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318 results for “furtive”
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A Shoelace at the Liquor Store
I was in the liquor store this morning waiting in line to check out my regular wine purchase while in front of me at the checkout was a man who was a bit twitchy. I wasn’t sure what his problem was, but my guess was that it was drug-related.
Image from Barbara Olsen via pexels.comHe couldn’t stand still and moved about furtively as though he was expecting someone to stop him from being there. As he fidgeted about in front of me I noticed that one of his shoe laces was undone and trailing on the floor, and I wanted to fix it for him.
In my imagination, I would ask him if it was ok for me to tie his shoelace and he would stay still long enough for me to do that. Then he would ask me why I did that and I would say something profound like, “Well, we are neighbours, and neighbours look out for each other,” and he would smile and thank me.
Image via nlliquor.comBut, in fact I didn’t do anything about his shoelace and I didn’t speak to him. Instead, I was focussed on his purchase. It was a four-litre box of vodka water. Vodka water! I didn’t know there was such a thing, and I momentarily wondered if I should exchange my box of Pinot Grigio for a box of vodka water.
Then the twitchy man left with his purchase and I wondered if his vodka water would last as long as my wine would last me.
Then, as I walked home, it occurred to me that my wine cost about the same as his vodka water but it had twice the alcohol content. If I see him again should I point this out to him, or let it go and assume he is deliberately reducing his intake? Or, should I forget we ever crossed paths and walk on by? Or, if I’m feeling up to it, I could just ask him if I could tie his shoelace.
#life #liquor #liquorStore #pinotGrigio #Relationships #shoelace #stranger #twitchy #untied #vodkaWater
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University of Michigan using undercover investigators to surveil student #Gaza protesters
Revealed: security trailing students on and off campus as video shows investigator faking disability when confronted
Tom Perkins
Fri 6 Jun 2025 06.00 EDT"The #UniversityOfMichigan is using private, undercover investigators to surveil pro-#Palestinian campus groups, including trailing them on and off campus, furtively recording them and eavesdropping on their conversations, #theGuardian has learned.
The surveillance appears to largely be an intimidation tactic, five students who have been followed, recorded or eavesdropped on said. The undercover investigators have cursed at students, threatened them and in one case drove a car at a student who had to jump out of the way, according to student accounts and video footage shared with the #Guardian."
#ProtestIsNotACrime
#DefendStudentProtesters
#Israel #Palestine
#USA #US #USPolitics #politics
#news #press @palestine -
Repair and Remain: How to do the slow, hard, good work of staying put by Kurt Armstrong
Let’s say time comes to gut and renovate your bathroom: I can help you with that—demolition, framing, reworking the plumbing, moving some electrical, installing some mould-resistant drywall, maybe some nice tile for the floor and some classic glazed ceramic three-by-six subway tile for the tub surround. Should take a month or two, depending on what all’s involved. And as for you, hey, for the sake of your wife and kids, I think you better quit the flurry of furtive late-night texts to the sexy young co-worker and cut back a bit on your recreational drinking because wine is a mocker, so goes the proverb, as if those Facebook posts of you at the bar last week weren’t proof enough.
Repair and remain. Work with what you’ve got. Sit still for a moment, take stock, make some changes. Big changes, if necessary.
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CW: Mention de produits laitiers
Alors, si vous allez en Lorraine, près de Metz, n'hésitez pas à passer à la Ferme du Breuillot, à Jarny.
Ce n'était pas un pouet volontairement publicitaire, je viens juste de discuter avec ma belle-sœur, qui me racontait son étonnement face au succès du distributeur.
Ah, et il devrait passer furtivement sur TF1, quand une jarnysienne fera une quiche avec uniquement des produits locaux.
Sinon, il est plusieurs fois par an dans le Républicain lorrain 😂3/3
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«Cela ne vous questionne pas?»: Éric Woerth à la peine sur les espèces de la campagne Sarkozy
Du cash non déclaré a bien circulé pendant la #campagne présidentielle de 2007. Son trésorier a expliqué à la barre du procès des #FinancementsLibyens que l’argent liquide provenait de dons envoyés anonymement par la poste ou déposés furtivement au siège de campagne.
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Trying to teach my younger kid, who once was running the cat ragged, by running the laser pointer dot all over the floor...
"Remember, the cat can't *not* chase the dot.
Highly evolved to chase and pounce, evolved to detect, catch, and kill the critters in fast furtive motion, our kitty has no choice!
So let up, and let this poor little carnivore's brain rest some!"
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Le message subversif était caché dans la publicité
Pour le lancement en août de sa plate-forme commerciale dédié à l’art, basée sur la blockchain, la société LG Art Lab à commandé à l’artiste numérique Patrick Amadon (qui vient du street art) la conception d’un immense panneau d’affichage publicitaire animé situé sur Times Square à New York.
Amadon en a profité, sans rien dire, pour glisser dans l’œuvre une capture d’écran furtive de la page Wikipédia relative au « génocide de Gaza », qui apparaît brièvement entre les images d’une paire d'yeux clignotants.
« Il faut reconnaître à LG qu’ils ne savaient pas que cela allait arriver, mais non seulement ils ne l’ont pas retirée, mais ils ont affirmé qu’ils soutenaient l’art et l’expression artistique même controversés » a affirmé Amadon au site The Art Paper.
Patrick Amadon avait déjà, l’an passé, détourné un panneau d’affichage numérique publicitaire à Hong Kong, en flashant des noms d’activistes emprisonnés par le régime pour leur opposition au coup de vis autoritaire imposé par le régime de Beijing. L’œuvre avait été à l’époque promptement retirée à la demande des autorités.
Patrick Amadon : https://www.patrickamadon.com/
#ArtEphemere #ProtestArt #performance #detournement #PatrickAmadon #NewYork #Palestine #Gaza #Israel #HongKong #Chine
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As Robert approached the counter, he could definitely smell the fragrance of a turntable wafting through the air.
Looking at the lady behind the counter, he thought, "she must be eating nuts and bolts." He smiled and said, "good doorknob."
"Good doorknob," replied the lady, furtively.
"I'm looking for a Venus-scented banana."
"You're in luck. We import all our bananas from Venus."
"Yes, but are they Venus-scented?"
"Hmm... let me check. Alas, no. They are smoked."
"How so?"
"Let me show you." She took a banana, put the tip of it in her mouth, and lit the other end. "Like this," she said, momentarily taking the banana out of her mouth.
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En intro dans le reportage, un bijou de propagande... «Samedi l'horreur a frappé [...] C'est la plus importante attaque en sol Israélien depuis le 7 octobre dernier [...]» alors que le drame a eu lieu EN SYRIE.
