#appropriations

Finally!

House Passes Stalled Homeland Security Funding Bill, Ending Shutdown

By this, I mean, how the writers have harnessed the story world Author plot and storybook existence and shown how in a few oral retellings or translations the gist of the story that we as an audience (and Emma in the story world) know has the bones of autobiographical truth but misses a few crucial details.

I could talk all day about retellings of snow white and Cinderella and Red Riding Hood that the writers of OUaT pay homage to (Red as the Wolf is no where close to being a new take but God they do it well). And then even changing the stories in a way that matches what they do with retellings in a novel way (Regina as the Ursula from Disney anyone? meaning the "real" Ursula can be anyone at all because this audience doesn't actually know Ursula) which serves in the same manner as their nods to existing appropriations and adaptations.

But I think, for me at least, how well they do this in their character of Captain Hook, a literary figure with near nothing specific tying him down and 101 readings because academicians and creatives alike have no consensus on what the hell Barrie was on about.

And from these little glimpses and subtle nods to retellings you can see how the story might have been twisted from autobiographical truth to some of the adaptations we know to the source texts. For example,

1. Hook as the original lost boy - a popular theory in adaptations. We see Killian and Liam in Neverland when he is barely an adult and still naive (sort of) and hopeful, long before his revenge days.

2. Hook as a symbol of adulthood, maturity and aging - for those who read Barrie as an allegory for children rallying against growing up and the only adult cast as a symbol of that, this guy is 300 years old.

3. Hook as the villain - sure thing.

4. Hook as fighting the tyrannical Pan - guess what? We've got that too.

5. Hook as rescuing Lost Boys - got that.

6. Hook as the guy kidnapping or otherwise delivering Pan lost boys - you'll never believe it.

7. It's an Crocodile that takes his hand - Hook calls the guy that took his hand that he's afraid of and hates with a passion a Crocodile.

8. Hook is Pan and vice versa, one grew up to be the other - not quite that. But we have a close enough story in 2 ways - pan/Malcolm and pan/henry.

9. Hook is Peter's father - again, a close enough story is provided that could easily be misremembered a few generations down or mistranslated a few times. Peter is Rumples father.

10. Hook wears red and has a perm - and I really do love this. They drop Blackbeard (the Treasure Island character that Hook was based on [so there's an even better nuance there too, not just in story world building but a nice nod to canon that their story world plot of misappropriations of the oral tradition of bedtime stories and generational stories is entirely feasable]) in Neverland looking exactly like Disney's Hook. Indicating that 'hey a pirate that looks like that is in neverland and well, there's only one of those in the story so it must be Hook' happened at some point.

Even if you have been convinced that PBS and NPR are evil and biased against Trump, here’s what the the bill taking away there funding has done: It was a partisan, Republican-only, needs-only-51-votes-in-the-Senate bill that undid a somewhat bipartisan funding bill that requires 60 votes in the Senate and so thus either a super majority from voters (that ‘mandate’ politicians from both aisles keep claiming to have even if they barely win their races) or requires X Republicans plus Y Democrats to pass.

So the next time a spending bill is needed to keep the government open, and the party in the minority is considering making concessions to vote for it, why would they? Republicans just showed that if they want it badly enough, they could pretend to concede certain line items to secure Democrats votes for the you-need-60-votes-in-the-Senate bill and then turn around a month after it gets signed into law and pass a smaller bill to just cancel whatever policy they had pretended to agree to with democrats, and since that for some reason only requires 50 votes in the Senate, Republicans will likely get it done unless they lose control over the Chamber.

And that’s not even the only way Republicans are undermining the process of the legislative branch. The Supreme Court has lifted injunctions on Trump from willy nilly firing people without cause, hindering the work of departments and agencies created by through legislative process without any new bill from congress, which essentially ignores their past laws. At other times they’re just ignoring what the law says to do (e.g., evidently putting one of the student loan forgiveness plans on hold, claiming it’s impacted by a lawsuit even though it’s not one of the ones the judiciary put on hold).

So that just leaves two reasons why Democrats should ever bother to work with backstabbing Republicans: 1) Republicans could get lucky and the voters could see any shutdown as Democrats’ fault and reward Republicans by heading to the polls the next election and voting Tepublican more or by staying home instead of voting Democrat, and 2) Republicans have a proverbial gun to all things government and want to take away anything good it could do to like curb big business or god forbid prevent needless American deaths, and a Government shutdown ends a lot of those services and who knows what Republicans could just end when it has to furlough staff rather than restart if and when this hypothetical shutdown ended. This was the worry that had Chick Shumer and enough Senste Democrats sign on to the last budget bill despite calls from progressives to not give Republicans the opportunity to claim the effort as bipartisan.

Cultural appropriation in art has been a controversial issue for many years, as it involves taking elements of a culture without proper understanding or respect for its significance. Art movements, in particular, have been impacted by cultural appropriation, as artists have sometimes used cultural elements of other communities without proper acknowledgement or permission.

One way cultural appropriation has impacted art movements is by causing a backlash against certain artists or styles. When artists appropriate elements from cultures without showing proper respect, it can lead to protests and calls for boycotts. For example, in recent years, there have been debates about whether non-Native American artists should be allowed to use Native American motifs in their work.

On the other hand, cultural exchange and cross-cultural inspiration have long been important drivers of artistic innovation and creativity. Artists have been inspired by other cultures for centuries, and this has led to some of the most influential art movements in history, such as Impressionism, Cubism, and Surrealism.

To remain inspired by others without appropriating their cultures, it is important to approach cultural exchange with respect and humility. This means taking the time to understand the cultural significance of the elements you are using and to seek permission and guidance from members of that culture.

In addition, artists should be aware of power dynamics in their work and avoid perpetuating harmful stereotypes or reinforcing inequalities. For example, if an artist is using elements from a historically marginalized culture, they should be conscious of the ways in which their work might perpetuate harmful stereotypes or reinforce existing power imbalances.

The Letter to Santa Claus

December 7, 1903

The US Congress Santa reads President Roosevelt's Message to Congress.

The letter reads "Dear Santa Claus. Please bring a gun for me an Philander Knox - We're going after bribery an corruption an will need some appropriation powder pretty bad. Yours Teddy Roosevelt.”

Congress has a sack full of money labelled Appropriations on his back. He also has donkey and elephant toys, and a drum labelled Campaign Thunder.

Roosevelt would deliver his Message to Congress that night.

See Also: Theodore Roosevelt; Philander Knox

From Hennepin County Library

Nothing says “PARTY!!!” like appropriations! Ah, the good old days!