to his doctor complaining of being overworked and stressed. His doctor advised him to retire from actively managing his store at the age of 38. In 1867, Palmer sold his share of the partnership and went on vacation in Europe for three years before returning to Chicago to focus his efforts on his real estate interests, leasing a new building to his former partners in 1868 at State and Washington. He built several buildings along State Street "on three-fourths of a mile frontage," including the Palmer House Hotel. When his buildings were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire, Palmer borrowed $1.7 million to rebuild, the largest amount lent to a private individual up to that time. He reclaimed the swampland north of Chicago's commercial district, developing it into Lake Shore Drive. Potter Palmer also moved the city's main commercial district from Lake Street, which ran east and west, to State Street, which ran north and south, parallel with the lake the way Chicago's downtown is currently oriented. Potter Palmer is also responsible for widening State Street.

Personal life

In 1871, he married Bertha Honoré. In 1874 a son, Honoré, was born; in 1875, Potter Palmer II.  Both went on to have sons named Potter Palmer III, as well as other children.

In 1885 Palmer built the castle-like Palmer Mansion on Lake Shore Drive, leading to the establishment of the Gold Coast. Prior to that time, Prairie Avenue had been the most desirable address in Chicago.

Palmer is buried in Graceland Cemetery in the north side neighborhood known today as Uptown, Chicago.

References

Further reading
 City of the Century: The Epic of Chicago and the Making of America
 Love Under Fire: The Story of Bertha and Potter Palmer, 2013 half-hour documentary

External links

1826 births
1902 deaths
American real estate businesspeople
American businesspeople in retailing
Businesspeople from Chicago
Burials at Graceland Cemetery (Chicago)
People from Albany County, New York
People in retailing
19th-century American businesspeople

Potter Palmer


Flare is a science fiction novel by American writers Roger Zelazny and Thomas Thurston Thomas, published in 1992.

Flare describes the world as it may be in 2081, and the effects a future inter-planetary civilization would suffer if a solar flare occurred after almost 100 years without any solar activity.

The book takes a scientific approach to the idea, including almost no tangible story line.  It is broken into short segments which describe different people in various places suffering from the effects of the solar flare.

References

Novels by Roger Zelazny
Novels by Thomas T. Thomas
1992 American novels
Collaborative novels
1992 science fiction novels
American science fiction novels
2081

Flare (novel)


Peter Jahr (born 24 April 1959) is a German politician and member of the European Parliament from Germany. He is a member of the Christian Democratic Union, part of the European People's Party.

Early life and education
After Abitur and military service Peter Jahr entered the Karl-Marx-Universität Leipzig to study agricultural science. In 1984 he graduated as Diplom-Landwirt (comp. Master of Agricultural Engineering) and in 1988 obtained a doctorate (Dr.agr.).

From 1984 until 1988 he was research assistant at the Karl-Marx-Universität Leipzig. In 1988 he joined the Justus von Liebig Landwirtschaftliche Produktionsgenossenschaft as administrator. In 1990 he became manager of the Agrar Gmbh, Taura. Since 1995 he is a sideline farmer.

Political career

Early beginnings
Jahr was a member of the Democratic Farmers' Party of Germany from 1988 to 1990 and joined the Christian Democratic Union in 1990.

From 1990 to 2002, Jahr was Member of the Landtag of Saxony, the German state of Saxony's parliament. He left the Landtag to become a member of the German Bundestag representing the district of Döbeln - Mittweida - Meißen II.

Member of the European Parliament, 2009–present
In 2009 Jahr left the Bundestag to become a Member of the European Parliament. In Parliament, he has since been serving on the Committee on Petitions. In 2019, he also joined the Committee on Regional Development, where he serves as the rapporteur on the reform of the European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). From 2009 until 2019, he was a member of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.

In addition to his committee assignments, Jahr has been member of the Delegation to the EU-Armenia, EU-Azerbaijan and EU-Georgia Parliamentary Cooperation Committees and the Delegation to the Euronest Parliamentary Assembly. He is a substitute on the Committee on Budgets and the Delegation for relations with Iraq. He is also a member of the European Parliament Intergroup on Children's Rights.

In the negotiations to form a coalition government under the leadership of Chancellor Angela Merkel following the 2017 federal elections, Jahr was part of the working group on agriculture, led by Julia Klöckner, Christian Schmidt and Anke Rehlinger. On the local level, he is a member of the City council of Lunzenau since 1994 and was a member of the District council of Mittweida from 1994 to 2008.

Political positions
Ahead of the Christian Democrats' leadership election in 2018, Jahr publicly endorsed Friedrich Merz to succeed Angela Merkel as the party's chair.

Personal life
Jahr is married and has four children.

External links

 Homepage of Peter Jahr (German)
 Peter Jahr at the European Parliament

References

1959 births
Living people
Members of the Landtag of Saxony
Members of the Bundestag for Saxony
Christian Democratic Union of Germany MEPs
MEPs for Germany 2009–2014
MEPs for Germany 2014–2019
MEPs for Germany 2019–2024
Members of the Bundestag 2002–2005
Articles containing video clips
Members of the Bundestag for the Christian Democratic Union of Germany

Peter Jahr


Stanislaus Francis Perry (May 7, 1823 – February 24, 1898) was a Canadian farmer and politician in Prince Edward Island.

Early life
He was born Stanislas-François Poirier in Tignish, Prince Edward Island, the son of Pierre Poirier and Marie-Blanche Gaudet. Poirier was educated in Tignish and then was educated in English at St. Andrew's College in Charlottetown. On his return to Tignish in 1843, he taught school. Poirier anglicized his name around this time. In 1847, he married Margaret Carroll. He was named a justice of the peace in 1851.

Political career
In 1854, Perry left teaching, began farming to support his family and entered politics. As an Acadian, he supported the redistribution of land on the island from the landowners to the tenant farmers. In 1870, he supported a coalition conservative government because it supported grants to Catholic schools. Perry was speaker in the provincial assembly from 1873 to 1874. Perry was initially opposed to Confederation but ran unsuccessfully for a seat in the House of Commons in 1873 before being elected in 1874. He was also an unsuccessful federal candidate in 1878 and 1882. He was defeated in 1896 but won the subsequent by-election after the first election was declared invalid. Perry was a proponent of a tunnel to link the island to the mainland.

He represented 1st Prince in the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island from 1854 to 1875 and from 1879 to 1887 and, in the House of Commons of Canada, represented Prince County from 1874 to 1878 and from 1887 to 1896 and West Prince from 1897 to 1898 as a Liberal member. Perry (Poirier) was the first Acadian to serve in both the provincial assembly and the House of Commons.

Perry helped organize the first and second Acadian national conventions in Memramcook, New Brunswick (1881) and Miscouche, Prince Edward Island (1884) although he boycotted the second event because he wanted the event to be held in Tignish.

Death
He died in office in Ottawa in 1898 and was buried in Tignish.

Personal life
He was the grandfather of Nova Scotia Premier Angus Lewis Macdonald and is a direct ancestor of current PEI MLA Hal Perry.

References

External links

Standardbearers of Acadian Identity, McCord Museum

1823 births
1898 deaths
People from Tignish, Prince Edward Island
Members of the House of Commons of Canada from Prince Edward Island
Liberal Party of Canada MPs
Prince Edward Island Liberal Party MLAs
Speakers of the Legislative Assembly of Prince Edward Island
Canadian Roman Catholics
Acadian people
Canadian justices of the peace

Stanislaus Francis Perry


"The Shouty Track" is a single from the Lemon Jelly album '64–'95.

It samples the track "Horrorshow" by post-punk/new wave band Scars.

As with the other tracks on '64–'95, "The Shouty Track" differs from their previous albums, Lemonjelly.KY and Lost Horizons, displaying a heavier, darker sound.