Mais avant ce mensonge, Radio-Canada fait apparaître furtivement un petit texte en haut à droite de l'image: "Majdal Shams, territoire annexé par Israël" 🤮 🤬
#Hezbollah #MajdalShams #Lebanon #fediverse_vs_disinfo #propaganda #radiocan #Canada #Israel
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« Fragile et particulièrement ancré au sol, ce carbonidée ne tolère pas bien les activités industrielles. Pourtant, malgré son rôle essentiel face au #climat mondial, il n’est tout simplement pas déclaré dans les registres officiels. »
https://snapquebec.org/il-y-a-un-elephant-dans-la-foret-quebecoise-une-espece-furtive-qui-echappe-a-tous-les-registres/
#forêt #ForêtBoréale #forêtQC #GES #IndustrieForestière -
CW: tradies reno
There's a large builder's #skip near our house for a #reno across the road. Been watching on and off as various non-builder items appear in it; two shopping trolleys[1], a fire extinguisher, a few bags of household garbage
Most amusing was yesterday 6.30am, two #tradies for the build turned up, then furtively pulled up a bunch of plasterboard, transferred three big bags from car boot to skip, then covered it all back up with plasterboard, then waited around until 7am and started work
Place your bets: stolen shit? asbestos? garbage from home?
[1] one each; Coles & Woolworths
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#JohnBirchSociety #USpol #UShistory
(1/n)
Yes, I did see and have now re-read the lengthy but informative Wiki entry.
Has it crossed your mind, too, that they are using a rhetoric technique out of Goebbel's propaganda playbook, namely that of charging the opposing side with what you are guilty of or about to do?
Let's rephrase/amend the text:
""[B]oth the U.S. and THE RUSSIAN governments are controlled by the same furtive conspiratorial cabal of OLIGARCHS /...
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"The Visit," Felix Vallotton, 1899.
Love me some Nabis. Vallotton was a Nabi and created interior scenes that could have come from a Hitchcock film, or prefiguring Edward Hopper. The couple embracing could be about to go into a bedroom...or perhaps they're being quiet and furtive, not wanting to be heard by someone in the next room?
A lot of us will be visiting relatives soon...I'm sure it won't be as dramatic as this!
From the Kunsthaus Zürich.
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Judge Kelly to #EthanNordean: "I just can't do it, you little scamp. You just give me a handshake and promise to carry on your family's LOVELY chowder recipe, and we'll call it good, you wiley america rascal." [furtively discards a bunch of printouts of Ethan's mom's unhinged internet posts in a waste basket next to the bench]
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AMMONITE (2020) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Real-life paleontologist Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) struggles to get by in 1840s England, selling fossil curiosities to tourists in her seaside shop as she continues to seek fossil finds that rival those she discovered in her youth. One day, a geologist comes to town to learn from her. After the geologist spends time seeking fossils and learning, he departs, but without his depressed wife (Saoirse Ronan), who is left behind to recuperate—with Anning's care.This period romance genre film could have taken the easy route—costumed walks along the beach with furtive glances—but instead, it plodded through miserable drudgery, pauses, moments, exploring the lives of its characters. Such a slow burn of a movie. That it ever arrived at smoking hot bodice-ripping scenes made them that much more precious—you *want* these two to find happiness. Good for them. Flawless acting, including Gemma Jones as Anning's mother and Fiona Shaw as an ex.
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AMMONITE (2020) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Real-life paleontologist Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) struggles to get by in 1840s England, selling fossil curiosities to tourists in her seaside shop as she continues to seek fossil finds that rival those she discovered in her youth. One day, a geologist comes to town to learn from her. After the geologist spends time seeking fossils and learning, he departs, but without his depressed wife (Saoirse Ronan), who is left behind to recuperate—with Anning's care.This period romance genre film could have taken the easy route—costumed walks along the beach with furtive glances—but instead, it plodded through miserable drudgery, pauses, moments, exploring the lives of its characters. Such a slow burn of a movie. That it ever arrived at smoking hot bodice-ripping scenes made them that much more precious—you *want* these two to find happiness. Good for them. Flawless acting, including Gemma Jones as Anning's mother and Fiona Shaw as an ex.
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AMMONITE (2020) ⭐⭐⭐⭐
Real-life paleontologist Mary Anning (Kate Winslet) struggles to get by in 1840s England, selling fossil curiosities to tourists in her seaside shop as she continues to seek fossil finds that rival those she discovered in her youth. One day, a geologist comes to town to learn from her. After the geologist spends time seeking fossils and learning, he departs, but without his depressed wife (Saoirse Ronan), who is left behind to recuperate—with Anning's care.This period romance genre film could have taken the easy route—costumed walks along the beach with furtive glances—but instead, it plodded through miserable drudgery, pauses, moments, exploring the lives of its characters. Such a slow burn of a movie. That it ever arrived at smoking hot bodice-ripping scenes made them that much more precious—you *want* these two to find happiness. Good for them. Flawless acting, including Gemma Jones as Anning's mother and Fiona Shaw as an ex.
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New blog post!
☆The Legend of Dragoon best character uses☆
Okay, at this point we all know we're not getting a remake of The Legend of Dragoon. Sorry, not sorry, it's not happening. I'd like it, the rest of the fanbase would like it, but it's not financially viable and Sony has been furtively exiting the back doo... https://blog.bluestarcreations.net/guiding-writes/the-legend-of-dragoon-best-character-uses/
#GuidingWrites #gaming #LegendOfDragoon #PS1 #PSX #TheLegendOfDragoon
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New blog post!
☆The Legend of Dragoon best character uses☆
Okay, at this point we all know we're not getting a remake of The Legend of Dragoon. Sorry, not sorry, it's not happening. I'd like it, the rest of the fanbase would like it, but it's not financially viable and Sony has been furtively exiting the back doo... https://blog.bluestarcreations.net/guiding-writes/the-legend-of-dragoon-best-character-uses/
#GuidingWrites #gaming #LegendOfDragoon #PS1 #PSX #TheLegendOfDragoon
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Here's the first of what I call my grandfather's 'pocket litter'. It's a medallion as you can see by the hole/chain.
Known: found in his effects. My mother did not recognise it at all. Grandmother previously deceased. Well cared for so significant somehow. The cheap chain is Mom wanting a keepsake.
Guess: likely Masonic. Grandfathers trade and look of something accessed frequently but furtively fits. Similar symbology
Latin stamped, not engraved. Non-magnetic.
???🤷
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@mikegerwitz
Interesting historical perspective.Seems to align with #embraceExtendExtinguish and we wrote yesterday about how we see signs of a tumultuous time for Fedi ahead, especially if we don't have lots of eyeballs on the code.
We've produced (#)FediFlyers featuring a possible BugBounty in the hope that diversity in this space can be furtive ground for improvement, rather than a singular pathway towards #artificialImpoverishment.
