Patrick Morrisey holds up a signed ceremonial copy of SB 456
Patrick Morrisey and the namesake for the Riley Gaines Act — defining sex and gender in State Code — celebrated the bill completing legislative action Wednesday after lawmakers agreed to remove a controversial provision from the bill
a former University of Kentucky swim team member and ambassador for conservative advocacy group Independent Women’s Voice
held a ceremonial bill signing Wednesday afternoon following Senate Bill 456
completing the legislative process Tuesday
Morrisey announced the Riley Gaines Act during his State of the State address on Feb
12 when the 2025 legislative session convened
Morrisey announced a partnership on his second day in office on Jan
14 with the Legislature to pass a law setting legal definitions for gender in State Code
“I said in my State of the State speech that West Virginia was going to lead with common sense
and that’s exactly what we’re here to do today,” Morrisey said
“It’s common sense that there are two sexes
It’s common sense that boys should not be competing with girls in sports
It’s common sense that women’s spaces
domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers should be kept private for women only
That’s why today I am proud to sign into law the Riley Gains Act.”
The Riley Gaines Act defines the terms “sex,” “male,” and “female” in State Code
basing those definitions on biological sex at birth
The bill further states that males and females are legally equal
but they are not biologically the same; possess unique and immutable biological differences that manifest prior to birth; and are not similarly situated in all circumstances and are not interchangeable
a former University of Kentucky swim team member and ambassador for conservative advocacy group Independent Women’s Voice
Patrick Morrisey for keeping his promise to pass a bill defining “male” and “female” in state law
The bill aims to limit spaces to biological males and females
prohibiting transgender individuals from using facilities based on the gender they identify as
The bill also includes a trigger that would prohibit transgender students from using the bathroom consistent with their gender identity should the U.S
Supreme Court overturn a lower court decision
Gaines first made headlines in 2022 after competing against Lia Thomas
a transgender woman who was on the University of Pennsylvania’s swim team
Gaines is one of several college athletes suing the NCAA over its policies regarding transgender athletes
Gaines campaigned with Morrisey during the 2024 GOP primary for governor
“Today we are here to celebrate a big win for the State of West Virginia
but a broader win that will transcend into all of the other states in this nation,” Gaines said
you guys are fortunate to have a governor who has taken the decisive action that he has so you no longer have to imagine a society where sex-based rights don’t exist.”
SB 456 completed the legislative process Tuesday after the House of Delegates agreed to a Senate amendment to the bill
striking an amendment made to the bill Friday offered by House Judiciary Committee Chairman JB Akers
Aker’s amendment stated “…nothing in this article may be construed as authorizing any person other than a treating health care provider to visually or physically examine a minor child for purposes of verifying the biological sex of the child without the consent of the child’s parent
An amendment to SB 456 offered Friday by House Judiciary Committee Chairman JB Akers was removed from the bill Monday by the state Senate after concerns were raised about the bill allowing for physician inspection of child genitalia without parental consent to determine sex
(Photo courtesy of WV Legislative Photography)
The state Senate struck out Aker’s amendment
replacing it with nothing in the article “shall be construed as authorizing an examination of a minor for purposes of determining the minor’s biological sex
The biological sex of a minor is determined by reference to the minor’s biological sex recorded at the minor’s time of birth.”
The removal of the Akers amendment came after outcries from the public over the weekend over the concern that children could potentially face examinations to confirm a child’s gender
The state Democratic Party and the House Democratic caucus sent out several press releases condemning the amendment
“This amendment that came out of the work of the House is extremely dangerous,” said state Democratic Party Chairman and Del
“What that does is say the school nurse doesn’t need consent to do these examinations
That’s what the (Akers) amendment said and that is what we passed out of here (Friday)
Speaking Tuesday morning on The Dave Allen Show on the WCHS Network in Charleston
Akers said his amendment Friday was in response to a failed amendment offered by Del
which would have prohibited the inspection of the genitalia of any adult or any child without parental consent
“I really don’t want to even open that door about talking about examining children
because I don’t want that to happen anywhere,” Akers said
“But when the Democrats proposed that
there was a discussion about do we just try to vote that down
“I’m 1,000% against kids being examined,” Akers continued
“It was a very narrow carve out in the event that there was some health care situation in place like a corrections facility…where a parent couldn’t be there.”
SB 456 makes the first of Morrisey’s public policy agenda to be signed into law as the 60-day legislative session reaches the halfway mark today
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com
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I was aware of David Lean’s cinematic adaptation of A Passage to India (1984) before I encountered E.M. Forster’s original novel
I had a vague sense of the ambition as well as the arrogance of those Britishers making a film in the heat and dust of India
Heat and Dust – the title of Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s 1975 Booker Prize-winning novel, adapted for the screen by Merchant Ivory Productions in 1983 – seemed to be synonymous with the nation that became independent as India in 1947 and was muddling along with its millions
while examining a central concern of Forster’s novel: the problem of the British in India
India in the 1980s looms large for me in this reappraisal of A Passage to India. Those were heady days. The breezes of postcolonialism were beginning to reach us in our developing nation, deemed peripheral to the metropolitan corridors of Anglo-American academia, where theorists were interrogating what historian Ranajit Guha later defined as the “dominance without hegemony” of British colonisers
India was also facing the headwinds of perestroika and glasnost. The approaching end of the Cold War would soon herald an economic liberalisation that ushered us into a new commercial-cultural firmament. Satellite television and MTV wedged out Doordarshan, the one and only national television broadcaster. Coca-Cola – banned since 1977 – would soon re-enliven our palates
seriously denting the market for local carbonated drinks like Gold Spot
during my masters program in English literature at Delhi University
that I encountered Forster’s novel in a syllabus with the colonial “Beowulf to Virginia Woolf” script embedded in its suite of courses
Into my life came A Passage to India, introduced by Dr Sanjay Kumar
who seemed to herald radical winds of change in university teaching
We were held by his theatrical hands and ushered into the world of the Mosque
Scrawled all over my Permanent Penguins copy of the novel are pencilled notes that attest to the rigorous education in close reading we received
Some of those notes still stand the test of time
This was the first time I encountered India as a subject of English literary studies
the first time I stumbled upon the Indian imaginary in British fiction
A Passage to India was not the world of genteel Edwardian angst Forster had depicted in A Room with a View (1908) and Howard’s End (1910). He was writing against the backdrop of rising demands from the Indian Home Rule Movement
already gathering momentum during his first visit to India in 1912-13
and active when he subsequently served as private secretary to the Maharaja of Dewas in 1921-22
which Forster deemed the “great opportunity” of his life
were (he later admitted) “too prone to turn remote and rare matters into suburban jokes”
His epistolary “record of a vanished civilization” was published as The Hill of Devi (1953)
In editing I have had to cut out a great deal of “How I wish you were all here!” or “Aren’t Indians quaint!” I did not really think the Indians quaint
and my deepest wish was to be alone with them
A Passage to India is not a far cry from this sentiment. But by the time the novel was published, Gandhi’s nonviolent civil-disobedience movement against colonial rule, informed by his philosophy of satyagraha (insistence on truth)
As a study of prevailing social-sexual mores among British potentates from a decade earlier
the “gap between India remembered and India experienced was too wide”
Chandrapore: a fictional Indian town that is presented as “nothing extraordinary”
a place where the Ganges happened “not to be holy”
where an “indestructible form of life” lies flat under the “overarching sky”
This is India “under Western eyes”, to borrow from Chandra Talpade Mohanty (not Joseph Conrad’s novel) – an India that Forster concedes
in his prefatory note to the 1957 Everyman edition
“no longer exists politically or socially”
Macaulay’s memorandum argued for a British Education Act that would shape “a class of persons
Students would be forced to jettison studies customarily conducted in Arabic
all the better to perform the role of “interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern”
Miss Quested and Mrs Moore are desirous to meet “Indians”
much to the horror of the resident English
who are loath to allow “natives” within striking distance
the kindest thing one can do to a native is to let him die,” remarks one of the many memsahibs
whom Forster unfailingly paints in the most offensive colours
hardened by his job “to hold this wretched country by force”
tries to rein in the two women by letting them know in no uncertain terms that “India isn’t a drawing room”
Ronny’s mother and his “much too individual” prospective wife are soon acquainted with a Hindu professor
Dr Aziz is not allowed entry into the Chandrapore Club
even though a “few flabby Hindus” have been admitted
This signalling of a colonial divide and rule policy cannot go unnoticed. The British were attempting to supplant the grand abiding influence of 500 years of the Muslim Sultanate and the Mughal Empire
Scenes of British bigotry unfold “while the true India slid by unnoticed”
discuss whether “it is possible to be friends with an Englishman”
they interrogate the nature of the “ladies” of Empire
examining them for ingrained imperial prejudices
Forster quickly brings us to the crisis that becomes the fulcrum of the narrative. A chord is struck between Aziz and Mrs Moore in an unexpected early meeting where both drop their guard. Aziz then offers to take Mrs Moore and Miss Quested on a trip to the famed Marabar Caves, based on the real Barabar Caves
the oldest surviving rock-cut caves in India
“The caves are readily described,” writes Forster:
leads to a circular chamber about twenty feet in diameter
This arrangement occurs again and again throughout the group of hills
and their reputation – for they have one – does not depend upon human speech
A metaphor for the deep dark dive into the womb and the untramelled psyche
for the supposed unknowability of India and its putative arcane spirituality
for the inability of speech to match up to the liberal-humanist credo by which Forster lived: all of this and more might be justifiably attached to the Marabar Caves
the well worn colonial trope of “an English girl fresh from England” attacked and sexually violated by a devious Oriental man is introduced
Adela is returned into the bosom of a pernicious social apartheid
and the empire casts its racialised net over all its actors
but young Heaslop was a martyr,” writes Forster; “he was the recipient of all the evil intended against them by the country they had tried to serve; he was bearing the sahib’s cross.”
resolution to his Shakespearean master-slave dialectic
which mandates that Caliban can only ever ravish Miranda
An Indian judge is appointed to preside over the case
Adela admits to making a mistake at the critical juncture of her testimony
there are “shouts of derision and rage […] people screamed and cursed
wept passionately.” Aziz faints into the arms of Hamidullah
defeat on that – complete for one moment was the antithesis,” writes Forster
“Then life returned to its complexities.”
no one remained on the scene of the fantasy but the beautiful naked god
Unaware that anything unusual had occurred
he continued to pull the chord of his punkah
to gaze at the empty dais and the overturned special chairs
and rhythmically to agitate the clouds of the descending dust
Forster was part of the intellectual aristocracy of the Bloomsbury Group
which included artists and writers like Leonard and Virginia Woolf
privileged bohemians out to smash pieties of polite society and Victorian sexual mores
this swagger of “influencers” (in contemporary parlance) shaped the era’s emerging feminism and modernism
Forster was openly gay within his private circle, though not publicly. Maurice
was written in 1913 but withheld from publication until after his death in 1970
presages the homosexuality Forster could not express in print during his lifetime
who has “no bearing officially on the trial: the man who pulled the punkah”:
He had the strength and beauty that sometimes come to flower in Indians of low birth
When that strange race nears the dust and is condemned as untouchable
then nature remembers the physical perfection that she accomplished elsewhere
to prove to society how little its categories impress her […]
which goes on to provide the most penetrating critique yet of the empire to which Foster fully belonged
In the face of the punkah-walla’s “aloofness,” Adela questions her “particular brand of opinions
and the suburban Jehovah who sanctified them – by what right did they claim so much importance in the world
Adela’s confrontation with an overwhelming sense of infinitude in the Caves section of the novel leaves her with a persistent echo
Having given us his perspicacious insight into interracial relationships as a key site of colonial anxieties
Occupying a mere 30 pages in an almost 300-page novel
Temple relies heavily on the Hindu religious practices Forster had observed during his second sojourn in Dewas
In The Hill of Devi, Forster devotes a section to what he deems “the most important of [his] letters home”. These described the Gokulashtami Festival
which celebrates the birth of Lord Krishna
The festival appears in A Passage to India
where it is described as a “wild and sincere” occasion
and avoided by instinct whatever could cause inconvenience or pain”
There is a moment during the festivities when the music is silenced
for this was ritually the moment of the Despised and the Rejected; the God could not issue from His temple until the unclean sweepers played their tune
they were the spot of filth without which the spirit cannot cohere
Like Adela Quested’s observation of the punkah wallah at the trial
Forster’s sedulous sense of the despised appears within the divine
It provides an intimate insight into how he thought of bodies within the hierarchical and ideological morass of imperialism
A Passage to India has been subjected to charges of mediocrity as a work of modernism
It has been critiqued – most astringently by Edward Said – for perpetuating orientalist tropes
Benita Parry has criticised it for mystifying the idea of India
Postcolonial feminists have pilloried it for fetishising racialised bodies
The most charitable theorists understand the novel as a treatise on how colonisation damages the coloniser’s mind
and as an impassioned plea for intercultural
A Passage to India may also be interrogated for holding on to Forster’s liberal-humanist credo “only connect”
if such a hope of connection obfuscates the extractive economic and political conditions on which colonisation rests
What if the colonised and the coloniser cannot understand each other in any way
The title of Forster’s novel is derived from Walt Whitman’s 1869 poem A Passage to India
where the American poet sees the opening of the Suez Canal “as both a reason for celebration and an opportunity to connect with the spiritual traditions of faraway lands”
Forster’s evocation of Suez is truer and darker
Mrs Moore dies on her passage home “across the Indian Ocean and up the Red Sea” via the Suez
leaving the novel to claim that “no poetry adorns it
because disillusionment cannot be beautiful”
“Men yearn for poetry though they may not confess it,” writes Forster; “they desire that joy shall be graceful
Thus his belief in the “undeveloped heart […] the heart untrained and untutored”, as he wrote of in his 1936 essay Notes on the English Character
fails to achieve any ethical connection through personal salvation
the ultimate manifesto of liberal humanism
A Passage to India puts paid to any such possibility
after Cyril Fielding has married Mrs Moore’s daughter Stella
It’s what you want.” The answer comes from the very earth:
In his 1909 manifesto, Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule
I am so constructed that I can only serve my immediate neighbours
but in my conceit I pretend to have discovered that I must with my body serve every individual in the Universe
man comes in contact with different natures
But his individual sense of egalitarianism and fraternity was negated by an India that was being swept by the winds of nationalism
the personal may not survive: “socially they had no meeting-place.”
Forster traced an ancestral connection to the late-18th century abolitionist Clapham Sect
He was shaped by a reformist Edwardian milieu and was soaked in the charmed bohemianism of the Bloomsbury Group
And he was deeply attached to a mythic liberal humanism – which was confounded by what he encountered in revolutionary India
his reputation in the fraught stratosphere of early 20th century English literature is both sealed and soiled
Forster’s ambition was to show us competing beliefs and contradictory positions
His novel expresses a desire to reach out to the other
humilities and hostilities – but not lose sight of civilisational injustices that make dialogue seem not only impossible
Forty years from when I first read A Passage to India
a desire for connection without attending to the contingencies of history and geography seems jejune
I cannot but be aware of the continuing fires of colonialism and the desire to break free of the horrendous Enlightenment binary that created it
If it is difficult to reconcile opposed ideas and positions today
to struggle between human identity and alterity
A Passage to India reminds me of how we got here
Gandhi and Forster seem to be at the irreconcilable ends of the legacy of empire: one arguing for satyagraha
non-violence and civil disobedience; the other pleading for liberal humanism and psychic integration
What their visions and works demand of us is an acute consideration of what Forster calls the “unsatisfactory and undramatic tangles” of human interaction – flawed and ineffectual
A Passage to India is a reminder that we have not yet forded the gap
in: Fatherhood, People, Podcast
Brett & Kate McKay • June 13, 2022 • Last updated: September 10, 2023
A lot of young men today struggle in finding their footing in adulthood
and unsure of who they are and how to confidently and competently navigate the world
Part of the reason for this is that most young men today lack something which was once a part of nearly every culture in the world
but has now almost entirely disappeared: a rite of passage
My guest today didn’t want his son to flounder on the way to maturity, nor to miss out on having an initiation into manhood, so he set out to create a 6-year journey for him that would help him move from boy to man. His name is Jon Tyson, and he’s the author of The Intentional Father: A Practical Guide to Raise Sons of Courage and Character
Jon unpacks the components of the years-long journey into manhood he created for his son
beginning with how he brainstormed those components by doing “The Day Your Son Leaves Home” exercise
We then discuss how old Jon’s son was when he started his rite of passage and why it began with him having a “severing dinner” with his mom
We get into what his rite of passage consisted of
from the kickoff ceremony to the challenges
and daily rituals Jon used to impart values and teach his son the “5 Shifts of Manhood.” Jon shares how moving his son’s focus from being a good man
helped him get remotivated to continue the process
why his rite of passage included a gap year after high school
and how Jon celebrated the end of his son’s journey into becoming a man
We also discuss whether Jon did something similar with his daughter
We end our conversation with some key principles any dad can use to start intentionally helping their kids become well-rounded individuals who can confidently step out on their own and into the world
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And away we go. Alright, Jon Tyson, welcome to the show.
