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397 lines
59 KiB
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<meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0, user-scalable=yes" name="viewport"/>
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<title>26 December, 2023</title>
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<title>Daily-Dose</title><meta content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1.0" name="viewport"/><link href="styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><link href="../styles/simple.css" rel="stylesheet"/><style>*{overflow-x:hidden;}</style><link href="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.css" rel="stylesheet"/><script src="https://unpkg.com/aos@2.3.1/dist/aos.js"></script></head>
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<body>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-down" id="daily-dose">Daily-Dose</h1>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" data-aos-anchor-placement="top-bottom" id="contents">Contents</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><a href="#from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-vox">From Vox</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</a></li>
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<li><a href="#from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</a></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-new-yorker">From New Yorker</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Colorado’s Top Court Kicked Trump Off the Ballot. Will the Supreme Court Agree?</strong> - A legal scholar analyzes how the nine Justices are likely to view the blockbuster decision. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/colorados-top-court-kicked-trump-off-the-ballot-will-the-supreme-court-agree">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>When Americans Are the Threat at the Border</strong> - Many people charged with trafficking in Tucson are U.S. citizens, suffering from the same problems of poverty and addiction that plague the rest of the country. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/when-americans-are-the-threat-at-the-border">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>How Netanyahu’s Right-Wing Critics See Israel’s Future</strong> - Danny Danon, the former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations, believes there’s no path forward for a Palestinian state. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-netanyahus-right-wing-critics-see-israels-future">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>An Unpermitted Shooting Range Upends Life in a Quiet Town</strong> - Residents of Pawlet, Vermont, were accustomed to calm and neighborly interactions. Then a new resident moved in. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/one-mans-war-against-a-small-towns-rules">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The Disturbing Impact of the Cyberattack at the British Library</strong> - The library has been incapacitated since October, and the effects have spread beyond researchers and book lovers. - <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-uk/the-disturbing-impact-of-the-cyberattack-at-the-british-library">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-vox">From Vox</h1>
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<li><strong>It’s okay to be optimistic about the economy next year</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Stack of US $1 bills with bills flying away on yellow shelf, green background." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/5b0WtxHJoZbL8tKzoKDo5tV7oqg=/250x0:2015x1324/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72998228/GettyImages_684115386.0.jpg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Pssst … there’s a case for feeling good about money in 2024. | PM Images via Getty Images
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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A recession didn’t come in 2023 and it might not in 2024, either.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="BwC1l7">
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I’m going to throw out a wild idea here: What if the <a href="https://www.vox.com/economy">economy</a> is good in 2024? I know, I know, <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/2023/11/8/23951098/economy-inflation-prices-job-market-sticker-shock">prices are still too high</a>. Everybody hates everything so much that we’ve coined the term “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/17/business/economy/tiktok-biden-economy.html">vibecession</a>.” The pandemic fallout is still reverberating. But hear me out — maybe it would be neat to head into the new year without all the doom and gloom.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="dIX2my">
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There is a case for hope here. I mean, look at what happened in 2023. We came into the year with the lowest of expectations. <a href="https://www.theringer.com/2023/8/8/23823982/economist-prediction-2023-recession-jason-furman">Tons of economists</a>, including <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/20/economy/larry-summers-fed-recession/index.html">some big names</a>, thought a major downturn was inevitable in the United States. Many people were sure the Federal Reserve’s fight to get inflation down would mean a significant spike in unemployment; the logic was preordained. In fall 2022, Bloomberg <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-10-17/forecast-for-us-recession-within-year-hits-100-in-blow-to-biden?sref=qYiz2hd0">ran a headline</a> forecasting a 100 percent chance of a recession within a year.
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<div id="2xzVGr">
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<div>
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</div>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="GCLoGb">
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As it turns out, there’s never a 100 percent chance of anything. That surefire 2023 recession <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/12/18/recession-economy-inflation/">never came</a>. Despite the negative sentiment around the economy — sentiment that <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2023/08/02/are-we-finally-exiting-the-vibecession/">mayyybe is starting to turn around</a> — things this year were really good. Inflation came down. The jobs market stayed strong. Consumers, in aggregate, kept spending. The US economy grew at a surprisingly strong rate. After a tough 2022, <a href="https://www.vox.com/stock-market">stock market</a> investors had a solid time.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="LLrDpr">
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“2023 wasn’t supposed to happen,” said <a href="https://stayathomemacro.substack.com/">Claudia Sahm</a>, the founder of Sahm Consulting and a former economist at the Federal Reserve. “For inflation to come down that much, unemployment’s been below 4 percent for the longest stretch since the 1960s, and growth — inflation-adjusted consumer spending is just knocking it out of the park.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vuWE7N">
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There definitely are worse ways to head into 2024.
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</p>
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<h3 id="pUJ0Ii">
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Come over here, let me tell you a nice little story about next year
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="kQFA0q">
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The US economy is not out of the woods. We haven’t yet reached that coveted “<a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/23614066/inflation-soft-landing-economy-recession">soft landing</a>,” where inflation gets back to the Fed’s 2 percent target without tipping the economy into recession. That outcome does seem possible — I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but there’s some room for optimism.