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Decatur: The way forward is a bond referendum
On Monday, Decaturish published essays by Decatur school board members, Tracey Anderson and Lorraine Irier. Among several concerns is their contention that the board’s three other members (Carmen Sulton, Hans Utz, and James Herndon), as well as City Schools of Decatur’s administration and myriad consultants, do not share vital, relevant information with them or the public in a clear, timely manner.
The focal point of their off-pissedness is the way the school board is pursuing the planning, financing, design and construction of a new early childhood learning center on the green space next to Ebster gym.
Writes Irier:
“Questions regarding financing structures, recusal standards, legal expenditures, contracts, and outside consultants have too often been treated as obstacles rather than legitimate oversight responsibilities. I have experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to obtain basic information necessary for effective board oversight, with requests for contracts, legal expenditures, and consultant information at times framed as disruptive rather than part of a board member’s fiduciary duties.”
Before running letters from Irier and Anderson, Decaturish asked Utz, Sulton and Herndon to respond. They declined.
Instead, at Tuesday’s public board meeting, Utz, Sulton and Herndon decided to show instead of tell.
Shortly after the meeting began, Utz motioned to withdraw from the agenda a planned vote on the new daycare building’s financing.
Everyone observing the meeting could plainly see that Irier and Anderson were surprised by Utz’s surprise motion. Irier’s jaw literally dropped. Anderson asked a series of follow-up questions.
It wasn’t a surprise to everyone though. Sulton and Herndon were evidently not caught off guard. They asked no questions.
By that point, the five board members had been in the same place for six hours at multiple meetings. Utz, Sulton and Herndon did not tell Irier and Anderson. The secrecy, furtiveness and clique-ishness that Irier and Anderson noted in writing was acted out in the meeting, and recorded for posterity on Zoom.
What Sulton, Utz and Herndon did to Irier and Anderson in that meeting, they’re doing to others.
Here’s what Decatur Mayor Tony Powers said about the school board in March:
“I, for one, am tired of the interactions that we continue to have with our [school board]. It is not acceptable behavior, in any case, whatsoever. It is not open. It is not transparent. It is not good governance.”
And here’s what Decatur City Commissioner Mark Arnold said about the school board’s pursuit of the new daycare center in March:
“I think what CSD has done is a gross violation of our values, our traditions, our processes, and I think they’ve demonstrated extraordinarily bad faith.”
The problem here isn’t hurt feelings or bonhomie for bonhomie’s sake. This problem is that this is lousy governance of a city where I live and the schools my children attend.
City residents have five school board representatives. Three of them are excluding the other two overseeing an issue of great importance. Three of them are alternately ignoring, thumbing their noses or otherwise hissing at reasonable public inquiries and/or opposition. Irier and Anderson aren’t the ones being shoved aside. The Decatur residents they represent are the ones being shoved aside.
I believe that every person on the board and the superintendent want to push the city to close education achievement gaps. I believe they want to do that by offering the best early childhood education possible to all Decatur children, even if their families can’t afford tuition at College Heights. Just typing those words on my own blog is music to the ears of my increasingly left-tilting head.
While I was watching Tuesday’s board meeting on Zoom, my eavesdropping 10th grade daughter said “Are they talking about the buckets?”
What buckets, I would have asked, but before I could ask she started describing a hallway at Decatur High School with several buckets to catch water leaking from the ceiling. Before I could ask a follow-up, she pivoted to “My art teacher has to buy her own pens. She shouldn’t have to buy art supplies.”
The kid’s breathless riff at me unintentionally distilled our school board’s dilemma. It’s every school board’s dilemma, in fact. Schools and school systems have more needs than they have resources to meet those needs. Using every dollar as wisely as possible isn’t a nice-to-do. It’s a must-do.
Her distillation of the problem also points the way to a solution.
The school board is clearly at an impasse. Some board members and city residents want to build a new daycare facility that will require $23 to $28 million in new financing. Other board members and city residents think the city can deliver equally great early childhood education to all of our children by creating new learning spaces inside existing, underused school buildings.
If we can agree on how to achieve the big shared goal (education equity via early childhood learning) at lower cost, the city will have more resources to ensure that gains made with 0-4s will stick for K-12s — such as more instructors for kids who need extra help, pay raises for our educators and support staff.
A citywide referendum on the proposed new early childhood learning center is the way forward. Along with subverting the will of Decatur’s residents (which would be bad enough), funding a building without putting it to a referendum would add $6 million to the price tag. Let’s also put alternative solutions (such as retrofitting existing spaces) to a vote. While we’re referend’n, let’s put funding for repairs and upgrades at Decatur High School to a vote, too. Put the Posca pens on the ballot, too. I’m sure the art teacher would appreciate that.
Based on what I know right now, I would vote to fund renovating parts of College Heights or another CSD elementary building, and providing additional tuition-free care there. I am eager to vote to tax myself to pay for kids to attend the same facility that served our family so well.
Proponents of a new ECLC building have said my preferred option (renovation) is not viable, but haven’t convinced me. My willingness to take them at their word has been fading as months have gone by without meaningful explanations of costs and considerations. What little willingness I had left vanished completely when a senior Decatur school official depicted the SoulShine daycare on West Howard Ave as a literal fireball (see the photo on this page if you think I’m exaggerating).
To be clear, I’m not saying that proponents of a new ECLC are lying about their budgets. I am saying that I have a benefit of the doubt budget and that CSD exhausted it. I don’t think I’m alone in that. Thanks to poor communication, questionable math, and bad attitudes, proponents of a new building do not have my support.
I’m just one person though. All Decatur voters should decide.
Putting municipal bond questions to voters is as American as eagles wearing shades and bandanas. It’s as American as German Chocolate Cake, which is from Pennsylvania. And it’s way more American than the song “American Woman,” which is Canadian. Have you listened to the lyrics? They are not happy with us.
So, yeah, a bond referendum would be patriotic af, help our city settle a contentious issue, and (I hope) generate the money and political agreement to provide early childhood education for kids who need and deserve it. Also, I wouldn’t have to write about this again, which would be a relief to me and tens of others.
#Bonds #CitySchoolsOfDecatur #Decatur #Democracy #earlyChildhoodEducation #education -
Decatur: The way forward is a bond referendum
On Monday, Decaturish published essays by Decatur school board members, Tracey Anderson and Lorraine Irier. Among several concerns is their contention that the board’s three other members (Carmen Sulton, Hans Utz, and James Herndon), as well as City Schools of Decatur’s administration and myriad consultants, do not share vital, relevant information with them or the public in a clear, timely manner.
The focal point of their off-pissedness is the way the school board is pursuing the planning, financing, design and construction of a new early childhood learning center on the green space next to Ebster gym.
Writes Irier:
“Questions regarding financing structures, recusal standards, legal expenditures, contracts, and outside consultants have too often been treated as obstacles rather than legitimate oversight responsibilities. I have experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to obtain basic information necessary for effective board oversight, with requests for contracts, legal expenditures, and consultant information at times framed as disruptive rather than part of a board member’s fiduciary duties.”
