Jilly_in_VA
Jilly_in_VA's JournalGainsborough's Blue Boy: The private life of a masterpiece
A record number of visitors queued outside the National Gallery in January 1922, despite the drizzly conditions, to see a single painting: Thomas Gainsborough's Blue Boy (c 1770). The artwork was bought by a US collector in 1921 and its imminent departure drew 90,000 people to get a last glimpse what the press had dubbed "the world's most beautiful painting". An article in the London Times claimed that the Blue Boy exemplified the "courtly grace and serene carriage of a people who knew themselves a great people and were not ashamed to own it." To the general population, Gainsborough's Blue Boy was the epitome of high culture and the noble British character.
In January 2022, Blue Boy is making a centenary comeback to the UK and will once again be displayed in the National Gallery, now for a five-month run. But how many visitors this time around will know about the painting's private life as a symbol of gay pride?
Valerie Hedquist, a professor of art history at the University of Montana, has written extensively about the painting and its role as a gay icon. It is partly a tale of unintended consequences, and how artists cede control of their creations once they are absorbed into the public arena. Hedquist tells BBC Culture that when Thomas Gainsborough painted Blue Boy in around 1770 "it was most likely a demonstration piece to show off his talents". The boy is believed to be the artist's nephew, Gainsborough Dupont, dressed in a 17th-Century aristocratic costume as an act of homage to Sir Anthony van Dyck, an artist whose techniques and compositions Gainsborough admired.
Back in 1770, the pose of Blue Boy would have struck people as noble, signalling an exemplary future husband and father. He is standing in an authoritative position known as contrapposto, much used in classical art. The jutting elbow is another well-used pose in European portraiture, described by art historian Joaneath Spicer as "indicative essentially of boldness or control – and therefore of the self-defined masculine role."
But for Hedquist, the idea that the boy in the painting is dressing up in costume and acting is critical to his later reappraisals: "the Blue Boy invites performance," she says.
https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20220120-gainsboroughs-blue-boy-the-private-life-of-a-masterpiece
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Fascinating. I did not know any of this (except about Oscar Wilde).
Deaf Knoxville man sues Parkwest, Covenant Health for refusing to provide an interpreter
(posted earlier in "Tennessee". I think it deserves wider exposure. This is a nationwide proble,. and not only for Deaf Americans."
A federal judge ruled in favor of a Knoxville man to continue his lawsuit against Parkwest Medical Center and Covenant Health on Tuesday, according to court documents obtained by WVLT News.
Scott Tomei is profoundly deaf and communicates by American Sign Language (ASL).
On Oct. 24, 2017, Tomei went to Parkwest Hospital after falling a few days earlier and injuring his right leg and foot.
“Upon his arrival at the hospital, Plaintiff requested a live ASL interpreter,” the document states. “Hospital staff refused Plaintiff’s request.”
Tomei was shown an x-ray of his knee and then sent home with an antibiotic and ibuprofen, but the pain increased. Two days later, he went to the Lenoir City Emergency Room where he was administered multiple medical exams. Doctors there decided to transfer him to Parkwest to see a vascular surgeon for what they thought were blood clots and a Lenoir City nurse called ahead to request an interpreter for him, according to the documents.
https://www.scribd.com/document/554149404/Scott-Allen-Tomei-V-Parkwest-Medical-Center-and-Covenant-Health#from_embed
https://www.wvlt.tv/2022/01/22/deaf-knoxville-man-sues-parkwest-covenant-health-refusing-provide-an-interpreter/
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Blatantly unconstitutional. The hospital will pay big bucks.
School staffer allegedly made girl eat from trash
A Northeast Ohio family says it is painful to watch a video, just released, showing a 9-year-old girl being forced to eat food out of a school cafeteria trash can.
The Lorain City School District released the heavily-blurred video Wednesday afternoon.
A cafeteria monitor and the school’s principal ended up being fired over the incident.
According to the little girl’s attorney, watching the video brought back all the feelings of humiliation and embarrassment she felt right after the incident, which will eventually be heard in federal court.