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<aside id="Otspk1">
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<q>The stock market is feeling really excited about the year ahead — arguably, maybe a little too excited </q>
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</aside>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="oblh9s">
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Predictions obviously can be wrong — again, see 2023 — but many economists feel quite positive looking ahead. Goldman Sachs sees just 15 percent odds of a recession over the next 12 months and thinks the economy is on its “<a href="https://www.goldmansachs.com/intelligence/pages/the-us-economy-is-on-its-final-descent-to-a-soft-landing.html">final descent</a>” to a soft landing. Bank of America <a href="https://newsroom.bankofamerica.com/content/newsroom/press-releases/2023/11/bofa-global-research-calls-2024--the-year-of-the-landing--.html">is making a similar call</a>. The Fed <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/14/business/economy/jerome-powell-soft-landing.html">likes what it’s seeing</a> and is hoping for more of it in 2024. It’s <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/13/fed-interest-rate-decision-december-2023.html">anticipating</a> three interest rate cuts next year.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="4XO87y">
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“It should be a good year. Probably not as good as 2023,” said <a href="https://www.moodysanalytics.com/about-us/subject-matter-experts/mark-zandi">Mark Zandi</a>, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. (Seriously, by most traditional economic measures, the 2023 economy was very good.) He pointed out that he wasn’t among the group expecting a recession this past year — when you’re on the right side of a bet, you may as well enjoy it — but that even he wasn’t anticipating this. “The big surprise was the supply side of the economy. Productivity growth revived and labor force growth surged, so that allowed the economy to grow a lot more and still get inflation back in the bottle.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="U6wEX3">
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Inflation is on track to continue to cool. That doesn’t mean prices will go back to where they were in 2019, though <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2023/12/06/walmart-ceo-doug-mcmillon-talks-about-deflation.html">they may decline</a> in some areas. If the labor market stays robust, <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy/23998805/pandemic-excess-savings-us-economy-recession">wages should keep rising</a>, too, and at a pace faster than inflation.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ymUB2c">
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“Wage growth for all income groups is stronger than the rate of inflation, so people’s real purchasing power should improve. They should feel a lot better about the buying power of their income a year from now than they do today,” Zandi said. The relief will be most welcome for low-income households, he added, which are under the most pressure right now.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="9SxgK2">
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Even though the Fed hasn’t cut interest rates yet, they’ve started to fall in some areas in anticipation of what’s ahead. Mortgage rates are back under 7 percent, which has inspired some <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/12/14/mortgage-rates-7-percent/">hopefulness</a> around <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/homebuilder-sentiment-rises-more-expected-mortgage-rates-fall">the housing market</a>. The stock market is feeling excited about the year ahead — arguably, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/14/business/economy/markets-federal-reserve-stocks-bonds.html">maybe a little too excited</a>.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="HDhXgc">
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After the Fed’s latest interest rate decision and Fed Chair Jay Powell’s news conference, “markets got a little giddy,” Sahm said. In the subsequent days, some Fed members <a href="https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/feds-williams-pushes-back-market-expectations-rate-cuts-2023-12-15/">tried to temper</a> some of that giddiness, to limited effect, as <a href="https://www.marketwatch.com/story/s-p-500-eyes-record-high-as-rate-cut-hopes-underpin-sentiment-9ec6a772">investors remain pretty amped</a>.
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</p>
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<h3 id="L28Xa8">
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This nice little story has to come with some buts
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="O3hQaZ">
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Nothing is guaranteed in life, and certainly not a good economy. Even if the US avoids recession in 2024, someday, there will almost certainly be a recession. It’s just the way the business cycle goes. There are plenty of risks that could put a recession on next year’s agenda.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="F4O9v8">
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Some economists still think a downturn is likelier than not. <a href="https://corporate.vanguard.com/content/corporatesite/us/en/corp/what-we-think/bios.html?drawer=5#tabs-16582f12f6-item-fccb08a7c5-tab">Andrew Patterson</a>, senior international economist at Vanguard, has a base case that the US and other developed markets will see mild recessions likely in 2024. Even if the US economy doesn’t turn completely negative, he anticipates some <a href="https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2023/2/7/23587641/economy-jobs-inflation-recession-labor-federal-reserve">job loss</a>. “Fed policy [needs to] bring inflation fully back down to 2 percent, and we believe that is going to require some labor market loosening,” he said. “That’s going to come with some pain.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="7qvvjL">
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Larry Summers, former treasury secretary and one of the pre-2023 doomsayers, told <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/59fff67e-b136-4435-89e1-2400b90f4b83">the Financial Times</a> that it’s “premature” to call this a soft landing, given where inflation is. “We may soft land on the aircraft carrier, but the landing may be hard, and we may overfly,” he said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WftXAB">
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The main risk for 2024 is the Fed. It might keep interest rates too high for too long, pushing the economy under, or it could cut them too early, allowing inflation to take off again and necessitating even harsher hikes later. It could confuse markets with its decisions. “They’re threading a difficult needle,” Zandi said. “I think the odds of a mistake are certainly receding, but we’re not across the finish line.”
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</p>
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<div class="c-float-right">
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<aside id="AatlKt">
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<q>“Definitely by this time next year, we’re either landed, or we’re in a recession”</q>
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</aside>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="AmCCuz">
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There could be dangers lurking elsewhere that observers don’t see yet, such as an issue in the banking system. <a href="https://www.vox.com/technology/23634433/silicon-valley-bank-collapse-silvergate-first-republic-fdic">Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse</a> earlier this year, which was <a href="https://www.vox.com/money/2023/3/14/23640065/silicon-valley-bank-collapse-fdic-interest-rates-federal-reserve">related to the Fed’s interest rate hikes</a>, felt like it came out of nowhere, even though it didn’t. If the past few years have taught us anything, the economy can also take big hits from really uncontrollable forces, like the pandemic and <a href="https://www.vox.com/russia">Russia</a>’s Ukraine war. A sudden change in oil prices is always a possible risk, too. “Nothing does more damage to the economy than higher oil prices very quickly,” Zandi said.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="RKFAFh">
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There is also the fact that inflation coming back down without a recession would be a unique scenario. For inflation to come down fully to 2 percent while maintaining a strong labor market and avoiding broader macroeconomic weakness would be quite unprecedented, Patterson said. “It’s not out of the realm of possibility,” he added. “It’s not our base case by any means. But it is also something that we’re keeping an eye on.”
