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Meghan Markle, Prince Harry accused of trying to have it both ways – PennLive

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Danzig

The leader of an organization seeking to create a British republic openly chided Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Graham Smith, CEO of Republic, an organization that seeks to abolish the British monarchy, stated in an interview with Express.co.uk that the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are trying to have their cake and eat it too.

I would not suggest that anybody follows their example because they are trying to have it both ways, stated Smith. They are trying to exploit their status and titles for their own personal gain as far as I can see.

For Smith, Harry and Meghan should either be entirely a part of the royal familymeaning they should perform all the duties and comply by the traditions that come with its statusor completely break from it by dropping all the their royal trappings, titles and financial monopolization of said titles included.

But they are trying to have it both ways, he continued. Part of this deal is cashing in on their statuses and titles. Thats not really appropriate.

After their very public break from the royal family back in January, Harry and Meghans Megexit lifestyle has continued to garner media attention. Despite claiming to want complete financial independence within their new private lifestyle, Harry and Meghan continue to leverage their story and their former royal lifestyle by cashing in on a deal with streaming behemoth, Netflix, for projects that may focus on their story. The couple also allegedly spent $400 an hour recording a podcast at a beach house together.

For their part, Harry and Meghan did return taxpayer money of $3.2 million to refund the cost of their home in England, Frogmore Cottage.

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Meghan Markle, Prince Harry accused of trying to have it both ways - PennLive

IKEA keen to develop shopping centres in India – Mint

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Danzig

NEW DELHI: Swedish furniture retailer IKEA on Thursday said it is interested in developing its Ingka Centers in India as part of its global expansion stargety.

As part of Ingka Centers global expansion strategy we are interested in developing IKEA-anchored meeting places in India but we are not able to provide more details at this point," the company spokesperson said in response to a query from Mint. Ingka Centres is a division of Ingka Group which owns most IKEA stores worldwide.

Ingka Centres owns 45 shopping centres in China, Europe, and Russia and hosts 480 million visitors each year. These are large shopping centres with IKEA stores as anchor stores. Overseas, some of these centres have over 200 shops including large hypermarkets stores such as Carrefour, apart from fashion brands such as H&M and food stores.

On Thursday, Business Standard reported that the company was looking to set up such centres in Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru and Mumbai, citing sources privy to the retailers India expansion plans.

The news comes as IKEA is looking to build its business across multiple formats--opening large and small stores as well as accelerating sales online.

In India, the retailer has one store in Hyderabad. It also opened up online sales in Pune ahead of a store in the city. The retailer is set to open a store in Navi Mumbai; two small format stores in Mumbai will open in 2021.

In an interview with Mint last year, IKEA India chief executive Peter Betzel, had said the company was adopting an omni-channel" approach as it expands in the country.

We need to be much more accessible to many people, which means adopting a true omni-channel approach. This means the big stores and small formats in the big cities of Mumbai, Delhi and Bengaluru and then also having an online approach. This is exactly what we need in India. If we look at how many physical meeting places we will have, may be in 8, 10 or 15 years, it would be much more than 25. Whether it will be 25 big stores, I cannot say today, Betzel said.

Ingka Group, the parent company of IKEA has three business including are IKEA Retail, which operates 367 IKEA stores. Ingka Investments, whose main mission is to protect the financial independence of the group, and Ingka Centres.

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East Cobb resident named to Tommy Nobis Center board of directors – East Cobb News

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Danzig

Submitted information and photo:

TommyNobisCenter,a Marietta-based nonprofit that helps individuals with disabilities enter or return to employment, recently elected Jerry Chang as a new board member.

Chang is senior managing director and partner at Ankura, a management consulting firm with clients in the legal, corporate, government, and nonprofit sectors. Chang has over 25 years of experience specializing in valuation and financial advisory, including mergers and acquisitions, strategic partnerships, strategic planning, and litigation support. He attended Georgia Tech before earning his BBA in finance, with honors, from Georgia State University and his MBA in business and finance from Emory Universitys Goizueta Business School. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and was a member of Leadership Atlantas class of 2020.

I am honored and excited to serve on the Board of Directors ofTommyNobisCenter, says Chang. I am looking forward to helping transform the lives of many people with disabilities.

Chang believes that people with disabilities deserve to be treated with respect and dignity and given the opportunity to work toward financial independence. He supports the inclusion of all people in the workplace.

Jerrys experience and passion will be an incredible asset to our board, says Dave Ward, President and CEO ofTommyNobisCenter. His expertise and servants heart are the perfect combination for helping us achieve our mission and change lives.

Every Sunday we round up the weeks top headlines and preview the upcoming week in the East Cobb News Digest.Click hereto sign up, and youre good to go!

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East Cobb resident named to Tommy Nobis Center board of directors - East Cobb News

Opinion: Barbara Brys Wealth Gives Her The Independence to Be a Great Mayor – Times of San Diego

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Danzig

Share This Article:San Diego Councilwoman Barbara Bry gives a prep talk to volunteers before a caravan for her mayoral candidacy. Photo by Chris StoneBy Colleen O'Connor

A recent spate of articles has focused on Barbara Brys wealth, implying it is somehow a disqualifying negative.

Support Times of San Diego's growthwith a small monthly contribution

In fact, it is a tremendous positive. Think FDR, JFK, and other great leaders who defied the entrenched powers that be to get great things done.

Why is Brys wealth an asset? Because she earned it herself and is using it to defy the special interests that have too long dominated San Diego politics.

An MBA from Harvard, a high-tech entrepreneur, and a budgetary wonk, Bry earned her own money as a co-founder of ProFlowers. She possess a rare combination of strengths rare for political office holder.

Because of this, she is genuinely independentbeholden to no one.

She can also read a balance sheet; decipher a budgets hidden flaws and giveaways (remember the Ash Street scandal); comprehend biotech and high-tech innovations; and make the tough decisions in the best interests of the city.

In short, she is exactly what San Diego needs in a post-pandemic, economic recession era.

However, two issues surrounding Brys financial investments have garnered scrutiny, including one involving San Diego Gas & Electric.

She is a proponent of the citys new government-run utility called San Diego Community Power, which is slated to begin purchasing more renewable energy for the city starting next year. At the same time, SDG&Es exclusive contract to distribute power is expiring after 50 years.

Brys financial holdings include Berkshire Hathaway, which has expressed an interest in competing against SDG&E. Some stories hint that this constitutes a conflict.

However, Bry has promised to recuse herself from that final vote, should Berkshire Hathaway finally decide to submit a bid. And thats the right thing to do.

According to the Voice of San Diego, one government ethics expert summed up Brys recusal promise this way: Thats just greatClearly that individual [Bry] is thinking not only about the law, but also about what his or her constituents expectations are, and expectations of fairness in the process.

The second financial tie involves Brys stock ownership in fossil fuel companies, even though she opposes offshore oil drilling. This is hardly, a city-centric conflict of interest.

So, lets look at the real issues and questions separating Bry and Todd Gloria: housing development, vacation rentals, height limits and fairness in local government processes.

San Diego does not need more residential neighborhood infill projects mandated by Sacramento, more Airbnb rentals destroying once tranquil neighborhoods, more dockless scooters, or more cement projects paving over our neglected parks.

The city definitely does not need elimination of the 30-foot height limit anywhere near water, including the Midway District.

As environmentalist Donna Frye has written, The San Diego City Council put this half-baked measure on the ballot with no environmental review and no requirement that any affordable housing be built.

As for fairness in local government, how about that Sports Arena redevelopment that was rushed through with only four bidders. Imagine a billion-dollar plus project with so few bidders. Its another flawed process that Gloria supports and Bry opposes.

For his part, Gloria constantly argues for more development. It is time for us to quit acting like a small town and instead start acting like the eighth-largest city in the country that we are, he says. If we do that, we can dispense with the issues that have been on the table for so long but never seem to get addressed.

What are those issues on the table? The 101 Ash Street scandal? Sacramentos control over local land-use issues? Rushed mega-developments?

Gloria essentially wants an end to all that makes San Diego a desirable and human-scale city. He wants bigger, higher and denser projects that are fast-tracked to groundbreaking.

Bry is self-funding her campaign, in part, to fight these done deals.

Look at her broad support from diverse local activists and environmentalists, including Donna Frye, Richard Ybarra, Father Joe Carroll and Supervisor Dianne Jacob. Not to mention Save San Diego Neighborhoods and numerous local Democratic clubs.

All know that Barbara Bry is the right person at the right time for the right reasons.

Colleen OConnor is a native San Diegan and a retired college professor.

Opinion: Barbara Brys Wealth Gives Her The Independence to Be a Great Mayor was last modified: October 28th, 2020 by Editor

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Opinion: Barbara Brys Wealth Gives Her The Independence to Be a Great Mayor - Times of San Diego

Independence Realty Trust Announces Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results – Cadillac News

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Danzig

PHILADELPHIA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 28, 2020--

Independence Realty Trust, Inc. (IRT) (NYSE: IRT), a multifamily apartment REIT, today announced its third quarter 2020 financial results.