Jon Tyson: Good day, mate. How are you? Thanks for having me on.
Brett McKay: Did you have something like that in your own life when you were a boy transitioning to manhood? Did you get a rite of passage?
Jon Tyson: I had absolutely nothing. I mean, zero. So I was working from a pretty big deficit, and I think a lot of dads are. A lot of folks out there sort of feel there’s a hole in their life, and they’re trying to figure out how to catch up, fill that and then do something better for their own kids.
Brett McKay: Yeah, I think a lot of men are like that. They didn’t have that experience but they want it for their own sons, so they’re trying to give their sons the experience that they didn’t have.
Brett McKay: And something you start off in the book talking about is the research. You’ve done a lot of research about what happens when boys don’t have fathers, don’t have involved fathers. What does the research say as to what happens to boys when they lack a strong father figure?
Brett McKay: Well, and besides, you’re trying to move beyond just having a present, involved dad. Your ideal of a good dad is an intentional father, where a father intentionally thinks about walking their sons through an initiation process. What do you think men lack when they transition into adulthood without having almost like a ritual to carry them into manhood?
Brett McKay: And something you talk about in the book, one way men often fill that hole is they create self-initiations for themselves.
Brett McKay: Yeah, I like that… The idea of… This is… The idea is to channel male energy or masculine energy. And it’s one of the analogies I’ve used throughout the years when I’ve tried to explain difference between masculinity and manliness. Masculinity is just that energy and vigor that’s borne through testosterone, right?
Brett McKay: And then manliness is a culture that you use to direct that energy, or manhood is a culture that you direct that energy. So it’s kind of like electricity. Masculinity is electricity. You create a culture of manliness or manhood to funnel that energy. But if you don’t have any wires that’s directing that masculine energy, it becomes dangerous.
Jon Tyson: Yeah, definitely. Totally agree. Yeah.
Brett McKay: Okay. So let’s talk about… You had this idea, your son was born, you’re like, “Okay, I’m gonna… I wanna create an initiation for him, to give him things that I didn’t have. And so when you started this planning process, you went through this exercise you call, the-day-your-son-leaves-home exercise. Walk us through that. What kinda questions are you asking yourself as you guide yourself through this thought process?
So it was like a big white board exercise. And then I worked my way backwards, and that was how I basically designed what I call the Primal Path, which is the sort of six-year journey I came up with.
Brett McKay: No, the-day-your-son-leaves-home exercise is really powerful. I went through it through my head and trying to imagine what my son… He’s 11 right now, and imagine when he’s 18, and he’s leaving the roost. It’s just… It really gets you…
Brett McKay: It’s a gut punch. You’re just like… And you wanna know, like, What is he gonna be like? What do I want him to be like?
Brett McKay: Showing me that. Okay. So you came with this idea what you wanted your son to be like, then you did… You started off an initial ceremony, but it was with your wife. It was mom that kick-started this thing off. What’s… That’s… I think that a lot of guys think, what’s going on there? Why’d you do that?
Brett McKay: And what did that ceremony look like? Who was there and what did you do?
Brett McKay: You were thinking way… You were thinking with the end in mind, again going back to Stephen Covey.
Jon Tyson: Yeah. That’s exactly right. Yeah. And when he leaves home, I really just… And this is one thing I would encourage dads or mentors to do. A lot of times men get into the workplace and they have…
Brett McKay: So when do you think a son should start the rite of passage? Like how do you know that they’re ready?
Brett McKay: Okay. So your son does the ceremony with his mom. You have the initiation ceremony with his friends and some other dads at the beach. The first part of this initiation, year’s long initiation process, was you actually took your son back home where you grew up. Why did you do that? What was the point of this?
Brett McKay: Yeah. I think a lot of young people, they’re just kind of flapping their arms. They don’t know what they’re doing.
Brett McKay: And what I like about what you did too is you would take him to places where you made really big decisions in your own life.
Brett McKay: And I think that’s a really great idea cause it allows your son… It gives him a pattern to follow, when he’s making his own big decisions.
Brett McKay: We’re gonna take a quick break for a word from our sponsors. And now back to the show. So one of your big goals through this whole entire process was to teach your son values, family values, to help him develop his own personal values, but you also had this idea like, “I wanna inculcate masculine values into my son.” What were those values and why do you think that was important?
So, I try to take these noble historically proven virtues and make those the baseline. And, particularly in Greco-Roman culture, these were masculine values. These were values that were associated with men. And so rather than just sort of pluck from thin air, choose random cultural values, I tried to find something that was a little more timeless and rooted.
Brett McKay: And one way you passed on these values or taught your son these values, you did this, you’d take him on trips and you’d of you’d just show it. I think that’s a very… I think that’s probably the most powerful way. But then you’d have these… Every morning you’d sit down with him and you’d have these little talks, and you’d also assign him books to read. Tell us about that.
Brett McKay: And then also throughout the process, you’d read books together or you’d even watch movies. So if you were talking about courage, you would watch Band of Brothers, for example.
And so, to be able to say, “Hey, boys are about ease themselves, the whole thing, control and temporary things, and men are about difficulty, others, humility, surrender, thinking big picture.” So yeah. I would take a couple of months on each of these, have a little daily talk about it, do this weekly thing that we call man school, and then at the end of it we would do a challenge.
Brett McKay: Okay, so these five shifts, you would spend a few months and would you revisit like, say if you did… From whole story to part of the story, a year before, would you revisit it and say, “Hey, we’re gonna talk about this and more?”
Brett McKay: Another thing that I really, I like that you talked about in the book is this idea of preparing for moments that your adolescent’s gonna face as they go through puberty right into adulthood. And I think these moments are often, if you don’t have a conscious, intentional rite of passage, these moments often become the rite of passage.
Brett McKay: But what you’re trying to do with this idea of preparing for moments is making these moments part of a larger rite of passage. And so these are things like, first shave, when your kid gets their first cell phone, when they get a driver’s license. And you thought about like, “What can I do to make these… Make my son see, these moments are part of a bigger picture?”
Brett McKay: So as you went through this process, I’m sure your kid was really excited at the beginning, ’cause beginnings are always exciting and new ’cause you’re doing new things.
Brett McKay: But then your son hit wall with this process.
Brett McKay: He kinda started to lose interest, he’s like, “Ah, jeez. Dad, do we really have to do these morning talks?”
Brett McKay: But this is hard part in any endeavor, this is the part where whether you’re starting a business, you’re doing a fitness routine, start training, start a fitness routine, this is the wall.
Brett McKay: You made a shift at this point to make the process not just about becoming a good man. So here’s what your trying to do. You’re trying to help your son harness his masculine energy to be… For the good of the community, but then you shifted it to about becoming good at being a man. What’s the difference and why did that shift reignite the fire in your son?
Brett McKay: How old was he when this happened?
Brett McKay: And I liked how you took this idea of being good at being a man and tied it into these different roles that you started talking about. As a man, these are the roles you’re gonna have to fulfill as an adult. How can you be good at fulfilling that role? And I think that gives some direction for that, again, that masculine energy that teenage boys are starting to turn on.
Brett McKay: Oh, so just… You’d mentioned some of these roles. You had lover, so you talk about, okay, how can I be… How can I get along with women? How can I attract a mate? I think a lot of boys, they’re interested in that ’cause they just feel awkward. A leader, you had that.
Brett McKay: I guess if you’re going back to union archetypes, to be the king, that would be the…
Brett McKay: One idea that I really liked and I’m gonna swipe from you, I’m gonna use it with my own kids is the life arc interview.
Brett McKay: What is that? And what did your son get out of them?
Brett McKay: Yeah, when I read that, I was thinking, man, I need to do this for my kid, like get… Or find an 18-year-old or a 20-year-old who’s just on it, who was a great kid, had a great teenage part of their life, and to be also to have my son just talked to him, what did you do? I was… I’m thinking when… If when I was a kid, when I was like 12, 13 and I got to rub shoulders with some really cool 18 year old that has a big impact.
Brett McKay: So you mentioned your son took a Gap Year. Was this part of the initiation process?
Brett McKay: So part of this Gap Year, we’re getting to the end, right? This is the ordeal.
Brett McKay: Six years. He goes through his ordeal, he passes it changes him. This mission accomplished. You have this capstone ceremony. How did you cap this journey off into manhood with your son?
Jon Tyson: Well, one of the things I realized by talking… So, I said, “There’s quite a few sort of different groups and different organizations that will facilitate a Gap Year.” I think it’s becoming more and more popular. And one of the things in my research about sort of the comedown from the high of the Gap Year is that they didn’t debrief him too well.
And at the end of the 33 days, you come to the city, and there’s this big cathedral, it’s actually like, it’s overwhelming. You weep, if you talk about it, it’s such a profound experience, and you come into this cathedral of the city, and then it’s another 80 kilometer walk or so where you end in this village called Finisterre.
Brett McKay: That’s really powerful. See you have a daughter?
Jon Tyson: Yes, yes, I have a daughter, 19. She’s in… Studying Nursing in university.
Brett McKay: Well, have you and your wife done anything similar with her?
If I had my time again, I’d go harder, I’d sacrifice more. Those days like I just entrusted into the hands of God and say, “Hey, I did what I could, I did this with love, I did my best and I’m gonna have to trust Him and them.” But I tell you, I’d go harder again. So it probably yeah, maybe someone’s listening to this and they’re like, “Oh my gosh, this sounds like a lot.” Yeah, it is a lot, but it’s worth it. Absolutely worth it.
Brett McKay: Well, let’s say you guys listening to this is like, “Well, maybe I just… I can’t do everything. This is awesome, what you do is awesome.” Then maybe some guys just don’t have the bandwidth, creativity, etcetera. What would you say? Okay, just to get the ball rolling, ’cause I think oftentimes once you get the ball rolling, you pick up steam and you start adding to it. What are a few practices that you would think could help that?
Brett McKay: Well, Jon, this has been a fantastic conversation. Where can people go to learn more about the book and your work?
Jon Tyson: I’ve got a course on this, it’s at primalpath.co. That’s dot C-O. And on there there’s a link for a weekly email. Every week I send out like a short thought for dads and men about how to navigate the complexity of being a man in the modern world. You can sign up for that, absolutely free. And then if you go to Amazon and just look at The Intentional Father, you’ll see that that book is there available in all formats.
Brett McKay: Fantastic. Well, Jon Tyson, thanks for your time, it’s been a pleasure.
Brett McKay: My guest here was Jon Tyson. He’s the author of the book, The Intentional Father. It’s available on amazon.com. You can find more information about his work at primalpath.co. Also check out our show notes at aom.is/passage where you can find links to resources where we delve deeper into this topic.
Until next time, this is Brett McKay. Reminding you all listening to the podcast to put what you’ve heard into action.
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In some cultures the rite of passage is clear
This story appears in the January 2017 issue of National Geographic magazine.Shadrack Nyongesa’s appointment with the knife was set for shortly after dawn
the uncircumcised 14-year-old from the Bukusu tribe in western Kenya had been jingling a pair of feathered cowbells against metal braces lashed to his wrists
As he pumped his arms and danced on a dirt yard under a mango tree outside his father’s house
older friends and relatives paraded around him brandishing sticks and guava branches and singing songs about courage
In the afternoon Shadrack and his entourage made a ritual visit to the home of a maternal uncle
but not before slapping him in the face and barking that he looked like a sissy
and when he returned to his father’s house
he jingled the chinyimba bells with new vigor and danced with the brio of a bravura showman
Under a banner urging Ukrainians not to let anyone “stain the honor of your country,” children learn basic combat tactics at a summer camp on the outskirts of Kiev
The experience is designed to prepare boys for military service and to imbue girls with a deep sense of patriotism.Bare-knuckled and poised to punch
engage in the boxing tradition known as musangwe
it’s both an outlet for male energy and a check on aggression
Adults oversee the bouts to contain the violence
Drew Moore plunges a knife into a wild hog’s heart while his dad
intimate form of hunting and one that puts meat in the family’s freezer
By sundown the party had swelled to more than 50 guests
Men sitting in lantern-lit huts dipped long
reedlike straws into a communal pot of busaa
the corn beer specially brewed for the occasion
At half past nine the crowd formed a circle around the pearly blue guts of a freshly slaughtered cow
One of Shadrack’s paternal uncles sliced open the bloated stomach with a knife
He approached his nephew with his arm cocked
“No one in our family has ever been afraid!” he shouted
“Stand firm!” Flashlights played on Shadrack’s face as he stared into space with the miserable stoicism of a plebe on his first day of military school
in a moment that impressed even people who had seen it many times
the uncle flung the foul porridge at his nephew’s chest and zealously began to spread it on the boy’s face and head
He placed the collar of cow gut around Shadrack’s neck and slapped him hard on both cheeks
For the omusinde—one who is not circumcised—there was now no turning back
Shadrack danced in the eye of the busaa-fueled revel called the khuminya
Elders counseled him on what it meant to be a man
explaining the importance of respecting elders and women
and issuing practical advice including an admonishment to steer clear of married girls
Around midnight he was finally allowed to lay his leaden arms and dung-crusted head down for a rest
An hour later he was again doggedly jingling the chinyimba bells and dancing in what seemed the throes of adrenaline
The relatives and friends—some of them pie-eyed from the homemade beer—sang out
After hiking 55 punishing miles over five days on the Appalachian Trail
teaches a conscientious view of masculinity
The school motto: “Whatever hurts my brother hurts me; whatever helps my brother helps me.”As I stood waiting for the sun to rise over the Great Rift Valley and the climax of Shadrack’s passage to manhood—a passage crucial to William
whose standing in the community was at stake—I couldn’t help but think of my own father
who at that moment was asleep 7,000 miles away
Probably lying awake in bed with his laptop on his chest
watching sports documentaries and Hollywood movies bootlegged off sketchy websites
It was impossible to imagine two roads more different for a pair of boys heading toward essentially the same destination
Both Shadrack and Oliver had been masculinized in the womb by a prenatal bath of testosterone
Both were in the midst of a momentous transition
morphing under a fresh influx of the powerful hormone into physically mature men: body hair
Both were coming to grips with behavioral tendencies and patterns that had been programmed by millions of years of evolution
regardless of the sex ticked on a birth certificate
Oliver cannot rely on the traditional roles of men and women for an idea of what it means to be a man
gender stereotypes have been turned inside out or repudiated
There’s nothing startling or unorthodox to him about female cops or male nurses or about a father who stayed home microwaving stockpiles of breast milk while mom went to an office as the prime provider
has amassed a vastly larger number of Instagram followers
rituals or overt rites of initiation that would clearly mark Oliver’s transition from boy to man
is something he pretty much has to figure out for himself
Sometimes I see him casting about for what it means
looking askance at the example I set because
“you cross your legs like a girl.” And sometimes when he’s under duress
a time trial on a rowing machine—I can also see him cultivating a sort of stoicism
related in a milder way to what was slapped into Shadrack
careful not to show the depth of his feelings lest he appear unmanly
He gave up the flute because he was the only boy in the section
His icons of manhood are Michael Jordan and George Clooney
timeless definition of manhood is itself a sociological phenomenon—we tend to search for the timeless and external … when the old definitions no longer work and the new ones are yet to be firmly established.”
Some feminist scholars and scientists have argued that gender differences are fabrications and so-called male traits are no more intrinsic to boys than the blue Onesies snapped onto male newborns in the hospital
No doubt that’s the case for many gender stereotypes about differences in male and female intelligence
But like most parents who have raised a boy and a girl
I have to wonder if there isn’t something more than cultural socialization behind behaviors that seemingly appeared without any conscious priming from mom and dad
I’m thinking of Oliver’s very early zeal for throwing balls around—Nerf balls
ball-shaped agglomerations of masking tape
In the streets of Paris we once played catch with a chestnut
might there have been something deeper than cultural socialization behind his sister
penchant for staging elaborate sotto voce conversations between her dolls
she would hold a doll in either hand and pass hours whispering doll dialogue like an interpreter in the middle of a treaty negotiation
Now the company headed south back to Shadrack’s father’s house, moving almost at a gallop along a different route to thwart any possible witchcraft by persons of ill will. They sang the anthem of Bukusu-land, the famous sioyayo circumcision song that insults the rival Kenya tribe of the Luo, whose traditional entry to manhood entailed removing some of a boy’s teeth instead of his foreskin. “Those who fear circumcision should go to Luo-land.”