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</p>
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<h3 id="POW82w">
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Honestly, maybe we just kind of need a hopeful nice story sometimes
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</h3>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="XFKO1L">
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The US economy is far from perfect. Increases in the cost of living are painful, and even before this latest bout of inflation, things were far from great. Higher interest rates to fight inflation have made things worse. There’s no denying that people say they <a href="https://www.vox.com/2023/11/20/23964535/labor-market-employment-inflation-sentiment-economy-bad-polls">do not feel good</a> about the state of affairs, macroeconomically speaking, even if their spending says otherwise, and many admit that, personally, they’re doing okay. We’re in a weird and far-from-ideal economic scenario.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="6SYcZQ">
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Still, it might be nice to at least try to be modestly optimistic. If objectively good things keep happening for long enough, maybe people will start to feel it more, too.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VY738H">
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In 2023, we sort of turned a corner on inflation. Turning that corner took too long, but it happened, nonetheless. “I understand why people are angry. I’m just happy that more people have paychecks, the paychecks are bigger, and they’re out there spending,” Sahm said. She thinks that by the middle of next year, we should know whether we’ve gotten a soft landing or not. “Definitely by this time next year, we’re either landed, or we’re in a recession,” she said. Let’s all aim for the former.
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</p></li>
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<li><strong>The lasting impact of The Color Purple</strong> -
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<figure>
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<img alt="Two young Black girls in white dresses sitting in a tree." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/xk-nWKfye8G6y2OVB2c9ThcVPtI=/354x0:2147x1345/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72996833/the_color_purple_zz_231018_01_14d998.0.jpeg"/>
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<figcaption>
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Young Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) and Nettie (Halle Bailey) in <em>The Color Purple</em>. | Warner Bros.
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</figcaption>
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</figure>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The Color Purple is a melodrama — and the new movie musical keeps its traditions alive.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DeabjQ">
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Going to see <em>The Color Purple,</em> Blitz Bazawule’s 2023 musical adaptation of Gary Griffin’s 2004 Broadway musical adaptation of director Steven Spielberg’s 1985 movie adaptation of Alice Walker’s 1982 novel — what a mouthful — was a rich experience of seeing several texts built and layered upon each other. And the movie theater itself provided a communal experience, especially for Black women, for whom this tale may be our seminal melodrama.
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</p>
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Every time one of the famous lines appeared — like powerfully indignant “All my life I had to fight!” delivered by Sofia (Danielle Brooks) or the more offensive ones like Mister’s father grumbling, “You let a ho in yo house,” the crowd burst into laughter or claps or affirming cries of “Yes!” and “Mmmhmm … That’s right!” When young Celie (Phylicia Pearl Mpasi) and Nettie (Halle Bailey) said in unison, “Us have one heart,” the loving murmurs through the theater were audible. It was a diverse crowd, but the people who clearly knew the lines — and, more importantly, <em>felt</em> the lines — were pretty much all Black, and most of them were women.
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</p>
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<em>The Color Purple</em> is the story of Celie, a dark-skinned Black girl living in Georgia during the early 1900s. Celie is raped by her father and forced to bear two children, then endure being separated from both them and her beloved younger sister, Nettie, as she struggles in an abusive relationship with her husband, Mister. Along the way, Black women show her the way to empower herself, and by the end of the story, she is free and transformed.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="vWb3LZ">
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This latest version of<em> The Color Purple</em> is a different work from the Broadway show before it, and the film before that and the book before that, because every adaptation is its own unique piece of art, fulfilling its own purpose and often even appealing to different communities. But because of the strong cultural presence<em> The Color Purple</em> has in the Black community — particularly among Black women — the musical’s power was undeniable, all of us recognizing the same themes and beloved characters we grew up with. <a href="https://americanstudies.columbia.edu/people/racquel-gates">Racquel Gates</a>, an associate professor of film at Columbia University, tells Vox that <em>The Color Purple </em>is, for Black women, our foundational pop culture text. Knowing the beats and quotes of the Spielberg film by heart can start in early childhood. “I saw it when I was about 6 years old — I was probably too young to be seeing it — and my most vivid memory is of my friends and I talking about it at school,” she said. The musical feels like a gift to Black women like Gates, an homage to one of the most impactful movies of our lives, a celebration of the joy and community we found in it.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="WWsXdo">
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When I logged on to Zoom to speak with <a href="https://pma.cornell.edu/samantha-noelle-sheppard">Samantha N. Sheppard</a>, associate professor of cinema and media studies at Cornell University, about<em> The Color Purple</em> and why Black people love to laugh along with it, I was wearing two pigtails, my go-to hairstyle on casual days. Sheppard chuckled warmly and said, “You got your cute li’l Celie braids in.” I laughed back, the loving jest reminiscent of my childhood, when quotes from <em>The Color Purple </em>were more common in my mother’s Black American family than Bible quotes.