Included later in this press release are definitions of NOI, CFFO, Adjusted EBITDA and other Non-GAAP financial measures and reconciliations of such measures to their most comparable financial measures as calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

Our quarter and year-to-date 2020 results reflect the continued resiliency of our portfolio and dedication of our team. said Scott Schaeffer, Chairman and CEO of IRT. We increased same store portfolio average occupancy on a quarter-over-quarter and year-over-year basis and delivered NOI growth of 0.5% in the third quarter, collecting 98.9% of rents billed and maintaining a conservative reserve for uncollected rents. We remain confident in our strategy, as we look to close out 2020 with positive momentum heading into 2021.

IRT is committed to managing our business for long-term success, as evidenced by recent advancements in our value add and capital recycling programs. In the third quarter, we progressed with renovations at 17 of our properties and have taken a proactive approach to acquiring and divesting properties which will better position our portfolio. Our actions support continued efforts to increase our return on investment at existing properties, as well as rotate capital out of non-core markets that offer limited growth potential and into core markets that fit our long-term investment criteria. We are also focused on the strength of our balance sheet, having approximately $217 million in total liquidity at quarter-end.

Same Store Property Operating Results

Third Quarter 2020 Compared toThird Quarter 2019 (1)

Nine Months Ended 9/30/20Compared to Nine MonthsEnded 9/30/19 (1)

Rental and other property revenue

3.0% increase

Property operating expenses

6.8% increase

3.6% increase

Net operating income (NOI)

0.5% increase

2.6% increase

Portfolio average occupancy

40 bps increase to 94.0%

40 bps decrease to 93.3%

Portfolio average rental rate

2.2% increase to $1,106

3.7% increase to $1,101

NOI Margin

150 bps decrease to 58.8%

30 bps decrease to 60.2%

(1)

Same Store Property Operating Results, Excluding Value Add

The same store portfolio results below exclude 16 communities that are both part of the same store portfolio and were actively undergoing Value Add renovations during the three months ended September 30, 2020.

Third Quarter 2020 Compared toThird Quarter 2019 (1)

Nine Months Ended 9/30/20Compared to Nine MonthsEnded 9/30/19 (1)

Rental and other property revenue

1.2% increase

1.9% increase

Property operating expenses

6.2% increase

1.9% increase

Net operating income (NOI)

2.1% decrease

1.9% increase

Portfolio average occupancy

40 bps decrease to 94.6%

50 bps decrease to 94.5%

Portfolio average rental rate

0.8% increase to $1,084

1.9% increase to $1,084

NOI Margin

200 bps decrease to 58.3%

No change 60.5%

(1)

(Dollars in thousands, except per unit data)

Rent collections

3Q 2020

3Q 2019

2Q 2020

Rent collected for the period presented, as apercentage of rent billed

98.8%

99.1%

98.2%

Deferred payment plans: (3)

Number of deferred payment plans originated

260

Amount of monthly rent deferred for period presented

$55

$424

Amount of monthly rent deferred for the periodpresented, as a percentage of rent billed

0.1%

0.0%

0.9%

Combined rent collected and rent subject to deferredpayment plans, as a percentage of rent billed

98.9%

99.1%

(1)

(2)

(3)

During the third quarter of 2020 and as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, we recorded a $80,000 provision for bad debts. The table below presents additional details on the components of bad debt:

Components of Bad Debt(1)

3Q 2020

3Q 2019

2Q 2020

Amount

Independence Realty Trust Announces Third Quarter 2020 Financial Results - Cadillac News

Indonesian clinic keeps villagers and forests healthy – Thomson Reuters Foundation

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Danzig

By Michael Taylor

Oct 27 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Offering affordable healthcare to communities living near forests could help reduce illegal logging and fight global warming, researchers said, as an organisation running such a service in Indonesia won a U.N. climate award on Tuesday.

A new study led by Stanford University analysed the health centre serving 120,000 people, set up by U.S.-based Health In Harmony and a local nonprofit adjacent to Gunung Palung National Park in West Kalimantan on the Indonesian part of Borneo island.

Using satellite images and patient records from 2009-2019, researchers linked the health programme to a 70% fall in deforestation compared with other national parks, equivalent to protecting more than 27 sq km (10 sq miles) of forest.

Study co-author Susanne Sokolow, a scientist at the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment, said the researchers had observed a strong reduction in the rate of forest loss.

"Importantly, we also found that the more engaged the villagers were in terms of how many times they visited the clinic or participated in conservation programmes ... the more impact we saw," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The largest drop-offs in logging occurred next to villages that used the clinic the most, the study said.

Globally, about 35% of protected natural areas are traditionally owned, managed, used or occupied by indigenous and local communities, yet they are rarely considered in the design of conservation and climate programmes, according to Stanford.

Seeking solutions, Health In Harmony and its Indonesia-based sister organisation Alam Sehat Lestari (ASRI) first questioned local communities and found that a key reason why they cut down trees was to pay for healthcare.

With this information, they established an affordable clinic in 2007, serving thousands of patients by accepting a range of alternative payments, such as tree seedlings, handicrafts, manure and labour a system created with the communities.

Through agreements made with district leaders, the clinic also provided discounts to villages that could show evidence of reductions in illegal logging.

In addition, it offered training in sustainable, organic agriculture and a chainsaw buy-back scheme.

Health In Harmony was named winner of aU.N. Global Climate Action Award on Tuesday for its work to reverse deforestation, meet the health needs of communities and empower women farmers.

Alongside the Borneo clinic, it runs a kitchen garden programme that has helped about 325 women grow and sell vegetables, as well as providing more than 280 goats to elderly widows to promote their financial independence.

The Stanford study, published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, said the 70% fall in deforestation was equivalent to an averted carbon loss estimated to be worth more than $65 million, using European carbon market prices.

The researchers also measured significant falls in infectious and other diseases, such as malaria and tuberculosis.

Monica Nirmala, executive director of the clinic from 2014 to 2018 and a board member of Health In Harmony, said the data in the study supported two important conclusions.

"Human health is integral to the conservation of nature and vice versa, and we need to listen to the guidance of rainforest communities who know best how to live in balance with their forests," she said in a statement.

Stanford researchers are working with the two nonprofits as they look to replicate the approach with other rainforest communities in Indonesia, Madagascar and Brazil.

Forests overlooked as allies in global poverty fight, scientists say

Cash payments to cut poverty in Indonesian villages help forests too

Jailing of farmer who cut 20 trees spotlights Indonesia land conflicts

(Reporting by Michael Taylor @MickSTaylor; editing by Megan Rowling. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Indonesian clinic keeps villagers and forests healthy - Thomson Reuters Foundation

Hubspot Front-End Web Developer job with rewardStyle | 148625 – The Business of Fashion

Posted on October 29, 2020 by Danzig

Title:Hubspot Front-End Web Developer

Role type:Contract-to-Hire

Hours:Full-Time, Flexible Work Schedule Required.

Location:Dallas, Texas (Daily in-office at our HQ located in Uptown Area of Dallas)

Reports to:Head of Marketing Operations

rewardStyle is looking for acontract-to-hire Front-End Web Developerto produce and maintain Hubspot powered web pages, banners, and targeted communications from the rewardStyle + LIKEtoKNOWit websites. The ideal candidate will be experienced in creating SEO-friendly Hubspot pages and WordPress sites. This is an amazing opportunity for a creative, driven developer to execute flawless results that could lead to a potential full-time position with rewardStyle.

Your responsibilities will include:

Successful candidates will have:

Eligible for Remote Work: Yes

Want to see what it is like inside rewardStyle HQ?

https://youtu.be/U39GQ0f7UMI

About Us

Since 2011, rewardStyle has fueled the arrival of a new influence on the retail industry: professional content creators. By providing the innovative technologies, strategic growth consultancy and partnerships necessary to empower a global network of 25,000 premium lifestyle content creators, rewardStyle is making a tangible impact on global e-commerce sales.In 2018, rewardStyle Influencers drove more than $1 billion in online retail sales.

LIKEtoKNOW.it, rewardStyle's consumer-facing shopping platformwhich makes beautiful and original influencer content actionable for millions of consumers worldwide, was launched in 2014. In March 2017, the game-changing LIKEtoKNOW.it app was launched, featuring a proprietary technology that allows consumers to instantly shop their screenshots of influencer-created imagery anywhere they discover it across social media and the mobile web.

Honored as one of the50 Most Innovative Companies in the World by Fast Company,rewardStyle has redirected the lifestyle publishing industry and contributed to the professionalization and financial independence of thousands of influencers worldwide, enabling them to earn meaningful revenue on their digital content and ultimately empowering them to create and grow small businesses into internationally recognized brands.

Today, more than 250 team members work from rewardStyle offices in Dallas, London, New York, Shanghai, So Paulo, Los Angeles, and Berlin.

COVID Working Status:

The health and safety of our employees remains the number one priority at rewardStyle during COVID-19. In an effort to keep our employees and their families safe during this time, we have temporarily closed our brick and mortar offices to all employees. The entire company is working remotely until further notice.

____

rewardStyle is an Equal Opportunity Employer.

We are not offering sponsorships opportunities at this time for persons requiring employment visas, such as an H-1B; authorization to work in the U.S. is a precondition of employment.

Any unsolicited resumes/candidate profiles submitted through our website or to personal email accounts of employees of rewardStyle are considered property of rewardStyle and are not subject to payment of agency fees.