Track listing

CD1
"The Shouty Track"
"Nice Weather for Ducks (unplugged)"

CD2
"The Shouty Track"
"Baby Battle Scratch"
"The Shouty Track" video

Music video
The animated video for "The Shouty Track", produced by Airside, consists of two cartoon-like characters being drawn by an unseen hand, who then begin to head-bang to the beat of the music.  Other elements include rapid montages of images related to the headbangers' lives such as barbecue and getting tattoos, but foremost, gratuitous violence – notably both the perpetrators and victims remain mostly unfazed by the punches exchanged.

The video is included on the DVD release of '64–'95, along with animated videos for the other tracks.

References

Lemon Jelly songs
2005 singles
XL Recordings singles
2005 songs
Big beat songs

The Shouty Track


Leif Murphy (born October 23, 1979) is a former professional American football defensive end. He is one of Indoor Football's most prolific producers in the Sack and Tackle For Loss, categories.

Career
In Murphy's high school years, he earned the All-State and Defensive Player of the Year awards at Spring Lake Park High School in Minnesota. In college, he was a four-year starter at North Dakota State University from 1999 to 2002, All-America First Team selection as a junior in 2001 after leading the Bison with 11 sacks. He completed his collegiate career with 129 tackles and 22 sacks.

Murphy began the 2003 season with the Canadian Football League's Ottawa Renegades before joining the Bismarck Roughriders of the National Indoor Football League (NIFL). Next year in 2004 he played for the Tri-City Diesel of the NIFL, and was named Pacific Conference Defensive Player of the Year.

He played for the United Bowl Champion Sioux Falls Storm in 2007, and the Omaha Beef in 2005 and 2006. Both teams were members of United Indoor Football. He was named All-UIF all three seasons. He was part of the Sioux Falls Storm's record 40 game winning streak.

In 2008, as a member of the Grand Rapids Rampage, of the Arena Football League, he was second on the team in sacks despite seeing limited action due to injury.

References
 at SiouxFallsStorm.com
Leif Murphy at RampageFootball.com
Just Sports Stats

1979 births
Living people
Players of American football from Michigan
American football defensive ends
North Dakota State Bison football players
Canadian football linebackers
Ottawa Renegades players
Grand Rapids Rampage players
Sioux Falls Storm players
Omaha Beef players
Sioux City Bandits players
Bismarck Roughriders players
Players of American football from Minnesota
Players of Canadian football from Michigan

Leif Murphy


Webber House is a heritage-listed former school and present-day church hall at 439 Ann Street, Brisbane City, City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It sits within the grounds of St John's Cathedral, Brisbane. It was designed by John Smith Murdoch and Robin Dods and built in 1904 by Worley & Whitehead. It is also known as Cathedral Schools and St John's Institute. It was added to the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992.

History
In 1899 the Anglican Diocese of Brisbane acquired property in Ann Street for the construction of St John's Cathedral, a day school and Church Institute. It was constructed by Worley and Whitehead of Ipswich to a joint design of John S Murdoch and the diocesan architect Robin S Dods. Murdoch, who was an architect for the State Works Department (1894-1903) took leave of absence to design Webber House and also St Luke's Church of England in Charlotte Street.

Stone from St John's Pro-Cathedral in William Street (demolished in 1904) was re-used for the foundation stones, and in the front and rear walls. The main doors, most of the gothic style windows and the roof trusses were also re-used.

The ground floor contained the assembly hall and at the rear were two covered playsheds. The second floor included the institute reading room, two schoolrooms and the teachers' room. The top storey was one large room for the institute. In all, accommodation was provided for 300 children.

The Sisters of the Sacred Advent conducted a school in the premises from 1936 until 1941. During the Second World War the building was occupied by the Australian Army Engineering Corps and the Army Medical Department and was subsequently used for Cathedral activities and meeting hall.

In 1969-70 the building was renovated and the verandahs were enclosed. It was named Webber House in honour of William Webber, third Bishop of Brisbane (1885-1903). Webber had been instrumental in initiating the development of the cathedral precinct.

Description
Built in 1904, as part of the St John's Cathedral complex, Webber House is a three-storeyed masonry building with steeply pitched slate roofs. While the roof form and windows give it a Gothic appearance, the details, mixture of materials, scale of elements, external spaces are influenced by the contemporary Arts and Crafts movement.

The massing of the building consists of steep gable roofs gradually stepping up at right angles to each other until they reach the tall three storeyed central gable portion. The stonework appears generally in the lower part of the structure up to the top of the first level and then appears in strips and around the window openings in the brickwork above. The fenestration is predominantly Gothic arched but some square headed openings and small quatrefoil vents appear high up in some of the gable ends. Two of the gable roofs have lower portions of a lesser pitch, creating a form of sun hood. Immediately below the eaves line of this feature of the roof is a band of glazing separated in one case by the tops of buttresses when they occur, and in the other by timber posts.

Internally, a spacious stairwell leads to the upper floors. The top floor features a steep boarded ceiling above timber trusses which are supported at each end on three turned timber columns.

Fretting stonework to the ground floor has been cement-rendered to imitate the original pick-faced and margined stones. The building is generally intact both externally and internally.

Heritage listing
Webber House was listed on the Queensland Heritage Register on 21 October 1992 having satisfied the following criteria.

The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a particular class of cultural places.

Webber House is significant as an excellent example of a creative architectural design in the Arts and Crafts manner re-using materials from the Pro-Cathedral. The building forms an integral part of the cathedral complex.

The place is important because of its aesthetic significance.

Webber House is significant as an excellent example of a creative architectural design in the Arts and Crafts manner re-using materials from the Pro-Cathedral. The building forms an integral part of the cathedral complex.

The place has a special association with the life or work of a particular person, group or organisation of importance in Queensland's history.

Webber House is significant as an example of the work of two prominent Queensland architects, John Murdoch and Robin Dods. The building is also significant for its association with Bishop Webber who was instrumental in the development of the Cathedral complex.

References

Attribution

External links

Queensland Heritage Register
Heritage of Brisbane
Private schools in Brisbane
Articles incorporating text from the Queensland Heritage Register
Churches in Brisbane
St John's Cathedral (Brisbane)
Ann Street, Brisbane
1904 establishments in Australia
Residential buildings completed in 1904

Webber House, Brisbane


Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly is an anti-slavery novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe was published on March 3rd, 1852. It greatly influenced many people's thoughts about African Americans and slavery in the United States. It also strengthened the conflict between the Northern and Southern United States. This led to the American Civil War. The book's effect was so powerful that Lincoln said when he met Stowe at the beginning of the Civil War, "So this is the little lady who made this big war."

The main character of the novel is Uncle Tom, a patient black slave. The sentimental novel showed the effects of slavery. It also said that Christian love is stronger than slavery.

Uncle Tom's Cabin was the most popular novel of the 19th century, and the third best-selling book of the century (the first one was the Bible). It helped abolitionism spread in the 1850s.

In these days, it has been praised as a very important help to anti-slavery. However, it has also been criticized for making stereotypes about black people.

Inspiration and references

Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in Connecticut. She was an abolitionist. Stowe wrote her novel because of the 1850 passage of the second Fugitive Slave Act. This law punished people who helped slaves run away. It also made the North stop and return the South's black runaways. Mrs. Edward Beecher wrote to Harriet ("Hattie"), "If I could use a pen as you can, I would write something that will make this whole nation feel what an accursed thing slavery is." At that time, Stowe was a wife with six children who sometimes wrote for magazines. Her son, Charles Stowe, said that his mother read this letter out loud to her children. When she finished the letter, she stood up, and with "an expression on her face that stamped itself on the mind of her child", she said, "I will write something...I will if I live." That is how Uncle Tom's Cabin began.

According to Stowe, she began thinking about Uncle Tom's Cabin; or, Life Among the Lowly as she was in a church in February 1851. She had a vision of a Christian black man being beaten and praying for the people who were beating him as he died. She was also partly inspired to write her novel by the autobiography of Josiah Henson. Henson was a black man who had run away and helped many black slaves. She was also helped by the book American Slavery As It Is: Testimony of a Thousand Witnesses by Theodore Dwight Weld and the Grimké sisters. Stowe also said that she got lots of ideas for Uncle Tom's Cabin by talking to runaway slaves when she was living in Cincinnati, Ohio.