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</p>
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<div>
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<aside id="D4YDzo">
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<q>“I think people have a hard time sitting with a movie featuring traumatic events still being ultimately a story about love, sisterhood, family, and connection.”</q>
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</aside>
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</div>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="i5FGxb">
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As it is for many Black women, <em>The Color Purple</em> was one of my earliest memories, despite the original movie coming out in 1985, 10 years before my birth. The adults quoted the movie all the time, screaming “Celie! Nettie!” anytime they reunited with a sister, or a cousin, or a best friend. Or they yelled out Sofia’s exclamation — “I’s married now!” — when a man finally proposed or just to express the joy of creating a new family. Or maybe they craned their necks and uttered Squeak’s “Harpo, who dis woman?” when someone not in our in-group showed up looking unusual. And sometimes, we’d say, “All my life I had to fight.” On good days, it was just to be funny. On worse days, it was to mask genuine pain, a way to smile through the wrongdoing either a white person or a Black man — even one in our own family — had done to us.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="j5N2ZW">
|
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It might seem strange to others that Black people find so much joy in a movie that includes incest, rape, family separation, domestic violence, and white terrorism. But Sheppard says this tendency isn’t a random phenomenon. There is a deep reason why, to us, it makes perfect sense.
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="wH070P">
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Gates says the key is understanding the genre of the text at hand. “<em>The Color Purple</em> is a melodrama, and it’s operating within the realm of a melodrama,” she says. “I think that that has become increasingly harder for audiences to sort of read and to decipher. So if you see<em> The Color Purple</em> through an overly simplistic, straightforward representational analysis, all you can say is ‘The characters aren’t positive.’ But if you read it through [the lens of] melodrama, where you understand that the guts of the movie are being worked out in the interpersonal conflicts and drama, that gives you a very different and correct reading of the film, which is the one that Black women audiences have always had of that film.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="pM2B6S">
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|
In other words, this is why when we went to see the musical, all the Black women were laughing and everyone else seemed a bit befuddled, wondering why we were laughing at a woman saying she’d kill her husband before she let him beat her. But that’s because, for us, it’s not about the beating. It’s about the strength Sofia showed, the bond she and Celie made that day, the redemptive arc Harpo embarks on later. “I don’t think the movie’s about pain,” Sheppard says. “I think people have a hard time sitting with a movie featuring traumatic events still being ultimately a story about love, sisterhood, family, and connection.”
|
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="EO7vZF">
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She continued, “And we can see that in how we use the movie to lovingly joke, like I said to you about your braids. It’s a way to say, ‘Oh, are you like me? Are you a Black girl like me?’” Both the musical and the experience of watching it are full of these moments, Black women and girls coming together to ask that question of each other, receiving a resounding yes. Even in the iconic scene where Sofia confronts Celie (Fantasia Barrino) for telling Harpo (Corey Hawkins) to beat her into submission, Sofia finds sympathy and common ground with Celie. The iconic lines of “All my life I had to fight” and “I loves Harpo — God knows I do — but I’ll kill him dead before I let him beat me” turn into a Black feminist anthem about standing up and saying “Hell naw” to abusive men in our lives, engaging and empowering the entire theater.
|
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</p>
|
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|
|
<figure class="e-image">
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="Two Black women approach each other on an enormous early 20th-century musical stage." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/MMHHegLB07kJRUYZRUcktPK-68M=/800x0/filters:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25179382/TCP_T2_0048_copy.jpg"/> <cite>Warner Bros.</cite>
|
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<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
Celie (Fantasia Barrino) and Shug’s (Taraji P. Henson) relationship is central to <em>The Color Purple</em>.
|
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</figcaption>
|
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</figure>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UtKdMW">
|
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|
|
It almost felt like church. Even though it was the first time we were all hearing this song, we knew its message. We knew its power. When Sofia sings, “Sick and tired of how woman still treated like a slave,” there was an exhale, because Black women know all too well the double oppression of race and gender. And that is what<em> The Color Purple</em>, in all its iterations, is about. Alice Walker is not just a novelist, but an intellectual giant who explored feminist and womanist theory (although unfortunately, she has recently<a href="https://www.salon.com/2023/03/10/alice-walker-defends-jk-rowlings-terf-views-in-new-essay/"> supported J.K. Rowling amid criticism</a> of the <em>Harry Potter</em> author’s anti-trans statements). In <em>In Search of Our Mother’s Gardens</em>, Walker wrote, “To me, the black black woman is our essential mother, the blacker she is the more us she is and to see the hatred that is turned on her is enough to make me despair, almost entirely, of our future as a people.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="X1V3oH">
|
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|
Through this one quote, one can see the political philosophy that undergirds the movie and the musical. Celie is a dark-skinned woman made to believe she is worthless. And the people in her life who believe this malicious fiction — most notably her husband, Mister — come to ruin as long as they hold on to this hatred. A true reunion with family and culture isn’t possible until they radically transform, an idea captured by Whoopi Goldberg’s iconic hoodoo curse on Mister in the original movie: “Until you do right by me, everything you think about is gonna crumble. Until you do right by me, everything you even think about gonna fail.” After Mister’s repentance, that return is signified by Nettie’s travels to Africa and coming home with Celie’s long-lost children, who are now Africans due to their move with their missionary adoptive parents, who hired Nettie. As an aside, this is a brilliant inversion of the pain of the trans-Atlantic trade of enslaved people — African children returning to their Black Southern mother, crossing the Atlantic to be reunited, not separated. But this ending is only possible because those around Celie have started to release themselves from the bondage of hating Black women. Walker’s message is clear, and extended through the songs of the musical: We will not be free until we embrace, love, and support the Black woman.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="a1vJuj">
|
|||
|
|
The book has so many layered discussions within it, but the musical is almost a clarifying accompaniment to the text of the 1985 movie and the book, making explicit the themes of friendship, heartbreak, desire, and awakening through song. Often musicals can feel more obscuring than revealing, lyrics packed with metaphor replacing straight dialogue, but this musical somehow does the opposite. It reaffirms what Black women have always known — the true meaning of this story.