What could break the cycle that equates manhood with toughness and stoicism? What might change in men who in their fear of violence—or fascination with it—end up fostering more of it?
Add to that the support from bakoki, the brotherhood of boys who have been circumcised at the same time and belong to the same age-group. “Bakoki are lifelong friends,” Wesangula says. “They will carry your casket and dig your grave. If you are acting deviant, parents will send a bakoki to put some sense into you.”
It might be for the lack of meaningful manhood rituals that Oliver’s school recently invited a youth theater group to perform a play called Now That We’re Men. Among the questions on the program: “Who is harmed when [sexual slurs] are thrown around constantly in middle and high school hallways? What is it like to participate in a culture where the most popular video games on the market today award points when players (mostly young males) rape and kill women?”
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At dawn men from the Bukusu tribe in western Kenya sing the sioyayo circumcision song as they march three boys to the age-old ritual
Bound in this brotherhood— bakoki—these boys will one day bear each other’s caskets and dig each other’s graves
Submitting State has to report every 4 years after the inscription of an element on the Urgent Safeguarding List. Read more on periodic reports
Kenya
Inscribed in 2018 (13.COM) on the List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in Need of Urgent Safeguarding
Eunoto and Olng’esherr are three interrelated male rites of passage of the Maasai community: Enkipaata is the induction of boys leading to initiation; Eunoto is the shaving of the morans paving the way to adulthood; and Olng’esherr is the meat-eating ceremony that marks the end of moranism and the beginning of eldership
The rites of passage are mainly practised by young men of the Maasai community aged between fifteen and thirty
By educating young people about their future role in Maasai society
the rites serve to induct them first to moranhood
transfer of powers from one age set to the next and the transmission of indigenous knowledge
are some of the core values embedded in those rites of passage
while the rites still attract relatively sizeable crowds
the practice appears to be rapidly declining due to the fast emergence of agriculture as a main source of income
reforms of the land tenure system and the impact of climate change that affects the survival of cattle
Report on the status of an element inscribed on the list of intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding
Date of deposit of the instrument of ratification
This information is available online
Element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List that is the subject of this report
three male rites of passage of the Maasai community
Please indicate the period covered by this report
Other elements inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List
Please list all other elements from your country inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List
together with the year of inscription; for multinational elements
please indicate the other States concerned
Please provide an executive summary of the report that will allow general readers to understand the current status of the element
any positive or negative impacts of inscription
the implementation of safeguarding measures during the reporting period and their possible update for the following years
address and other contact information of the person responsible for correspondence concerning the report
Principal Cultural Officer and 2003 Convention Focal Point
Please explain the social and cultural functions and meanings of the element today
the characteristics of the bearers and practitioners
and any specific roles or categories of persons with special responsibilities towards the element
Attention should be given to any relevant changes related to inscription criterion U.1 (‘the element constitutes intangible cultural heritage as defined in Article 2 of the Convention’)
Assessment of its viability and current risks
Please describe the current level of viability of the element
particularly the frequency and extent of its practice
the strength of traditional modes of transmission
the demographics of practitioners and audiences and its sustainability
Please also identify and describe the threats
to the element's continued transmission and enactment and describe the severity and immediacy of such threats
giving particular attention to any strengthening or weakening of the element’s viability subsequent to inscription
Please report on the safeguarding measures described in the nomination file
Describe how they have been implemented and how they have substantially contributed to the safeguarding of the element during the reporting period
taking note of external or internal constraints such as limited resources
information on the measures taken to ensure the viability of the element by enabling the community to continue to practise and transmit it
Include the following detailed information concerning the implementation of the set of safeguarding measures or safeguarding plan:
Indicate what primary objective(s) were addressed and what concrete results were attained during the reporting period
List the key activities that were carried out during this reporting period in order to achieve these expected results
Please describe the activities in detail and note their effectiveness or any problems encountered in implementing them
groups or individuals in the safeguarding activities
individuals as well as relevant non-governmental organizations have effectively participated
Describe the role of the implementing organization or body (name
etc.) and the human resources that were available for implementing safeguarding activities
Indicate in a timetable when each activity was implemented
Provide the detailed amounts of the funds used for the implementation of each activity (if possible
identifying the funding source for each (governmental sources
Overall effectiveness of the safeguarding activities
Provide an overall assessment of the effectiveness of the activities undertaken to achieve the expected results and of the efficiency of the use of funds for implementing the activities
Please indicate how the activities contributed to achieving the results and whether other activities could have contributed better to achieving the same results
Also indicate whether the same results could have been achieved with less funding
whether the human resources available were appropriate and whether communities
groups and individuals could have been better involved
Please provide an update of the safeguarding plan included in the nomination file or in the previous report
In particular provide detailed information as follows:a
What primary objective(s) will be addressed and what concrete results will be expected?b
What are the key activities to be carried out in order to achieve these expected results
Describe the activities in detail and in their best sequence
How will the State(s) Party(ies) concerned support the implementation of the updated safeguarding plan
Provide a timetable for the updated safeguarding plan (within a time-frame of approximately four years)
Provide the estimates of the funds required for implementing the updated safeguarding plan (if possible
identifying any available resources (governmental sources
as well as relevant non-governmental organizations have been involved
and how they will be involved in its implementation
Please report on the institutional context for the local management and safeguarding of the element inscribed on the Urgent Safeguarding List
the competent body(ies) involved in its management and/or safeguarding;b
the organization(s) of the community or group concerned with the element and its safeguarding
Describe the measures taken to ensure the widest possible participation of the communities
individuals concerned as well as relevant non-governmental organizations during the process of preparing this report
Participation of communities in preparing this report
Within the framework of Article 15 of the Convention and Article 157 of the Operational Directives
the Department of Culture organized a series of consultative meetings with representatives from the nine clans of the Maasai community to participate in the drafting of this report
Thirty-five representatives from the community were involved
The members were mainly drawn from those who participated in the safeguarding activities that were carried out through the financial assistance from Intangible Cultural Heritage Fund
They included representatives from the Council of Elders
youth and other stakeholders who in one way or the other were involved in the safeguarding activities
relevant stakeholders including the National Museums of Kenya
the Centre for Heritage Development in Africa
representative from NGOs working with the community
and officers in charge of culture from the County Governments of Kajiado and Narok participated broadly in the preparation of this report
Also involved in preparing this report was the Administration Office represented by Chiefs from Narok and Kajiado County commissioner’’s office
The final consultative meetings were held from 1st & 2nd March in Narok and 3rd & 4th 2023 in Kajiado
to consolidated the information on the report
The report should be signed by an official empowered to do so on behalf of the State
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young men spear a bull in a ceremony called Sapana that marks a gateway to adulthood
But how does Paul arrive at such a conclusion
Isn’t nature the reason why men can grow long hair in the first place
Today’s question comes from the one and only Dr
Paul argues from ‘nature’ in both Romans 1:26–27 and 1 Corinthians 11:14–15
Paul argues that same-sex passions and intercourse are ‘contrary to nature’ because they fundamentally rebel against God’s created design for sex
Paul asserts that ‘nature’ teaches that long hair on men and short hair on women are dishonorable
“Is Paul using the word ‘nature’ in the same way
Or is he using the same word in different senses
It’s problematic to see Paul using ‘nature’ in exactly the same way in both passages
then that opens the door to same-sex passions and intercourse being okay in other cultures
But if you say that they are both based on God’s created design
then you have to say that long hair on men and short hair on women are always wrong in every culture without exception
Well, we will get to Jonathan Edwards in a minute. But this is a great question coming from Dr. Andy Naselli, professor of New Testament at Bethlehem College and Seminary
he is writing a commentary on 1 Corinthians
I’m sure he knows way more than I do about this text and all the others
This answer may sound a little complicated. I suggest that those who want to go deeper and think harder read a short article on this at Desiring God called “Creation, Culture, and Corinthian Prophetesses.” Let me state the problem and the solution as simply as I can
They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator
For this reason God gave them up to dishonorable passions
For their women exchanged natural relations for those that are contrary to nature [that’s the word Andy was referring to] and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another
men committing shameless acts with men and receiving in themselves the due penalty for their error
I think what Paul means by nature in this passage is who we are as male and female humans
God-designed natural differences — both physical
distinct realities of manhood and womanhood rooted in our God-designed male and female souls
but you can pause and go back and listen to it rather than me repeating it here
The implications for Paul are that we should conform our sexual relations to what God has designed our natural bodies for and written on our natural male and female souls
is contrary to this nature and so is shameful and dishonorable
here’s the text in 1 Corinthians 11 that Andy is specifically focusing on
dealing with how women may properly pray and prophesy in mixed gatherings in Corinth in the first century
Here’s what he says: “Judge for yourselves: is it proper” — prepōn in Greek: fitting
That’s an interesting ethical category for Paul
fitting — “for a wife [woman] to pray to God with her head uncovered
Does not nature [same word as in Romans 1:26] itself teach you that if a man wears long hair it is a disgrace for him
For her hair is given to her for a covering” (1 Corinthians 11:13–15)
“Does not nature itself teach you that if a man wears long hair
it is a disgrace for him?” (1 Corinthians 11:14)
“Is Paul using the word nature in the same way in these two texts
Or is he using the same word in different senses?”
Then I think Andy makes a wrong assumption
perhaps he’s doing this for the sake of asking the question
but I think he states a wrong assumption for me to react to
“If you say they are both based on God’s created design
then you have to say long hair is wrong for men in every culture.” In other words
That’s a false inference from saying that the word nature has the same meaning in both texts
I do think Paul is using the word nature in the same way in Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 11
I don’t think this demands that we think Paul was teaching that any particular length of hair in relation to women is a universal requirement
how does nature teach us that it’s disgraceful for a man to have long hair
in one way nature teaches exactly the opposite of what Paul says
Male lions have longer hair; they have manes
Peacocks have long feathers and the female peahens don’t
will have just as much hair on their heads as women
you seem to get the opposite of what Paul’s saying
I don’t assume that Paul is thinking that way
I think Paul is saying that nature — that is
intrinsic maleness — inclines a man to feel repulsed and shameful for wearing culturally defined symbols of womanhood
intrinsic maleness — inclines a man to feel repulsed and shameful by wearing the culturally defined symbols of womanhood
the elders should hustle me off to a side room and with dismay say
doesn’t nature teach you not to wear a dress?”
It would be horrifically contrary to my maleness
This is the very same nature that teaches me that having sex with a man is shameful
But this is not because kilts in Scotland are sinful or that long earrings on men in Papua New Guinea are sinful
This is because whatever culturally defined accompaniments of femininity are in a culture
a man’s nature as a male will find this — that Greek word prepōn — unseemly
because he argues exactly this way in his blank Bible
He’s got a long section on this with remarkable illustrations
It is against nature in a proper sense, to bow down before an idol, because it is against nature to adore an idol; and bowing down, by universal custom, is used to denote adoration; but if bowing down by universal custom were used to denote contempt, it would not be against nature. (The Works of Jonathan Edwards, II:800)
That’s brilliant. That’s exactly right. The universal truth that it is against nature to bow down to what is false becomes relative in its outward expression according to what customs denote adoration.
Here’s my summary. Did nature teach the Corinthians that if a man wears long hair, it is a disgrace for him? Yes, it did. Nature did because the God-designed, healthy male soul revolts against clothing himself in symbols of femininity, just like the God-designed, healthy female soul revolts against presenting herself as a man. That revolt from nature is a God-given teacher.
When Elias Ribeiro, a Brazilian-born, Cape Town-based producer, came out at 22, his life transformed and his ability to function at all levels became more authentic. “I could breathe once I came out. I think it was the first time [that] I took a full breath of air to my full lung capacity,” Ribeiro says. “Once I discovered that, I never wanted to hold my breath again.”
Reflecting on his initiation now, however, Touré appreciates its beauty and value. He draws parallels between the vulnerability he felt as an initiate with how he feels as an actor. Touré’s portrayal of Xolani is visceral yet restrained; the sub-text bare in his eyes and gait. For him, The Wound is about “people who are vulnerable but pretend not to be, every second of the day.”
Other openly gay men find the process less painful. While they are not embraced, gay men who undergo initiation and circumcision in the mountains are usually somewhat respected, and even placed higher up the “male hierarchy” than a heterosexual man who has undergone medical circumcision or seeks medical attention during the process. A premium is attached to the perceived riskier circumcision process in the mountains.
But the country still has a way to go. The film depicts same-sex relationships in a frank, authentic, and visceral way, not commonly seen in the local mainstream TV and film media. The filmmakers hope that The Wound allows people a means to see some social issues with distance, be more introspective, and explore difficult subjects that they are not always able or willing to deal with directly. As Touré says, “To make something that was invisible, visible.”
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They seek to provide rites of passage for alienated young men – often involved in gang life – by giving them male mentors and separating them from the community for a given period to instil confidence and promote emotional intelligence
As the website states: "If the fires that innately burn inside young men are not intentionally and lovingly added to the hearth of community
they will burn down the structures of the culture."