Before running letters from Irier and Anderson, Decaturish asked Utz, Sulton and Herndon to respond. They declined.
Instead, at Tuesday’s public board meeting, Utz, Sulton and Herndon decided to show instead of tell.
Shortly after the meeting began, Utz motioned to withdraw from the agenda a planned vote on the new daycare building’s financing.
Everyone observing the meeting could plainly see that Irier and Anderson were surprised by Utz’s surprise motion. Irier’s jaw literally dropped. Anderson asked a series of follow-up questions.
It wasn’t a surprise to everyone though. Sulton and Herndon were evidently not caught off guard. They asked no questions.
By that point, the five board members had been in the same place for six hours at multiple meetings. Utz, Sulton and Herndon did not tell Irier and Anderson. The secrecy, furtiveness and clique-ishness that Irier and Anderson noted in writing was acted out in the meeting, and recorded for posterity on Zoom.
What Sulton, Utz and Herndon did to Irier and Anderson in that meeting, they’re doing to others.
Here’s what Decatur Mayor Tony Powers said about the school board in March:
“I, for one, am tired of the interactions that we continue to have with our [school board]. It is not acceptable behavior, in any case, whatsoever. It is not open. It is not transparent. It is not good governance.”
And here’s what Decatur City Commissioner Mark Arnold said about the school board’s pursuit of the new daycare center in March:
“I think what CSD has done is a gross violation of our values, our traditions, our processes, and I think they’ve demonstrated extraordinarily bad faith.”
The problem here isn’t hurt feelings or bonhomie for bonhomie’s sake. This problem is that this is lousy governance of a city where I live and the schools my children attend.
City residents have five school board representatives. Three of them are excluding the other two overseeing an issue of great importance. Three of them are alternately ignoring, thumbing their noses or otherwise hissing at reasonable public inquiries and/or opposition. Irier and Anderson aren’t the ones being shoved aside. The Decatur residents they represent are the ones being shoved aside.
I believe that every person on the board and the superintendent want to push the city to close education achievement gaps. I believe they want to do that by offering the best early childhood education possible to all Decatur children, even if their families can’t afford tuition at College Heights. Just typing those words on my own blog is music to the ears of my increasingly left-tilting head.
While I was watching Tuesday’s board meeting on Zoom, my eavesdropping 10th grade daughter said “Are they talking about the buckets?”
What buckets, I would have asked, but before I could ask she started describing a hallway at Decatur High School with several buckets to catch water leaking from the ceiling. Before I could ask a follow-up, she pivoted to “My art teacher has to buy her own pens. She shouldn’t have to buy art supplies.”
The kid’s breathless riff at me unintentionally distilled our school board’s dilemma. It’s every school board’s dilemma, in fact. Schools and school systems have more needs than they have resources to meet those needs. Using every dollar as wisely as possible isn’t a nice-to-do. It’s a must-do.
Her distillation of the problem also points the way to a solution.
The school board is clearly at an impasse. Some board members and city residents want to build a new daycare facility that will require $23 to $28 million in new financing. Other board members and city residents think the city can deliver equally great early childhood education to all of our children by creating new learning spaces inside existing, underused school buildings.
If we can agree on how to achieve the big shared goal (education equity via early childhood learning) at lower cost, the city will have more resources to ensure that gains made with 0-4s will stick for K-12s — such as more instructors for kids who need extra help, pay raises for our educators and support staff.
A citywide referendum on the proposed new early childhood learning center is the way forward. Along with subverting the will of Decatur’s residents (which would be bad enough), funding a building without putting it to a referendum would add $6 million to the price tag. Let’s also put alternative solutions (such as retrofitting existing spaces) to a vote. While we’re referend’n, let’s put funding for repairs and upgrades at Decatur High School to a vote, too. Put the Posca pens on the ballot, too. I’m sure the art teacher would appreciate that.
Based on what I know right now, I would vote to fund renovating parts of College Heights or another CSD elementary building, and providing additional tuition-free care there. I am eager to vote to tax myself to pay for kids to attend the same facility that served our family so well.
Proponents of a new ECLC building have said my preferred option (renovation) is not viable, but haven’t convinced me. My willingness to take them at their word has been fading as months have gone by without meaningful explanations of costs and considerations. What little willingness I had left vanished completely when a senior Decatur school official depicted the SoulShine daycare on West Howard Ave as a literal fireball (see the photo on this page if you think I’m exaggerating).
To be clear, I’m not saying that proponents of a new ECLC are lying about their budgets. I am saying that I have a benefit of the doubt budget and that CSD exhausted it. I don’t think I’m alone in that. Thanks to poor communication, questionable math, and bad attitudes, proponents of a new building do not have my support.
I’m just one person though. All Decatur voters should decide.
Putting municipal bond questions to voters is as American as eagles wearing shades and bandanas. It’s as American as German Chocolate Cake, which is from Pennsylvania. And it’s way more American than the song “American Woman,” which is Canadian. Have you listened to the lyrics? They are not happy with us.
So, yeah, a bond referendum would be patriotic af, help our city settle a contentious issue, and (I hope) generate the money and political agreement to provide early childhood education for kids who need and deserve it. Also, I wouldn’t have to write about this again, which would be a relief to me and tens of others.
#Bonds #CitySchoolsOfDecatur #Decatur #Democracy #earlyChildhoodEducation #education -
Decatur: The way forward is a bond referendum
On Monday, Decaturish published essays by Decatur school board members, Tracey Anderson and Lorraine Irier. Among several concerns is their contention that the board’s three other members (Carmen Sulton, Hans Utz, and James Herndon), as well as City Schools of Decatur’s administration and myriad consultants, do not share vital, relevant information with them or the public in a clear, timely manner.
The focal point of their off-pissedness is the way the school board is pursuing the planning, financing, design and construction of a new early childhood learning center on the green space next to Ebster gym.
Writes Irier:
“Questions regarding financing structures, recusal standards, legal expenditures, contracts, and outside consultants have too often been treated as obstacles rather than legitimate oversight responsibilities. I have experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to obtain basic information necessary for effective board oversight, with requests for contracts, legal expenditures, and consultant information at times framed as disruptive rather than part of a board member’s fiduciary duties.”
Before running letters from Irier and Anderson, Decaturish asked Utz, Sulton and Herndon to respond. They declined.
Instead, at Tuesday’s public board meeting, Utz, Sulton and Herndon decided to show instead of tell.
Shortly after the meeting began, Utz motioned to withdraw from the agenda a planned vote on the new daycare building’s financing.
Everyone observing the meeting could plainly see that Irier and Anderson were surprised by Utz’s surprise motion. Irier’s jaw literally dropped. Anderson asked a series of follow-up questions.
It wasn’t a surprise to everyone though. Sulton and Herndon were evidently not caught off guard. They asked no questions.