|
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</p>
|
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|
|
<div class="c-float-right">
|
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<aside id="xJsLLL">
|
|||
|
|
<q>Walker’s message is clear, and extended through the songs of the musical: We will not be free until we embrace, love, and support the Black woman</q>
|
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</aside>
|
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</div>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="smBpok">
|
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|
When the original film came out in 1985, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1986/01/27/us/blacks-in-heated-debate-over-the-color-purple.html">some planned to boycott</a> it over protests of its portrayal of Black men. Celie’s father was raping her and getting her pregnant, her husband was a cheater who beat her constantly, his son Harpo was bumbling and a bit unaware — evoking minstrel tropes, people said — and the grandfather was cranky and deeply misogynistic. And there was valid criticism over whether Spielberg, a white man, could direct the film while showing the full range of Blackness and avoiding tropes. For instance, the scene where Celie (Whoopi Goldberg) is shaving Mister (Danny Glover) after he hits her and considering slitting his throat, juxtaposed with her children — now in Africa — receiving their tribal markings. Bazawule, a Black director, notably changes this in the 2023 film to simply a moment when Celie considers killing Mister, without the implications of violence in sacred African traditions. Gates also points out that while the movie’s opposition, claiming it was an unfair portrayal of Black men, was rooted in misogyny, there are valid questions about what Spielberg chose to leave out or put in.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="TZw58k">
|
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|
|
“In the novel, there’s talk of how Mister liked to sew as a little boy and how he was punished for that by his dad,” Gates says. “There’s a lot in the novel that I think fleshes out his character that doesn’t show up in the movie.” Although the musical still doesn’t include it, Colman Domingo’s portrayal of Mister almost gives it that full humanity that Spielberg’s movie is missing. Domingo is an intensely talented actor, able to embody almost any character and inject meaning into a single glance or body movement. His Mister is an homage to Danny Glover’s, but it’s also a portrayal with a wider range of possibilities.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="JOL1OI">
|
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|
By the end of the movie, we had all cried and laughed until we felt full. I can’t say what <em>The Color Purple</em> means to people who aren’t Black, because all I’ve ever known is a Black reading of the book, the film, and now this movie musical. But I will say, to anyone confused about why Black women laugh so much about a movie that on the surface seems dark, remember the scene when Sofia is released from prison. Once perfectly executed by Oprah Winfrey and played beautifully by Danielle Brooks here, Sofia is quiet, refusing to eat or talk after being tortured for years in prison. The feisty spirit of the woman who once used to drag Harpo around by the ear, tell Mister off, and encourage Celie to fight back has been broken. But when she hears Celie stand up to Mister for the first time and take her life back, she slowly starts to laugh, her laughter rising and crashing upon everyone like a wave as she fills her plate and eats voraciously, saying, “Sofia’s back now.”
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="0LsNOq">
|
|||
|
|
It’s a moment that I’ve remembered my whole childhood, a moment that encapsulates why we laugh with <em>The Color Purple </em>— never at it. Because for Black people, especially Black women, laughter is how we heal. Laughter is how we find our way back — back home, back to each other, and back to ourselves.
|
|||
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Lo7yzi">
|
|||
|
|
The Color Purple <em>is out in theaters now.</em>
|
|||
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</p></li>
|
|||
|
|
<li><strong>The best ways to help homeless people</strong> -
|
|||
|
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<figure>
|
|||
|
|
<img alt="A person stands speaking to people sitting wrapped in blankets on a city sidewalk." src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/m7iILug3q4inBRAI6b_u5sPH01E=/0x0:5333x4000/1310x983/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72996780/1441243773.0.jpg"/>
|
|||
|
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<figcaption>
|
|||
|
|
A Red Cross volunteer brings hot food and blankets to people during the night service to assist the homeless on November 13, 2022, in Catania, Italy. | Fabrizio Villa/Getty Images
|
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|
|
</figcaption>
|
|||
|
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</figure>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
|
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|
And not just at the holidays
|
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|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="yLQPAc">
|
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|
|
I’ve been covering <a href="https://www.vox.com/homelessness">America’s homeless crisis at Vox</a> all year. Last month, a reader reached out to ask what practical step they could take to help the people they see sleeping on the streets, besides giving time to food drives and occasionally handing out a drink on their walk from the store. “I often feel helpless to enact change,” the reader said.
|
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</p>
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="J5pEqj">
|
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I had some ideas but decided this was an important question to answer thoroughly, including challenging my initial assumptions about what would be most helpful. So I reached out to leading national and local experts on homelessness to get their thoughts. Their ideas represent a range of approaches, including helping individuals while working to change the system. Crucially, they encouraged doing both: Individual actions reinforce system-level change, and vice versa. A world where nobody donates blankets and socks to people experiencing homelessness is also one where political advocacy will struggle to make change.