In her book A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin (1853), Stowe wrote about the stories that inspired her when she was writing Uncle Tom's Cabin. However,  later research showed that Stowe did not actually read many of the stories inside the book until after her novel was published.

Publication

Uncle Tom's Cabin began in a series in an anti-slavery newspaper, The National Era. The National Era had also printed other works Stowe had written. Because everybody liked the story so much, John P. Jewett of Boston asked Stowe to turn the serial into a book. Stowe was not sure if people would like to read the story as a book. However, she finally agreed. John Jewett, sure that the book would be popular, asked Hammatt Billings to engrave six pictures for the book. In March 20, 1852, the finished book came out. By June it was selling ten thousand copies a week. By October American sales alone were 150 thousand copies. In the first year it was published, 300,000 copies of the book were sold, and it was translated into many important languages.

Summary

Eliza's escape, Tom is sold

A Kentucky farmer named Arthur Shelby is afraid of losing his farm because of debts. Even though he and his wife, Emily Shelby, are kind to their slaves, he decides to sell two of them: Uncle Tom, a middle-aged man with a wife and children, and Harry, the son of his wife's maid Eliza. Emily Shelby is shocked and unhappy because she promised Eliza that she would not sell her son. George Shelby, her son, is unhappy because he admires Uncle Tom as his friend and Christian.

When Eliza hears about Mr. Shelby's plans to sell her son, she decides to run away with her only son. She writes a letter saying sorry to Mrs. Shelby and runs away that night.

Meanwhile, Uncle Tom is sold and put into a boat, which sails down the Mississippi River. There, he makes friends with a girl called Evangeline ("Eva"). When Eva falls into the water and he saves her, Eva's father, Augustine St. Clare, buys Tom. Eva and Tom become good friends because they both love Jesus very deeply.

Eliza's family hunted, Tom's life with St. Clare

During Eliza's escape, she meets her husband, George Harris, who had run away before her. They decide to try to run away to Canada. However, they are hunted by a slave hunter named Tom Loker. Tom Loker finally traps Eliza and her family, so that George shoots Loker. Eliza is worried that Loker might die and go to hell. Because of this, she persuades her husband to take him to a Quaker town to get better. The gentle Quakers change Tom Loker greatly.

In St. Clare's house, St. Clare argues with his sister, Miss Ophelia. She thinks that slavery is wrong, but is prejudiced against blacks. St. Clare buys Topsy, a black child, and challenges Miss Ophelia to educate her. Miss Ophelia tries, but fails.

After Tom has lived with St. Clare for about two years, Eva becomes very sick. She has a vision of heaven before she dies. Because of her death, many people change. Miss Ophelia loses her prejudice of black people, Tospy decides to become "good", and St. Clare decides to free Tom.

Tom's life with Simon Legree

St. Clare, however, is hurt when he tries to stop a fight at a tavern and dies. Because of this, he cannot keep his promise to free Tom. His wife sells Tom to a plantation owner named Simon Legree. Legree takes Tom to Louisiana. There, he meets other slaves, including Emmeline (who Legree bought at the same time that he bought Tom). Legree begins to hate Tom when Tom disobeys his order to whip the other slaves. Legree beats him, and decides to destroy Tom's faith in God. However, Tom secretly continues to read the Bible and help the other slaves. At the plantation, Tom meets Cassy, another black slave. Her two children had been sold, and she had killed her third child because she was afraid that her child would be sold, too.

Loker has been changed because of the Quakers. George, Eliza, and Harry have finally reached Canada and become free. Meanwhile, Uncle Tom feels so unhappy that he almost gives up, but he has two visions of Jesus and Eva. He decides to continue to be a Christian, even if he has to die. Cassy and Emmeline, with Tom's encouragement, run away. They cleverly use Legree's superstitious fears to help them. When Tom does not tell Legree where they are, Legree tells his men to beat him to death. Tom forgives the two men who beat him as he dies, and they feel sorry and become Christians. George Shelby comes just as Tom is dying to free him. He is very angry and sad. However, Tom, saying smilingly, "Who,—who,—who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" dies.

Important characters

Uncle Tom

Uncle Tom, the title character of the story, is a patient, noble, unselfish black slave. Stowe wanted him to be a "noble hero": in the book, he stands up for what he believes in. Even though they do not want to, even his enemies admire him.

Recently, however, his name has also been used negatively. People often think of "Uncle Tom" as an old black man trying to make his masters happy, as people have criticized his quiet acceptance of slavery. However, others argue that this is not true. First of all, Uncle Tom is not really old - he is only eight years older than Mr. Shelby, which shows that he is probably around fifty. Also, Tom is not happy with slavery. His acceptance is not because of stupidity or because he likes slavery. It is because of his religious faith, which tells him to love everyone. Wherever Uncle Tom goes, he loves and spreads comfort and kindness. He helps slaves escape, such as Eliza, Emmeline and Cassy. He also refuses to beat other slaves. Because of this, he is beaten himself. Stowe was not trying to make Tom an example for blacks but for white and black people. She says that if white people were to be loving and unselfish like Uncle Tom, slavery would be impossible.

Eliza Harris

Eliza Harris is Mrs. Shelby's favorite maid, George Harris' wife, and Harry's mother. Eliza is a brave, intelligent, and very beautiful young slave. Eliza loves her son, Harry, very much. It is possible her love for him was even greater because she lost two of her first infant children. Her motherly love is shown when she bravely escapes with her son. Perhaps the most well-known part of Uncle Tom's Cabin is the part where Eliza escapes on the Ohio River with Harry.

This escape is said to have been inspired by a story heard in the Lane Theological Seminary in Cincinnati by John Rankin to Stowe's husband Calvin, a professor at the school. In Rankin's story, in February, 1838, a young slave woman had escaped across the frozen Ohio River to the town of Ripley, Ohio with her child in her arms and stayed at his house before she had gone further towards the north.

Eva

Eva "Evangeline" St. Clare is St. Clare and Marie's angelic daughter. She enters the story when Tom saves her from drowning when he was going to be sold. Eva asks her father to buy Tom. She says, "I want to make him happy". Through her, Tom becomes St. Clare's leading coachman and Eva's "especial attendant (helper)...Tom had...orders to let everything else go, and attend to Miss Eva whenever she wanted him,—orders which our readers may fancy (imagine) were far from disagreeable to him." She is very beautiful: "Her form was the perfection of childish beauty...Her face was remarkable less for its perfect beauty of features than for a singular (strange) and dreamy earnestness (seriousness) of expression...all marked her out (made her different) from the other children, and made every one turn and look after her".

To Tom, she "...seemed something almost divine; and whenever her golden head and deep blue eyes peered (looked) out upon him...he half believed that he saw one of the angels stepped out of his New Testament." He says that "She's got the Lord's mark in her forehead." Eva is an almost perfect, Christ-like child. She is very sad about slavery. She does not see the difference between blacks and whites. She talks very much about love and forgiveness. Even Topsy is touched by her love. Eva becomes one of the most important people in Tom's life.

Ophelia St. Clare

Ophelia St. Clare is perhaps the most complicated female character in the novel. St. Clare calls her, "...desperately ... good; it tires me to death to think of it." She does not like slavery. However, she does not like to be touched or come close to any black person as a human being. When she first saw Eva "...shaking hands and kissing" with the blacks, she declared that it had "...fairly turned her stomach (made her feel sick)." She adds, "I want to be kind to everybody, and I wouldn't have anything hurt; but as to kissing...How can she?"