See more here:

Hubspot Front-End Web Developer job with rewardStyle | 148625 - The Business of Fashion

Study links daily spiritual practices to improved well-being and mental health – Baptist News Global

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

A national study conducted by sending text messages to smartphone users demonstrates that consistent spiritual practices can serve as a buffer against depression and boost overall well-being, social scientists say.

This study is unique because it examines daily spiritual experiences such as feeling Gods presence, finding strength in religion or spirituality, and feeling inner peace and harmony as both stable traits and as states that fluctuate, said study co-author and Baylor University sociologistMatt Bradshaw.

The study, published in The International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, employs a process developed by SoulPlus, a John Templeton Foundation project on religion, spirituality and wellbeing.

Due to the prevalence of smartphones, researchers were able to send digital prompts to participants over a 14-day period and track their moods, spiritual attitudes and responses to basic questions not just in one survey but in a series of surveys that painted a more complex picture of their lives.

Texting survey questions to smartphone users was key in providing confidence about the findings, according to Blake Victor Kent, assistant professor of sociology at Westmont College in Santa Barbara, Calif.

Nearly 2,800 individuals were surveyed from 2013 to 2016, each receiving two texts a day for two weeks, said Kent, also a research associate at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, and a graduate student at Baylor when the study was conducted.

Participants were asked to respond to theistic questions and statements such as, I feel Gods presence, I feel closer to God and I find strength and comfort in my religion or spirituality. Non-theistic topics included, I feel a deep inner peace or harmony, I feel thankful for my blessings and I am spiritually touched by the beautify of creation.

Up to 15 questions from a pool of 100 were asked in each of the two daily sessions.

The goal was to ensure that temporary conditions, such as the death of a loved one, were not recorded as permanent depressive states. By asking recurring or similar questions over 14 days, researchers were able to discern between temporary feelings and fixed traits. Kent said that is more difficult to determine with survey data collected in just one or two sessions.

The primary advantage of this approach is it allows us to challenge the assumption that what we are measuring at one point in time is a stable view of that person.

Having a firmer grasp of whats fleeting and whats stable in participants emotional and spiritual lives makes for a much more solid understanding of how spirituality impacts depression and other mood states, he said. People who have more daily spiritual experiences than others had lower levels of depressive symptoms and higher levels of flourishing.

The survey could be of potential use in a number of fields, including health care, he said. Religion and spirituality are increasingly recognized by health professionals as effective in helping people cope with stressors. They cant prescribe religion or spirituality, but it is perfectly feasible and ethical to ask people if they have any religious beliefs or grounding that they can turn to as a way of seeking healing and health.

Clergy and chaplains also could use the information in the survey, and some churches already have used it as a discipleship tool, Kent reported. Its relevant to anyone in pastoral care ministry because it asks people to think through the positives and negatives of their day-to-day lives.

The participants themselves said they benefitted from the two-week process, he said. We had people tell us going through the study actually cultivated awareness of Gods presence around them, or that this feels like a spiritual discipline.

Original post:

Study links daily spiritual practices to improved well-being and mental health - Baptist News Global

Brother Voodoo offers Marvel a chance to explore Black spirituality and acceptance – SYFY WIRE

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

Although it will be another two years before the sequel to Marvels Doctor Strange hits theaters, rumors are already beginning to circulate about new characters we may see in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. One of the most popular rumors is that Marvel fans will be introduced to another master of the mystic arts, Brother Voodoo, also known as Doctor Voodoo. Should those rumors be true, Brother Voodoos presence in the Marvel Cinematic Universe would open the door for audiences to see what religion and spirituality look like within the Black diaspora, while also establishing respect for traditional West African spiritual practices and religions. While the film industry is continuously improving its inclusivity of Black talent and audiences, it still has a long way to go in accurately portraying a complete picture of Blackness.

The representation and symbolism that is deeply ingrained in Brother Voodoos story and identity hopes to make visible the entirety of the Black diaspora and unlocks conversations of hope, acceptance, respect, and normalization of Black spiritual and religious practices. His background shows that he is more than just a centerpiece in the world of magic for the Marvel Universe, but also signals the need for a larger discussion on visibility for Black people, and who we are at our core.

THE MYTHOS OF BROTHER VOODOO

From the time enslaved Africans were first forced onto slave ships in the 1600s to the present day, religion and spirituality have always served as essential forms of survival throughout the diaspora. Dr. Will Coleman, a Black theologist whose studies have focused on theological and historical analysis of enslaved Africans, wrote in West African Roots of African American Spirituality, that People of African descent retained elements of their original spirituality and combined them with European and Euro-American religious ideas and practices to craft a world view that provided them with resources for both survival and liberation. This can be seen in the use of Voodoo (more recentlyspelled "Vodou"), Hoodoo, Santeria, and other practices to retaliate against their slave masters, heal those around them, or to empower themselves.

What sets Brother Voodoo, whose real name is Jericho Drumm, apart from more popular Marvel magicians like DoctorStrange, Scarlet Witch, or Loki is that Vodou is not really magic at all, especially in the way that we would traditionally think about it. It is a religion that is rooted in ones relationship with their ancestors, lwas, or other deities, nature, and justice. His power does not come from an extradimensional source, but rather from the strength of his connection to his faith and fulfilling his purpose as an ougun. These same elements are present in other religious and spiritual practices that come from West Africa such as Lucum, Santeria, Brujera, Candombl, Voodoo and Hoodoo, and Yoruba.

Brother Voodoo first made his appearance in Strange Tales #169 in 1973. Born in Haiti, Jericho was an accomplished psychologist, doctor, and author who left home to pursue a college education, and to avoid the shame he felt because of his familys deep-rooted belief and practice of Vodou. Upon his return to Haiti, he found his twin brother, Daniel Drumm, who was his hometowns supreme ougun(a Vodou priest dedicated to healing the sick, protecting people, and maintaining the balance between the natural world and spirit world) lying sick on his deathbed.

After a violent encounter with Damballah the Serpent God, who is a spirit or lwa, Daniel was cursed. As he lay dying, Daniel tried to instruct his brother to find Papa Jambo, a master practitioner of Vodou and Daniels mentor, to help defeat Damballah. However, Jericho still did not believe in Vodou, and attempted to save him with modern medicine to no avail. Daniel dies, and Jericho is drowned by grief and an itch to settle the score.

When Jericho found Jambo after a dangerous journey to help save Haiti and the world from Damballahs influence, the Vodou master suggested that Jericho be Haitis new ougun, as he was fated to ascend into the role. Jericho donned his late brothers traditional garb and committed to studying Vodou under Jambo, vowing to be the best and most knowledgeable student of the craft in order to avenge his brother. In his quest to become more powerful, Jambo initiated a ritual that evoked Daniels spirit from the grave. Drawn to Jericho, Daniels spirit merged into his body. This gave Jericho white streaks of hair and a V branded into the skin between his eyebrows.

THE DEMONIZATION OF AFRICAN RELIGIONS

Jericho is an incredibly powerful character known for his pure heart and dedication to maintaining the equilibrium between the world of man and the world of spirits. Most magic practitioners in the Marvel Universe who routinely use magic as a tool to bend reality at their will or to get what they want (even for the sake of good). However, he is widely respected for understanding that good and evil; life and death; light and darkness exist in a balance and a cycle, and uses his powers accordingly. While the characters powers and adventures are played up to fit the world of comic books, many of the ideas and values that are central to the character are based in real-life practices of Vodou and other traditional West African spiritual practices. These practices are central to the Black experience throughout world history, which contextualizes the relationship that exists between Black identity, spirituality, and liberation today.

Before he was Brother Voodoo, though, Jericho was attempting to run from his familys relationship with Vodou an all too familiar occurrence for many Black people in real life. Rejecting Vodou or other types of spirituality is symbolic of the large push toward the assimilation of enslaved Africans in the Americas to adopt Abrahamic faiths. The result was the demonization of traditional African religions, which caused many of them to fall away from or even detest an essential aspect of their ancestry.

A lot of us had to protect ourselves by covering it up with Christian Saints or Catholic Saints instead of the Yoruba gods, or any of our traditional African religion aspects, says Veronica Carr, a 19-year-old Howard University student studying Film & TV who practices Hoodoo herself.

CONTEXTUALIZING BLACK SPIRITUALITY

Many Black people are beginning to return to traditional West African-based spiritualities and forms of religion because of the recent string of sociopolitical events that have rocked the Black community within the past five to six years. This makes Brother Voodoos feature on the silver screen incredibly relevant to todays demographic of Black nerds. Black people, particularly women, are exercising their religious autonomy by choosing to center their spirituality, and feel a stronger connection to those rooted in Blackness.

I think its really great cause I think were seeing [...] kind of a renaissance, says Imani Bryant, a Howard University senior who is a practicing Christian and is currently conducting research for their senior thesis on Black and queer liberation theology. Its just really interesting to be in this moment where a lot of people are very comfortable coming back to these traditional practices and these syncretic religions because Voodoo, Vodoun, Hoodoo, Palo, and Santeria, theyre all syncretic religions with traditional West African practices, some native practices, and Christianity, so its really interesting to be in this moment.

Some Black practicing Christians still unknowingly hold remnants of the practices that were commonplace within traditional West African religions, which is another key element in recognizing contemporary Black spiritual practice within the media. This grounds Brother Voodoo in the current Black experience, and even connects him to those who may not overtly practice traditional African religions but still see some of those commonalities in their religious and spiritual practices.