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="zLFkvr">
|
|||
|
|
This is a time of year when people might be especially focused on helping others and when freezing temperatures in much of the country make it particularly unsafe for people to sleep outside. But it’s not the only time of year that it’s important. Scorching temperatures can be dangerous in their own right, and the lack of affordable housing is a year-round issue.
|
|||
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</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="DTRqQ2">
|
|||
|
|
Here are some of the best ways to help the unhoused, and not just during the holiday season:
|
|||
|
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</p>
|
|||
|
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<h3 id="o71T9l">
|
|||
|
|
<ol type="1">
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Show kindness to those living on the street
|
|||
|
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</li></ol></h3>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="mYliAf">
|
|||
|
|
While not possible or advised in all circumstances, generally speaking, do not overlook simple and basic acts of kindness for those living without stable housing. “Look them in the eye when you walk by,” suggests Natalie Hogg, a board member and volunteer for <a href="https://www.standupforkids.org/">StandUp for Kids</a>, a youth homelessness nonprofit. “Stopping to ask how they are — being ‘seen’ and feeling like they matter means everything.”
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="UY285o">
|
|||
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|
Some national experts, like Jesse Rabinowitz with the <a href="https://homelesslaw.org/">National Homelessness Law Center</a>, say the best thing someone could do on an individual level is to give people cash. “That enables folks to make their own choices, without red tape,” he told Vox. “People are the best experts in what they need.”
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="lvBcan">
|
|||
|
|
If you aren’t carrying cash, consider cash gift-card equivalents, like a <a href="https://www.visa.ca/en_CA/pay-with-visa/cards/gift-cards.html#:~:text=The%20Visa%20Gift%20card%20is%20a%20prepaid%20card%20welcome%20everywhere,of%20your%20friends%20and%20family.">Visa gift card</a> or a gift card that allows someone to buy food and spend time inside somewhere, like a Starbucks, McDonald’s, or Subway, so they can get warm.
|
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</p>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="22pNWB">
|
|||
|
|
Beyond giving people cash or gift cards, certain items can be particularly helpful to carry around and distribute. Donald Whitehead, the executive director of the <a href="https://nationalhomeless.org/">National Coalition for the Homeless</a>, told me he aims to do one “random act of kindness” each week and carries blankets and socks around with him to hand out. Rabinowitz, with the National Homelessness Law Center, adds that hand-warmers and hats are particularly helpful to distribute during the winter, while water and frozen water bottles are go-to needed items in the summer.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<h3 id="AgHPIb">
|
|||
|
|
<ol start="2" type="1">
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Donate to local shelters and nonprofits
|
|||
|
|
</li></ol></h3>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="Gmu2fr">
|
|||
|
|
Donating your resources to local shelters and nonprofits working to help those without housing is another great option. (You can use this tool from the Department of Housing and Urban Development <a href="https://www.hud.gov/findshelter">to find shelters</a> in your community.) Homeless shelters often need clothing, sleeping bags, tech equipment, backpacks, and other items. Calling them to see what they might need is a smart first step.
|
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|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bI44zY">
|
|||
|
|
Or consider making in-kind donations to local homeless advocacy and support groups. Hogg, with StandUp for Kids, said their chapters often need items like travel-size hygiene products, first aid items, bus passes, new and gently used clothing, office supplies, storage space, and non-perishable food.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="hNIuk2">
|
|||
|
|
Donating money — especially on a recurring basis — can also make a big difference. “Most don’t know that individual giving can be very important to nonprofits big and small because these gifts are unrestricted, meaning we can allocate the money wherever we see fit,” said James C. Durrah II, with <a href="https://www.miriamskitchen.org/">Miriam’s Kitchen</a>, a group working to end homelessness in Washington, DC. An “unrestricted” donation means that groups can use the money for all sorts of expenses they may have, including overhead, programming, events, and supplies.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="ryoW1V">
|
|||
|
|
If recurring donations are not possible for your budget right now, advocates suggest considering one-time donations or donating through your workplace, where your employer might be able to match your contribution. Cassidy O’Lear, a staffer with <a href="https://familypromise.org/">Family Promise</a>, an organization focused on family homelessness, suggests launching your own fundraising campaign online, through Facebook or GoFundMe. “When you hear the word ‘fundraiser,’ images of formal dinners may come to mind,” she told Vox. “But with a virtual peer-to-peer campaign, you can bring people together to support those in need without tickets or tuxedos.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="2sglYe">
|
|||
|
|
Whitehead, with the National Coalition of the Homeless, stressed the value of donations, especially as of late. “We’re seeing flat funding for a lot of programs at the federal level,” he said. “Donations are down, but supporting nonprofits that can help guide people through homelessness is extremely important.”