but the violence girls do to themselves in adolescence – self-harming and self-starving
We also have no secular rites of passage within families for girls to mark
or for boys to mark the signs of physical maturity
Yet this idea of marking the passage from child to adult
has appeared in all cultures at all times in history
Even though the secular community has little to offer the soul in transition
It has just become private rather than public
there would be separation from the community
Ordeals would be undergone in which bravery and endurance would be tested – perhaps through scarification or ritual marking
or being sent to cope with the wilderness alone
My father often told me that he entered the navy as a boy
He was always grateful for this forced enlistment
He certainly never had any problems in thinking about himself as a man after that
the rite of passage for girls might be separation from the male community for a period
Or it might involve the brutality of genital mutilation
an act of personal violation that can only now be interpreted as a form of abuse
I am not suggesting that we return to any of those traditions
Apart from the intrinsic violence of some of these rituals
too atomised – there is not enough consensus about what values are to be passed on to our children
has just gone from primary to secondary school
and this is clearly marked – for instance by the adoption of a uniform
having to find her own way to school and so on
my two elder daughters are at university and will have the fact of their own living space to mark the change
But these happen to happen and are not a societal ritual
teenage girls may prove their fertility by getting pregnant
and teenage boys may demonstrate their manhood by ritualised violence through gang warfare
Both sexes will be liable to mark themselves out by their clothing and by forms of scarification
But the fundamental need to have our passages in life marked cannot be erased
Slap on the veneer of civilisation as much as you like
and blur the line between male and female as much as you find convenient
but these urges remain with us and need somehow to be addressed – not just privately
A Band of Brothers has shown a possible way to reduce violence among boys
Perhaps a "Sorority of Sisters" might cut rates of teenage pregnancy
Follow Tim On Twitter @timlottwriter
Associate Professor of Sociology Oyman Basaran is fascinated by the concepts of masculinity and gender in his native Turkey
In earlier research
he explored this theme in the context of the compulsory military service that men are required to do in that country
Basaran examines another rite of passage familiar to Turkish males
His book, Circumcision and Medicine in Modern Turkey (University of Texas Press
looks at how a widespread religious ritual became increasingly medicalized
drawing partly on the author’s own experiences
At a recent book launch event at the Bowdoin College Library
Basaran recalled the stress he went through as an eight-year-old boy taking part in a traditional mass circumcision event—a ritual characterized by gatherings
“The pain management had gotten OK by then
but not so much the fear management.” On several occasions
the terrified boy would have to be held down by adults while the ritual was performed
The tradition of circumcision goes back centuries in Muslim-majority Turkey
where the Ottoman Empire established the practice as a key socioreligious milestone in a young male’s life as he begins to contemplate manhood
“Although there is no mention of circumcision in the Koran
it was still regarded as a religious obligation,” said Basaran
“Islam being a religion of cleanliness.” Furthermore
the ceremony has typically been held when the child is between the ages of six and ten
“This is so the child is aware of what is happening and remembers it as a story he can swap with friends later in life
in much the same way as Turkish males bond over the shared experience of military service.” This trend
particularly among more secular families who choose to have their child circumcised soon after he is born
Basaran’s book traces what happened when this longstanding practice came up against the demands of Turkey’s evolving and improving (albeit unevenly) health care system
and what this meant for the practitioners of the procedure
The practice had traditionally been done by itinerant circumcisers
often using herbal treatments on their patients
when public health officers increasingly assumed the circumcision role
as the practice became more systematic and professionalized with a greater emphasis on pharmaceutical pain management
The situation had evolved further by the 1990s
with hospital doctors also taking on the role
Circumcision and Medicine in Modern Turkey closely examines the experiences of twenty-five cities and their outlying towns across Turkey
By analyzing the changing characteristics of the medical actors
Başaran offers an alternate approach to the study of what is a central part of the Turkish male experience
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Dance Theatre of Harlem was in the second year of its 50th Anniversary Celebration when COVID struck and the company went digital
This offered some consolation in that it gave a worldwide audience the chance to see new creations like Claudia Schreier’s Passage from 2019
400 years since the first Africans were brought to the United States as slaves in 1619
It was the start of the Atlantic slave trade that decimated the population of West Africa by roughly 12 million and boosted the economies of Europe and the Americas
The Middle Passage is the name given to the most infamous leg of the journey where the cargo was human
Jessie Montgomery have created an equal partnership of sound and movement
to draw out the strength of the human spirit even in the most desperate of circumstances
with ballast found in the intensity of the performances and meaning evident for those who look for it
The focus is on the dispossessed and the mood of the work is of fortitude and endurance: a tribute to ancestors who fought for hard-won freedom
The theme of water is evident in the opening scenes as female dancers
The pulse of the waves is echoed in the sweep of arms and drive of torsos and is an intermittent backdrop to the piece
The traditional male-female partnering rachets to a more intense level in the male duets where the relationship is dynamic and the dance language most complex and interesting
Presage lifts contrast with counterbalance of weight and the space between the partners crackles with electricity
The music and dance evoke a variety of moods
There are moments when shrill strings expose a frisson of fear compounded by running figures in the semi-darkness
the light catching flashes of the dancers’ white costumes
At other times the work has a spirituality of breathless intensity
Particularly resonant was the moment as the women are lifted like hung bodies before a brief dimming of the stage at half-time and the soaring lift in the final moment that encapsulates the triumph of the spirit
It’s a work that finds meaning in these strange times of rising darkness balanced by human resilience
Passage can be watched on DTH’s YouTube channel until February 14, 2021. A conversation with the cast about the creation of the ballet is also available
Next on DTH On Demand, available from February 14 (UK, 8pm on February 13 in New York) is John Henry, choreographed by DTH Co-founder Arthur Mitchell in 1988. For more details of this and other forthcoming streamings, visit www.dancetheatreofharlem.org
in: Behavior, Character, Podcast
Brett • May 6, 2019 • Last updated: September 30, 2021
men’s lives were structured by rituals — rituals that helped them mark significant events
and move from one phase of life to the next
We begin our conversation discussing William’s introduction to the power of ritual
why rituals have declined in Western culture
We then discuss the history of the mythopoetic men’s movement kickstarted by Robert Bly and his book Iron John
William then unpacks why it’s important for men to undergo a rite of passage
why it’s never too late to participate in one
and how men can have multiple rites of passage over their lifetime
We discuss how to give your son a rite of passage as well
William also provides some ideas for daily rituals you can incorporate in your life to provide more meaning and enchantment to existence
We end our conversation with William’s advice on how to get started with a men’s group
William’s website
Listen to the episode on a separate page.
Download this episode.
Recorded on ClearCast.io
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William Ayot: Hello Brett. Good to hear your voice.
Brett McKay: Good to hear your voice. You wrote a book that I really enjoyed, Re-Enchanting the Forest: Meaningful Ritual in a Secular World. You are a poet. You have led rituals for men and for other people as well. And you’re making the case that, even though we live in a secular world, we need more rituals. What got you down the path… got started down the path of exploring the power of rituals in human life?
Brett McKay: Before this experience with the men’s group and the rituals they did there, I mean what was your experience with ritual before? Was it just in the confines of church?
Brett McKay: There are still rituals today, even though we might not think of them as rituals. Like you said, a sports game is a ritual. There are civic rituals that every country has. But there aren’t the type of rituals that we… Like the healing, the transformative rituals that there used to be. Why has there been a decline of that sort of ritual, particularly in the west, and what do you think the consequences of that have been?
If that bit of us, if that’s the bit that loves ritual, and we separate from it, then at that point, the rituals we do begin to hollow out, and they have less meaning, and they become empty. Empty ceremonial. Is that making sense?
Brett McKay: That makes sense. This is something that Nietzsche talked about, about the Apollonian and the Dionysian.
William Ayot: Absolutely. And ritual is about is descent. It is about Dionysian descent, and we live in an Apollonian ascendant society. We want to get up there. And we like to get into the spiritual. We’re not so keen on getting into the soulful.
Brett McKay: What’s the difference between the two?
Brett McKay: Well before we get into talking about the type of rituals that you talk about in the book, let’s do some definitions here. We’re going to be Apollonian here for a second.
Brett McKay: What makes a ritual a ritual? Are there certain components that need to be in place?
Brett McKay: That makes clear. So there needs to be a space that you go into. There could be some sort of tool or implementation, like a ring, and every other… In a church it could be like the Eucharist or the tools of the ritual.
Brett McKay: It sounds like too an underlying thing for this all to happen, for this place to mean anything, the tools to mean anything, the action to mean anything, there has to be this underlying intent, correct?
William Ayot: Absolutely. You need an intention. In a way, the intention gives you a route map, a plan, but the intention is… You have to hold that very clearly in your mind, or I’d say in your heart too. You need to know why you are there, because that’s what anchors you in the reality at the same time as you’re entering into this mythical, mystical, misty space that can be ritual.
Brett McKay: In these ritual spaces, they don’t have to be a special building or a special room. Like you could possibly create one just in your closet, or if you just go outside, that can become a sacred space, a place where you could do a ritual.
Brett McKay: Well you gave a good example of this that I’ve experienced personally. Like a concert is a ritual in a way, right? There’s a space where you set aside to play music, and you listen and then… You have this transformative experience possibly, but then it just ends. That’s the feeling you’re talking about, like not returning. You just end it, and then you just walk out, and you feel kind of like, “Whoa, what just happened?”
Brett McKay: I want to point out too that this story, or these phases of ritual you pointed out, this is also something that Joseph Campbell talks about in his book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, The Hero’s Journey.
Brett McKay: I mean it does sound like a ritual is essentially you are acting out this archetypal story of a hero’s journey.
Brett McKay: Let’s talk about another component of rituals, is the communal aspect of it. Do you need a community to have a ritual, or can you do it by yourself, or is it like… The community part make rituals more powerful?
William Ayot: I think we’re ritual making animals, aren’t we? I mean there are good reported stories of chimpanzees creating communal rituals. It’s not a thing confined to humankind. But we are in community ritualistic. I think that community makes for better rituals in many aspects. I think it makes for deeper, more powerful rituals. Certainly, the notion of the village as a basis for a ritual is very powerful, and the gathering together.
William Ayot: Well he was a poet, a very fine poet, and a brilliant translator. If you ever see any of his books lying around in second-hand bins and bookshops and bookshelves, give them a try. They are really good, solid pieces of work, and his translations are extraordinary.
Brett McKay: You can still see his influence today amongst men’s groups.
Brett McKay: A lot of men’s groups, they focus on the archetypal ideas of masculinity. Well, Robert Bly was doing that 35 years ago.
Brett McKay: You can still see it today. I think it’s interesting, this Jordan Peterson phenomenon that’s going on right now. Say what you want about it, but he’s tapping into that same thing that Robert Bly tapped into 35 years ago.
William Ayot: I think he is. Whether you go for it or whether you don’t, he’s re-begun the debate. He’s kind of got people interested. Suddenly words like stoicism and rigor are back on the agenda in a way that they haven’t been for a while.
Brett McKay: Let’s talk about the role of ritual in a man’s life. Robert Bly, he saw that men were lacking a fierceness. They felt maybe lost. They were naïve. Do you think it’s because of a lack of a ritual, like a rite of passage that men, particularly men in the west, lack?
Brett McKay: I’ve heard people say that we’ve replaced rites of passage in a man’s life with rites of achievement. It’s like you get the job-
Brett McKay: You get the girl, you get the money.
William Ayot: That’s absolutely true.
Brett McKay: But it’s not fulfilling. There’s no beginning to it, there’s no end. You’re not grounded, so you’re always left like wanting more.
Brett McKay: Let’s say there’s a man who’s listening to this, and they missed out on a rite of passage. Say they’re in their 30s and 40s. Is it too late for them to experience a rite of passage, or is that something they could do today?
We are under pressure in a different sort of a way, and to balance all that with the need to provide, because that hasn’t gone anyway. So the age old need to provide, and also to balance that with the need to be the new sensitive man that we hear about. That’s a stretch, and at that point men are under enough pressure to want to gather with other men and have a good looksy, and the best way to do that is through ritual.
Brett McKay: And what does that ritual look like? I mean I imagine it’s going to be different depending on the group that you’re a part of your cultural background, but in general, what is that going to look like?
William Ayot: Very often it’s about meeting, I don’t know, up to 100, 200, 300 strangers. So immediately you have that male question of, “Uh oh, is this going to come off? Have I done the right thing coming here?” Then you spend some time getting to know other men. Small groups, hanging out with men over dinner, whatever that might be. And you begin to build a level of trust.
Brett McKay: I imagine for a lot of these young guys, or men, the same problem that Bly saw 35 years ago, this naivety, this lack of fierceness, probably a lot that transformative work they’re doing is like getting in touch with that fierceness within them.
There is the fierceness, there is the search for kind of a deeper masculinity, but there’s also the search and the discovery that it’s layered. There are more things than just that kind of aggression. There’s assertion, but it’s something else too.
Brett McKay: I imagine one of the goals of the ritual is to integrate all those different parts.
Brett McKay: And where can men go to find groups that do things like this?
So I went down there and there were six or seven guys down there, and we formed a men’s group, and it was absolutely fantastic. It was a gift, a huge gift to me. At some point, we looked at each other and said, “Who was the man down the front of the room?” John had just done a nice thing. I think he just said, “Well here’s the guy.” And we all came down and we were all that man. There was no one man saying, “I want a men’s group.”
Brett McKay: Yeah, that makes sense. Let’s say you have that group of men that you trust and willing to do a rite of passage for your son, what would that rite of passage look like? Is it just like go out to nature. I mean what is that?
Now the group of men can show what the world is like. They can give the boy a route map. But once he begins to express himself and he shows that he has some skill, some gift. Maybe he sings a song, maybe he’s a bit of a tearaway and he’s got some other skill. That needs to be named and blessed and brought out into the open, and that’s the bit that he takes home. That’s the thing that is seen by the group, and that is the thing that is blessed. Is that making sense?
Brett McKay: That does make sense. Another I think point that you made in the book, we talked about this earlier, is that even though you may hight have gone through a rite of passage from boyhood to manhood, that doesn’t have to be the only rite of passage you go through. There are other parts of your life, transitory periods, where another rite of passage would be useful. Say you’re moving from middle age to elderhood. That might call for a rite of passage.
Brett McKay: We’ve talked about some transformative rituals, particularly the rite of passage, because I think a lot of men are keyed into that. But you talk about in the book, there are rituals that you can do on a daily basis that are small. First of all, what are those type of rituals, and what do you think the benefit of doing something like that is?
Brett McKay: The blot, that was new to me. When you say sacrifice, you give the little gifts that you… Sometimes you just bury it in the ground. That’s what you do, right?
Brett McKay: I thought that was kind of cool.
But every now and again I’ll go for a walk, and I’ll get a sense of something, and I’ll make a little gift in honor of those men and women who lived their lives, who’ve worked the land, who’ve hunted here, who have fought and died here, who have… Whatever that might be. In an imaginal way, I will honor them. It’s almost like an ancestral thing. Is that making sense?
Brett McKay: I think for a lot of people who are listening to this, I think they’re probably intrigued by rituals. But at the same time, they’re afraid to pull the trigger on it because it feels weird or it’s woo woo. What do you say to those guys? Make the case. Make the hard sell for giving rituals a try. How is it going to improve their life or maybe change their life? Let’s do the hard sell.
Brett McKay: That’s not very ritual-like. You’re not supposed to do the hard-
You’re also preparing for the future, to mark the difference between the past and all its shadow, all its difficulty, all its unhappiness, and a clearer, healthier future. That’s when you come out. That’s when you can receive the blessing, that’s when you can really get the benefit of a ritual. So it can actually do an awful lot of good for you.
Brett McKay: Well what you describe, it sounds kind of like therapy but without going to the doctor, because I mean therapy, even if you go to a traditional therapy, it’s sort of a ritual. There’s a space you go into. There’s this person who’s guiding you through things in your life.
Brett McKay: Therapy sounds like it’s Apollonian. It’s a very high level-
Brett McKay: Well William, this has been a great conversation. Where can people go to learn more about your work?
Brett McKay: Fantastic. Well William, thanks so much for your time. It’s been a pleasure.
William Ayot: Great. It’s been really good. Thank you very much, Brett.
Brett McKay: My guest today was William Ayot. He’s the author of the book, Re-Enchanting The Forest. It’s available on Amazon.com. You can find more information about his work at his website, williamayot.com. Also, check out our show notes at aom.is/ritual, where you can find links to resources, where you can delve deeper into this topic.
Well that wraps up another addition of the AOM podcast. Check out our website, artofmanliness.com, where you can find our podcast archive. There’s over 500 episodes there. We’ve also written thousands of articles over the years on things like rituals and the power of rituals and how to incorporate rituals in your life. But also we have things on personal finance, how to be a better husband, better father, physical fitness. You name it, we’ve got it.
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Recently I married an unusually mature couple
Both groom and bride were in their late thirties
Both were established in life and in faith
and they knew where they each stood: together on God’s word
that I’ve married have demonstrated such clear
stable footing together on the rock of what God has said in the Bible
it didn’t surprise me that when I asked them to pick a favorite passage or two for the wedding
they shied away from picking and choosing for themselves
and gladly submit their lives to anything and everything God has to say — even on their wedding day
when we’re so carefully picking and choosing everything else
They were genuinely eager to hear and embrace anything God had to say to them in front of their friends and family
That may be the first time any couple has put it back on me to pick the passage
I tried to select what I thought (imperfectly
of course) might be the Bible’s seven most important verses on marriage
in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them
God made men and women with equal dignity as humans
and glorious complementary differences as men and women
God did not make men and women as essentially androgynous humans
with male or female accessories added at the end
And these differences do not make men better than women
but they do make men and women better together
and gave him the moral vision for life in the world
“It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him” (Genesis 2:18)
A man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife
After God made the first woman and entrusted this remarkable gift to the man
One man and one woman forming the most fundamental human relationship in God’s created world — a relationship even more fundamental than parent-child
A man will leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife
she is now his most fundamental commitment
the woman leaves behind her father’s house (Psalm 45:10) to establish a new family unit with her husband
He let down his guard and allowed the serpent to have his wife’s ear
is not without its severe pains and difficulties (Genesis 3:16)
Now we skip ahead thousands of years to the words of Jesus
Even though sin has invaded God’s creation
and often husbands and wives tragically find themselves struggling against each other
Jesus reinforces God’s vision of marriage in creation: “What God has joined together
and not for the one to be torn apart into two
to faithfulness where the first man failed
God calls each man to guard and protect his wife and marriage with a holy zeal — first from his own sin
Man and woman covenant with each other for “as long as we both shall live.”