Modern Christianity, the way that the captor taught the Black people is you [aren't] supposed to be doing all of that dancing. Youre not supposed to do all of that. Thats a part of our culture in praise, explains Melanie Cole, a devout Christian who has generational ties to Voodoo and Hoodoo. Dance has always been a part of us. We dance. We sing and we praise. Thats who we are.

Were always talking about people who passed on as still watching over us but we dont name it, Bryant says. So, Ive been very intentional in bringing that back to being named because I think that its really important, and it's something thats [...] really ancient within Blackness. If you go all the way back to West Africa, you see part of a lot of religions and a lot of spiritual practices in West Africa incorporated ancestor veneration as the main form of worship.

While its important to remember that Brother Voodoo is a comic book superhero and not a Christian figure, the real traditions and history of Black spirituality that shape his character and powers are a vital part of the breadth of the Black experience. Traditional West African practices have influenced comics in this way, but more importantly, theyve shaped other areas of mainstream Black religious and spiritual worship, which many people might not be aware of. Without overstating Brother Voodoos importance, the character offers a chance to expose a mass audience to this key aspect of Blackness and for Hollywood to depict it right for once.

MORE THAN A CENTERPIECE

The entertainment industry has not done a good job of recognizing Black spirituality in all its forms without mocking or dehumanizing them. Usually, film and TV portrayBlack religions as being over-sensualized, dark, demonic, exotic, or even comedic, which contributes to its general disregard and misrepresentation such as Spell (2020) starring Omari Hardwick or even Princess and the Frog (2009)starring Anika Nani Rose. Acknowledging the intersection of Black identity and spirituality, along with the historical context behind it, is the next step in the conversation of creating a holistic and complete picture of Blackness that has long been denied to us.

I think it gets convoluted just because, in that sense, nobody has done the research, nobody has taken the time to realize the gravity of what it holds for Black people as a whole,Carr states. I feel like if were going to talk about traditional African religions in media, I think, when it has been handled by white studios or white producers, that it has a tendency to not really be the true nature of what its supposed to be.

Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness represents a chance, should the rumors be true, for mainstream audiences to be exposed to a powerful character who represents this major facet of Blackness. If thats the case, then its upon Marvel Studios to ensure that Brother Voodoo is a responsible, faithful representation of traditional West African spiritual practices and religions. With the huge successes of Black comic book characters such as the late Chadwick Bosemans Black Panther and Mike Colters Luke Cage, we know that Marvel has the ability to create characters and build worlds that are true to the Black diaspora. In any case, Brother Voodoo remains an important character, one who deserves his time in the limelight.

Spirituality and faith are key elements of Black identity. It is past time that we have a Brother Voodoo that showcases this in an authentic way which pays respect to the struggle of our ancestors, and to the interconnected experiences of Black people all around the world. Despite attempts to deprive Black people of our humanity, and strip us of our identity through imperialism, conquest, and assimilation, Brother Voodoo symbolizes the fact that we have instead found the strength to rebirth ourselves in our faiths, and used it to find freedom and liberation.

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Brother Voodoo offers Marvel a chance to explore Black spirituality and acceptance - SYFY WIRE

Everything eco-friendly for the spiritual vibe – The New Indian Express

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

By Express News Service

Theyear has taught us lessons that decades havent taught us. From stopping us inour tracks due toCoronavirus to flash floods sending shockwaves across Hyderabad last week, we have learnt whywe should not mess with the environment and value what we have.

This attitude also has given many a certain spiritual vibe which may come with the newly-stemmed gratitude. We ask two Hyderabadis how to bring the spiritual vibe to Dasara this year and carry the same spirit into the rest of the year.

Rina Hindocha, a yoga expert in Hyderabad, tells us the best ways to bring in the spiritual element into our lives is to celebrate festivals in eco-friendly ways. From the Sathvik food we eat to the plates we use, we are trying to be conscious in our living, she says.

COCONUT ROPES AND JUTE MATS

FRESH, LOCAL, HOMEMADE Dasara comes immediately after the monsoons. In this time of seasonal transition, sticking to Saatvik food - homemade, fresh, using local and vegetarian ingredients - is the best bet for your immunity. Several people take a meal of just fresh fruits and milk, which are least prone to damage or going bad.

You cant say the same about the packaged foods of the market and the toxins that it may breed over time. Secondly, for spiritual reasons, Saatvik eating is the best if you want to promote clear thinking and concentration power.

It also aids your metabolic rate and digestion power, says Rina, who is known for her agile body and her asanas. She says that food is a big part of her lifestyle and that combined with a dedicated yogic lifestyle helps her stay calm, happy and agile. Sarika suggests fasting soon after the festive feasting.

THE MAGIC CARPETWe have all have different vibes and we need to retain that to be able to amplify the divinity in our lives. Do not share your meditation pillow or your chanting bag with others. These may sound like small things, but our touch has our energy and thereforehave your personalised pooja beads, says Sarika who is a Krishna devotee.

HOMEMADE AND HANDMADE We take four lemons and tie them separately in a muslin cloth and place in all four corners to remove negativity. We light candles, earthen diyas, to bring in positive energy - play spiritual music with electronic bells like Gayatri mantra. Light incense sticks in four corners of the house at sunrise and sunset to boost the spiritual quotient of the house, says Rina.

Many people underestimate the power of their mobile phone rings. I advise all of you to change your ringtone to something pleasant and spiritual as everytime your phone rings, it brings in its own vibe. An average persons phone rings 30 times a day. If you are devotional, use a chant of your favourite god. If you are not much into prayers etc, try using a Buddhist chime/chant or even an instrumental music clipping like a morning raga. Set a new ringtone on Dasara, advises Sarika.

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Everything eco-friendly for the spiritual vibe - The New Indian Express

Chaplains and the role of spiritual care in Healthcare – The Laconia Daily Sun

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

PLYMOUTH In celebration of National Pastoral/Spiritual Care Week, Pemi-Baker Community Health would like to acknowledge and thank Guy Tillson, MDiv, MA for being our Hospice Chaplain, an integral part of our hospice team. This years theme is Collaborative Health Care: Chaplains Complete the Picture. By collaborating to provide holistic interdisciplinary care, our patients and families directly benefit from his presence and spiritual care services.

What a Home Care Chaplain Does

A home care chaplain is a professionally trained clergy member who supports patients and staff with spiritual and religious concerns. He or she is clinically trained to help navigate the healthcare experience. Chaplains have similar skill sets to social workers, but are specially trained to support belief systems across faiths and cultures. In order to better meet the needs of patients, chaplains receive more than 1,600 hours of training focused specifically in healthcare settings.

Chaplains act not only as spiritual counselors, but as advocates for patients and staff. Dedicated chaplains influence better decisions about care, improve clinical outcomes, and enhance staff morale. The trust they establish with patients transfers to other members of the care team, leading to better care and better outcomes.

Expert guidance during serious illness (Palliative Care) A serious illness in your family includes coping with symptoms, stress and uncertainty. The experienced team from PBCH Palliative Care provides guidance and support focused on relieving physical, emotional and spiritual suffering of the patient as well as their entire family so patients and families can enjoy life to the fullest despite the illness.

Expert guidance during lifes final months (Hospice Care) The final months of life can be more fulfilling if you or a loved one can focus on goals and wishes. The experienced team from PBCH Hospice Care will guide you with receiving expert medical care, as well as emotional and spiritual support.

Because chaplains are unbiased and part of the care team, they are valuable in providing a safe harbor and bridging difficult conversations. Guy Tillson, Chaplain at Pemi-Baker Community Health says, Our most fundamental human condition is when we come face-to-face with our own mortality. As chaplains, we walk into some dark places and help bring in light.

If you have more questions about Palliative Care, Hospice Care or what a home health Chaplain can do for you and your family, please call Pemi-Baker Community Health for more information today.

With over 50 years of experience, serving clients from 22 towns in central and northern New Hampshire, Pemi-Baker Community Health is committed to creating healthier communities. Services include at-home healthcare (VNA), hospice and palliative care, on-site physical and occupational therapy and aquatic therapy in their 90-degree therapy pool.

PBCH is located at 101 Boulder Point Drive, Plymouth, NH. To contact us please call: 603-536-2232 or email: info@pbhha.org Visit our website: http://www.pbhha.org and like our Facebook Page: @PBCH4

Chaplains and the role of spiritual care in Healthcare - The Laconia Daily Sun

The Alchemy of Heartbreak and Hope: A Spiritual Practice for Our Time – Resilience

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

Keynote talk given by Jeremy Lent to The Whidbey Institute annual gala, October 2020.

When we truly open our hearts to each other, there is no burden too heavy forus to carry together, there is no pain too deep for us to hold in each others arms.And its in that placeof feeling the Earths injuries, and feeling it with each otherthat the alchemyemerges. Its in the cauldron of sharing our grief with our community, of gazing at it together and notlooking away, that the heartbreak turns to hope.

Its so wonderful to hear Tyson (Yunkaporta, author ofSand Talk) talk about how we need to listen to natural law. Its what our modern civilization needs to hear. Im sure most of us share with Tyson the sense that our society has trampled on natural law; that we live in a world where indigenous knowledge, and the things that are most valuable to life are ignored, while those that are most destructive are valued the highest.