She has a "clear, strong, active mind", and is very practical. However, she has a warm heart, which she shows in her love for St. Clare and Eva. Ophelia hates slavery, but has a deep prejudice against blacks. St. Clare, as a challenge to her, buys Topsy. He tells her to try educating her. At first she tries to teach and help Topsy simply because of duty. However, Stowe says that duty is not enough: there must be love. Eva's death changes Ophelia. When Topsy cries, "She said she loved me...there an't (is not) nobody left now...!" Ophelia gently says, as "honest tears" fell down her face, "Topsy, you poor child...I can love you, though I am not like that dear little child. I hope I've learnt something of the love of Christ from her. I can love you...and I'll try to help you to grow up a good Christian girl." Stowe thought that there were many people like Miss Ophelia St. Clare, who did not like slavery but could not think of blacks as people. She wanted to write about such problems through Miss Ophelia.

Other characters

 Arthur Shelby, the owner of Uncle Tom in Kentucky, Shelby sells Tom to Mr. Haley to pay his debts. Arthur Shelby is a clever, kind, and basically good-hearted man. However, he still does slavery and is not as morally strong as his wife. Stowe used him to show that slavery makes everyone who does it become wicked - not just the cruel masters.
 Emily Shelby is Arthur Shelby's loving, gentle, and Christian wife. She thinks slavery is wrong. She tries to persuade her husband to help the Shelby slaves and is one of the many kind female characters in the story.
 George Shelby is the young son of Mr. and Mrs. Shelby. Good-hearted, passionate, and loving, he is Uncle Tom's friend. Because of this, he is very angry when Uncle Tom is sold. After Tom dies, he decides to free all the slaves on the Shelby's farm, saying, "Witness (see), eternal God! oh, witness, that, from this hour, I will do what one man can to drive out this curse of slavery from my land!" He is morally stronger than his father. He does what he promises and thinks.
 George Harris Eliza's husband. A very clever and curious mulatto man, he loves his family very much and fights for his freedom bravely and proudly.
 Augustine St. Clare Eva's father. Augustine St. Clare is a romantic, playful man. He does not believe in God, and drinks wine every night. He loves Eva very deeply and feels sorry for his slaves. However, like Mr. Shelby, he does not do anything about slavery.
 Marie The wife of St. Clare. She is "...a yellow faded, sickly woman, whose time was divided among a variety of fanciful diseases, and who considered (thought) herself...the most ill-used and suffering person [that lived]..." Silly, complaining, and selfish, she is the opposite of people like Mrs. Shelby and Mrs. Bird. She thinks slavery is good and says about Topsy, "If I had my way, now, I'd send...[her] out, and have her thoroughly whipped; I'd have her whipped till she couldn't stand!" After her husband dies, she sells all the slaves.
 Topsy the "heathenish" black slave girl who Miss Ophelia tries to change. At first, Miss Ophelia "...[approaches] her new subject very much as a person might be supposed to approach a black spider, supposing them to have benevolent (kind) designs toward it". Topsy feels this difference from duty and love. When Eva says, "Miss Ophelia would love you, if you were good," she laughs and says, "No; she can't bar (bear) me, 'cause I'm a nigger (black)! she'd 's soon have a toad touch her! There can't nobody love niggers, and niggers can't do nothin' (nothing)! I don't care." However, in time, she grows to love and respect people through Eva's love. She later becomes a missionary to Africa.

When she first enters the story, she says that she does not know who made her: "I s'pect I growed. Don't think nobody never made me." In the early-to-mid 1900s, some doll companies made dolls that looked like Topsy. The expression "growed like Topsy" (later "grew like Topsy") began to be used in the English language. At first it meant to describe growing without planning it. Later, it simply meant growing a lot.
Simon Legree a slave-owner who cannot break Uncle Tom of his Christian faith. He has Uncle Tom whipped to death because of this. He sexually exploits his female slaves Cassy and Emmeline. His name is used as a synonym for a cruel and greedy man.

Important themes

Slavery

Uncle Tom's Cabin'''s most important theme is the evil of slavery. Every part in Uncle Tom's Cabin develops the characters and the story. But most importantly, it always tries to show the reader that slavery is evil, un-Christian, and should not be allowed. One way Stowe showed the evil of slavery was how it forced families from each other.

 Motherhood

Stowe thought mothers were the "model for all of American life". She also believed that only women could save the United States from slavery. Because of this, another very important theme of Uncle Tom's Cabin is the moral power and sanctity of women. White women like Mrs. Bird, St. Clare's mother, Legree's mother, and Mrs. Shelby try to make their husbands help their slaves. Eva, who is the "ideal Christian", says that blacks and whites are the same. Black women like Eliza are brave and pious. She escapes from slavery to save her son, and by the end of the novel, has made her whole family come together again. Some critics said that Stowe's female characters are often unrealistic. However, Stowe's novel made many people remember "the importance of women's influence" and helped the women's rights movement later.

 Christianity

Stowe's puritanical religious beliefs are also one of the biggest themes in the novel. She explores what Christianity is like. She believed that the most important thing in Christianity was love for everyone. She also believed that Christian theology shows that slavery is wrong. This theme can be seen when Tom urges St. Clare to "look away to Jesus" after St. Clare's daughter Eva dies. After Tom dies, George Shelby says, "What a thing it is to be a Christian." Because Christian themes are so important, and because Stowe often directly spoke in the novel about religion and faith, the novel is written in the "form of a sermon."

 Style Uncle Tom's Cabin is written in a sentimental and melodramatic style. This style was often used in the 19th century sentimental novel and domestic fiction (also called women's fiction). These genres were the most popular novels of Stowe's time. It usually had female characters and a style that made readers feel sympathy and emotion for them. Stowe's novel is different from other sentimental novels because she writes about a large theme like slavery. It is also different because she has a man (Uncle Tom) as the main character. However, she still tried to make her readers have strong feelings when they read Uncle Tom's Cabin, like making them cry when Eva died. This kind of writing made readers react powerfully. For instance, Georgiana May, a friend of Stowe's, wrote a letter to the writer. In the letter, she said that "I was up (awake) last night long after one o'clock, reading and finishing Uncle Tom's Cabin. I could not leave it any more than I could have left a dying child." Another reader said that she thought about the book all the time and even thought about changing her daughter's name to Eva. The death of Eva affected lots of people. In 1852, 300 baby girls in Boston were named Eva.

Even though many readers were very moved, literary critics did not like the style in Uncle Tom's Cabin and other sentimental novels. They said these books were written by women and had "women's sloppy (messy) emotions." One literary critic said that if the novel not been about slavery, "it would be just another sentimental novel". Another said the book was a "piece of hack (messy) work." In The Literary History of the United States, George F. Whicher called Uncle Tom's Cabin "Sunday-school fiction".

However, in 1985 Jane Tompkins wrote differently about Uncle Tom's Cabin in her book In Sensational Designs: The Cultural Work of American Fiction. Tompkins praised Uncle Tom's Cabin's style. She said that sentimental novels showed how women's emotions changed the world in a good way. She also said that the popular domestic novels written in the 19th century, like Uncle Tom's Cabin, were intelligently written. She also said that Uncle Tom's Cabin shows a "critique of American society far more devastating (powerful) than any ... by better-known critics such as Hawthorne and Melville."

 Reactions to the novel Uncle Tom's Cabin has had a very great influence. There are not many novels in history that changed society so powerfully. When it was published, Uncle Tom's Cabin, people who defended slavery were very angry and protested against it. Some people even wrote books against it. Abolitionists praised it very much. As a best-seller, the novel greatly influenced later protest literature.

 Contemporary and world reaction

As soon as it was published, Uncle Tom's Cabin made people in the American South very angry. The novel was also greatly criticized by people who supported slavery.

A famous novelist from the South, William Gilmore Simms, said that the book was not true. Others called the novel criminal and said it was full of lies. A person who sold books in Mobile, Alabama had to leave town for selling the novel. Stowe received threatening letters. She even received a package with a slave's cut ear once. Many Southern writers, like Simms, soon began writing their own books about slavery.