Sin will challenge the harmony of their relationship in some way
But God designed this covenant of marriage to hold them together in the hard times
This may be the single most important verse for my own marriage of twelve years
And I suspect that kindness is greatly underrated in many other marriages as well
Because of the wonderful confines and boundaries and commitments of the covenant of marriage
husband and wife may feel the impulse and temptation to be mean to each other
to lash out at that stubborn spouse whose always there and seems to make life harder
there is no place for meanness or contempt between a husband and wife
forgiveness requested and granted regularly
Husbands and wives who are in Christ know themselves handled kindly by God at every turn
That doesn’t mean life together won’t be difficult
but all God’s sovereignly appointed difficulties in the lives of his children are kindnesses
Gentleness is admirable strength grown by God’s Spirit into even more admirable maturity
Marriage is not meant to make our lives easier (and worse)
but to make them more challenging (and better)
The wife is an heir with her husband of the grace of life
and God calls him to live with her in an understanding way
showing her special honor and care as his wife (1 Peter 3:7)
and nurture her husband’s loving leadership in marriage
God does not call a wife to submit to all men — no way
Only to her own husband (Ephesians 5:22; Titus 2:5; 1 Peter 3:1
Colossians 3:18 says “as is fitting in the Lord.” Jesus Christ is her ultimate allegiance and authority
he and she will thrive together in the dance of marriage as she affirms and strengthens him — and makes him a better man than he could ever be without her
It is one of the hardest things prideful modern people could ever do
And it is precisely what we all do when we say Jesus is Lord
and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church
We’ve saved the best for last. When God says that marriage is a mystery
he’s not saying that it’s confusing and enigmatic — that we can’t really figure out the depths of its meaning
He’s saying it was a mystery for thousands of years
with the life and death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth
The mystery was this: Why one man and one woman
covenanted to each other as long as they both shall live
The answer is that thousands of years before he sent his Son
God embedded a pointer to Jesus in the very basics of human life
God knew he would send his Son to save us from our sin
and he designed marriage to anticipate that — to prepare the world for the gospel of Jesus Christ
The meaning of marriage is that Jesus has given his life for his people
who did not protect himself and his comfort
Jesus is the husband who does not claim special privilege
but shoulders more responsibility to love his bride with affection
Jesus’s love for his church is the ultimate meaning of marriage
This is the message and drama Christians seek to live out and show to the world as we make our vows
and anticipate the coming marriage supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9)
Sir John Franklin's last expedition to search for the Northwest Passage ended in tragedy
How can we piece together the crew's final moments from the objects left behind
Two ships, HMS Terror and HMS Erebus
left England in 1845 in order to search for the Northwest Passage - a vital sea route between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans
The expedition was commanded by Captain Sir John Franklin
a seasoned polar explorer who had already led two previous searches for the Northwest Passage
his final journey to the Arctic would end in tragedy
It is the worst disaster in the history of British polar exploration
Dozens of expeditions were launched to find Terror and Erebus. Many of the objects discovered during these missions are now held in the National Maritime Museum
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But what really happened to the crew of the Terror and Erebus? Fresh evidence from the shipwrecks discovered in 2014 and 2016 has offered fresh insight
TV series and archaeological investigations have all attempted to shed light on the crew's final moments
Find out more about the real history of Terror and Erebus, and discover what the objects left behind can tell us about the crew who never returned home
Sign up to our newsletter to discover remarkable stories from our maritime past
and keep up to date with special exhibitions and events from Royal Museums Greenwich
sailed from Britain to what is now Nunavut in Northern Canada
Explorations of the Arctic coastline had led to great optimism that finding and charting the final part of the Northwest Passage – the seaway linking the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans – was now within reach
who had made two previous attempts to find it
By previous standards the Erebus and Terror were powerful and luxurious
with heating systems and vast supplies of preserved foods
the two ships were seen by a whaler in Baffin Bay
waiting for ice to clear in Lancaster Sound and to begin their journey to the Bering Strait
It was the last time any of the 129 crewmen were ever seen alive
After two years without receiving any communication from Franklin’s mission
the Admiralty sent out a search party but without success.
A total of 39 missions were sent to the Arctic but it wasn’t until the 1850s that evidence of what befell the men began to emerge
The exact circumstances of their deaths remain a mystery to this day
The men on board the ships of Franklin's expedition faced bitter conditions – in extreme cold
even taking a balaclava off could rip the skin and beard from the chin
The crews therefore prepared as best as they could
Royal Museums Greenwich curator Dr Claire Warrior pieces together the experiences of Franklin's men:
We don’t yet have any of the journals or logbooks that would have been written aboard ship
But we do have lots of evidence from other sources about what the men might have gone through
we can come as close as we possibly can to understanding what the crews of Erebus and Terror might have seen and felt
so that they could get as far as possible before the winter
such as narwhals (which were called ‘sea-unicorns’)
The Arctic could be a place of freezing fog and heaving seas
and the expedition crews were sometimes at the mercy of the immense pressure of the sea-ice and the unpredictable behaviour of icebergs
Franklin’s ship was trapped in the ice in a remote and desolate area
They couldn’t rely on local people for meat
But they had enough supplies for about three years
and British expeditions were experienced at overwintering in the Arctic..
Temperatures outside could drop as low as -48°C overnight and -35°C by day
Conditions on board ship were not necessarily much warmer: previous expeditions reported the officers sitting round in their greatcoats below decks in freezing temperatures
But Franklin’s ships were fitted with a heating system that may have made life a bit more pleasant
The men were probably inspected every week for signs of scurvy
but scurvy can mean that old wounds reopen
Expeditions were supplied with lemon or lime juice to prevent it
but it was a constant problem on polar expeditions
as fresh fruit and vegetables weren’t available
which ensured that they got enough Vitamin C
Making magnetic and meteorological observations would have been a key part of the expedition’s scientific remit
Placing cold metal instruments up to the eye could cause the skin to be damaged or even removed
and the men had to hold their breath to stop condensation forming on the glass parts
the sweat can turn to ice in your underwear
ice forms below the chin after a runny nose
Taking a balaclava off can rip the skin and beard from the chin in extreme cold
Hypothermia is always something to be aware of in these kinds of temperatures
It’s particularly important not to get wet
The three pets aboard the Erebus were a monkey that Lady Franklin presented to the ship
The monkey was an amusing but annoying thief
While the marines and the officers had their own quarters
They slung their hammocks from the deck beams in the open area forward of the main mast
A total of 7,088 pounds of tobacco was supplied to the ships to be either chewed or smoked in pipes
The ship had also been loaded with 2,700 pounds of candles to provide light during the long dark winter months
Franklin’s two naval vessels sailed up the Wellington Channel before turning south toward Beechey Island
off the northernmost point of King William Island
were trapped by the ice flow down the McClintock Channel
a party from the expedition travelled across the ice to Point Victory on shore and deposited a written record of their progress
It is thought they reached Cape Herschel on the south coast of the island
filling in the unexplored part of the Northwest Passage
Still trapped in the ice, Erebus and Terror drifted south until Captain Crozier ordered their abandonment in April 1848
the 105 surviving men headed south for the Great Fish River
Most died on the march along the west coast of King William Island
In 1859 the sole piece of paper that revealed anything about what happened was discovered. It is often known as the Victory Point Note
In the margins of this standard Admiralty form was a handwritten message
which said the ships had been deserted on 22 April 1848
having been stuck in the ice since 12 September 1846.
105 officers and crew under the command of Captain F
Crozier had departed on foot for the Back River (or Back's Fish River as it was then called)
The note confirmed that John Franklin had died on 11 June 1847
Two years on from the last contact with the Franklin expedition, the first of a series of expeditions was launched to find them – or to discover what had happened to Erebus and Terror
Between 1847 and 1880 over 30 search expeditions ventured to the Arctic in the hopes of uncovering the fate of the expedition
Traces of Franklin’s first winter camp on Beechey Island were found in 1850
but his progress and fate remained a mystery
The Admiralty dispatched expeditions both overland and by sea, urged by Franklin's widow Lady Jane Franklin
by 1850 there were still no clues to the fate of the crew. The British Government
offered substantial rewards of £20,000 to any parties who could provide news
Over the course of the next 30 years, news and relics – such as tin cans, snow goggles and cutlery – filtered back to Britain. Many of these are now in the collections of the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
Together these objects speak of what happened: the deaths of the entire crew through a combination of factors including scurvy and starvation
Dr John Rae brought back Inuit stories that the expedition had perished somewhere to the west of the Back River
It appeared some of the men had resorted to cannibalism
as many bodies were mutilated and body parts were found in cooking pots
over 100 years after the last search expedition returned home, forensic anthropologist Dr Owen Beattie returned to the fate of the crew as part of the 1845–48 Franklin Expedition Forensic Anthropology Project (FEFAP)
were collected from sites on King William Island
The human remains were analysed using modern forensic techniques in an attempt to ascertain what might have caused the death of the crew and to identify which crew members’ remains had been found
Through Beattie’s research it was found that the amount of lead in the bones of some of the men was exponentially high
leading to the theory that lead poisoning may have been one of the factors contributing to the expedition’s demise
During later research on Beechey Island
Beattie and a specialised team exhumed and autopsied three remarkably well-preserved crewmen who had died and were buried during the expedition’s first winter in the Arctic
Examination of tissues collected from the men’s bodies reaffirmed Beattie’s earlier theory that lead poisoning was one of the factors leading to the expedition’s destruction
Beattie further supposed that the expedition’s tinned food
hailed as cutting edge technology and stocked in abundance
had been contaminated by lead solder used to seal the tins and was the most likely culprit
In 2014 and 2016, the wrecks of HMS Erebus and Terror were finally discovered
shedding new light on the much-debated fate of Franklin's final expedition.
Further dives conducted by underwater archaeologists from Parks Canada in collaboration with the Inuit Heritage Trust have revealed even more fascinating finds
What can these new discoveries from the deep tell us about the fate of the Franklin expedition
Military enlistment in Korea shapes character
and unites generations in a legacy of honor and national pride
South Korea’s mandatory military service might sound like a strict governmental decree to many outsiders
and you’ll discover it’s much more than that
It’s a rite of passage
and a shared experience uniquely binding the male population
encompassing nearly two years of a young man’s life
Military enlistment in Korea isn’t just about defense strategy or national security
It’s about the formation of character
and the understanding of sacrifice for the greater good
young men from all walks of life come together
finding common ground in their shared duty
And how has it maintained its significance in the modern age
The tradition of military enlistment in Korea is steeped in history
going back to the era of the Three Kingdoms when local militias played a pivotal role in territorial defense
This deep-rooted sense of duty and honor transcends mere obligation
encapsulating the spirit of unity and dedication to the homeland
Even before the harrowing episodes of the Korean War and the division of North and South
military service was considered an essential rite of passage for Korean men
For instance, the Goryeo and Joseon dynasties had their forms of military conscription
It cemented the idea of service as both an honor and a responsibility
the 1950s saw the formalization of this duty with the establishment of the Military Service Act after the Korean War outbreak
It was not just in response to the immediate threats the North posed but also a reflection of Korea’s long-standing belief in collective defense
Military enlistment in Korea paints a picture far richer and more diverse than one might first assume
The spectrum of serving individuals is a testament to the nation’s shared values and commitment
Consider, for instance, the phenomenon of K-pop idols like G-Dragon, EXO’s D.O., and SHINee’s Minho putting their thriving careers on pause to serve
these mega-stars temporarily exchange their microphones and stages for rifles and barracks
Their enlistment often makes international headlines
fresh from international accolades and Olympic medals
swap their sports gear for military uniforms
His dedication to the national team on the soccer field seamlessly translates into his commitment to national duty off the field
Having just completed rigorous academic pursuits
university scholars and budding entrepreneurs with start-ups also join the ranks
At the cusp of shaping Korea’s future in their respective fields
these individuals uniformly respond to the call for military enlistment in Korea
Military enlistment in Korea indeed presents a demanding journey for young men
The physical rigor is evident in the challenging boot camps and continuous drills designed to prepare them for potential combat situations
it’s common to hear of soldiers enduring harsh weather conditions
from the biting cold of Korean winters to the sweltering summer heat
homesickness is a frequent companion for many enlistees
military life instills a deep sense of discipline and resilience
Soldiers learn the true meaning of teamwork
often forming bonds with fellow enlistees that last a lifetime
where helping one another overcome hurdles became second nature
military enlistment in Korea offers a unique platform for introspection
Away from the distractions of civilian life
many young men discover newfound passions or redefine their life goals
The service also equips them with essential life skills and often a renewed appreciation for the freedoms and comforts of civilian life
Upon completing their service, veterans can avail themselves of additional points when taking civil service exams
paving the way for potential government jobs
with some offering extra points during the admissions process or even scholarships tailored for veterans
understanding the unique skill set and discipline these young men bring
often prioritize military experience in their hiring criteria
The nation’s public transportation systems
often provide discounts for active-duty soldiers as a gesture of appreciation
reflecting society’s profound respect for them
further emphasize the nation’s gratitude and pride in its service members
Every young man who steps into this journey emerges with stories
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Each year scores of boys from the amaXhosa nation take part in ulwaluko in South Africa’s Eastern Cape province. This involves the boys living in secluded areas away from their homes. They undergo circumcision and take part in a number of rituals. All of this entails the boy’s journey to manhood
Unfortunately the process can be problematic. More than 1000 initiates have died in the province between 1995 and 2017. Complications from botched circumcision procedures – including penile amputations – are common
There are also frequent reports of dehydration and physical violence in initiation schools
These negative stories tend to make headlines
And amaXhosa women tend to be among those who are the most excluded from this secretive set of rituals
The participation of women in ulwaluko is considered taboo among amaXhosa. The Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa has in the past rejected any suggestion of women’s involvement
When the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs tried in 2016 to legislate for some involvement by women in ulwaluko, it was labelled “a serious mistake” by men opposed to the idea
The department retracted the controversial clause
Traditionally there’s a significant split in gender roles during ulwaluko
Women cook and prepare for the related ceremonies while men are responsible for the customary practices and the decisions required in the process
I wanted to understand women’s feelings and perceptions about ulwaluko. I also wanted to establish whether their rights to gender equality, as outlined in the Constitution and other pieces of South African and international legislation
were being compromised in the name of protecting cultural norms
I explored these issues in my PhD thesis
The study found that although women embrace and celebrate ulwaluko as a rite of passage
they also view it as a practice that perpetuates patriarchy
The findings suggest there’s a need for relevant government structures and traditional leadership to give women a voice in discussions around ulwaluko
Women believe that certain things can be done differently to help make initiation safer
They also want to be part of the discussions and decision-making process around ulwaluko
I conducted eight focus group discussions and 10 in-depth interviews in the Eastern Cape towns of Mdantsane
Flagstaff and Grahamstown with women aged between 31 and 82
Most had sent at least one son to initiation school
Women told me their role in ulwaluko merely involved labour intensive tasks such as preparing food and traditional beer for the initiation ceremonies
They were barred from decision making processes
expressed frustration with this exclusion:
because sometimes this woman has good advice but is scared she will be asked why she is getting involved in this business
complained that “nobody tells you anything
that there was nothing untoward about the exclusion of women from the initiation process
They argued that the tradition should be respected and accepted as men’s territory in the same way that child birth was historically considered women’s terrain by amaXhosa
It is worth noting that there have been some shifts here
in that modern amaXhosa men observe their children’s birth in hospital and give their wives support
Women are also vulnerable to a practice called ukukhupha ifutha or ukosula
This encourages newly-initiated men to have sex with any woman who is not their girlfriend; they believe this will cleanse them of any bad luck they may have acquired during the initiation
The result is frequently coercive or non-consensual sex
Initiates’ mothers also suffer tremendous distress and worry
particularly in the Eastern Cape’s Mpondoland region
They are denied information about their sons’ health
boys died during the initiation period and their mothers were not told
Women weren’t even told where their children were buried
Despite these issues, women don’t want ulwaluko to be scrapped. They understand its significance as a cultural practice
age-old practice that has stood the test of time among amaXhosa
Initiates undergo this rite in the belief that it will transform even the most wayward boy into a dignified
it’s also important to implement new ways of addressing the evident clash between ulwaluko and gender equality
This is happening slowly in some areas. In parts of the Eastern Cape, mothers and female relatives who were traditionally denied information about initiates’ deaths are no longer kept in the dark
custodians of the culture should be willing to part with the harmful aspects identified in this study
Awareness must be created around initiation legislation and existing tensions
Awareness campaigns can also be used to modify the norms and values of the custom that are outdated
At the heart of this is the need to incorporate the voice of women in ulwaluko processes
Gender equality programmes should be established at community level
But these initiatives will work only if they are grounded in law and involve all stakeholders
initiation practices that have been successful in other Xhosa regions need to be documented and shared with communities that continue to experience persistent problems and fatalities during the initiation season
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this tradition reduces the HIV/AIDS transmission rate in Zimbabwe.Most of the VaRemba now reside under Chief Mposi’s area and some are scattered all over the district but still meet with their tribesmen during key ritual ceremonies
The tribe uses the Zhou (Elephant) totem and claims to have a strong Jewish traditional background upon which their practice of circumcision is anchored
As part of the VaRemba male rites of passage boys and men from the age of 12 are taken for the initiation rituals during winter in mountains across the Mberengwa district
It is during these initiation ceremonies that the boys get to be circumcised
“It is part of our culture that all men in our tribe must be circumcised,” said Tivakudze Zhou
one of elderly tribesmen who strongly believe in their cultural belief systems
“Circumcision has a lot of health benefits as it helps protect our men against contracting sexually transmitted diseases
It is also a mark that shows that one has fully graduated from boyhood to manhood. After our initiation ceremonies
they will be able to start families because we would have imparted to them the necessary wisdom and skills needed to run a family”
Uncircumcised boys and men are treated as outcasts and immature members within the society
They are stigmatised and under the VaRemba tradition they cannot marry
The stigma causes most boys and men to feel obliged to undergo the initiation ceremonies
“During our ceremonies we teach the boys how to handle their families and about the deep secrets of our culture,” noted one of the elders Takavada Zhou
“The circumcision is done during winter to avoid complications after the foreskin has been cut
We also give the circumcised males local herbs to help the wound heal faster”
While the initiation ceremonies were done for free before
nowadays everyone who goes for the rituals is required to pay US20.00 and buy a white uniform to be worn when they have completed the rituals
An elderly man from the tribe who requested anonymity for fear of victimisation for divulging the tribal secrets revealed that “during the initiation ceremonies the boys are supposed to remain naked
They must eat meat and peanut butter only”
The rituals normally take up to three months and are held in sacred mountains referred to as ‘KuGomo’
When the boys come back from the mountains
Beer is brewed for the returnees and big celebrations are held as the graduates wear white shorts and shirts as a sign of their accomplishment
The celebrations are strictly for members of the tribe
women also go through initiation ceremonies during the winter
They are trained to be “good wives and we also use that opportunity to test their virginity,” said Traphine Gumbo
an elderly woman who helps in the initiation process
Circumcision is not a popular practice among the majority of men in Zimbabwe
Though the government adopted medical male circumcision as a way of reducing HIV/AIDS incidence and prevalence more than seven years ago
the adoption has been very low and demotivating
the Ministry of Health and Child Care together with HIV/AIDS implementing partners (Zimbabwe National AIDS Council
the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council and other non-state actors) targeted to circumcise about 1.2 million men by the end of 2015
according to the Global AIDS Response Country Progress Report of 2014
between 2012 and 2014 only 176 604 men were circumcised
a sign that the country will not meet this target
and other cooperating partners such as the Populations Services International (PSI)
World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have been holding extensive medical male circumcision awareness campaigns
Through their traditional practice of circumcision, the VaRemba tribe has immensely contributed towards the national target of circumcising more men in a bid to thwart the spread of HIV/AIDS. In the past the tribe was accused of using the same unsafe surgical instruments to circumcise several males
which was in itself a potential for spreading the virus
with the buy-in of the government has since enlisted the assistance of trained medical doctors- of VaRemba origin- in their circumcision efforts so as to reduce complications
“We now invite government registered medical doctors to come and assist us during the actual circumcision sessions
It is good to note that we have seen less complications and almost zero circumcision related deaths in our community”
circumcision may result in life threatening complications such as pain
increased sensitivity of the glands in the penis for the first few months after the procedure
injury to the penis and adverse reaction to the anaesthetic used during the circumcision
Even though the practice has been hailed by authorities, the boys and men are circumcised by compulsion. It is compulsory for every boy and man in the community to be circumcised if they are to be accepted by the tribe.