By that point, the five board members had been in the same place for six hours at multiple meetings. Utz, Sulton and Herndon did not tell Irier and Anderson. The secrecy, furtiveness and clique-ishness that Irier and Anderson noted in writing was acted out in the meeting, and recorded for posterity on Zoom.
What Sulton, Utz and Herndon did to Irier and Anderson in that meeting, they’re doing to others.
Here’s what Decatur Mayor Tony Powers said about the school board in March:
“I, for one, am tired of the interactions that we continue to have with our [school board]. It is not acceptable behavior, in any case, whatsoever. It is not open. It is not transparent. It is not good governance.”
And here’s what Decatur City Commissioner Mark Arnold said about the school board’s pursuit of the new daycare center in March:
“I think what CSD has done is a gross violation of our values, our traditions, our processes, and I think they’ve demonstrated extraordinarily bad faith.”
The problem here isn’t hurt feelings or bonhomie for bonhomie’s sake. This problem is that this is lousy governance of a city where I live and the schools my children attend.
City residents have five school board representatives. Three of them are excluding the other two overseeing an issue of great importance. Three of them are alternately ignoring, thumbing their noses or otherwise hissing at reasonable public inquiries and/or opposition. Irier and Anderson aren’t the ones being shoved aside. The Decatur residents they represent are the ones being shoved aside.
I believe that every person on the board and the superintendent want to push the city to close education achievement gaps. I believe they want to do that by offering the best early childhood education possible to all Decatur children, even if their families can’t afford tuition at College Heights. Just typing those words on my own blog is music to the ears of my increasingly left-tilting head.
While I was watching Tuesday’s board meeting on Zoom, my eavesdropping 10th grade daughter said “Are they talking about the buckets?”
What buckets, I would have asked, but before I could ask she started describing a hallway at Decatur High School with several buckets to catch water leaking from the ceiling. Before I could ask a follow-up, she pivoted to “My art teacher has to buy her own pens. She shouldn’t have to buy art supplies.”
The kid’s breathless riff at me unintentionally distilled our school board’s dilemma. It’s every school board’s dilemma, in fact. Schools and school systems have more needs than they have resources to meet those needs. Using every dollar as wisely as possible isn’t a nice-to-do. It’s a must-do.
Her distillation of the problem also points the way to a solution.
The school board is clearly at an impasse. Some board members and city residents want to build a new daycare facility that will require $23 to $28 million in new financing. Other board members and city residents think the city can deliver equally great early childhood education to all of our children by creating new learning spaces inside existing, underused school buildings.
If we can agree on how to achieve the big shared goal (education equity via early childhood learning) at lower cost, the city will have more resources to ensure that gains made with 0-4s will stick for K-12s — such as more instructors for kids who need extra help, pay raises for our educators and support staff.
A citywide referendum on the proposed new early childhood learning center is the way forward. Along with subverting the will of Decatur’s residents (which would be bad enough), funding a building without putting it to a referendum would add $6 million to the price tag. Let’s also put alternative solutions (such as retrofitting existing spaces) to a vote. While we’re referend’n, let’s put funding for repairs and upgrades at Decatur High School to a vote, too. Put the Posca pens on the ballot, too. I’m sure the art teacher would appreciate that.
Based on what I know right now, I would vote to fund renovating parts of College Heights or another CSD elementary building, and providing additional tuition-free care there. I am eager to vote to tax myself to pay for kids to attend the same facility that served our family so well.
Proponents of a new ECLC building have said my preferred option (renovation) is not viable, but haven’t convinced me. My willingness to take them at their word has been fading as months have gone by without meaningful explanations of costs and considerations. What little willingness I had left vanished completely when a senior Decatur school official depicted the SoulShine daycare on West Howard Ave as a literal fireball (see the photo on this page if you think I’m exaggerating).
To be clear, I’m not saying that proponents of a new ECLC are lying about their budgets. I am saying that I have a benefit of the doubt budget and that CSD exhausted it. I don’t think I’m alone in that. Thanks to poor communication, questionable math, and bad attitudes, proponents of a new building do not have my support.
I’m just one person though. All Decatur voters should decide.
Putting municipal bond questions to voters is as American as eagles wearing shades and bandanas. It’s as American as German Chocolate Cake, which is from Pennsylvania. And it’s way more American than the song “American Woman,” which is Canadian. Have you listened to the lyrics? They are not happy with us.
So, yeah, a bond referendum would be patriotic af, help our city settle a contentious issue, and (I hope) generate the money and political agreement to provide early childhood education for kids who need and deserve it. Also, I wouldn’t have to write about this again, which would be a relief to me and tens of others.
#Bonds #CitySchoolsOfDecatur #Decatur #Democracy #earlyChildhoodEducation #education -
Decatur: The way forward is a bond referendum
On Monday, Decaturish published essays by Decatur school board members, Tracey Anderson and Lorraine Irier. Among several concerns is their contention that the board’s three other members (Carmen Sulton, Hans Utz, and James Herndon), as well as City Schools of Decatur’s administration and myriad consultants, do not share vital, relevant information with them or the public in a clear, timely manner.
The focal point of their off-pissedness is the way the school board is pursuing the planning, financing, design and construction of a new early childhood learning center on the green space next to Ebster gym.
Writes Irier:
“Questions regarding financing structures, recusal standards, legal expenditures, contracts, and outside consultants have too often been treated as obstacles rather than legitimate oversight responsibilities. I have experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to obtain basic information necessary for effective board oversight, with requests for contracts, legal expenditures, and consultant information at times framed as disruptive rather than part of a board member’s fiduciary duties.”
Before running letters from Irier and Anderson, Decaturish asked Utz, Sulton and Herndon to respond. They declined.
Instead, at Tuesday’s public board meeting, Utz, Sulton and Herndon decided to show instead of tell.
Shortly after the meeting began, Utz motioned to withdraw from the agenda a planned vote on the new daycare building’s financing.
Everyone observing the meeting could plainly see that Irier and Anderson were surprised by Utz’s surprise motion. Irier’s jaw literally dropped. Anderson asked a series of follow-up questions.
It wasn’t a surprise to everyone though. Sulton and Herndon were evidently not caught off guard. They asked no questions.
By that point, the five board members had been in the same place for six hours at multiple meetings. Utz, Sulton and Herndon did not tell Irier and Anderson. The secrecy, furtiveness and clique-ishness that Irier and Anderson noted in writing was acted out in the meeting, and recorded for posterity on Zoom.
What Sulton, Utz and Herndon did to Irier and Anderson in that meeting, they’re doing to others.
Here’s what Decatur Mayor Tony Powers said about the school board in March:
“I, for one, am tired of the interactions that we continue to have with our [school board]. It is not acceptable behavior, in any case, whatsoever. It is not open. It is not transparent. It is not good governance.”