Some critics said that Stowe had never actually went to a Southern plantation and she did not know much about Southern life. They said that because of this, she made wrong descriptions about the South. However, Stowe always said she made the characters of her book by stories she was told by slaves that ran away to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she lived. It is reported: "She observed firsthand (herself) several incidents (happenings) which ... [inspired] her to write [the] famous anti-slavery novel. Scenes she observed (saw) on the Ohio River, including seeing a husband and wife being sold apart, as well as newspaper and magazine accounts and interviews, contributed material to the ... plot."

In 1853, Stowe published A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin. This was to show the people who had criticized the novel's description of slavery that it was true. In the book, Stowe writes about the important characters in Uncle Tom's Cabin and about people in real life who were like them. Through this book, she writes a more "aggressive attack on slavery in the South than the novel itself had". Like the novel, A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin was also a best-seller. However, many of the works in A Key to Uncle Tom's Cabin was read by Stowe after she published her novel.

Even though there were such criticisms, the novel was still very popular. Stowe's son says that when Abraham Lincoln met her in 1862 Lincoln said, "So this is the little lady who started this great war." Historians are not sure if Lincoln really said this or not. In a letter that Stowe wrote to her husband a few hours after meeting with Lincoln, she does not say anything about this sentence. After this, many writers have said that this novel helped make the North angry at slavery and at the Fugitive Slave Law. It greatly helped the abolitionist movement. Union general and politician James Baird Weaver said that the book made him help in the abolitionist movement.Uncle Tom's Cabin also interested many people in England. The first London edition came out in May 1852. It sold 200,000 copies. Some of this interest was because at that time the British people did not like the United States. A writer said, "The evil passions which 'Uncle Tom' gratified in England were not hatred or vengeance [of slavery], but national jealousy and national vanity. We have long been smarting (hurting) under the conceit of America – we are tired of hearing her boast that she is the freest and the most enlightened country that the world has ever seen. Our clergy hate her voluntary system – our Tories hate her democrats – our Whigs hate her ... All parties hailed Mrs. Stowe as a revolter from the enemy." Charles Francis Adams, the American minister to Britain during the war, said later that, "Uncle Tom's Cabin; or Life among the Lowly, published in 1852, influenced the world more quickly, powerfully, and dramatically than any other book ever printed."Uncle Tom's Cabin was published in Russia at the end of 1857 and was soon recognized as a classic of world literature. Many people saw a very strong link between the world of Uncle Tom's Cabin and the serfdom that still existed in Russia in 1850s. In his letter to an abolitionist Maria Weston Chapman, Nikolay Turgenev wrote, "Many of the scenes described in the book seem like an exact depiction of equally frightful scenes in Russia." Uncle Tom's Cabin served as an educational tool for Russian and Russo-Soviet elite in the post emancipation period, and it also became part of Soviet children literature.

The book has been translated into almost every language. For example, it was translated into Chinese. Its translator Lin Shu made this the first Chinese translation of an American novel. It was also translated into Amharic. Its 1930 translation was made to help Ethiopia end the suffering of blacks in that nation. The book was read by so many people that Sigmund Freud believed that some of his patients had been influenced by reading about the whipping of slaves in Uncle Tom's Cabin.

Literary importance and criticismUncle Tom's Cabin was the first widely read political novel in the United States. It greatly influenced American literature and protest literature. Some later books that were greatly influenced by Uncle Tom's Cabin are The Jungle by Upton Sinclair and Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.

However, even though Uncle Tom's Cabin was very important, many people thought the book was a mix of "children's fable and propaganda". Many critics called the book "merely (only) a sentimental novel". George Whicher wrote in his Literary History of the United States that "Nothing attributable to Mrs. Stowe or her handiwork can account for the novel's enormous (great) vogue (popularity); its author's resources ... of Sunday-school fiction were not remarkable ... melodrama, humor, and pathos … compounded (made up) her book."

Other critics, though, have praised the novel. Edmund Wilson said that "To expose oneself in maturity (when one has grown up) to Uncle Tom's Cabin may … prove a startling (surprising) experience." Jane Tompkins said that the novel is one of the classics of American literature. She suggested that literary critics think badly of the book because it was simply too popular when it came out.

Through the years, people have wondered what Stowe was trying to say with the novel. Some of her themes can be seen easily, like the evil of slavery. However, some themes are harder to see. For example, Stowe was a Christian and active abolitionist, and put lots of her religious beliefs in her book. Some have said that Stowe wrote in her novel what she thought was a solution to the problem that worried many people who did not like slavery. This problem was: was doing things that were not allowed justified if they did it to fight evil? Was it right to use violence to stop the violence of slavery? Was breaking laws that helped slavery right? Which of Stowe's characters should be followed: the patient Uncle Tom or the defiant George Harris? Stowe thought that God's will would be followed if each (every) person sincerely (truly) examined his principles and acted on (followed) them.

People have also thought Uncle Tom's Cabin expressed the ideas of the Free Will Movement. In this idea, the character of George Harris symbolizes the free labor. The complex character of Ophelia shows the Northerners who allowed slavery, even though they did not like it. Dinah is very different from Ophelia. She acts by passion. In the book, Ophelia changes. Like Ophelia, the Republican Party (three years later) declared that the North must change itself. It said that the North must stop slavery actively.

Feminist theory can also be seen in Stowe's book. The novel can be seen as criticizing slavery's patriarchal nature. For Stowe, families were related by blood, not by family-like relations between masters and slaves. Stowe also saw the nation as a bigger "family". So, the feelings of nationality came from sharing the same race. Because of this, she supported the idea that freed slaves should live together in a colony.

The book has also been seen as trying to show that masculinity was important in stopping slavery. Abolitionists began to change the way they thought of violent men. They wanted men to help stop slavery without hurting their self-image or their position in society. Because of this, some abolitionists followed some of the principles of women's suffrage, peace, and Christianity. They praised men for helping, working together, and having mercy. Other abolitionists were more traditional: they wanted men to act more forcefully. All the men in Stowe's book show either patient men or traditional men.

 Creation and popularization of stereotypes

Recently, some people have begun criticizing the book for what they thought were racist descriptions of the book's black characters. They criticized the way Stowe wrote about the characters' looks, speech, behavior, and the passive nature of Uncle Tom. The book's use of common stereotypes about African Americans is important because Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel in the world in the 19th century. Because of this, the book (together with images in the book and related stage productions) helped make a great number of people accept such stereotypes.

Among the African-American stereotypes in Uncle Tom's Cabin are:

 The "happy darky" (in the lazy, carefree character of Sam);
 The light-skinned tragic mulatto (in the characters of Eliza, Cassy, and Emmeline);
 The loving, dark-skinned female mammy (through several characters, including Mammy, a cook at the St. Clare plantation).
 The Pickaninny stereotype of black children (in the character of Topsy);
 The Uncle Tom, or African American who wants to please white people too much (in the character of Uncle Tom). Stowe wanted Tom to be a "noble hero". The stereotype of him was because of "Tom Shows," which Stowe could not stop.

These stereotypes made many people think much more lightly of the historical importance of Uncle Tom's Cabin as a "vital antislavery tool." This change in the way people looked at Uncle Tom's Cabin began in an essay by James Baldwin. This essay was titled "Everybody's Protest Novel." In the essay, Baldwin called Uncle Tom's Cabin a "very bad novel". He said it was not well-written.

In the 1960s and '70s, the Black Power and Black Arts Movements strongly criticized the book. They said that the character of Uncle Tom was a part of "race betrayal". They said that Tom made slaves look worse than slave owners. Criticisms of the other stereotypes in the book also increased during this time.

However, people such as Henry Louis Gates Jr. have begun studying Uncle Tom's Cabin again. He says that the book is a "central document in American race relations and a significant (important) moral and political exploration of the character of those relations."