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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|
<h3 id="bo94VI">
|
|||
|
|
<ol start="3" type="1">
|
|||
|
|
<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Volunteer
|
|||
|
|
</li></ol></h3>
|
|||
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="bITTq2">
|
|||
|
|
While there exist a host of opportunities to volunteer around major holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas, many local nonprofits have programs and recurring events that rely on volunteers year-round. At Miriam’s Kitchen in DC, for example, they manage a meal program five days a week, twice a day, that is largely run by volunteers. Finding ways to fit volunteering into hectic schedules can be tough, <a href="https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/23969939/volunteering-charity-nonprofit-busy-time-remote-work-schedule-skills">but there are practical ways to do it</a>.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
|
|
<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="VS7z1Q">
|
|||
|
|
The staff who work at homeless nonprofits and shelters are typically very adept at finding ways to leverage the unique skill sets and interests of their volunteers. Maybe you’re tech-minded and can help an advocacy group improve its website. Maybe you have marketing skills or event-planning expertise. Or maybe you are interested in mentorship and the staff can connect you with homeless youth looking for guidance, support, or even academic tutoring. Getting in touch and starting a conversation is a great place to start.
|
|||
|
|
</p>
|
|||
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<h3 id="yNiv0e">
|
|||
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<ol start="4" type="1">
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">Advocate politically<strong> </strong></li>
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</ol></h3></li>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="uSbUfm">
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Nearly all the experts I contacted stressed the importance of using your voice to engage politically, on both the national and local levels, to help end the crisis of homelessness. That could take the form of writing to elected officials asking them to create more housing, or showing up to your local city council meeting where they’re discussing zoning to make this ask directly. Louis Chicoine, the CEO of Abode, a supportive housing organization in California, said people could also travel to the offices of their elected officials to ask why they have not done more to end homelessness, and prioritize voting for those with policy ideas dedicated to creating enough affordable housing for all Americans.
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</p>
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If you contact a local elected official, don’t feel like you need to call with a specific policy recommendation. Making a call just to express concern about the homeless crisis and the shortage of affordable housing goes a long way, said Rabinowitz, of the National Homelessness Law Center. “Small minorities of very vocal constituents can have an outsized impact on local government,” he said. “People should be vocal on <a href="https://www.vox.com/recode/2019/5/7/18528014/fear-social-media-nextdoor-citizen-amazon-ring-neighbors">sites like Nextdoor</a> when their neighbor is saying something terrible about people experiencing homelessness. They should email their representative, comment on their Facebook page.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom" id="YUfc23">
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Beyond engaging with public officials, remember that you can make a difference by educating your circle of family, friends, and coworkers. “Most people aren’t aware that every year, 2.5 million children experience homelessness in the US,” said O’Lear, with Family Promise. “You can take to social media to raise awareness.”
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</p>
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This crisis won’t be solved overnight. But there’s a lot each of us can do that would make a difference, both in the long run and right now.
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</p>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-sports">From The Hindu: Sports</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Zenata and Kings Return impress</strong> -</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Contractor, Forest Fragrance, Rodney, Days Date, and Own Legacy impress</strong> -</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>IND vs SA 1st Test, Centurion | India reach 91/3 at lunch against South Africa</strong> - India were in a spot of bother at 24 for three before Virat Kohli (33 not out) and Shreyas Iyer (31 not out) rode on luck to stabilise the visitors’ innings with unbeaten 67 runs for the fourth wicket</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Hockey India names 34 probables for women’s national camp</strong> - The Olympic Qualifiers are set to be played in Ranchi from January 13-19 in which India are placed in Pool B along with New Zealand, Italy and the United States of America.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Afghanistan unlikely to give nod for Mujeeb, Naveen and Farooqi to participate in IPL 2024</strong> -</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-the-hindu-national-news">From The Hindu: National News</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A.P. Chief Minister inaugurates Aadudam Andhra sports festival</strong> - Encouraging the youth to adopt a healthy lifestyle, and identifying young talent are the two primary objectives behind launching this State-wide initiative, says Jagan Mohan Reddy; over 34 lakh youth sign up to take part in the event</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>13 years later, Hindi auto-captioning launched for YouTube</strong> - Automated subtitles could open up millions of Hindi language videos to viewers who are hearing impaired; the feature was first launched for English in 2010</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Collector inspects development works at tribal villages in the Nilgiris</strong> -</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Pained by attempts to ‘demean’ constitutional institutions, says Vice-President Dhankhar</strong> -</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Delhi court extends by two days ED custody of three Vivo-India executives</strong> - The accused were produced before the court on the expiry of their three-day ED custody granted earlier</p></li>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-bbc-europe">From BBC: Europe</h1>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Russia confirms damage to warship in Black Sea</strong> - The Ministry of Defence says the ship was struck by Ukrainian aircraft carrying guided missiles.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine denies Russian capture of key town near Donetsk</strong> - The completely destroyed town of Mariinka is seen as a gateway to the Russian-held city of Donetsk.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>France murders: Man held after mother and children killed in Meaux</strong> - Prosecutors launch a murder inquiry after the bodies of a woman and her four children are found.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Ukraine war: The frontline city Russia could seize again</strong> - People in Kupiansk say they “live in fear of death” as Ukrainian troops run low on ammunition.</p></li>
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<li data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Alexei Navalny: Russian opposition leader reappears in Arctic penal colony</strong> - Mr Navalny confirms his arrival on social media after his team were unable to contact him for weeks.</p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-ars-technica">From Ars Technica</h1>
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<ul>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>People can tell what you want to know when you shake wrapped Christmas gifts</strong> - We can tell if it’s about how many objects are inside, or the shape of those objects. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1992537">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The 20 most-read stories of 2023</strong> - Dinosaurs, AI, the Sony Walkman, wheel sizes, and more in our year-end countdown. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1991951">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Film Technica: Our favorite movies of 2023</strong> - This year, big superhero franchises mostly faltered and made room for fresh original fare. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1984993">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>Corvids seem to handle temporary memories the way we do</strong> - Birds show evidence that they lump temporary memories into categories. - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1992736">link</a></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>PAX Unplugged 2023: How indie devs build and sell board games and RPGs</strong> - Tabletop is bigger than ever. What’s it like trying to get your game out there? - <a href="https://arstechnica.com/?p=1992547">link</a></p></li>
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</ul>
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<h1 data-aos="fade-right" id="from-jokes-subreddit">From Jokes Subreddit</h1>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>What grows 10X it’s size when stimulated? the teacher asked her 6 year old students</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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Mary raises her hands" That is not a question you ask first graders. I will tell the principal and she will get you fired“. The teacher ignored her and turned to the rest of the class.” What grows 10X its size when stimulated?" “The pupils” Billy says. The teacher turned to Mary and said. There’s 2 things I’d like to tell you 1. You have a dirty mind 2. You’ll be very disappointed one day!