Speaking here from Northern California, weve been sharing with Tyson and his fellow Australians the grim experience of what happens when natural law is violated. It was less than a year ago that we were all horrified by the pictures coming out of Australia of apocalyptic wildfiresfires that were estimated to have killed a billion animals in the Outback. And it was just a month ago that those of us living here in the Bay Area woke up to our own vision of doomsdaya day without daylight, as the smoke from millions of acres of wildfires raging across the northwest settled over our skies, allowing nothing but a blood red glow to penetrate.

But of course, those of you here today dont need these harbingers of doom to know that something is terribly wrong with where our world is headed. We all know, in spite of everything our media does to deflect our attention, that our global society is careening at an increasingly rapid rate toward the precipice. We know that people are suffering out there as a result of callous economic policies, that the onset of coronavirus has made that suffering even greaterand that increasing climate breakdown will only lead to deepening misery, with massive droughts and famines, and hundreds of millions of climate refugees forced to abandon their homes in desperation with no-one willing to receive them.

We know that the natural world is reeling from a relentless rampage of human exploitation. That the Amazon rainforestthe lungs of the Earthis disappearing at the rate of more than an acre a second. The World Wildlife Fund recently reported that since 1970, animal populations worldwide have declined by 68%and in Latin America, by a mind-boggling 94%. The richness of nature is getting virtually wiped out in our lifetime.

Its impossible to face these realities head on without feeling your heart break. Speaking for myself, when Ive contemplated this humanmade enormity, Ive sometimes felt swallowed up into an infinite abyss of darkness. Is it any wonder that people turn away from facing these facts, that they see one of those frightening headlines warning about climate breakdown and they click anywhere but there, read their Facebook feed, check out the latest tweet, watch the report on this weeks political scandal? We live in a world designed to keep us numba culture spiked with incessant doses of spiritual anesthesia conditioning us to deaden our feelings, and adapt to the daily grind.

But its that very heartbreak that can free us from the consensus trance that our society imposes on us. The realization of our true nature, and the agony of lifes destruction at the hands of this civilization, are two sides of the same coin. Thats because, when we awaken to our true nature as humans on this beautiful but fragile Earth, when we feel the life within ourselves that we share with all other beings, then we recognize our common identity with all of life. We live into what Thch Nht Hanh calls our interbeing.

And as we open awareness to our interbeing, our ecological self, we experience ourselves, in the words of Albert Schweitzer, as life that wills to live in the midst of life that wills to live. And then, we realize the deep purpose of our existence on Earth is to tend its living system, to tend Gaia, and participate fully in its ancient, sacred unfolding of vibrant beauty. And when we see the relentless way that beauty is being eviscerated, Gaias pain becomes our pain. Its not just happening in the forests and the deep oceans, its happening to usto our own ecological interbeing. As Thch Nht Hanh puts it, we hear within us the sounds of the Earth crying.

But that pain of the Earth crying . . . its too much for any one of us to hold by ourselves. And thats where we need to turn to another equally important dimension of our interbeing: our shared community of caring. When we truly open our hearts to each other, there is no burden too heavy for us to carry together, there is no pain too deep for us to hold in each others arms.

And its in that placeof feeling the Earths injuries, and feeling it with each otherthat the alchemy emerges. Its in the cauldron of sharing our grief with our community, of gazing at it together and not looking away, that the heartbreak turns to hope.

But lets be clear what Im talking about when I use the word hope. Im not talking about the odds we might give for the likelihood of a positive outcome. Hope is not optimism. Its something completely different. Rather than a prognostication, its an attitude of active engagement in co-creating our future. In the words of Vclav Havel its a deep orientation of the human soul that can be held at the darkest times . . . an ability to work for something because it is good, not just because it stands a chance to succeed.

To work for something, just because it is good. This kind of hope is itself a transformation: from a noun to a verb. The alchemy takes place when we feel the heartbreak, with our community, so thoroughly within ourselves that there is nothing else to do but get engaged. Just like, when you feel physical pain in your body, you are moved reflexively to do something about it, so when we feel the Earths pain throughout our being, we are naturally moved to action. Because true knowledge isnt just an intellectual idea, its something that infuses our entire body. One of the great sages of Chinese thought, Wang Yangming, made this crystal clear when he said: There have never been people who know but do not act. Those who are supposed to know but do not act simply do not yet know.

And something Im sure about is that everyone here today is drawn to the Whidbey Institute because youdoknow, and youareimpelled to action. And there is so much we can be doing to participate in the Great Transformation our global society needs to move from its current self-destructive path to one that offers a brighter future. Its not just a matter of fixing a few things. Our civilization needs to be transformed at the deepest levels. We need to move from our current wealth-based society thats been built on exploitation, on seeing people and the natural world as mere resources, to one that, like Tyson said, is based on natural lawan ecological civilization. Whats required is a metamorphosis of virtually every aspect of the human experience, including our values, our goals, and our daily norms.

Sounds like a tall order? Im sure, when a dozen or so Quakers gathered in London in 1785 to create a movement to abolish slavery, people told them Impossible! Our economy is based on it. Within half a century, slavery was abolished throughout the British Empire. When Emmeline Pankhurst founded the National Union for Womens Suffrage in 1897, it took ten years of struggle to muster a few thousand courageous women to join her on a march in Londonbut within a couple of decades, women were gaining the right to vote across the world. There is a crucial lesson to learn from these, and other, exampleslike all self-organized, adaptive systems, society changes in nonlinear and unexpected ways. And oftentimes, the change is catalyzed by just a few, visionary souls working together against the oddsbecause they know what theyre doing is right.

We may not know what the future holds for humanity, but we do know that every day of our lives, we can choose to live into the future we wish for ourselves and for the rest of life. And just like the mycorrhizal underground network in the forest that trees use to support each other, when we connect with each other, were part of a powerful network thats accomplishing something very different than what we may read about in the daily headlines.

Keep in mind that, as the current system begins to unravel on account of its internal failings, the strands that kept the old system tightly interconnected also get loosened. The old story is losing its hold on the collective consciousness of humanity. As waves of young people come of age, they are increasingly rejecting what their parents generation told them. They are looking about for a new way to make sense of the current unraveling, for a story that offers them a future they can believe in.

That is the great work that I believe the Whidbey Institute, and many of you present here today, are engaged in. Creating that new story, and living into it, is the alchemy of heartbreak and hope that we are generating together. And I, for one, am excited to be a part of this epic moment when we, together, can participate in co-creating the possibility of humanitys flourishing future on a regenerated Earth.

Teaser photo credit: By Seabix Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65600662

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The Alchemy of Heartbreak and Hope: A Spiritual Practice for Our Time - Resilience

As Witchcraft Surges in America, Is the Church Prepared for the Spiritual Battle? – CBN News

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

Thousands of witches are plotting spells against President Trump. CBN News has reported that witches have been increasing their political involvement since Trump was elected in 2016.

This comes as witchcraft, in general, is on the rise in America more about that HERE.

Occultic and Satanic activity of a broad variety is increasing, and CBN News has reported numerous examples within just the last week:

Investigative journalist Billy Hallowell delves into the strange phenomena of supernatural activity in his new book,Playing with Fire: A Modern Investigation into Demons, Exorcism, and Ghosts.

In it, he explores shocking stories of deliverance through the lens of faith.

He told CBN's "The Prayer Link" it's a subject that the church can't ignore and must be equipped to handle.

STAY UP TO DATE WITH THE FREE CBN NEWS APPClick Here Get the App with Special Alerts on Breaking News and Top Stories

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As Witchcraft Surges in America, Is the Church Prepared for the Spiritual Battle? - CBN News

Spiritual Editorial: God Is With Us Through It All – NorthcentralPa.com

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

Recently, while traveling in the northern rural area of our state, I happened upon a bear.

It appeared to me that he/she may have slipped down an embankment, landing alongside the road. The bear was obviously in a stressed, fearful state, clamoring and clawing his way with a strong desire to return to where she had descended fromthe top of the mountain, hoping to return to more secure footing. I continued with my travels having a deep concern for the fate of that precious member of the animal kingdom.

The bear I came across that day some weeks ago personifies the fear, stress, and anxiety we often feel. One day we might feel on top of the world, only to slide down a slippery slope of adversity and despair brought on by any number of lifes situations. In a split second, you and I can experience an environment of security and well-being, only to find ourselves, in the next second, clawing our way with the hope of returning to a higher place of peace and tranquility.

Predicaments we face often lead us to ponder our spiritual journey and Gods place in leading us, in faith, to higher ground where normalcy replaces confused states and orderliness assumes a new, dominant, and beneficial role.

As one who has deep respect and appreciation for the racial, cultural, life style, and religious diversity in the north American way of life, I think further reflecting on a few basic religious truths as outlined in Islam, Judaism, and Christianity will be helpful. Although this is not an exhaustive representation, please consider these words:

In Islam, The Quran states, But Allah will safeguard all who are conscious of Him, granting happiness by virtue of personal triumphs; no evil shall touch them and neither shall they grieve (Az-Zumar 39:61).

In Judaism, The Hebrew Bible states, Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go (Joshua 1:9 NIV).

In Christianity, The New Testament of Jesus the Christ records that Jesus said, Come to me, all you that are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (Matthew 11:28-30 NRSV).

Our lives have days when difficulties arise. These challenges can last but a few minutes or can remain for years. Human predicaments lead us to uncertain and unpredictable times. We cannot sidestep them. We cannot look the other way and develop an attitude of avoidance.