There is growing resentment from the younger generation that suggests that the process must be done after their consent has been explicitly sought
The ‘Ngoma Lungundu’ (Sacred Rituals) –as they are known- also involves taking the boys for rituals where they live under harsh conditions in which they are taught on how to be “men”
The boys are sometimes subjected to serious beatings
swim in the cold waters and also run bare-footed as part of the training and initiation
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“Chinese Box Office Hit ‘Tiny Times’ Bumps Up Sequel Release to August 9,” The Hollywood Reporter, July 12, 2013
“‘Tiny Times’ Remains Top of China’s Film Charts,” Xinhua, July 10, 2013
“Hit Film 'Tiny Times' Gives a Window into Youth and Luxury in China,” BrandChannel.com, July 10, 2013
“‘Shallow’ Chinese Movie ‘Tiny Times’ Rouses Critics and Fans of Writer Guo Jingming,” The South China Morning Post, July 6, 2013
a Chinese feature film set in contemporary Shanghai
made headline news on its opening day in late June by knocking the Hollywood blockbuster Man of Steel from its perch atop the domestic box-office and breaking the opening-day record for a Chinese-language 2D release
The film follows four college girls as they navigate romance and their professional aspirations
but the bulk of the film is about the female longing for a life of luxury in the company of a good-looking man
draped from head to toe in designer clothes and easily mesmerized by the presence of supposedly visually stunning males—not the usual
but Asian boys of androgynous demeanor with compact frames
Tiny Times might be mistaken for a Sinicized Sex and the City
but soon it becomes clear that the four boy-crazed
mall-loitering characters in Shanghai have little in common with the fiercely independent career women in Candace Bushnell’s New York
Positioned in the market by Le Vision Pictures of Beijing as a coming of age story
the rite of passage for one dazed girl in the film is to grow into a competent personal assistant to her oh-so-handsome male boss whose aloof demeanor and penetrating gaze constantly destabilizes her
Another girl from a nouveau riche family showers her boyfriend with expensive clothes and accessories
suffering from stereotypically low self-esteem and emotional eating—is made fun of throughout the movie as she obsesses over a young tennis player
the one man in the movie who actually possesses something resembling muscle
a budding fashion designer from a humble background
is trapped in an abusive relationship with yet another good-looking boy
Taking a page from the book of popular East Asian “idol dramas” that cater primarily to youth in their teens and twenties
cast regardless of any actual acting ability
Good idol dramas frequently feature teen romance
in which brooding characters with dark secrets and painful pasts elicit pathos and real emotion
has done away with complex story arcs and character development
The film looks great but ultimately lacks substance
The four characters’ professional aspirations amount to serving men with competence
The film is a Chinese version of “chick flick” minus the emotional engagement and relationship-based social realism that typically are associated with the Hollywood genre
The only enduring relationship in Tiny Times is the chicks’ relationship with material goods
The hyper-materialist life portrayed carries little plot but serves as a setting for consumption
and is more akin to MTV or reality TV than real drama
With its scandalously cartoonish characters
the film would have worked better as a satirical comedy
except that the director is too sincere in his celebration of material abundance to display any sense of irony
stupefied by the film’s unabashed flaunting of wealth
and male power passed off as “what women want.” Its vulgar and utter lack of self-awareness is astonishing
It appears to be the product of full-blown materialism in modern
The film speaks to the male fantasy of a world of female yearnings
which revolve around men and the goods men are best equipped to deliver
It betrays a twisted male narcissism and a male desire for patriarchal power and control over female bodies and emotions misconstrued as female longing
Whatever happened to Chairman Mao’s proclamation that “women hold up half the sky”
In Tiny Times Chinese society has regressed to an earlier era
Years of accelerating economic growth have brought unprecedented social and geographic mobility and increased pressure on Chinese men to succeed
Economic growth has exacerbated the gender gap
often reviving cultural traditions that reduce women to a sub-human status
The contempt for women that I have witnessed in China in recent years is alarming
The male chauvinism in the film is symptomatic of a society where the choices for women are severely limited
The ones with bodies are enticed to become material girls under the thumb of men
the ones with brains who dare to use their thinking faculties are condemned to eternal loneliness
and the ones possessing neither are banished to a corner
won the award for “best new director” at the recently concluded Shanghai International Film Festival
A film school dropout turned popular fiction writer
Guo aspires to be an author of contemporary Shanghai
he nevertheless invokes the renowned Shanghai novelists Eileen Chang and Wang Anyi as his predecessors
Guo’s imagination paints Shanghai as a world city whose very spirit is equated with wealth and the attendant decadence
Never mind that he paints a world devoid of compassion and humanity
Never mind that the fabulously wealthy Shanghai in his fictionalized world is hardly the reality for the majority of city-dwellers
Guo claims to represent the post 1990s “me generation” and has apparently hit a home run with the youth audience
According to the latest statistics from the China Film Distribution and Exhibition Association
the average age of a moviegoer in China has dropped to 21.2 years in 2012 from from 25.7 years in 2009
Tiny Times owes its success partly to a marketing campaign that relied heavily on social media networks reaching tens of millions of students
The Chinese film industry has come aboard celebrating a work of fiction with a dubious imagination
One can only surmise that Chinese cinema has momentarily lost its way—in its desperate pursuit of domestic market share in competition with a growing number of imported Hollywood blockbusters
the Shanghai International Film Festival traded cinematic quality for box-office returns
Chinese cinema will soon hang by a thin thread
It cannot rely on weightless movies like Tiny Times to sustain its market momentum
It comes as a consolation to us that the film averaged low ratings of 3.4 and 5.0 out of 10 on China’s two most-visited online movie portals, Mtime and Douban
Director Guo said that Tiny Times allowed its viewers to dream about a future with “a great career
and a handsome boyfriend.” We're not at all sure if this is what Chinese President Xi Jingping had in mind when he announced his opaque “Chinese Dream.” We sure hope that both Chinese cinema and Chinese women can envision their own alternatives
ChinaFile
ChinaFile is a project of the Asia Society.
This blistering passage on white male privilege shows why.What really mattersIn a world with too much noise and too little context
We don’t flood you with panic-inducing headlines or race to be first
We focus on being useful to you — breaking down the news in ways that inform
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by Constance Grady
is both blisteringly funny and blisteringly furious
It’s about a young black man who finds that his city
has been taken off the map in South California
but in the end his efforts land him in front of the Supreme Court for attempting to restore slavery and segregation
It’s devoted to deconstructing the myth of racial equality in America
and what it finds would be heartbreaking if The Sellout weren’t simultaneously so funny
he searches for a sister city to give the town some legitimacy:
In the end we found it impossible to ignore the impassioned pleas of the Lost City of White Male Privilege
a controversial municipality whose very existence is often denied by many (mostly privileged white males)
Others state categorically that the walls of the locale have been irreparably breached by hip-hop and Roberto Bolaño’s prose
That the popularity of the spicy tuna roll and a black American president were to white male domination what the smallpox blankets were to Native American existence
Those inclined to believe in free will and the free market argue that the Lost City of White Male Privilege was responsible for its own demise
that the constant stream of contradictory religious and secular edicts from on high confused the highly impressionable white male
Reduced him to a state of such severe social and psychic anxiety that he stopped fucking
or at least knew enough to pretend not to be so in public
it became impossible to walk the streets of the Lost City of White Male Privilege
feeding your ego by reciting mythological truisms like “We built this country!” when all around you brown men were constantly hammering and nailing
This passage is built around a maddening and absurd idea — the idea that white men do not benefit from systemic privileges
But instead of just getting angry and sad about it
until white male privilege has become its own mythological lost city
Beatty keeps riffing on all of the absurdities and logical impossibilities that white supremacy asks us to believe
in ever spikier and funnier and more obscene passages that just get angrier and angrier as they get funnier and funnier
The Sellout is a book that laughs to keep from crying
because the truth of the way America thinks about race is just that upsetting
Understand the world with a daily explainer plus the most compelling stories of the day
Here’s why your potentially romantic meetup actually sucks.
A new prosecutor, a surprising defense team addition, and a whole lot of controversy.
Candace Owens and Joe Rogan are the latest frontier of the Me Too backlash.
Advice author Lysa TerKeurst has a devoted audience, a dozen bestselling books — and she’s divorced.
By Joshua Rapp Learn
chopped and defleshed dog skulls in the Eurasian steppe are providing evidence of a bizarre rite of passage for young boys from 4000 years ago – one that might have echoes in the foundation myth of ancient Rome
“The nature of this ritual was that they killed and then consumed very large numbers of dogs and some wolves with them,” says David Anthony at Hartwick College in New York
Anthony and his Hartwick colleague Dorcas Brown analysed the bones of at least 64 different dogs and wolves
The remains came from a Bronze Age site roughly 3900 to 3700 years old
at the ancient village of Krasnosamarskoe in present-day Russia
The researchers found that the dogs’ bodies appear to have been expertly chopped
The skulls alone were cut into about a dozen pieces after being roasted – almost all by the same method
Cut marks on some of the skull fragments show that the flesh may have been stripped from them after roasting
which Anthony says points to them having been eaten
DNA analysis shows most of the dogs were male
which Anthony says suggests a male initiation rite
The killings may not have occurred every year
but the fact that the remains were stratified in the soil suggests the same process was done several times
The dogs were killed mostly during the winter
while cattle and sheep bones discovered with them were killed throughout the year
This also hints that the dog killing was not just for meat
In 2015, Anthony and Brown contributed to a study of ancient DNA that suggests Bronze-Age humans moved westwards from the Eurasian steppe about 4500 years ago, leaving a significant genetic imprint on European populations
The archaeological evidence suggests the steppe communities may have had a cultural impact on Europeans too
prehistoric myths from some European Celtic cultures involve a rite of passage for young males being initiated into war bands before going out to raid neighbouring settlements
The practice is also mentioned in early Greek texts
Many of these rituals involved the boys transforming themselves symbolically into dogs or wolves
“They have temporary names that translate to dog or wolf during this initiatory period – and they’re referred to using dog or wolf metaphors,” he says
Eating dogs was probably considered taboo by the ancient Eurasian steppe communities – particularly given that such remains have not been discovered at other ancient sites in the region
and show evidence of relatively good treatment – he says it’s even possible that the boys ate their own pets
Zaur Hasanov at the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography in Azerbaijan offers a different interpretation
He says that ancient steppe culture had a well-known tradition of ritually butchering human bodies before burial
“This butchering of human skeletons can be associated with the Siberian ritual of the symbolic death of a Shaman
or her body into very small pieces,” he says
The fact that older dogs and wolves were selected could mean they represented ancestral spirits of shamans
because shamanism is not strongly sex-biased but the remains of the dogs and wolves are
He also argues that the evidence for this type of shamanistic ritual comes from recent Siberian tribes
Anthony says the institution of youthful war bands based on wolves was around long after this Eurasian steppe culture disappeared. They even pop up in the founding myth of Rome, in which young boys Romulus and Remus are brought up by a wolf – with Romulus eventually rounding up a band of itinerant boys and creating the city that bears his name
“The myths of the founding of Rome are full of references to youthful war bands,” he says
Journal of Anthropological Archaeology DOI: 10.1016/j.jaa.2017.07.004
Read more: Iron-age Britons engaged in mysterious pig trotter festivals
he walks in front of the small temple in his northeastern Thai village
its naga-shaped ornaments glittering in the sun
join their hands with 20-baht notes tucked between them as offerings of respect
26-year-old Natthaporn Onkeaw holds a talipot fan bearing Buddha’s image
this former Hamas hostage prayed daily for deliverance from his hellish ordeal
"I feel at peace," he shares after seven days in monastic life
other hostages returning home have joined the monastic order to express gratitude to Buddha and pray for the liberation of their eight compatriots still in captivity
they've donned the monastic robe only temporarily
where over 90% of the population is Buddhist
"most Thai men become monks at some point in their lives," notes Thomas Borchert
a religion professor at the University of Vermont in the United States)
signify a new beginning for various reasons: honoring someone's memory
and in a society where beliefs are deeply ingrained in customs
a practice of performing positive actions
or intentions to gain good karma, believed to bring about favorable consequences or outcomes in one's life
"Ordination at 20 is one of the most significant rites of passage from childhood to adulthood," says Prakirati Satusut
an anthropology professor at Thammasat University, a public research university in Thailand
it's seen as moral education for young men: they study under older monks and live away from their family's comfort to acquire valuable values before starting their careers and families."
these ordinations lasted three lunar months
"Some went beyond the simple Buddhist Lent
extending it by several years," adds the anthropologist
noting that brief ordinations are now common
"Ordination is part of the filial piety children are expected to fulfill and
being seen as the pinnacle of merit acquisition
men are supposed to become monks to stay within social norms."