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/1HotCanadian"> /u/1HotCanadian </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18qxzob/what_grows_10x_its_size_when_stimulated_the/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18qxzob/what_grows_10x_its_size_when_stimulated_the/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>The teacher asked the class to use the word “fascinate” in a sentence.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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Molly put up her hand and said, “My family went to my granddad’s farm, and we all saw his pet sheep. It was fascinating.”<br/> The teacher said, “That was good, but I wanted you to use the word ‘fascinate,’ not ‘fascinating’.”<br/> Sally raised her hand. She said, “My family went to see Rock City and I was fascinated.”<br/> The teacher said, “Well, that was good Sally, but I wanted you to use the word ‘fascinate’.”<br/> Little Johnny raised his hand, but the teacher hesitated because she had been burned by Little Johnny before. She finally decided there was no way he could damage the word “fascinate,” so she called on him.<br/> Johnny said, “My aunt Carolyn has a sweater with ten buttons, but her tits are so big she can only fasten eight!”<br/> The teacher sat down and cried.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/My_Balls_Itch_123"> /u/My_Balls_Itch_123 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18qz0p9/the_teacher_asked_the_class_to_use_the_word/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18qz0p9/the_teacher_asked_the_class_to_use_the_word/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>11 yr old nephew told me this.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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A bus full of 50 ugly people crashed and everyone died and went to heaven. Saint Peter decided that since their deaths were so violent, he would grant them all one wish before going to heaven. The first person wished to finally be attractive, and the last person on line started to giggle. The second person wanted to be attractive also, and again the last person giggled. This continued until finally, it was the gigglers turn to make his wish. Saint Peter turned to him and just had to ask what was so funny. The last person then used his wish to make them all ugly again.
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/fancypig0603"> /u/fancypig0603 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18qyqhl/11_yr_old_nephew_told_me_this/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18qyqhl/11_yr_old_nephew_told_me_this/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A poor farmer has two sons; a smart one and a dumb one.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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One day he goes to his smart son and he tell him “Bring this duck to the market and sell it for 5 dollars. If you sell for any extra go ahead and take that to the whorehouse on your way back home.”
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So the son goes to the market with the duck, manages to sell it for 7 dollars and promptly goes to the whorehouse and spends the extra 2 dollars he had earned and gets home by the end of the day.
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About a month later the farmer needs a few extra bucks so he decides to use the same plan with his sons. For some reason this time he can’t find his smart son so he goes to the dumb son and says again “take this duck to the market and sell it for 5 dollars. Any extra you earn you can go spend at the whorehouse on the way home.”
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</p>
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom">
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The dumb son leaves carrying the duck but after getting a couple miles out he gets horny and forgets what he was sent to do so he turns the truck straight to the whorehouse. Upon arrival the lady running the place asks him how he expects to pay and he says “well I got this duck.” The lady thinks it over and decides there’s no harm in getting paid a duck for a couple minutes. So she takes him into the next room and they have wild amazing sex. After they finish she says to him “Wow that was fantastic. Can we please do this again? I’ll even let you keep the duck.” And he happily agrees.
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</p>
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Now tired he goes to drive back home. On the drive the duck gets spooked and flies out the window, directly into the path of a semi. The semi driver immediately pulls over and so does the son. The driver says “Oh my god I’m so sorry I killed your duck, it all happened in a flash. Please take 15 dollars for your troubles.” And the son happily agrees and goes on his way.
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Once he arrives home his father asks him how much money he got. The son proudly empties his pocket and shows his father the 15 big ones. The farmer is stunned and asks him exactly what happened that day. The son says “Well, I got a fuck for a duck, a duck for a fuck, and 15 bucks for a fucked up duck!”
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/Buddy2269"> /u/Buddy2269 </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18qtg9r/a_poor_farmer_has_two_sons_a_smart_one_and_a_dumb/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18qtg9r/a_poor_farmer_has_two_sons_a_smart_one_and_a_dumb/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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<li><p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"><strong>A man and a woman have just finished their 20th wedding anniversary and headed up to the bedroom for lovemaking.</strong> - <!-- SC_OFF --></p>
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As they get down to business the women realized that throughout their entire marriage she’s never seen her husband naked. She turns on the lamp. She is shocked to see a strap on dildo on her husband. She looks her husband in the eyes and screams " Explain the dildo" Her husband looks back and answers " I will, if you explain the kids".
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<p data-aos="fade-left" data-aos-anchor-placement="bottom-bottom"> submitted by <a href="https://www.reddit.com/user/1HotCanadian"> /u/1HotCanadian </a> <br/> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18qywah/a_man_and_a_woman_have_just_finished_their_20th/">[link]</a></span> <span><a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Jokes/comments/18qywah/a_man_and_a_woman_have_just_finished_their_20th/">[comments]</a></span></p></li>
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