All is not lost. Regardless of our religious preference, past times are clear, present moments are definite, and future days are unmistakable. Divine Presence is real. Divine Love is genuine. Divine Goodness is authentic. Divine companionship is eternal.

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Spiritual Editorial: God Is With Us Through It All - NorthcentralPa.com

PEARRELL: Our spiritual revival is not tied to who wins an election – Rockdale Newton Citizen

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

Our world is in turmoil. The word we used last week to describe the prevailing attitude of our current culture was animosity. We said that animosity was ugly in general society; it is ruinous in Christians.

The earliest church had little power. Paul describes the early church with these words, Now remember what you were, my brothers and sisters, when God called you. From the human point of view few of you were wise or powerful or of high social standing. (1 Corinthians 1:26, GNB). Yet these early followers outlasted a powerful empire bent upon their destruction and transformed their world and ours. They didnt do it by legislating laws or controlling the political powers of their day, they did it by following the command of the One they claimed to follow. The command to love largely.

Then in the fourth century that changed. Constantine claimed to be a Christian, ended the persecution and in the process the church became identified with the state, and the persecuted quickly became the persecutors. Instead of following Christ, the church began to set their own rules! Disaster followed. Instead of leading by example, we became used to leading by intimidation. Unfortunately, it is the lessons of the fourth century on that we have generally followed instead of the lessons of the first three centuries.

Now, as I stated last week, these two columns are directed to those who claim to be Christ followers. In my observation, we have far too many Christians today who have hooked their hopes to the state than they have to Christ. We have professed believers wringing their hands in fear over who will win the upcoming election and what they will mean to us as a nation. We have people (myself included) praying for national revival, and longing to get back to the age of Christian consensus; an age long gone and an age that is not coming back if we persist in our current course of trying to influence by intimidation rather than influencing by the only thing Jesus said should mark his followers, love. (If you want an example of this type of love, just look at the Cross and then read 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.)

I am personally convinced that my prayer for national revival has been largely misled (and so has yours). Why? Listening to various people on this it seems that we are linking an answer to that prayer to who sits in the White House, the Courthouse and the Houses of Congress. In short, our conception of revival seems to be closer tied to a political party and the state than it does to our spiritual and moral condition. Maybe it is time that we as the church stopped obsessing on what they need to do and start focusing on what we need to do! Maybe instead of praying that society gets it right (and measuring it by who wins the election) and started praying that we get it right (by returning to our first love). My prayers now are focused on the church more than on the culture. I believe that culture goes as the church goes, but unfortunately the church, rather than setting the standards for culture has instead mirrored the standards of the culture.

The Apostle Paul reminds us, Im not responsible for what the outsiders do, but dont we have some responsibility for those within our community of believers? God decides on the outsiders, but we need to decide when our brothers and sisters are out of line and, if necessary, clean house. (1 Corinthians 5:1213, The Message). Before our prayers for them can be effective, I think our prayers for us need to become a priority. We need to clean house. We need to get back to the only mark Jesus said would identify us with Him: love. Not a wimpy, wishy-washy type of love, but the bold love that led Him to the cross and a bold love that puts others first.

Now, more than ever, the world needs trustworthy reportingbut good journalism isnt free.Please support us by subscribing or making a contribution today.

John Pearrell is founder and president of Impact Evangelistic Ministries and can be reached by writing to John@jpiem.com.

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PEARRELL: Our spiritual revival is not tied to who wins an election - Rockdale Newton Citizen

How this Indigenous architect designs buildings with Indigenous history and spirituality in mind – CBC.ca

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

Alfred Waugh is designing buildings he never had access to in university.

Waugh grew up in Yellowknife, so moving to Lethbridge, Alta. and then Vancouver for post-secondary education was a huge culture shock. He arrived feeling divorced from his culture and the land he grew up on.

Today the Chipewyan architect is the president and founder of Formline Architecture. His projects include First People's House at the University of Victoria, the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia.

Waugh's latest project is the Indigenous House at the University of Toronto, Scarborough campus a building designed not just for students, but for Indigenous peoples in Toronto-at-large.

Waugh spoke with Tapestry's Mary Hynes about what it takes to design buildings that reflect Indigenous peoples and their histories.

Tell me about Indigenous House at U of T Scarborough. What are the goals for what you're creating?

It's an interesting project. Some universities across Canada are developing First Nations facilities to retain Indigenous students, share culture, and address the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's calls to provide equal opportunity for Indigenous students.

When I was a student I came from Yellowknife to study at university, and there weren't any facilities like this.

Did you have to contend with many stereotypes at the time being an Indigenous student from the north?

Oh my goodness, yes! When I started architecture school they had us do a two-week camping trip as part of an urban design project. We were camping on a beach in this little resort community on Vancouver Island. We had visiting professors, and every night there would be a theme dinner.

One night they had an Indigenous-themed dinner. People were like "woo"-ing and hitting their pots and doing all kinds of weird stuff. And I didn't feel comfortable, right? So I didn't participate in the dinner. At that time, I was quite young, and something inside me said, "this isn't right."

The next morning, the professor from Jerusalem gets up and says, "I understand we insulted someone," you know, "we didn't mean anything," and so forth.

Then I found myself standing in front of 45 people I didn't know anybody, and I was nervous and shy. My voice was shaking. And I said, "It's just not right. You're stereotyping Indigenous people. There are all different kinds of Indigenous people across this country." So I made my statement. And then after that I gained, I guess, a bit of respect from everybody.

It was not something I planned. But it helped mold my journey as an architect. It helped me consider how my work can establish a sense of identity for Indigenous people. That was one of those moments that gave me some passion to keep going and finish this and prove myself.

You now design buildings for campuses across the country do you feel a bit vindicated?

I feel proud. It's an interesting feeling to go to UBC where, from the architecture studio where I used to study, you can now see the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Center that I designed. So that gives me a good feeling, a sense of pride that I've actually accomplished something. Because my mom's life ended tragically in 1999 and she's the one who forced me to go to university. I was working on an oil rig in the 80s. I was making lots of money, and I had a girlfriend and all those kinds of things. But my mom said, "You got to go to university, and you got to do something for your people."

Those were your mom's words?

Yeah, she'd say, "You're too smart to waste your life away up here." I guess that stuck in my head. So when our project was under construction at UBC, I was thinking, "I'm actually doing something for my people on a national scale." And yeah, that's a good feeling.

Your project at UBC was the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Center. Why was it important to have so much natural light?

UBC is on unceded territory of the Musqueam people. We had some engagement sessions with the Musqueam nation. I asked them, "What's one of the most important things this building should achieve?" And they said because it's a conduit to the Truth and Reconciliation records photos, writings, and testimonials from residential school survivors the building may spur an emotional response for some people. So it's really important to us that no matter where you are in this building, you're able to turn and see the landscape and experience its calming effects.

I'm so interested in how a constructed space can convey things that are maybe intangible qualities, like resilience, or a sense of freedom, and you do that through physical objects like wood, copper or glass. How do you do that?

For the UBC project we were told: the building has to feel Indigenous, but it can't represent any one nation. So the connection to the landscape is one thing, blurring the boundaries between inside and out. The materiality comes into focus. I was looking at Salish longhouses. In the past, to keep the draft out, they would weave bullrush mats and put them in the back of the longhouse. So as you descend down the wall at the UBC, you're walking past woven cedar, and it turned out really nice. That's where the seeds of inspiration came.

And the other aspect is out on the West Coast here with the Musqueam, the Salish, the Tsleil-Waututh, and a lot of the other Salish-speaking nations, cedar was used for everything basket weaving, canoes, all kinds of things. An elder told me, "cedar's the blood of our culture." And there's a Japanese form of treating wood that makes it more inert, more resilient. So we treated the cedar to make it resilient too.

And the roof of the building it had to sit low, it had to have a green roof. But I warned that it could look buried, which is how people had felt over history. So I suggested we use copper because it's a symbol of dignity for many people in the north. So we used copper and glass, and created a glass waterfall on the roof for rainwater to flow down. I saw that as a symbol of the tears of people who'd been in residential schools.

What would it have meant to you if there had been a building on campus like the Indigenous House?

I think it would have maintained my cultural connections more. One of my favourite buildings is the First Peoples House I designed at the University of Victoria. We designed an Elders' Lounge so elders can come in and see how the kids are doing in school, have a cup of tea, and maybe do some counselling of students so that they have someone to talk to. That would have been really cool if that were around when I was going to school because it maintains those cultural ties.

This interview has been edited and condensed. Written by Kate Adach. Produced by Arman Aghbali.

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How this Indigenous architect designs buildings with Indigenous history and spirituality in mind - CBC.ca

Amazing high school choir sings spiritual Down to the River to Pray from hotel balconies – Classic FM

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

23 October 2020, 14:34 | Updated: 27 October 2020, 16:55

High school choir harmonises on a beloved spiritual, in one soul-shaking hotel acoustic...

A viral video of high school students singing the folk hymn Down to the River to Pray on hotel balconies has just resurfaced, and its a beautiful reminder of the power of group singing.

The impromptu performance took place at a Colorado hotel, where the treble ensemble of the Colorado All State Choir were staying that night.