Chinnawat Maneerak recalls his parents' joy when he was a novice from ages 12 to 15 at Wat Molilokkayaram
a temple along the Chao Phraya River in Bangkok
"It's the best gift I could offer them," he says
showing photos of his ordination with his delighted mother
learning Pali (the liturgical language of Buddhism)
and meditation times are fondly remembered by this 23-year-old psychology student and DJ
Despite the 227 conduct rules and five strict precepts governing monastic life
not ruling out donning the monk's robe again once he achieves his musical goals.
his ordination provided financial relief while he benefited from free schooling
becoming a monk offers access to education
who became a novice at 12 in 2003 and has never left the monastic life since
with its stupa perched on a 75-meter hill overlooking the capital Bangkok
Now 33, Phra Supachai, with thick glasses, teaches Pali to younger monks. Ordinations here last a minimum of 15 days. He sees the trend towards shorter ordinations as not necessarily bad. "For those short on time, it's an easy way to open up to Buddhism
Religion must adapt to societal changes," he says in front of the Ubosot
where a senior monk assesses novices exams
According to him, what harms Buddhism, already tarnished by scandals
monks are highly respected and revered
but some use it as a tool to clean their reputation," says Phra Supachai
a speeding policeman who fatally hit a doctor before becoming a monk caused an uproar
a wealthy businessman was ordained after killing two people while driving drunk and compensating the victims' families with 1.2 million euros.
dictator Thanom Kittikachorn returned three years later under a monk's robe
"Even during the Rattanakosin kingdom era (1782-1932)
and nobles from losing factions in internal struggles sought refuge in monastic life to avoid persecution," recalls Prakirati Satusut
"this behavior does more harm than good to society
reinforcing the idea that anyone can rid themselves of karmic debt by publicly displaying their contrition," lamented a Bangkok Post editorialist
it's challenging to oppose these powerful individuals connected to power who suddenly appear devout
"They provide financial and material support that the Supreme Sangha Council heavily relies on," he regrets
eyes fixed on the temple's golden mountain splendor
subtly alluding to one of the structural problems of the institution overseeing Thailand's Buddhist community
With 40,000 temples and a population that's over 90% Buddhist
Thailand is one of the countries with the most temples worldwide
the Buddhist community consists of between 200,000 and 300,000 monks
young men are first ordained as novices before becoming monks
reveals evidence of a man thought to belong to a political or religious elite family
a 5,000 year-old passage tomb that sits within the UNESCO monumental site of Brú na Bóinne
historical and ethnographic spectrum incestuous unions tend to be shunned as a social taboo with the exception of a relatively small number of cases that we know about
We know that where they are the prerogative of the royal elite
they are primarily concerned with concentrating power within one family/kin group.”
“We believe this implies a level of social organisation and hierarchy that may have emerged against a backdrop of rapid maritime colonisation
and which may also explain the large scale and sophisticated monuments that were constructed during the Neolithic period.”
Genetic sequencing revealed that the individual’s relatives were buried in other Irish passage tombs over 100 km away
This points to a powerful social elite at the top of Irish Neolithic society; which archaeologists believe is associated with the construction of large scale prehistoric monuments
said: “It seems what we have here is a powerful extended kin-group
who had access to elite burial sites in many regions of the island for at least half a millennium.”
The researchers sequenced 44 whole genomes from Irish Neolithic people
These were merged with an ancient dataset to allow for more detailed analysis of population structure and estimation of inbreeding
all major Irish Neolithic funerary traditions were sampled: court tombs
Linkardstown-type burials and natural sites
the researchers observed no increase in inbreeding during the Neolithic period in Ireland
indicating that communities maintained sufficient size and communication to avoid mating with 5th degree relatives or closer
the remains of an elite adult male were a single extreme outlier within New Grange passage tomb
The male was buried within the most ornate chamber in the tomb with specialised ritual inventory
and winter solstice solar alignment that would have been viewed only by a select few
Professor Dan Bradley (Trinity College Dublin)
said: “The prestige of the burial makes this very likely a socially sanctioned union and speaks of a hierarchy so extreme that the only partners worthy of the elite were family members.”
The nature and distribution of political power in Neolithic Europe remains poorly understood
many societies began to invest heavily in monument-building
suggesting an increase in social organisation
The scale and sophistication of megalithic architecture along the Atlantic seaboard (along Portugal
UK and Ireland) is particularly impressive
culminating in the great passage tomb complexes
This new study supports previous evidence that an incoming (maritime) migration event in the centuries after 4000 BC
most likely originating from or linked to the Western Mediterranean
There is wide evidence to suggest that the arrival of agriculture in Britain and Ireland was assisted by this maritime migration
Dr Kador said: “Apart from the shared genetics as a consequence of maritime migration
we can see some shared funerary traditions
But the key question is to what degree these ‘colonists’ brought their societal structure with them or whether the social hierarchy identified in Ireland is a local development?”
the findings of prehistoric burial mounds and a social sanctioned incestuous relationship investigated in the study strongly resonate with Irish mythology and literature first recorded in the 11th century AD
Dr Kador concluded: “In Irish mythology there is a tradition associating the tombs of the Boyne Valley with incestuous relationships among ancient royals and deities and it is striking how these stories resonate with our findings
Irish folklore and literary scholars have long suggested that these stories
first recorded in the middle ages date back to a longstanding oral tradition
nobody would have assumed that such traditions could stretch back to the Stone Age.”
The research was carried out in collaboration with colleagues from National University of Ireland
University of Cambridge and Queen’s University Belfast
It was funded by Science Foundation Ireland
Western Mongolia’s Altai region is one the most remote spots on the planet
and the high icy peaks of the Altai Range bordering Mongolia
China and Russia form an impenetrable wall that keeps all modern encroachments at bay
3,000m-high peak in Bayan Olgii province with Bikbolat
a noble-looking ethnic Kazakh bundled up in a fox skin fur cap and long sheepskin robe
An eagle perched on his arm was looking keenly across the horizon for something to hunt
Bikbolat is one of just 250 eagle hunters left in this region
practicing the art of berkutchi just as his ancestors did and carrying on a tradition that has been in existence across the Central Asian steppe for 6,000 years
Genghis Khan and Kublai Khan both had thousands of hunting birds
and their falconry expeditions were well documented by Marco Polo
Ethnic Kazakhs make up the majority of the population in Bayan Olgii
driven here by Russian Empire troops back in the mid-1800s
The eagle hunters preserve a way of life far removed from much of the modern world
living off the grid in gers (portable round tents)
The connection between hunter and eagle is strong
they need to be trained from an early age to create trust
Bikbolat explained that training young chicks can be preferable as they are tamer and won’t harm children or sheep
but older birds are actually better hunters with the killer instinct needed to bring down wolves and foxes
He informed me that females make the best hunters: not only are they more aggressive
but they’re a third heavier than their male counterparts
the eagle goes out with the hunter on horseback
The bond can be so close between veteran hunters and their birds that the slightest change in talon pressure on a hunter’s arm alerts him that his bird has picked up a scent
Some Kazakh hunters have antiquated Russian rifles
but most of the hunting is left to the eagles as their vision is eightfold that of their owners
Most of the hunting takes place during winter when the birds are at their leanest and hungriest
and when Bikbolat looked out at the steppe below us
he shook his head and said that the lack of early snowfall was making it hard to spot tracks
placing some small bits of meat further down the slope and then removing the blindfold that covered the eagle’s eyes when it was resting to keep it calm and alert
and then swooped off Bikbolat’s gloved hand
finding and attacking the meat like a trained assassin
Each September, a large eagle hunters’ festival takes place in Olgii
drawing many of the hunters to compete for cash prizes
the men engage in traditional Kazakh games like kokbar
a tug of war played on horseback using a goat or fox pelt as the rope; and tenge alu
a contest where the hunters attempt to pick up tokens on the ground without getting off of their horses
While it’s definitely a masculine environment
women also get to show off their horsemanship during matches of kyz kuu
a flirtatious event where men and women race
but if he fails to catch the woman before the finish line
she turns and gallops after him back down the field
brandishing a whip with which to strap him
much to the amusement of all the onlookers
these age-old traditions could all soon disappear
Overgrazing of Mongolian lands in recent years has meant there’s less wildlife to hunt
and the arrival of tourism has brought pressures for wildlife preservation upon the Kazakhs
With more Kazakh families sending their children to the cities to earn incomes to supplement their livestock farming
Bikbolat said that hunting has become less vital to survival
hats and other clothing the hunters wrap themselves in during the winter are made from fur pelts
and the eagles themselves are treated with honour by the hunters
and are always released back into the wild after 10 years
berkutchi serves as a rite of passage for Kazakh young men
as the highly specialised skill of training and bonding with eagles is passed from father to son
the lineage of eagle hunters goes back 12 generations and is an immense source of pride for the family
Bikbolat told me an old Kazakh proverb that sums up the hunters’ lives here in the wild open spaces of the Altai: “Fast horses and fierce eagles are the wings of the Kazakh people.”
I saw in his weathered face a reverence and respect for both his companions and this traditional way of life
beautiful landscape around him that he calls home
If you liked this story, sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called “If You Only Read 6 Things This Week”. A handpicked selection of stories from BBC Future, Earth, Culture, Capital, Travel and Autos, delivered to your inbox every Friday.
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In the past, ancient cultures had rites of passage in which boys would go through the steps of separation, challenge, vision, acknowledgement, and reintegration.
In the fast-paced Western world, we’ve moved away from this and boys are initiating themselves in sometimes harmful ways.
How can we take the rite of passage framework and put it into a modern context?
Hunter Johnson is the founder of The Man Cave, tackling young men's emotional health and intelligence across the country.
A stunning view of Lake Oberon and surrounding mountains in Tasmania.(ABC Open contributor offthebeatentrack)
Published: YesterdayMon 5 May 2025 at 2:30am
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COSTA RICA'S LEADING ENGLISH LANGUAGE NEWSPAPER
People of all ages came from down in the valley
The garage throbbed with strobe lights and the beat of reggaetón (Latin America’s answer to hip-hop)
a pot the size of a beer keg full of prime beef bubbled on the fogón (hearth)
Beside it sat pots of arracache (a tropical tuber), rice, beans and huge plates of empanadas, pejibayes (fruit of the peach palm) and cajetas (a kind of milk fudge
there was a ceremony in which the newly minted 15-year-old danced with her father in a circle of onlookers
Most of us have seen the documentaries on television and glossy pictures in National Geographic of pubescent children
the child must undergo some kind of ordeal
so that thereafter he might enjoy the status of an adult in the tribe
We are also familiar with the “spirit quests,” involving fasting and journeying alone into the wilderness for several days or weeks
that young Native American boys of certain tribes must undertake to find their spirit animal and thereafter take on their adult name
Most of us associate these rituals with boys in primitive tribes
but they tend to be less spectacular than the male rituals
so we see fewer of them on TV and in print
are tribes that hold rituals only for girls
I often read sentimental novels involving beautiful debutantes and their coming-out balls on the East Coast
I never stopped to ask myself what a “debutante” or “coming-out” ball was
It was rather like reading about princesses and castles
“female beginner”) is a pubescent girl from an upper-class family who is introduced to society at a formal presentation known as her “debut.” Originally
it meant the young woman was ready to marry
and was so displayed to eligible bachelors within a select upper-class circle
Sweet 16 parties were once given as a celebration of a young girl’s virginity
such as the exchanging of flat shoes for her first high heels
coming-out balls and Sweet 16 parties serve the purpose of putting girls on the auction block
Latin America has its own version of the debutante ritual: the Quinceanera
was regarded as the age of maturity here (and in some ways still is)
A young Latina enters her Quinceanera as a child and emerges as a woman
Those who know and love her will see and treat her differently from that day forward
The quinceañera ritual has been traced to 500 B.C
in which a girl of 15 was considered apt for motherhood
The Aztecs celebrated this coming of- age with a ceremony
dance and some words of wisdom from the girl’s mother
replacing the Aztec temple with the Catholic Church
while the roots may well lie in the Aztec culture
the origins of the Quinceanera remain obscure
The Mayas and Toltecs also celebrated elaborate rites of passage for their young men and women
Rites of passage are known to have existed in Spain as well
and the conquistadores may have brought the practice to Mesoamerica
It is possible the missionaries would have approved of this practice
since these rites closely resembled Catholic confirmation and even marriage
in which the father “gives away” his daughter
then dances with her at the reception while everyone looks on
and both events are filled with symbolic gestures and moments
the Sweet-15 girl most of the time comes with seven to eight young couples
and the little girl carries a heart-shaped pillow with a crown
The most symbolic act during the traditional Quinceanera is the changing of the shoes
The girl’s father switches her shoes from the flats she arrived into the high heels she will leave in
Shoes and crowns play a pivotal role in the birthday girl’s transformation in the eyes of the community from girl to young woman
these traditions are not followed as much as before
parents are no longer announcing to the community that their daughter is available for marriage
Manuelita’s Quinceanera was a combination of modern and traditional
She tottered around for a while in her new high heels
and even managed a dance with her dad until she could manage no more and returned to her flats
that may never have been part of the Aztec or Catholic rite
when it’s difficult to keep the young attentive to tradition
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The debate over gay marriage is not just taking place in the nation’s courts – it is also a subject of intense discussion in the nation’s churches
evangelical Christian and the author of “God and the Gay Christian: The Biblical Case in Support of Same-Sex Relationships,” has been actively encouraging conservative Christians to re-evaluate their beliefs about homosexuality
He has engaged them in private conversations
in public talks and through the organization he founded
lead pastor of Discovery Church in Simi Valley
to talk privately with a small group of evangelical leaders to discuss what the Bible says about gay relationships
Kaltenbach is the author of the forthcoming book “Messy Grace,” which is about how he reconciles his conservative Christian convictions with his experience as the child of gay parents
they were each asked to interpret some of the most cited verses relating to homosexuality in the Bible
Paul is explicit that the same-sex behavior in this passage is motivated by lust
His description is similar to the common ancient idea that people “exchange” opposite-sex for same-sex relations because they are driven by out-of-control desire
not because they have a different sexual orientation
And while Paul labels same-sex behavior “unnatural,” he uses the same word to criticize long hair in men in 1 Corinthians 11:14
which most Christians read as a synonym for “unconventional.” Christians should continue to affirm with Paul that we shouldn’t engage in sexual behavior out of self-seeking lustfulness
But that’s very different than same-sex marriages that are based on self-giving love
and we shouldn’t conflate the two in how we interpret this text today
Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable
and the New Testament teaches that Christians should live under the new covenant rather than the old one
this verse has never applied to Christians
For a man to lie with a man “as with a woman” violated the patriarchal gender norms of the ancient world
which is likely why Leviticus prohibited it
But the New Testament casts a vision of God’s kingdom in which the hierarchy between men and women is overcome in Christ
So not only is Leviticus’s prohibition inapplicable to Christians on its own
the rationale behind it doesn’t extend to Christians
“Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any and every reason?”