“What we see is a student finish with her lunch … again, a student finish with her lunch and she goes to throw the lunch away like hundreds and thousands of students across the country do every day,” said Jared Klebanow, one of the attorneys for the girl’s family.
https://www.wate.com/news/national-world/video-shows-ohio-cafeteria-monitor-allegedly-force-9-year-old-to-eat-from-trash/
Deaf Knoxville man sues Parkwest, Covenant Health for refusing to provide an interpreter
A federal judge ruled in favor of a Knoxville man to continue his lawsuit against Parkwest Medical Center and Covenant Health on Tuesday, according to court documents obtained by WVLT News.
Scott Tomei is profoundly deaf and communicates by American Sign Language (ASL).
On Oct. 24, 2017, Tomei went to Parkwest Hospital after falling a few days earlier and injuring his right leg and foot.
“Upon his arrival at the hospital, Plaintiff requested a live ASL interpreter,” the document states. “Hospital staff refused Plaintiff’s request.”
Tomei was shown an x-ray of his knee and then sent home with an antibiotic and ibuprofen, but the pain increased. Two days later, he went to the Lenoir City Emergency Room where he was administered multiple medical exams. Doctors there decided to transfer him to Parkwest to see a vascular surgeon for what they thought were blood clots and a Lenoir City nurse called ahead to request an interpreter for him, according to the documents.
https://www.scribd.com/document/554149404/Scott-Allen-Tomei-V-Parkwest-Medical-Center-and-Covenant-Health#from_embed
https://www.wvlt.tv/2022/01/22/deaf-knoxville-man-sues-parkwest-covenant-health-refusing-provide-an-interpreter/
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Blatantly unconstitutional. The hospital will pay big bucks.
The ER Overcharged Me, So I Gave Them A Taste Of Their Own Medicine
I’m through with the days when a giant company can make a mistake, and then I have to call their corporate support center and wait on hold for hours or escalate the call through countless customer service representatives who argue with me and say there’s nothing that can be done over and over again. I refuse to waste any more of my time working with corporations to fix their mistakes ― or at least, I won’t be doing it for free.
From now on, I’m charging them for these hours, and I’m not cheap. My new rate for waiting on hold or talking to customer service representatives who don’t have the power to help me is $200 an hour. I ask that all corporations keep this in mind and make the “customer service call-line” process go as quickly as possible, for their own sakes, because, you know, there are “processing fees,” “service fees,” “convenience fees” and taxes that I’ll be adding to the total.
I live in America, so I know the routine of calling a customer service line. I know how the representatives like to say “unfortunately” because this little word takes the blame away from the company they represent. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing we can do” takes all responsibility for the problem out of the hands of the corporation and puts it into the hands of someone higher, a place of divination, into the realm of fortune. And what’s a little corporation supposed to do about that? How can a corporation be expected to change your fortune? So, unfortunately, it is not within your “fortune” that these charges be taken off your bill. Fate has decided it.
I went to the ER at a very large hospital chain in Los Angeles back in February 2019 for a thing that turned out to be fine. I spent four hours there waiting for doctors to spend five minutes with me before they could tell me it wasn’t anything to worry about, but that’s not even the point I’m trying to make. I didn’t know how much the ER visit was going to cost me, but I’ve heard horror stories, so I thought I would ask before they did any tests or scans.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/er-overcharged-me-billing-error_n_5d08f133e4b06ad4d2562f5a
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THIS is how to do it!
Fate of New York 'rape is rape' legislation remains unclear as it stalls in Senate
It’s been an entire decade since legislation was first introduced in the State Capitol that would expand the definition of rape in New York.
A full ten years of advocates and supporters arguing for the measure, typically referred to as the “Rape is Rape” bill, and hoping lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will see the need to broaden the legal definition of rape beyond vaginal penetration.
The bill, as written, would redefine rape to include non-consensual sexual contact, including oral and anal, which are currently prosecuted as criminal sexual acts.
Since 2012, the Democratic-led Assembly approved the bill, and it passed again last week by a margin of 129 to 16. The bill has failed to pass the Senate due to being under Republican control until 2019 and pushback from prosecutors.