Young students from across the US state sang a hair-raising a cappella arrangement of the traditional spiritual, arranged by Jace Wittig.

Have a listen below to the musical magic and if, like us, youre waiting for the moment the harmony comes in, skip to around the 0:35 mark

Read more: Church organ playing Hans Zimmer Interstellar makes our world feel tiny >

After it was posted, one of the choir members who was singing on the 4th to top floor, they say came across the clip and commented: Ive never been more proud to be in a YouTube video. [sic]

One of the coolest things that ever happened. This video barely describes how magnificent the experience was.

Read more: A cappella choir on tilting cylinders sounds out of a horror movie >

Its not the first time the hotel has been used by a massed choir.

In fact, if youre up for tumbling down the best YouTube rabbit hole ever, have a listen to these choral moments below, all recorded on hotel balconies.

Above anything, its a wonderful reminder of the togetherness of music-making.

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Amazing high school choir sings spiritual Down to the River to Pray from hotel balconies - Classic FM

A window on to Ram Kumars visionary and spiritual world – Financial Times

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

Sometimes glimpses of some unusual forms, moments of depth, rhythmic lines come to my mind. But they seem like some fragments...they have to be united with something more solid, something difficult to fathom. Some way has to be found out.

Written by the artist Ram Kumar, who died in 2018, these words are a beguiling precis of the challenges posed by abstract painting. Kumar, like many of his peers, mapped that journey from fragment to whole through a committed drawing practice. Now, in a solo presentation in Art Basels Online Viewing Rooms, the New Delhi-based Vadehra Gallery will open a window on to Kumars approach with a selection of works on paper from the 1960s and 70s.

The display promises to whet the appetites of international collectors for whom Kumar may be a less familiar name than peers such as M.F. Husain and F.N. Souza. Although one of his paintings, Vagabond (1956), was sold for $1.1m at Christies in New York in 2008, the Simla-born painter is still the quiet man of the Progressive Artists Group. Founded in Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1947 by artists including Husain and Souza, the group aimed to fuse styles from Indian art traditions and the European avant-garde.

For Kumar, born in 1924, the experience of European art was deepened when he visited Paris in the late 1940s and studied under Andr Lhote and Fernand Lger. A member of the French communist party, the young artist immersed himself in the existentialist fervour that gripped the citys intellectual and creative elites. (His brother, the writer Nirmal Verma, has recalled that during his French sojourn, Kumar sent him poetry by Paul luard and Louis Aragon, with whom he was good friends, and later took him to the Left Bank cafs where Sartre, de Beauvoir and Camus once gathered.)

Yet Kumars art is also steeped in the genius loci of India. After a period of concentration on melancholy human figures in the 1950s Roberto Rossellini once told Kumar that his paintings reminded him of Kafkas short stories a visit to Varanasi in 1960 proved revelatory for the artist. Situated on the banks of the sacred Ganges, Varanasi is a holy city; a point of pilgrimage for millions who flock there to wash away their sins, cremate their loved ones, or die themselves so that their ashes may float away in the sanctified waters.

For Kumar, the city was an architectural embodiment of his existential impulse. Paintings from the 1960s show how he rendered it, not in the vibrant colours traditional to Indian painting, but in silvery greys, bleached sands and earthy browns. Evoking Varanasis crooked alleys, crumbling buildings and sloping ghats as laconic, teetering, liminal huddles that float precariously between water and sky, they are the work of a painter whose first thoughts were that the city was only inhabited by the dead and their lifeless souls. It seemed like a haunted place to me and still remains the same.

Sketches digitally on show at Art Basel show Kumar developing those ghostly intuitions through the intimate vocabulary of pen and ink. Intensifying their private character is the drawings location in one of the personal ledgers known as bahis or bahi-khatas that were designed for keeping accounts. Bound in faded red cloth with thick stitches on cream paper, the books humble aspect is a tantalising counterpoint to the artistic heft of the works within. (Although its likely that Kumar used account books for reasons of financial economy, its interesting to note that before he became an artist he worked in a bank.)

Tight, inward conglomerations of line, shape and void, the drawings employ line and cross-hatching to weave knots of clotted darkness through airy, luminous lattices; the results are patchworks of gossamer-fine nets which rupture and collapse into diaphanous white holes. Clearly, Kumars Varanasi is an abstract metropolis, a city of the mind as much as the eye, although here and there a window or a ghat is faintly discernible. Virtuoso balances of line and space, light and darkness, the images are Kumars visual translation of that metaphysical threshold on which the city is poised.

According to Roshini Vadehra, for Kumar blacks and greys were a way of tuning deeper into his existentialism. As a result, he often returned to drawings as a way of continuing the meditative and spiritual process of painting.

That Kumars flame was stoked in a spiritual crucible is not in doubt. Vadehra speaks of him as an artist possessed of a unique sadhana, the Sanskrit term for methodical discipline that is rewarded by a desired knowledge or goal. Yet he also observed the terrestrial world with intensity and curiosity, she continues. As a young man, he wrote short stories that pare down both people and landscape to their vulnerable, undiluted essence; his descriptions of Varanasi are sublime in their economy.

By the late 1960s, Kumar had relinquished both figure and city as evident inspirations. The drawings on show from the 1970s show him evolving towards the phase in his career when he turned, in the words of distinguished poet and art critic Ranjit Hoskote, to paintingabstractionist hymns to nature. Perhaps nostalgic for his childhood in Simlas hills, Kumar would make regular retreats to a village in Kangra valley, once writing in his diary: When I sit facing the Dhauladhar range, with the thick forests of the Shivaliks at my back, I start probing within myself, my mind full of memories and lost images.

In the works on paper, what we see is an artist still conjuring a world through contrasts: sharp dashes clash with longer lines, awkward angles with athletic curves; there are sudden dips into whiteness, and upward swoops towards empty plateaux. Our eye topples into black crevasses, follows paths that vanish in a mist of whiteness, traverses obedient terraces. Could those tiny hyphens be birds? Or twigs swept up by a storm?

Kumar kept mum. Described by his brother, the writer Nirmal Verma, as a concerned introvert, his reticence and sensitivity to others as well as to himself are witnessed by all who knew him. Although he withdrew from the market-fuelled carnival of the contemporary art world, by his death in 2018 there was no question that Kumar was regarded as one of the visionaries of Indian modernism, with exhibitions across the world including Pakistan, New York and Venice (where he participated in the Biennale of 1958).

This small cache of drawings offers just a glimpse of his gift. But in their fidelity to the line a cornerstone of Kumars painting practice which he once said had an independent life of its own they shed more light than their diminutive size and number might suggest. As for their meaning, it is best not to dwell. Kumar, after all, was an artist who once said that when one is young ones work is dominated by content, by ideas, but as one grows older, one turns to the language of painting itself.

This is a welcome opportunity to listen to his song.

vadehraart.com

A window on to Ram Kumars visionary and spiritual world - Financial Times

Are we experiencing a pandemic spiritual mutation? An approach from Kabbalah – The Times of Israel

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

Embed from Getty Images

One of the most fruitful franchises that has flourished during the pandemic, apart from food-delivery by bicycle, is video-messianism. Even Netflix released its miniseries about the Massiach.

The competition is brutal, from respectable rabbis to rogue Caba-rascals (Manny Vias dixit), to ex-drug addicted evangelical pastors, not excluding very decent newly enlightened housewives, with the addition of cute and daring aspiring influencers-healers girls who offer Healing courses payable in currencies or cryptocurrencies, until culminating in the plethora of conspiracy theory YouTubers, who, according to them, have always warned us that all this was going to happen.

I believe that, just as Kabbalah has opened up and globalized from Philip Berg with the Kabbalah Centre and from Michael Laitman with Bnei Baruch, one step further in this curious evolutionary-messianic process is that the pandemic has generalized the Jerusalem Syndrome, and the inevitable possibility (call it a window of opportunity if you prefer) of monetarizing it among those who are able to see virtue in calamity.

All this without travelling to Jerusalem, which is expensive and complicated, but employing a Chinese virus not as lethal as Ebola but very jumping, and the existence of the Internet, of course.

Of most of the approaches that I have reviewed, the one that amuses me the most is the one that states that from the virus the 7 billion humans that inhabit the planet are going to undergo a spiritual mutation, which will lead us through a natural-catastrophic path not to a simple new normal, but to a new world that is, avoiding us the work of building the utopias of Moro and Campanella with blood, sweat and tears, rather from a fortunate collateral damage generated by the virus.

The reasoning is impeccable: if avian flu viruses mutate so rapidly from one season to another, why shouldnt the human soul do so from this confinement, this fear and this stress, which have unleashed so many neurochemical, spiritual and perhaps astral processes, all of them unexpected?

It would be a kind of biological messianism.

In theory, the Divine Plan can act through miracles, lets say, that a Messiah like Isaiahs one appears, after a series of fulfilled omens.

And maybe miracles are happening, even if we dont see them or they are disqualified as fake news.

But in the absence of miracles, it is possible to realize in science and technology signs of a divine plan that inevitably and in another way also lead us to the same result: the era of the Messiah.

In this regard, Arieh Kaplan is unavoidable. In his text The Real Messiah, he warns us that:

the past hundred years or so have brought about an increase in knowledge unsurpassed in all human history. Whether we use it wisely or not, these accomplishments are truly amazing.