And here’s what Decatur City Commissioner Mark Arnold said about the school board’s pursuit of the new daycare center in March:
“I think what CSD has done is a gross violation of our values, our traditions, our processes, and I think they’ve demonstrated extraordinarily bad faith.”
The problem here isn’t hurt feelings or bonhomie for bonhomie’s sake. This problem is that this is lousy governance of a city where I live and the schools my children attend.
City residents have five school board representatives. Three of them are excluding the other two overseeing an issue of great importance. Three of them are alternately ignoring, thumbing their noses or otherwise hissing at reasonable public inquiries and/or opposition. Irier and Anderson aren’t the ones being shoved aside. The Decatur residents they represent are the ones being shoved aside.
I believe that every person on the board and the superintendent want to push the city to close education achievement gaps. I believe they want to do that by offering the best early childhood education possible to all Decatur children, even if their families can’t afford tuition at College Heights. Just typing those words on my own blog is music to the ears of my increasingly left-tilting head.
While I was watching Tuesday’s board meeting on Zoom, my eavesdropping 10th grade daughter said “Are they talking about the buckets?”
What buckets, I would have asked, but before I could ask she started describing a hallway at Decatur High School with several buckets to catch water leaking from the ceiling. Before I could ask a follow-up, she pivoted to “My art teacher has to buy her own pens. She shouldn’t have to buy art supplies.”
The kid’s breathless riff at me unintentionally distilled our school board’s dilemma. It’s every school board’s dilemma, in fact. Schools and school systems have more needs than they have resources to meet those needs. Using every dollar as wisely as possible isn’t a nice-to-do. It’s a must-do.
Her distillation of the problem also points the way to a solution.
The school board is clearly at an impasse. Some board members and city residents want to build a new daycare facility that will require $23 to $28 million in new financing. Other board members and city residents think the city can deliver equally great early childhood education to all of our children by creating new learning spaces inside existing, underused school buildings.
If we can agree on how to achieve the big shared goal (education equity via early childhood learning) at lower cost, the city will have more resources to ensure that gains made with 0-4s will stick for K-12s — such as more instructors for kids who need extra help, pay raises for our educators and support staff.
A citywide referendum on the proposed new early childhood learning center is the way forward. Along with subverting the will of Decatur’s residents (which would be bad enough), funding a building without putting it to a referendum would add $6 million to the price tag. Let’s also put alternative solutions (such as retrofitting existing spaces) to a vote. While we’re referend’n, let’s put funding for repairs and upgrades at Decatur High School to a vote, too. Put the Posca pens on the ballot, too. I’m sure the art teacher would appreciate that.
Based on what I know right now, I would vote to fund renovating parts of College Heights or another CSD elementary building, and providing additional tuition-free care there. I am eager to vote to tax myself to pay for kids to attend the same facility that served our family so well.
Proponents of a new ECLC building have said my preferred option (renovation) is not viable, but haven’t convinced me. My willingness to take them at their word has been fading as months have gone by without meaningful explanations of costs and considerations. What little willingness I had left vanished completely when a senior Decatur school official depicted the SoulShine daycare on West Howard Ave as a literal fireball (see the photo on this page if you think I’m exaggerating).
To be clear, I’m not saying that proponents of a new ECLC are lying about their budgets. I am saying that I have a benefit of the doubt budget and that CSD exhausted it. I don’t think I’m alone in that. Thanks to poor communication, questionable math, and bad attitudes, proponents of a new building do not have my support.
I’m just one person though. All Decatur voters should decide.
Putting municipal bond questions to voters is as American as eagles wearing shades and bandanas. It’s as American as German Chocolate Cake, which is from Pennsylvania. And it’s way more American than the song “American Woman,” which is Canadian. Have you listened to the lyrics? They are not happy with us.
So, yeah, a bond referendum would be patriotic af, help our city settle a contentious issue, and (I hope) generate the money and political agreement to provide early childhood education for kids who need and deserve it. Also, I wouldn’t have to write about this again, which would be a relief to me and tens of others.
#Bonds #CitySchoolsOfDecatur #Decatur #Democracy #earlyChildhoodEducation #education -
Decatur: The way forward is a bond referendum
On Monday, Decaturish published essays by Decatur school board members, Tracey Anderson and Lorraine Irier. Among several concerns is their contention that the board’s three other members (Carmen Sulton, Hans Utz, and James Herndon), as well as City Schools of Decatur’s administration and myriad consultants, do not share vital, relevant information with them or the public in a clear, timely manner.
The focal point of their off-pissedness is the way the school board is pursuing the planning, financing, design and construction of a new early childhood learning center on the green space next to Ebster gym.
Writes Irier:
“Questions regarding financing structures, recusal standards, legal expenditures, contracts, and outside consultants have too often been treated as obstacles rather than legitimate oversight responsibilities. I have experienced firsthand how difficult it can be to obtain basic information necessary for effective board oversight, with requests for contracts, legal expenditures, and consultant information at times framed as disruptive rather than part of a board member’s fiduciary duties.”
Before running letters from Irier and Anderson, Decaturish asked Utz, Sulton and Herndon to respond. They declined.
Instead, at Tuesday’s public board meeting, Utz, Sulton and Herndon decided to show instead of tell.
Shortly after the meeting began, Utz motioned to withdraw from the agenda a planned vote on the new daycare building’s financing.
Everyone observing the meeting could plainly see that Irier and Anderson were surprised by Utz’s surprise motion. Irier’s jaw literally dropped. Anderson asked a series of follow-up questions.
It wasn’t a surprise to everyone though. Sulton and Herndon were evidently not caught off guard. They asked no questions.
By that point, the five board members had been in the same place for six hours at multiple meetings. Utz, Sulton and Herndon did not tell Irier and Anderson. The secrecy, furtiveness and clique-ishness that Irier and Anderson noted in writing was acted out in the meeting, and recorded for posterity on Zoom.
What Sulton, Utz and Herndon did to Irier and Anderson in that meeting, they’re doing to others.
Here’s what Decatur Mayor Tony Powers said about the school board in March:
“I, for one, am tired of the interactions that we continue to have with our [school board]. It is not acceptable behavior, in any case, whatsoever. It is not open. It is not transparent. It is not good governance.”
And here’s what Decatur City Commissioner Mark Arnold said about the school board’s pursuit of the new daycare center in March:
“I think what CSD has done is a gross violation of our values, our traditions, our processes, and I think they’ve demonstrated extraordinarily bad faith.”
The problem here isn’t hurt feelings or bonhomie for bonhomie’s sake. This problem is that this is lousy governance of a city where I live and the schools my children attend.
City residents have five school board representatives. Three of them are excluding the other two overseeing an issue of great importance. Three of them are alternately ignoring, thumbing their noses or otherwise hissing at reasonable public inquiries and/or opposition. Irier and Anderson aren’t the ones being shoved aside. The Decatur residents they represent are the ones being shoved aside.