 References

 Other websites

 Uncle Tom's cabin: or Life among the lowly ; frontispiece by John Gilbert; ornamental title-page by Phiz; and 130 engravings on wood by Matthew Urlwin Sears, 1853 (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDF  format) Pictures and stories from Uncle Tom's cabin ; "The purpose of the editor of this little work, has been to adapt it for the juvenile family circle. The verses have accordingly been written by the authoress for the capacity of the youngest readers …" 1853 (a searchable facsimile at the University of Georgia Libraries; DjVu & layered PDF  format)''

 Uncle Tom's Cabin, available at Internet Archive. Scanned, illustrated original editions.
 Uncle Tom's Cabin Historic Site
 Free audiobook of Uncle Tom's Cabin at Librivox
 More on the lack of international copyright

1852 books
19th-century American novels
Origins of the American Civil War

Uncle Tom's Cabin


In political science, political apathy is a lack of interest or apathy towards politics. This includes voter apathy, information apathy and lack of interest in elections, political events, public meetings, and voting.

Voter apathy is a lack of interest among voters in the elections of representative democracies. Political apathy or lack of interest is often cited as a cause of low turnout among eligible voters in jurisdictions where voting is optional, and the donkey vote where voting is compulsory. This phenomenon occurs to some extent across all countries or entities where citizens are able to vote. Political apathy has led to increased concerns regarding representative democracies because election results do not encompass the entire population who are eligible to vote.

Political alienation
Political apathy is sometimes considered distinct from political alienation, "the sense that voters feel like the political system does not work for them and any attempt to influence it will be a fruitless exercise." Political alienation is adversely related to political efficacy, the voter's trust in their ability influence to politics. The most common electoral consequences of political alienation are abstention and protest voting.

Causes
One cause of political apathy is due to lack of education. According to a study by CIRCLE director Kei Kawashima-Ginsberg, nearly 20% of American youth do not feel they know enough to vote. Notably, the study found that many young people have glaring misconceptions about the voting process; for instance, several individuals in the study believed having relatively minor offenses on their criminal record, such as driving under the influence, restricted their ability to vote. This 20% figure is especially significant when juxtaposed with the 20% total youth turnout in the 2018 United States elections.

Sometimes, alienated voters feel compelled to vote, but feel "estranged or disaffected from the system or somehow left out of the political process." They feel that they are underrepresented or not represented at all by those running for office; their best interest or concerns are not regarded.

Political alienation falls into two broad categories: political incapability and political discontentment. In the first instance, alienation is forced upon the individual by their environment, whereas in the second case it is voluntarily chosen by them.

There are at least five expressions of political alienation:
Political powerlessness. An individual's feeling that they cannot affect the actions of the government.
Political meaninglessness. An individual's perception that political decisions are unclear and unpredictable.
Political normlessness. An individual's perception that norms or rules intended to govern political relations are broken down, and that departures from prescribed behavior are common.
Political isolation. An individual's rejection of political norms and goals that are widely held and shared by other members of a society.
Political disappointment. An individual's disinterest to a political decision or participation because of the ruling class bad behaviors, such as, leaders having scandals by doing shameful things.

Political alienation overlaps with anti-politics, and there are likely causal relationships between the two concepts. Alienation differs from anti-political sentiment in that the latter tends to focus on negative assessments of politicians and political elites, whereas alienation may encompasses dissatisfaction with other elements of a political system, such as the electoral system, party system, or the idea of democratic society.

Another cause of political apathy is voter fatigue, when elections are held too frequently. It's defined in political science as, "voter fatigue is the apathy that the electorate can experience under certain circumstances, one of which could be that they are required to vote too often." One of the possible causes for voter fatigue is the barrage of political messages through social media. A large amount of exposure to political messages year-round can cause fatigue that turns potential voters away from the voting process.

Additional causes of political apathy include:
 being uncomfortable with the possible choices and the lesser of two evils principle in two-party systems
 wasted votes, where a voter does not receive representation in the final election outcome.
 strategic voting, where the electoral system incentivizes voting for a less preferred option to prevent an undesirable outcome.
 political corruption, where government officials or their network use politics for illegitimate private gain.
 Political misinformation or disinformation in part contributed by political spin and social media platforms.
 being unable to vote due to legal or logistical barriers
 being overwhelmed by personal issues
 encountering registration problems.

Background
The psychological factors that influence voter behavior are a voter's perceptions of politics, that is, how the voter sees the parties, the candidates, and the issues in an election.
The farther down the ballot an office is, the fewer the number of votes that will be cast for it. This is called ballot fatigue. The expression suggests that many voters exhaust their patience or knowledge as they work their way down the ballot.

Prominent Founding Fathers writing in The Federalist Papers believed it was "essential to liberty that the government in general should have a common interest with the people," and felt that a bond between the people and the representatives was "particularly essential." They wrote "frequent elections are unquestionably the only policy by which this dependence and sympathy can be effectually secured." In 2009, however, few Americans were familiar with leaders of Congress.

In the 19th century there was a substantially large amount of voter turnout with numerous years with over 80% participation. This was due to several factors. One, political machines gave voters an incredible incentive to vote with favors of work, wealth, and political power (which were especially attractive to poor immigrants); however, political machines lost much of their power with the increased ability to vote and with more exposure on corrupt policies.

Numerous reports suggest voter apathy is widespread and growing. The percentage of Americans eligible to vote who did, in fact, vote was 63% in 1960, but has been falling since.

Vanderbilt professor Dana D. Nelson in Bad for Democracy argues that all citizens seem to do, politically, is vote for president every four years, and not much else; they've abandoned politics. Apathy was lower in the 2008 election, which featured a competitive election for president. Voter turnout in 2008 (62%) was the highest since 1968.

On the other hand, Hunter College professor Jamie Chandler claims that political apathy, or a lack of interest in the political system, is overstated in regards to socioeconomic factors. Wealth and educational attainment correlate most strongly with voter participation.

Political apathy is often found among younger voters, the poor, and minority groups. The Centre for Innovation, Research and Competence in the Learning Economy (CIRCLE) breaks down youths into different groups, Broadly Engaged (19%), Political Specialists (19%) and Only Voted (18%), with the rest clustered into Civically Alienated (16%), Politically Marginalized (14%) and Engaged Non-Voters (14%). In 2010, only 21% of youths eligible to vote in the United States between ages 18–21 voted or were politically active.

Regional political apathy

Canada
Canada's voter turnout has remained relatively high compared to other developed democracies. In 2019, the share of the voting-age population registered to vote is around 93 percent. In the 2019 federal election, 77 percent of eligible voters reported that they had cast a ballot. However, one study highlights that the primary reason individuals abstained from voting in 2019 is due to a lack of interest in politics, at 35 percent, followed by 22 percent of non-voters who indicated that they were busy. The majority of non-voters were younger voters aged 18 to 24. Furthermore, Canadians who were citizens by birth reported lower voter turnout than naturalized citizens or immigrants in Canada; this may be due to the fact that individuals from foreign countries are more appreciative of the democratic process. Overall, voter turnout has remained steady within the past decade.

European Union
Member-states in the European Union are able to vote in two ways. Voters are allowed to vote in elections within their own countries as well as in elections concerning the European Union through the European Parliament. Political apathy is seen in the European Union through elections within each country and within the European Parliament.

European Parliament elections are when individuals in EU member-states vote for matters concerning the entirety of the European Union through electing a representative from their country into the European Parliament. It is noted that turnout is frequently lower in such elections compared to national elections. Political apathy is speculated because individuals within the European Parliament often perceive such elections to hold low salience context. In such cases, individuals believe that there are less personal stakes attached to elections in the European Parliament. As such, such attitudes further imply that voters perceive such elections to be less important than national elections.