He then points out that:

Why this sudden global change of conscience that seems to be shaking the very roots of our civilization? Why are more and more people coming to the conclusion that the evils of society are not merely the natural consequences of civilization, but are diseases that call for a cure?

Another pearl:

If one looks with an unprejudiced eye at the world today, he will see that we are living in an age where almost all the Jewish prophecies regarding the prelude to the Messianic Age are coming to pass. Even the most doubtful skeptic cannot help wondering how this could be mere coincidence.

And concludes with:

One of the basic points of contradiction is whether or not the onset of the Messianic age will come through miracles. Many teachings seem to support the view of the miraculous, such as (Dan.7:13), Behold, one like the son of man came with the clouds of heaven. On the other hand, others seem to support a more prosaic view, such as (Zech.9:9), Behold, your king comes to you lowly, and riding on a donkey.

The Talmud was aware of this contradiction, and answered it by stating that there are two basic ways that the Messianic age can commence. If we are worthy of miracles, it will indeed be miraculous. If we are not, the Messianic Age will arrive in a natural manner.

So when the Son of Man does not appear riding clouds, it turns out that we are not worthy of contemplating miracles.

This is a plausible indignity if we analyze geopolitics, our daily violence, new wars, the distribution of wealth and poverty, ecological deterioration, drug addiction and alcoholism, mass depression, the generalization of psychopaths in all kinds of positions of power, or the destruction (without the essential sustainable substitutes) of traditional family models.

From this point of view, the Messianic Era has no other way than to arrive naturally. Or by catastrophes, as Michael Laitman would say, picking up the long Kabbalistic tradition that warns us that we learn in two ways; through study or through suffering.

One of the essential prophecies of the Messianic Era is that human beings are going to love one another, that we are going to awaken to solidarity, and that the knowledge of the divine will be available even to children.

Of course, in the absence of miracles of which we are not worthy, this can occur from a virus that locks us up in our homes, can occur from fear, from the collapse of a part of the economic system, of the systems of values and beliefs, from the collapse of health systems and the fracture of national and geopolitical political relations.

In this way, the virus can be resemantized, and mutate from being a biological catastrophe (random or manufactured in a Chinese laboratory) to being a miracle, or a natural messianic catalyst, or both at the same time.

Note that the deeper the collapse, the more credibility the prophecies and promises of the video messiahs have. That is why I see in a funny way the competition between the innumerable apocalypses that are sold to us on the networks to attract depressed and terrified clients and patients to the new spiritual clinics: the dollar is going to collapse globally, the aliens will finally will be contacted openly, food production will end, the vaccine will not work lasciate ogni speranza, voi chintrate, Dante warned.

Fear can be a good business. Although it serves not only the video-messiahs, but also to the WHO, and to more than one Ur-fascist government (Eco dixit).

Mendelian mutations are sudden evolutionary leaps, caused by seemingly random agents, such as a meteor that falls on the earth or due to a mistake in the replication of the information of a DNA chain.

In that sense, mutatis mutandis, a virus like the current one can be the trigger for a sudden change in the transmission of information from our social or spiritual DNA chain, so to speak.

We can accept, prima facie, that a change in the human spiritual situation may occur due to the psychological, emotional, social, economic and political consequences generated by the pandemic.

What I find difficult to predict is the character of such a mutation. It could be that it awakened in us atavistic feelings, a desire to re-connect us with other beings and with the cosmos, an Abraham-type mutation, lets say.

It could be that such a mutation makes us even more selfish, more locked in our environments and small groups of interests, out of fear.

It could be that it does not affect us thoroughly in this life, and that we simply want to return to the old normality, as one sees when restrictions are lifted and people run desperately to bars, squares, beaches and malls, trying to recover their old condition of beings made for consumerism.

Perhaps the next generation would be born with mutated spirit genes, with many more indigo children, or azure blue, like the characters in Avatar, and with much more connectedness and solidarity, as predicted by the prophets who have spoken for so many centuries on the subject of the Massiach.

In either of the two scenarios, the dire or the hopeful, the dilemma pointed out by the Kabbalists continues to be repeated; you learn through study and if not, through suffering.

The true mutation would be for Humanity as a whole to emerge from a kind of long childhood, reaching 13 years of age, not only to do their Bar Mitzvah, but also to understand that each one must relate in the best possible way with the others, including neighbours, animals, nature, unless you want to pay painful consequences, as warned not only by Kabbalists, but even by Freud in Civilization and its Discontents.

Yes, in theory we can try to remain as little psychopaths forever (every child is partially a little psychopath up to 13 years old) incapable of feeling empathy, and continue to look at others as simple objects of pleasure at our disposal, as simple means to achieve what we please.

But the result will always be devastating, because others, even if they love us at first, will end up treating us the same way. And even Nature will rebel and send us a virus from time to time so that we can let her rest, so that we can lock ourselves up, and let her breathe in peace even for a year.

I hear many Kabbalists say that we should approach the wisdom of Kabbalah as children. I insist that children are partially little psychopaths, which is why they must be educated so that they can mature.

I prefer Mario Sabans approach, when he tells us that a good goal for those who study Kabbalah is to mature, to become a responsible and full adult. This implies inner harmony, harmony with other beings and, if it is given to us from above, harmony, contact and equivalence of form with higher energies.

Will a hypothetical spiritual mutation unleashed by the virus allow us to massively access that level? Will even 1% of the population reach it?

As always, its up to us, the spiritual gene for responsibility and free will has been always inside us. Another thing is if we use it or not, and that will always be our choice.

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Are we experiencing a pandemic spiritual mutation? An approach from Kabbalah - The Times of Israel

Holly Courtier planned to go on spiritual journey, fast inside Zion National Park, family says – ABC 4

Posted on October 28, 2020 by Danzig

ZION NATIONAL PARK, Utah (ABC4 News, ABC News) The sister of the missing hiker who survived 12 days in Zion National Park without any food or water said her survival is nothing short of a miracle.

38-year old Holly Courtier, the Woodland Hills mom who went missing inside the Zion National Park on Oct. 6, has checked herself into a mental health facility to process some trauma she has not dealt with for several years, her family told ABC News.

41-year-old Jaime Strong, one of Hollys sisters, said that Courtier had likely suffered a mental breakdown and had planned to go on a spiritual journey while eating no food or water for a couple of days inside the national park.

I think she went in there mentally wanting to be there, and then I think she was stuck in there physically, Strong said. She was in over her head and had no way to get out.

Strong said that she doesnt feel the incident was a cry for help, but rather a series of bad choices that just went horribly wrong. The sister confirmed that Holly had left the park in the middle of the night and did not tell her family where was going, planning to disconnect from technology, pray and read the Bible, and fast.

She wanted to go on a spiritual journey and had planned it out and decided to do it, Strong said.

Her family said that Holly was in the middle of a dry fast and had not eaten for several days prior to her arriving at the park. After over-exerting herself on the first day while going on a hike, the family said she suffered a concussion while setting up her hammock along the Virgin River and could not call for help.

When she was setting up her hammock between two trees, I guess there was a stump behind with a very sharp tree edge on it, Strong said. I guess when she sat into her hammock and kind of swung back, she hit her head very hard on the sharp edge of the tree.

She was very disoriented and very dizzy, Strong added. I think she bit off more than she could chew. She definitely thought she could fast longer than she could.

Courtier was allegedly unaware that there were search parties looking for her and signs posted throughout the park because she was disoriented, the family said. Courtier kept track of the number of days she was lost by writing them in black marker on a tree, per a photo provided to ABC News.

Strong said the family took Courtier to the emergency room and a doctor allegedly diagnosed her with a concussion, although the family said Holly had decided to forgo a MRI or CAT scan.The family said Courtier had lost approximately 18 pounds while out in the wilderness.

The familys statement comes after Sgt. Darrell Cashin, the liaison of the Washington County Sheriffs Search and Rescue for the past nine years and an advanced EMT, spoke out Tuesday about several discrepancies he says he sees between Zion National Parks and the familys statements.

Cashin says its a high possibility Courtier would have died if she was drinking the river water for 12 days amid a toxic algal bloom detected in the north fork of the Virgin River in early July. Without any water, she would have died within two to three days, he says.

If she had been drinking that water, unless she had some really high immune system, she wouldve been very, very ill and probably unable to come out on her own, Cashin said. She either took a lot of water with her or had another clean water source that was near here, but the Virgin River is not that source.

Strong told ABC News her sister was unable to call for help because she was so dehydrated she couldnt open her mouth and did not drink the river water. The family did not specify how Courtier was able to survive for 12 days without water.

Cashin also raised questions regarding Courtiers head injury as Zion National Park officials reported Courtier was able to leave on her own with minimal assistance and was released directly to her family.

If we had found somebody in that condition with that kind of severe head injury, we would have at minimum called for a transport agency to check her out, Cashin says. The fact that that didnt happen tells me that they did not find any significant injury to her that wouldve prompted them to do that.

Physically, she seemed to be in a condition that did not warrant an ambulance and they felt was comfortable to release her to her family to address, Cashin added.

Amanda Rowland, chief of interpretation atZionNational Park,told ABC4 News the final investigative report on the Courtier Search and Rescue (SAR) will be made public, although its unclear exactly when it will be released. ABC4 News requested a copy of the final investigative report from the U.S. Department of the Interior through the Freedom of Information Act.