I believe that every person on the board and the superintendent want to push the city to close education achievement gaps. I believe they want to do that by offering the best early childhood education possible to all Decatur children, even if their families can’t afford tuition at College Heights. Just typing those words on my own blog is music to the ears of my increasingly left-tilting head.
While I was watching Tuesday’s board meeting on Zoom, my eavesdropping 10th grade daughter said “Are they talking about the buckets?”
What buckets, I would have asked, but before I could ask she started describing a hallway at Decatur High School with several buckets to catch water leaking from the ceiling. Before I could ask a follow-up, she pivoted to “My art teacher has to buy her own pens. She shouldn’t have to buy art supplies.”
The kid’s breathless riff at me unintentionally distilled our school board’s dilemma. It’s every school board’s dilemma, in fact. Schools and school systems have more needs than they have resources to meet those needs. Using every dollar as wisely as possible isn’t a nice-to-do. It’s a must-do.
Her distillation of the problem also points the way to a solution.
The school board is clearly at an impasse. Some board members and city residents want to build a new daycare facility that will require $23 to $28 million in new financing. Other board members and city residents think the city can deliver equally great early childhood education to all of our children by creating new learning spaces inside existing, underused school buildings.
If we can agree on how to achieve the big shared goal (education equity via early childhood learning) at lower cost, the city will have more resources to ensure that gains made with 0-4s will stick for K-12s — such as more instructors for kids who need extra help, pay raises for our educators and support staff.
A citywide referendum on the proposed new early childhood learning center is the way forward. Along with subverting the will of Decatur’s residents (which would be bad enough), funding a building without putting it to a referendum would add $6 million to the price tag. Let’s also put alternative solutions (such as retrofitting existing spaces) to a vote. While we’re referend’n, let’s put funding for repairs and upgrades at Decatur High School to a vote, too. Put the Posca pens on the ballot, too. I’m sure the art teacher would appreciate that.
Based on what I know right now, I would vote to fund renovating parts of College Heights or another CSD elementary building, and providing additional tuition-free care there. I am eager to vote to tax myself to pay for kids to attend the same facility that served our family so well.
Proponents of a new ECLC building have said my preferred option (renovation) is not viable, but haven’t convinced me. My willingness to take them at their word has been fading as months have gone by without meaningful explanations of costs and considerations. What little willingness I had left vanished completely when a senior Decatur school official depicted the SoulShine daycare on West Howard Ave as a literal fireball (see the photo on this page if you think I’m exaggerating).
To be clear, I’m not saying that proponents of a new ECLC are lying about their budgets. I am saying that I have a benefit of the doubt budget and that CSD exhausted it. I don’t think I’m alone in that. Thanks to poor communication, questionable math, and bad attitudes, proponents of a new building do not have my support.
I’m just one person though. All Decatur voters should decide.
Putting municipal bond questions to voters is as American as eagles wearing shades and bandanas. It’s as American as German Chocolate Cake, which is from Pennsylvania. And it’s way more American than the song “American Woman,” which is Canadian. Have you listened to the lyrics? They are not happy with us.
So, yeah, a bond referendum would be patriotic af, help our city settle a contentious issue, and (I hope) generate the money and political agreement to provide early childhood education for kids who need and deserve it. Also, I wouldn’t have to write about this again, which would be a relief to me and tens of others.
#Bonds #CitySchoolsOfDecatur #Decatur #Democracy #earlyChildhoodEducation #education -
#TimeTravelingGhost EP 10: Post 96: 1191, Nicosia, Cyprus
**#Wss366 Shining #TimeTravelAuthors 04/29. Author's choice/promo
“Come,” said the hooded figure, beckoning toward the rear of the tavern. “They love not sorcerers here. Nor foreigners, as your clothes mark you.”
I followed him closely across the crowded floor, flanked by two guards. The murmur of complaint that continued wasn’t reassuring, but the crowd parted for our guide as if he were Moses at the Red Sea. As we reached an exit, he turned and addressed the room. While I didn’t understand the words, they silenced the complaints.
Beyond the door, we emerged into a dusty alley stinking of refuse or worse. Overhead, the sun blazed down, #shining hot enough to fry one’s brains. I wished I could change my clothes to the coarse linen tunics worn by my guards, but it seemed unwise to resort to “sorcery.” It was a balance between looking outlandish or confirming I was a sorceress. I made the obvious choice not to make things worse.
“We should hurry,” our host said in French. “The Franks will know of your arrival soon. They govern with Satan’s iron fist.”
I translated for Emily, who nodded and kept pace with us.
We threaded our way through twisted alleys, drawing suspicious stares and the occasional sign against the evil eye. The people we passed were of a swarthy cast, wearing loose robes, tunics, and turbans. They spoke a multitude of languages, none of which I understood.
There was a sense of tension and distrust beyond what our mere presence could explain. There were furtive glances up and down the street and hushed voices instead of gossip.
“Do you think we're in Nicosia?” Emily asked me.
“Are we in Nicosia?” I, in turn, asked our guide.
“Nicosia, 907 Anno Martyrum or 1191 by your calendar.”
“Yes,” I said to Emily. “And I think he knows we're time-travelers. Why else would he tell me the year?”
Emily nodded again, while my guards gave me an evil glare. The youth soon explained, “It is best not to speak the language of the invaders. Al-Malik Rīchārd is not well-loved.”
As he finished speaking, shouts and the sound of running feet broke the uneasy murmur of the street. Soon after, men ran past us in disorganized ones, twos, and threes. Cries of “Hoi Naítai,” “Hoi Phrángoi,” “Al-Faranj,” and “Fursān al-Haykal” filled the air.
My guards drew their daggers, and we turned to retreat, only to be met by the crowd surging back, milling about like trapped sheep.
“Alas!” our guide cried. "The Franks! We've been betrayed!"
#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #TimeTravel #HistoricalFantasy #UrbanFantasy #Mythpunk #Serial #Slowburn #Yuri
-
#TimeTravelingGhost EP 10: Post 96: 1191, Nicosia, Cyprus
**#Wss366 Shining #TimeTravelAuthors 04/29. Author's choice/promo
“Come,” said the hooded figure, beckoning toward the rear of the tavern. “They love not sorcerers here. Nor foreigners, as your clothes mark you.”
I followed him closely across the crowded floor, flanked by two guards. The murmur of complaint that continued wasn’t reassuring, but the crowd parted for our guide as if he were Moses at the Red Sea. As we reached an exit, he turned and addressed the room. While I didn’t understand the words, they silenced the complaints.
Beyond the door, we emerged into a dusty alley stinking of refuse or worse. Overhead, the sun blazed down, #shining hot enough to fry one’s brains. I wished I could change my clothes to the coarse linen tunics worn by my guards, but it seemed unwise to resort to “sorcery.” It was a balance between looking outlandish or confirming I was a sorceress. I made the obvious choice not to make things worse.