Another line of reasoning suggests that individuals may be dissatisfied with party positions within the European Parliament, especially regarding the subject of European integration. Research shows that the larger the distance between voters and their national party choices in the European Union, the more likely that they will abstain from voting in the European Parliament election. Hence, political apathy is a phenomenon that heavily impacts the turnout of European Parliament elections. However, in recent years, it is observed that increased politicization within the European Union has led to increased voter turnout. In 2019, 50.66 percent of EU members voted in the European Parliament election, increasing from 42.61 in 2014. Speculated reasons for this increase are pertaining to Brexit, the Migrant Crisis, climate change policy, and rising concern over anti-EU sentiment.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, like many other western liberal democracies, there has been a steady decline in turnout in general elections over recent decades. After a peak in the 1950 General election with 83.9% turnout in the UK steadily declining to ultimately an all-time low turnout of 59.4% in the 2001 General election. Low turnout and disengagement in elections and the political process is more prevalent in younger voters. In addition to declining turnout over recent decades trust in the government has fallen also leading to disengagement.

United States
According to the Pew Research Center, only 55.7 percent of the U.S. voting age population cast ballots in the 2016 presidential election. This percentage is a slight increase from the 2012 election, but lower than the 2008 election, which had record numbers. Voter turnout numbers in the United States are quite low compared to other developed nations. The United States was ranked 31 out of the 35 countries in this study. The Census Bureau recorded that there were roughly 245.5 million Americans who were eligible to vote, but only 157.6 million of eligible voters were registered to vote. The United States Election Project had similar findings, estimating apathy slightly higher: 46.9 percent of eligible voters did not vote in 2016. Many Americans do not take the effort to learn the voting process, as some see it as a burden.

There is an overemphasis on the number of Americans who have claimed they voted. The Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives only recorded 136.8 million people, compared to the 137.5 million who claimed to have voted. This number also includes 170,000 ballots which were blank, spoiled, or null.

Voter registration in the United States is an independent responsibility, so citizens are able to choose whether they want to register or not. This led to only 64% of the voting age population being registered to vote in 2016. The United States is one of the sole countries that requires its citizens to register separately from voting. The lack of automatic registration contributes to the issue that there are over a third of eligible citizen in the United States that are not registered to vote.

Since 1976, voter turnout has stayed between an 8.5 percent range of fluctuation and has been on a historical downward trend, although there are differences among certain racial, ethnic, and age groups. Turnout has been lingering between 48% and 57% since 1980.

Voters between 45 and 65 year old and voters over 65 years old have the highest rate of voter turnout. In the time span from 1964 to 2004, 18-24 year olds usually had a voter turnout of 41.8%, compared to 25-44 year olds who had a turnout of 57.9%. Voters between 45 and 65 year old and voters over 65 years old have turnout rates of 69.3% and 66.6% respectively. Younger age groups are typically underrepresented in proportion; the greatest percentage of unregistered voters is in the 18-30 year old age group. People in younger age demographics are speculated to be more focused on other aspects in their life, such as college, marriage, and careers. In turn, younger demographics are less likely to learn about politics or understand the implications behind voting. Voters tend to be older, wealthier, and more educated than non-voters.

In a USA Today poll taken in 2012, 59 percent of citizens who chose not to vote because they believed that "'nothing ever gets done' in government". Another 54% of non-voters believed there is government corruption. Thirty seven percent explicitly stated that politics did not make any difference in their lives.

Certain voters are likely to refrain from elections due to their lack of interest in the available political stances. When the wishes of citizens are not properly addressed in government, voters are more likely to become uninterested in the democratic process. One reason for low turnout rates during primaries is due to the apathy regarding who will make it to the general election. Many individuals further believe only the general election in the United States is important. Congressional elections are also prone to political apathy. This leads candidates chosen out of increasingly polarized voter pools, which heighten rigidness and gridlock in the government. There is generally an inverse relationship between level of government and turnout rates.

In the 2016 presidential election in the U.S., turnout was 54.8% while in the midterm elections of 2018 the turnout rate of 50.0% and in the midterm elections of 2014 there was a historic low of 36.7% turnout to the elections. Based on government data, in the last 60 years eligible voters that have cast a ballot has ranged from 49 to 63%. The highest turnout occurred in the 1960 election in which President John F. Kennedy was elected, while the lowest turnout occurred in 1996 with the election for President Bill Clinton.

The 2016 United States presidential election saw political alienation as one of the central issues of the campaign. Both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton made appeals to the working class in Midwestern states by pointing out that they feel as if their votes carried little weight and said communities had been abandoned by past candidates. Trump and Clinton did the same with Black and Latino voters in urban areas, voicing concerns with political alienation in the past. That election also saw an increase in voters in swing states and a decrease in voters living in "safe" states.

In a Google study on "Interested Bystanders," experts discovered that 48.9% of people in America are paying attention to the political world but not voicing any opinion on the matter (non-voting, non-volunteering for campaigns etc.), thus increasing political apathy in America.

Possible solutions
Electoral reforms reducing wasted vote, reducing barriers to entry for new political parties, increasing proportionality and reducing presidentialism can reduce political apathy.

Another possible solution to political apathy in the younger generation is reducing voting age to increase youth suffrage and increased education. Multiple studies have shown that decreased civic instruction starting in the 1960s has led to decreased young voter turnout. In 2014, there was a record-low turnout of adults 18–29 with 20% casting a ballot. In 2018, only nine U.S. states required at least one year of government or civic education. A 2018 survey by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation found only one third of Americans could pass a general citizenship test, just 13% of young Americans knew when the Constitution of the United States was ratified, and less than 50% of respondents could accurately identify the member countries of the Axis powers of World War II. According to the Tuft study, this has led 20% of young adults to avoid voting due to not knowing enough information to cast a ballot.

Other possible solutions for the alienation of voters from politics are voting advice applications and participatory democracy. Belgian historian David van Reybrouck describes in his book Against Elections the current problems in Western democracy as the democratic fatigue syndrome and advocates a deliberative democracy based on sortition.

Civic technology
Civic technology seeks to counteract the effects of political apathy through more modern means, such as social media, applications, and websites. Many startups within the field of civic technology attempt to connect voters to politicians and government, in an attempt to boost voter participation and turnout. Examples include MySociety in the United Kingdom. A John S. and James L. Knight Foundation report found that $431 million had been invested in civic technology from January 2011 through May 2013, with $4 million specifically invested in voting technologies.

For the 2016 US presidential election, Facebook implemented reminders to register to vote in its social network. Several election officials have claimed that these efforts significantly increased voter registration.

See also
 Apoliticism
 Anti-politics
 First they came ...
 Populism
 Abstention
 Anomie
 Anti-democracy
 Democratic deficit
 Disfranchisement
 Non-politics
 Political quietism
 Protest vote
 Religious rejection of politics
 Renunciation of citizenship
 Social alienation
 Wasted vote

References

Political terminology
Youth politics
Voting theory

Political apathy


Michael Shawn Crahan (born September 24, 1969), more commonly known by his stage persona "Clown", is an American musician. He is the co-founder and one of the percussionists for heavy metal band Slipknot, in which he is designated #6. Crahan helped form Slipknot in 1995 alongside bassist Paul Gray and drummer Joey Jordison. Crahan is the only remaining original member of the band.

Crahan is the longest-serving member of Slipknot, performing with the band since its formation in 1995, Crahan also has extensive involvement with Slipknot's media production and music videos. Outside Slipknot, Crahan had two side project bands called To My Surprise and Dirty Little Rabbits. Aside from his musical activity, he also directed the 2016 action thriller film Officer Downe.

Personal life
He performed in bands such as Heads on the Wall and One Cup of Fat before forming The Pale Ones, which would later become known as Slipknot. Crahan married his wife Chantel in June 1993, in Des Moines, Iowa. They had four children together, the youngest of whom died in 2019 at the age of 22. Crahan is also a filmographer and photographer, having published a Slipknot photo album "The Apocalyptic Nightmare" in 2012. In 2012, he made his debut acting appearance in the film The Devil's Carnival.