“For the last 10 years, the Assembly has passed the “Rape is Rape” bill in our effort to give survivors of rape the dignity they deserve,” said sponsor Assemblywoman Catalina Cruz (D-Queens). “Our law is currently enshrined in outdated gendered notions of rape, creating different categories of sexual assault for what is clearly ‘Rape.’”
https://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-elections-government/ny-legislation-defining-rape-stalls-in-state-senate-20220122-25fmz4swzfdu3pwmhmbzx7hvzu-story.html#nt=pf-triple%20chain~triple-recommender~recommender~automated~nycpolitics-recommender~25FMZ4SWZFDU3PWMHMBZX7HVZU~1~5~1~3~art%20yes
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Damn Repigs. Yes I said PIGS.
This grandmother has overseen dozens of elections in her city. And after 2020, she carries a gun
Janice Winfrey doesn't like how the gun feels in her hand.
The 22 caliber pistol fits in the pocket of her wool coat, small enough to carry on her walks around her peaceful neighborhood with her dog. But the metal feels icy against her fingers in the Michigan winter as she touches it, making sure it's there, trying to calm her nerves.
It's the first firearm the grandmother, 63, has ever owned.
"The gun is hard, but I do it because I have to protect myself," said Winfrey.
Like thousands of city, county and municipal clerks across the country, she has been hit with personal and relentless attacks for her part in carrying out the country's most secure election in 2020 -- an election that former President Donald Trump and his supporters baselessly insist was stolen from them. And, with the 2022 midterms approaching, Winfrey is bracing for more.
It's not something she anticipated when she was first elected to the nonpartisan position of Detroit city clerk in 2005.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/01/21/politics/michigan-wisconsin-election-worker-intimidation/index.html
'It was a nightmare': life in the US before legal abortion
Saturday marks the 49th anniversary of the supreme court’s Roe v Wade decision, the landmark ruling that guaranteed the right to an abortion in the US. It could be the last anniversary before it is overturned.
During oral arguments for Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization last year, a majority of the court appeared ready to severely weaken or overturn Roe v Wade, allowing dozens of Republican-led states to acutely restrict access, or ban abortion entirely. A decision is expected this summer.
Such a reversal would be historic. Many Democratic-led states are now likely to pass laws cementing abortion protections, creating oases of access to the procedure in safe, legal settings. But options would still be far more limited.
The 19th spoke with people across the country about their memories of life before the landmark decision, as well as how things have changed in the years since.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/22/us-abortion-roe-v-wade-supreme-court-49-years
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They will never end abortion. They will only change the ways in which women get abortions. And more women will die.
Mitch McConnell slams 'outrageous mischaracterization' over his comment about Black voters
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said Friday there has been an "outrageous mischaracterization" of his history on voting rights and race relations in response to a misspoken comment he made about Black voter turnout.
A backlash built up after McConnell responded Wednesday to a question about voting-related concerns voiced by voters of color by saying: "Well, the concern is misplaced, because if you look at the statistics, African American voters are voting in just as high a percentage as Americans."
Many people decried his comment as implying Black people are not Americans.
McConnell clarified Friday that he inadvertently left out the word 'all' before the word 'Americans' in that much-lambasted sentence. He also pushed back against criticisms of his record during his decades-long political career that have accompanied the uproar over what he said Wednesday.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2022/01/21/mitch-mcconnell-slams-outrageous-mischaracterization-over-his-comment-black-voters/6614989001/
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Mitch, please! "Gaffe", my sainted Aunt Matilda!
Farm Workers Were Trafficked and Threatened With a Gun in South Carolina, Feds Say
Two people in South Carolina allegedly conspired to traffic seasonal agricultural workers, confiscated their passports and immigration documents to keep them from fleeing, and failed to pay them their due wages for sometimes excessive working hours. One of the accused even allegedly brandished and fired a gun as a show of force.
Elizabeth Balcazar and Enrique Balcazar of Batesburg-Leesville and the company Balcazar Nature Harvesting were federally charged last month with conspiracy to commit labor trafficking and fraud in foreign labor contracting, as well as confiscation of workers’ passports and immigration documents, according to an announcement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of South Carolina last week.
At least one individual, a migrant from Mexico described as “Victim 1” in the indictment, was also allegedly made to believe they’d be deported if they failed to work hard enough, according to the indictment.
According to the indictment, that worker was recruited last spring. The indictment did not elaborate on the current status of the workers.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/m7v38x/south-carolina-balcazar-human-trafficking-farm-workers
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