“We should hurry,” our host said in French. “The Franks will know of your arrival soon. They govern with Satan’s iron fist.”
I translated for Emily, who nodded and kept pace with us.
We threaded our way through twisted alleys, drawing suspicious stares and the occasional sign against the evil eye. The people we passed were of a swarthy cast, wearing loose robes, tunics, and turbans. They spoke a multitude of languages, none of which I understood.
There was a sense of tension and distrust beyond what our mere presence could explain. There were furtive glances up and down the street and hushed voices instead of gossip.
“Do you think we're in Nicosia?” Emily asked me.
“Are we in Nicosia?” I, in turn, asked our guide.
“Nicosia, 907 Anno Martyrum or 1191 by your calendar.”
“Yes,” I said to Emily. “And I think he knows we're time-travelers. Why else would he tell me the year?”
Emily nodded again, while my guards gave me an evil glare. The youth soon explained, “It is best not to speak the language of the invaders. Al-Malik Rīchārd is not well-loved.”
As he finished speaking, shouts and the sound of running feet broke the uneasy murmur of the street. Soon after, men ran past us in disorganized ones, twos, and threes. Cries of “Hoi Naítai,” “Hoi Phrángoi,” “Al-Faranj,” and “Fursān al-Haykal” filled the air.
My guards drew their daggers, and we turned to retreat, only to be met by the crowd surging back, milling about like trapped sheep.
“Alas!” our guide cried. "The Franks! We've been betrayed!"
#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #TimeTravel #HistoricalFantasy #UrbanFantasy #Mythpunk #Serial #Slowburn #Yuri
-
#TimeTravelingGhost EP 10: Post 96: 1191, Nicosia, Cyprus
**#Wss366 Shining #TimeTravelAuthors 04/29. Author's choice/promo
“Come,” said the hooded figure, beckoning toward the rear of the tavern. “They love not sorcerers here. Nor foreigners, as your clothes mark you.”
I followed him closely across the crowded floor, flanked by two guards. The murmur of complaint that continued wasn’t reassuring, but the crowd parted for our guide as if he were Moses at the Red Sea. As we reached an exit, he turned and addressed the room. While I didn’t understand the words, they silenced the complaints.
Beyond the door, we emerged into a dusty alley stinking of refuse or worse. Overhead, the sun blazed down, #shining hot enough to fry one’s brains. I wished I could change my clothes to the coarse linen tunics worn by my guards, but it seemed unwise to resort to “sorcery.” It was a balance between looking outlandish or confirming I was a sorceress. I made the obvious choice not to make things worse.
“We should hurry,” our host said in French. “The Franks will know of your arrival soon. They govern with Satan’s iron fist.”
I translated for Emily, who nodded and kept pace with us.
We threaded our way through twisted alleys, drawing suspicious stares and the occasional sign against the evil eye. The people we passed were of a swarthy cast, wearing loose robes, tunics, and turbans. They spoke a multitude of languages, none of which I understood.
There was a sense of tension and distrust beyond what our mere presence could explain. There were furtive glances up and down the street and hushed voices instead of gossip.
“Do you think we're in Nicosia?” Emily asked me.
“Are we in Nicosia?” I, in turn, asked our guide.
“Nicosia, 907 Anno Martyrum or 1191 by your calendar.”
“Yes,” I said to Emily. “And I think he knows we're time-travelers. Why else would he tell me the year?”
Emily nodded again, while my guards gave me an evil glare. The youth soon explained, “It is best not to speak the language of the invaders. Al-Malik Rīchārd is not well-loved.”
As he finished speaking, shouts and the sound of running feet broke the uneasy murmur of the street. Soon after, men ran past us in disorganized ones, twos, and threes. Cries of “Hoi Naítai,” “Hoi Phrángoi,” “Al-Faranj,” and “Fursān al-Haykal” filled the air.
My guards drew their daggers, and we turned to retreat, only to be met by the crowd surging back, milling about like trapped sheep.
“Alas!” our guide cried. "The Franks! We've been betrayed!"
#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #TimeTravel #HistoricalFantasy #UrbanFantasy #Mythpunk #Serial #Slowburn #Yuri
-
#TimeTravelingGhost EP 10: Post 96: 1191, Nicosia, Cyprus
**#Wss366 Shining #TimeTravelAuthors 04/29. Author's choice/promo
“Come,” said the hooded figure, beckoning toward the rear of the tavern. “They love not sorcerers here. Nor foreigners, as your clothes mark you.”
I followed him closely across the crowded floor, flanked by two guards. The murmur of complaint that continued wasn’t reassuring, but the crowd parted for our guide as if he were Moses at the Red Sea. As we reached an exit, he turned and addressed the room. While I didn’t understand the words, they silenced the complaints.
Beyond the door, we emerged into a dusty alley stinking of refuse or worse. Overhead, the sun blazed down, #shining hot enough to fry one’s brains. I wished I could change my clothes to the coarse linen tunics worn by my guards, but it seemed unwise to resort to “sorcery.” It was a balance between looking outlandish or confirming I was a sorceress. I made the obvious choice not to make things worse.
“We should hurry,” our host said in French. “The Franks will know of your arrival soon. They govern with Satan’s iron fist.”
I translated for Emily, who nodded and kept pace with us.
We threaded our way through twisted alleys, drawing suspicious stares and the occasional sign against the evil eye. The people we passed were of a swarthy cast, wearing loose robes, tunics, and turbans. They spoke a multitude of languages, none of which I understood.
There was a sense of tension and distrust beyond what our mere presence could explain. There were furtive glances up and down the street and hushed voices instead of gossip.
“Do you think we're in Nicosia?” Emily asked me.
“Are we in Nicosia?” I, in turn, asked our guide.
“Nicosia, 907 Anno Martyrum or 1191 by your calendar.”
“Yes,” I said to Emily. “And I think he knows we're time-travelers. Why else would he tell me the year?”
Emily nodded again, while my guards gave me an evil glare. The youth soon explained, “It is best not to speak the language of the invaders. Al-Malik Rīchārd is not well-loved.”
As he finished speaking, shouts and the sound of running feet broke the uneasy murmur of the street. Soon after, men ran past us in disorganized ones, twos, and threes. Cries of “Hoi Naítai,” “Hoi Phrángoi,” “Al-Faranj,” and “Fursān al-Haykal” filled the air.
My guards drew their daggers, and we turned to retreat, only to be met by the crowd surging back, milling about like trapped sheep.
“Alas!” our guide cried. "The Franks! We've been betrayed!"
#TootFic #MicroFiction #NMFic #TimeTravel #HistoricalFantasy #UrbanFantasy #Mythpunk #Serial #Slowburn #Yuri