Career

With Slipknot
In 1995, Crahan formed a metal band known as the Pale Ones with fellow musician Paul Gray, which featured himself as the band's drummer. Wanting to expand the band's percussion section, Crahan brought in Joey Jordison to fill in as drummer while Crahan's efforts were focused on percussion. The lead vocalist, Anders Colsefni, played a second percussion kit, which gave the band a layered, distinctive drum sound. In 1996, they released a song known as "Slipknot", and through Joey's suggestion, the band changed their name to Slipknot and released their first official album. This album would later become known to the band as their demo. Crahan felt that the original vocalist for Slipknot was too guttural, and was the primary reason for Slipknot's inability to get a record deal. He brought in Corey Taylor from another local band called Stone Sour, whose vocals were more melodic. Slipknot got a record deal a couple years later and released their first official album in 1999. Slipknot gained major notability the same year by touring with Ozzfest. In Slipknot's early years, Crahan brought several dead cow heads on stage.

As well as lending his percussion talents to the band, Crahan has also sung backing vocals on a number of songs Slipknot has both recorded and performed live. He also wrote the original draft of "Tattered & Torn", which originally appeared on the band's first album, Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. which featured the original singer of Slipknot before Corey Taylor was brought in as a replacement. A second version of "Tattered & Torn" was released on their self-titled album.

Outside Slipknot, Crahan has founded Big Orange Clown Records, a vanity label within Sanctuary Records, which has so far signed the metalcore band Gizmachi. He also acted as director for, and assembled Slipknot's 2005 DVD, Voliminal: Inside the Nine, while the band was on hiatus.

He also performed with To My Surprise, recording guitar and vocals for the band's self-titled debut album. The band received little interest due to their album being released amidst the success of Slipknot members Corey Taylor, Jim Root and Joey Jordison's side projects, Stone Sour and the Murderdolls, respectively. To My Surprise was later dropped by Roadrunner Records. In 2007, Crahan began performing as drummer for Dirty Little Rabbits. The band was a supporting act for Stone Sour during their North American tour in Summer 2007, and have released one EP, titled Breeding. They have since signed a deal with The End Records as of November 2008.

In 2009, he contributed to Bring Me the Horizon's remix album, Suicide Season: Cut Up!, by remixing the track "Sleep With One Eye Open". Also in 2009, Shawn remixed Coheed and Cambria's "Welcome Home" and a Suicide Silence track on their Wake Up EP entitled "Wake Up (Clown of Slipknot Remix)". In 2010, he contributed to Escape the Fate's This War Is Ours deluxe edition, by remixing the track "This War Is Ours (The Guillotine Part II)," and in 2011, he remixed "Angels of Clarity" for Dead by April on their compilation album "Stronger." Crahan has confirmed the formation of a brand-new side project called The Black Dots of Death who released their debut studio album Ever Since We Were Children on March 28, 2011. He is the director of many of Slipknot's music videos, DVDs and other artistic projects. He also directed the "We Are" videoclip from the band Hollywood Undead

Crahan generally wears clown-style masks while performing with Slipknot; however, on occasion, when performing the band's song "Vermilion", all band members will wear their own death masks instead.

He also featured as the carny "Tamer" in The Devil's Carnival, a short film directed by Darren Lynn Bousman which was screened on their tour beginning in April 2012.

Influence on Slipknot
Crahan has been credited with several things that Slipknot is known for, such as their large percussion section and their masks. Crahan began wearing a clown mask to rehearsals when the band was still fairly unknown, spawning the mask theme that the band is known for today.

Crahan has had several masks throughout his career with Slipknot, all of which are clown themed except for his "death mask", which was used in the video for the song "Vermilion". Crahan's earliest known mask and perhaps his most referenced one is one that he used during Slipknot's earliest self-titled album which is a happy looking clown mask, balding with long orange hair.

Film career
In June 2016, Crahan made his directing debut with the film Officer Downe based on the graphic novel Officer Downe written by Joe Casey and Chris Burnham. Crahan also directed the music video for the song "A-M-E-R-I-C-A" by Motionless in White and "We Are" by Hollywood Undead.

Production work
Crahan has also participated in several other music-related endeavours, and acted as executive producer on L.D. 50 by Mudvayne and the self-titled debut album by downthesun. He was also briefly the owner of a short-lived record label, Maggot Recordings (also known as Maggot Corps.), which existed briefly between 2001 and 2002 as a subsidiary of London-Sire Records, a Warner Music Group label. The label's only signed act was downthesun. The label was rendered defunct following the collapse of London-Sire in January 2002. Downthesun's self-titled debut album, which was scheduled to be released in February 2002 through the label, was eventually released through Roadrunner in October 2002.

Discography

with Slipknot
 Mate. Feed. Kill. Repeat. (1996)
 Slipknot (1999)
 Iowa (2001)
 Vol. 3: (The Subliminal Verses) (2004)
 All Hope Is Gone (2008)
 .5: The Gray Chapter (2014)
 We Are Not Your Kind (2019)
 The End, So Far (2022)

with To My Surprise
 To My Surprise (2003)

with Dirty Little Rabbits
 Breeding (2007)
 Simon (2009)
 Dirty Little Rabbits (2010)

with the Black Dots of Death
 2011: Ever Since We Were Children

Guest appearances and remixes
 American Head Charge – "Just So You Know" (Clown #6 from Slipknot Remix) (2002)
 Mindless Self Indulgence – "Pay for It" (The Son of a Clown Remix) (2008)
 Darren Smith & Terrance Zdunich – "Repo! The Genetic Opera" (2008)
 Marilyn Manson – "Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon" (Clown/Slipknot Fuck the God Damn TV and Radio Remix) (2009)
 Coheed and Cambria – "Clown's Welcome Home" (Shawn Crahan Remix) (2009)
 Dead by April – "Angels of Clarity" (Shawn 'Clown' Crahan Remix) (2009)
 Bring Me the Horizon – "Sleep With One Eye Open" (Clown Remix) (2009)
 Suicide Silence – "Wake Up" (Clown of Slipknot Remix) (2010)
 Escape the Fate – "This War Is Ours (The Guillotine Part II)" (This War Is Mine) (2010)
 Hesta Prynn – "Pepper" (2010)
 On a Pale Horse – "Walks With Death" (Clown / M Shawn Crahan Remix), "Steps" (Clown / M Shawn Crahan Remix) (2011)
 Austra – "Beat and the Pulse" (Clown Remix) (2011)
 Free Dominguez – "Darkest Rivers" (Psychosis Industries: M. Shawn Crahan and Kyle Sherrod "Below the Surface" Remix) (2013)
 Hooverphonic – "Shake The Disease" (Shawn "Clown" From Slipknot Edit The Shake Remix) (2013)

Produced albums
 2000: L.D. 50 – Mudvayne
 2001: Invitation to the Dance – 40 Below Summer
 2002: Downthesun – Downthesun
 2003: To My Surprise – To My Surprise
 2005: The Imbuing – Gizmachi
 2008: Dirtfedd – Dirtfedd

Filmography
 1999: Welcome to Our Neighborhood
 2002: Disasterpieces
 2002: Rollerball
 2006: Voliminal: Inside the Nine
 2008: Repo: The Genetic Opera – percussion
 2008: Nine: The Making of "All Hope Is Gone"
 2010: (sic)nesses
 2011: Goat
 2012: The Devil's Carnival – The Tamer
 2012: A Beary Scary Movie
 2012: We Are (Hollywood Undead music video)
 2013: A M E R I C A (Motionless in White music video)
 2015: "The Vatican Tapes" - cameo
 2016: Officer Downe – director
 2017: Day of the Gusano – director
 2020: Pollution – director (short film)

References

External links

Official website (archived)

American heavy metal drummers
American heavy metal singers
American male singers
Dirty Little Rabbits members
Grammy Award winners
Living people
Nu metal drummers
Musicians from Des Moines, Iowa
Roadrunner Records artists
Slipknot (band) members
20th-century American drummers
American male drummers
American film directors
American music video directors
1969 births

Shawn Crahan