“that at the beginning the Creator ‘made them male and female’ and said
‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife
and the two will become one flesh?' So they are no longer two
Jesus says that marriage is between a man and a woman by quoting Genesis 1:27
He affirms that God created sexual distinction between man and woman and this distinction serves as part of the foundation for marriage (helping to make Adam and Eve suitable partners)
this distinction ultimately points to Jesus and the cross
where Jesus (the bridegroom) would pledge his love for his church (the bride) on the cross
remember that there was no individual in the Bible called to be celibate that was not honored by God
Jesus responds to a question about divorce by emphasizing the permanence of the marriage bond
Same-sex marriage wasn’t on the radar screen in the biblical world
so it’s not surprising that neither Jesus nor any of the biblical writers addresses it
Christians today have to ask whether gay relationships can fulfill the core principles of Scripture’s teachings about marriage
Based on Jesus’ teaching here and other texts like Ephesians 5
the essence of Christian marriage involves keeping covenant with one's spouse in order to reflect God’s covenant with us through Christ
That’s something same-sex couples can and do live out today
Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God
Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God
These words are found in the Greek translation of Leviticus 18 (which is what Paul would've used as a source when writing this letter)
His phrase “men who have sex with men” is the Greek word arsenokoitai
It's a compound: arseno means “a male,” and koitai means “bed.” The word means “male bed”—or homosexuality
he never intended to impose these values on non-Christians
In the current debate of same-sex marriage
there's an imposition of a meta-narrative being imposed from non-Christians to Christians
Should we violate our conscience and teachings of Scripture because of an agenda that labels us narrow-minded
That seems like an unfair expectation to me
Paul uses two Greek words—malakoi and arsenokoitai—that likely refer to some forms of male same-sex behavior
but not the modern concept of homosexuality
The predominant forms of same-sex behavior in the ancient world were sex between masters and slaves
Committed same-sex unions between social equals represent very different values than the types of same-sex behavior Paul would have had in view in 1 Corinthians 6
dying and failing to find a navigable way from the northern Atlantic to the Pacific ocean for over 300 years
Martin Frobisher made the first attempt in 1576
when the East India Company was set up and sailed around the Cape of Good Hope to India and the spice islands
the Northwest Passage was no longer an essential trade route for British merchants
the discovery of a northern passage became a quest – it was "an object peculiarly British"
second secretary to the Admiralty for most of the first half of the 19th century
The persistent search for the Northwest Passage was due to Barrow's longevity at the Admiralty
his unshakeable belief in the need for the British navy to find it
as well as a lifelong and incorrect conviction that the polar sea
if it could only be reached through the labyrinthine Canadian archipelago
because there was no such thing as sea ice
elegant history of the quest is as much concerned with Barrow and British delusion as it is with the earlier explorers
Sir John Franklin's complete disappearance in the 1840s
and the 10 long years spent looking for him
Brandt's detailing of centuries of expeditions is necessarily repetitious
but reading it with attention has the advantage of giving the armchair explorer a faint sense of the dogged endurance required to make an actual journey
Though ice has many forms and the names of the heroes change somewhat from year to year
drags ships by hand through opening-then-closing leads in the frozen water
hauls 200lb sledges over great hummocks and pointy shards of ice that make feet bleed
when a man in Edward Parry's expedition turned up with frozen hands
who plunged them into water to defrost them
succeeded only in freezing the water in the bowl
Reading about stoic men suffering in appalling conditions while searching for a pole or the source of a river or a lost missionary is a favourite British pastime
Tell us how cold it was (-56 degrees; fish froze as they were brought to the surface) and how hungry they were (pounded fat and Indian hair was "thought to be a great luxury after three days of starvation"; Franklin boiled and ate his leather boots)
and we settle down happily with a shiver of empathy and a virtuous sense of having endured a little of the dreadfulness ourselves
Having spent a night in a tent (unwillingly) at -40C
during which every miserable moment was filled with a sense of outrage at how cold I was and wishing I wasn't where I was
I know that reading about physical suffering is good exercise for the imagination
having starved and frozen for two or three years for nothing very much – a mark on a map
and then agree to go back again: for honour
Brandt describes Franklin as "having the emotional depth of a puddle"
and it may be that sheer lack of imagination is one answer
My bafflement is an admission of my complete lack of resilience; other people seem to find their staggering sense of duty perfectly reasonable
embodying an indefatigable desire to know the world for what it was far better than most of the upright naval gentlemen who fulfilled their duty
continued to deny all the evidence that eventually turned up of necessitous cannibalism among Franklin's starving crew
even though sawn human bones made it clear that
Five years after becoming the first to sail the Northwest Passage
He succeeded where so many British attempts had failed because he knew and respected the terrain
and did not overburden his expeditions with grandeur and a sense of righteous entitlement
who refused to consider learning about Arctic survival from the Inuit
whom they mostly berated for bad table manners
it was those who failed and died who have been acclaimed heroes and exemplars
despite a dozen or more fruitless rescue expeditions costing vast amounts of money
Brandt finishes his book on a surprisingly reproachful note: "We can admire the courage
But if we respect history at all we must temper whatever admiration we may feel with the image of pieces of human arms and legs cooking in a kettle while starving men stare with deadened eyes at the ultimate consequences of this spectacular piece of folly."
Jenny Diski's What I Don't Know About Animals is published by Virago
| Just 30 minutes before the Phi Beta Sigma “beautillion" starts
a year of planning for the boys’ glittering debutant ball threatens to unravel: What should be a trio of white-gowned female escorts is only a duo
That could mean one “beau" won’t have a partner for the intricate ballroom dance the boys have practiced for weeks
“I think it’s gonna turn out OK," organizer Elmer Seay Jr
The beaus in white tails and glinting white shoes are young black men
Seay has challenged statistics showing young black males battling grim rates of joblessness
He has arranged career forums and corralled the teens into dance classes and etiquette lessons
he and his fraternity brothers have offered genuine concern for their future
Mark Turner II and Kevin Wyatt will emerge as upright
a Washington-based social group for affluent black women
has spent 50 years hosting black-aimed coming-out functions -- cotillions for girls and increasingly popular beautillions for boys as young as 9
“African-Americans weren’t permitted to participate in the cotillions that were held mainly by white
aristocratic social clubs," explains Janet Walker
these events draw black parents seeking opportunities to highlight the good in their sons
“A lot of people are just fed up with the way that black men are portrayed in the media," Walker says
“If you want to go to fraternities or college and stuff
this is a step," says 17-year-old Julian Alford
Kevin Wyatt claps and tumbles to African music as the beaus practice a celebratory dance
I’m not going to lie to you," the 17-year-old says after practice
Wyatt is an academic-minded baseball player who volunteers with children
“I fear that I’m going to give up and not keep going," he says
While others celebrated the desegregation of schools in the '50s
remembers an uncle warning that blacks would abandon their sense of community
“I’ve grown and matured to understand what he meant -- we lost ourselves," the 58-year-old former detective says as six professional black men with him agree
and the men of Phi Beta Sigma have met to iron out details
representing decades of black male success
They’ve paved the way and worry today’s black men have fallen behind
“We need black men to look at the home and at the children that are theirs," says James Quash Sr.
“We need them to take a look and do something."
The men created the Richmond beautillion in 2001
The idea is to recognize young black males who are doing right
while giving them an official ceremony that says it’s time to grow up
They’ve groomed 42 boys and seen them off to schools like Howard University in Washington and Morehouse College
what started as 16 potential beaus this year shrank to eight by the second group meeting
And five of the remaining group -- including Julian Alford with his two jobs
church and wrestling -- were just too busy to commit
Seay can finally relax as the third young woman arrives
Soft string music starts and the starched beaus take the spotlight
As Mark Turner II finesses his way across the floor
The elder Turner drove eight hours from Atlanta to attend
one of several recent gestures to smooth a relationship strained by distance and tension with his former wife
“He’s going to start to deal with things that unfortunately his mother can’t help him with," the elder Turner says
a tennis player with a 3.7 grade point average
says things have been “in the middle" since his dad began visiting more
the three fathers line up across from their sons
as a man in African garb explains the significance of the ceremony transforming three boys into three men
each dad offers his son words of encouragement
Turner hangs the medallion around his son’s neck
whispers “I love you," and hugs the newfound man
Every print subscription comes with full digital access
DNA from a man interred in Ireland’s Newgrange passage tomb (shown) indicates he was the son of an incestuous union
possibly within a ruling family more than 5,000 years ago
By Bruce Bower
roughly 5,200-year-old Irish stone tomb was the product of incest
DNA extracted from the ancient man’s remains displays an unusually large number of identical versions of the same genes
That pattern indicates that his parents were either a brother and sister or a parent and child
a team led by geneticists Lara Cassidy and Daniel Bradley of Trinity College Dublin reports June 17 in Nature
That new DNA discovery combined with the monumental tomb suggests that ruling families who wielded enough power to direct big building projects emerged among some early European farming communities
The man’s bones had previously been found in the Newgrange passage tomb, an earthen mound covering more than 4,000 square meters near the River Boyne. A rooftop opening in a 19-meter-long stone passage allows sunlight to reach deep into a chamber inside the mound on the shortest days of the year, suggesting the structure held astrological and religious significance (SN: 6/29/74)
It may have been built this way to mark a new year in dramatic fashion
perhaps while winter solstice ceremonies were conducted
Cassidy and Bradley’s team studied DNA from 44 individuals buried in various Irish tombs and graves dating to between roughly 6,600 and 4,500 years ago
who was interred in the largest and most impressive structure
Socially sanctioned incest tends to be rare throughout history but is known from instances of royal inbreeding. Mating between brothers and sisters, for example, occurred in some ancient societies with ruling families headed by men regarded as gods not subject to human incest taboos. Ancient Egypt’s King Tutankhamun
So finding the offspring of inbreeding in such an impressive stone structure is highly suggestive of a practice of inbreeding among elites
Questions or comments on this article? E-mail us at feedback@sciencenews.org | Reprints FAQ
L. Cassidy et al. A dynastic elite in monumental Neolithic society. Nature. Published June 17, 2020. doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-2378-6.
Bruce Bower has written about the behavioral sciences for Science News since 1984. He writes about psychology, anthropology, archaeology and mental health issues.
A member of New Mexico’s Picuris Pueblo Tribal Nation stands in front of a Round House used for rituals and meetings. A DNA study initiated and directed by Picuris officials now supports their oral histories describing more than 1,000-year-old ancestral ties to ancient Chaco Canyon society.
Cute, yes. But is this “woolly mouse” really a step toward bringing woolly mammoths back?
Millions of people have used DNA testing kits from 23andMe to trace family ties and to learn more about health conditions they may be susceptible to. The company filed for bankruptcy leaving customers wondering what to do about genetic data.
Labradors with a higher genetic risk for obesity are more likely to seek out food, a new study finds.
In CAR-T cell therapy, T cells, like the one illustrated (brown) attacking cancer cells (purple), are programmed to track specific proteins on a cancer cell and kill it.
This Australian mole, shown eating a centipede, may look like South Africa’s golden mole but it is more closely related to kangaroos than to the other moles of the world.
Excavations of Iron Age skeletons such as this one from Celtic sites in southern England have produced genetic evidence reflecting social practices that enhanced women’s power, researchers say.
Science News was founded in 1921 as an independent, nonprofit source of accurate information on the latest news of science, medicine and technology. Today, our mission remains the same: to empower people to evaluate the news and the world around them. It is published by the Society for Science, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) membership organization dedicated to public engagement in scientific research and education (EIN 53-0196483).
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a man coughed up an intact blood clot shaped like a lung passage
Georg Wieselthaler / The New England Journal of Medicine ©2018December 6, 2018 ShareSave On Tuesday, The New England Journal of Medicine tweeted the most recent addition to its photo series of the most visually arresting medical anomalies
would probably pass for a cherry-red chunk of some underground root system or a piece of bright reef coral
six-inch-wide clot of human blood in the exact shape of the right bronchial tree
one of the two key tubular networks that ferry air to and from the lungs
The clot is beautiful, and it’s also kind of gross. The tweet received a slew of replies from those frightened that the photo showed an actual coughed-up lung, which is about as likely to happen as your brain falling out of your butt
But even the doctors who treated the 36-year-old man who produced the clot aren’t entirely sure how it could have emerged without breaking
Read: Why fractals are so soothing
Georg Wieselthaler, a transplant and pulmonary surgeon at the University of California at San Francisco, says the unnamed patient was initially admitted to the intensive-care unit with aggressive end-stage heart failure. Wieselthaler quickly connected the patient’s struggling heart to a pump designed to help maximize blood flow through the body
But this type of ventricular-assist device comes with its own risks
“You have high turbulence inside the pumps
and that can cause clots to form inside,” Wieselthaler says
you have to give them anticoagulants to make the blood thinner and prevent clots from forming.”
These anticoagulants themselves can lead to trouble
oxygen-starved blood leaving the heart travels an intricate network of capillaries through the lungs for an oxygenating pit stop by the airways
the body’s clotting agents show up to slap some circulatory duct tape on them until they heal
the body can’t efficiently patch things up if any part of this tight blood-vessel network is breached
blood eventually broke out of his patient’s pulmonary network into the lower right lung
After days of coughing up much smaller clots
Wieselthaler’s patient bore down on a longer
Once Wieselthaler and his team carefully unfurled the bundle and laid it out
they found that the architecture of the airways had been retained so perfectly that they were able to identify it as the right bronchial tree based solely on the number of branches and their alignment
“It’s a curiosity you can’t imagine—I mean
Read: The doctors whose patients are already dead
only the mother-to-be coughed up a cast made of blood
the largest ever photographed until UCSF’s
Congealed blood is less sturdy and sticky than hardened lymph or mucus
Wieselthaler suspects the answer might involve fibrinogen
a protein component of blood plasma that essentially acts as the “glue” of a clot by trapping platelets to form a mass
The infection that Wieselthaler’s patient had
in addition to aggravating his heart failure
caused a higher-than-normal concentration of fibrinogen in his blood
that the blood in his airways was unusually rubbery
capable of surviving the bumpy ride up the trachea unscathed
a clinical fellow in UCSF’s thoracic-surgery department who helped Wieselthaler capture the photo
suggests that the size of the clot itself may have been what allowed the patient to cough it up
It’s possible that “because it was so large
he was able to generate enough force from an entire right side of his thorax to push this up and out,” she says
“he might not have been able to generate the force.”
Wieselthaler says that although his patient felt instantly better after coughing up the clot
its size clearly indicated the severity of his situation
Wieselthaler and Woodard put the man on a breathing tube and were able to stop his bleeding with a more invasive procedure
but the numerous complications of his heart failure were already too severe
It can feel boorish to admire a by-product of the complete breakdown of a human body
But the photo is captivating because the clot’s structure shows a part of every human body
a biological filigree anyone can appreciate as a part of themselves
That’s why Woodard and her mentor shared the photo in the first place: “Recognizing the beautiful anatomy of the human body is the main point of it,” she says
Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco) has announced that it will protect several Maasai rites of passage
The UN's cultural body has declared these rites as "intangible cultural heritage in need of urgent safeguarding"
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Link IconCopy linkFacebook LogoShare on FacebookXShare on XEmailShare via EmailLink copied to clipboardAudience member disrupts 'Passage' at Wilma Theater with racially-charged 'Forrest Gump' outburstAn audience member disrupted a performance of the play "Passage" at the Wilma Theater in center city on Thursday night
and an actor's Facebook post about the uncomfortable impasse went viral
In a long Facebook post shortly after the performance
and Barrymore Award-winning actor Jaylene Clark Owens wrote that "Tonight I had the worst experience I have ever had on stage
one of the worst experiences period." She said in an interview on Saturday that "I felt scared and threatened."
2018:Tonight I had the worst experience I have ever had on stage
Posted by Jaylene Clark Owens on Saturday, April 21, 2018
"He then says something along the lines of 'I don't mean to interrupt your Black Panther party, and I'm not Forrest Gump,' " Clark wrote on Facebook. She said she learned only later that the line comes from the film Forrest Gump
and is spoken by Gump while leaving a Panther party in which he has been in a fight ("Sorry I had a fight in the middle of your Black Panther party")
despite the efforts of one of the actors to reason with him
Clark wrote that her impression was that the man was intoxicated
When the house manager asked the man to leave
Owens wrote that he told a professor that "he was apologetic
… He was allowed to leave the theatre on his own accord
cofounder of the Wilma and director of Passage
said Saturday that the man was part of a 60-student contingent from Drexel University attending the play together
"We found out that the man was an Iraq veteran who recently had brain surgery," she added
The audience member's name has not been released
the Wilma contacted other theaters and universities to consult them on procedures for handling triggering situations
"None of the theaters had anything like this happen before," Zizka said
"But the universities often have had controversial speakers come to talk
and they did have procedures in place regarding audience disruption
and I do wish that we had been informed beforehand
we gathered with the cast and crew and talked this situation through
we had procedures in place." Owens said by text message that "I am happy in the Wilma's new plan on how to respond should something like this happen again."
"There was a lot of soul-searching about the fact that we had a situation in which an actor was in fear," Zizka said
I feel that maybe the moment when the house manager asked him to leave and he refused – that was the moment we should have stopped the show
Actors must feel they have the freedom to stop the show in a case like this."
Owens said: "The audience member was only seven to five feet away from us
and anything could have happened." Her discomfort extended to the following scene
in which she remained close to the audience but in darkness: "Then I felt the most fear
'Is my life in danger?' It was a scary moment."
"I've never had an experience anything like this in the theater," said Owens
"Nothing where I felt literally as if I were in danger
Their play Renaissance in the Belly of a Killer Whale will appear at Theatre Horizon in Norristown during the 2018-19 season
in Passage race and gender are meant to be dynamic and interchangeable among the characters
"We don't talk about race directly," she said
but it's possible that perhaps he wanted a clear idea of whose side I was on and couldn't tell
so maybe he associated me with certain types of ideas
and maybe from there it was easy to think Country Y represents white America and Country X black America."
"was his reference to the Black Panther party."
the play did its job – "to challenge the audience to examine values
to think critically," but that in this case it triggered a defensive reaction
you stop listening and we can't move forward," she said
"It's not that anger or sadness are not valid emotions
perhaps we can start doing the actual work we need to do to make things happen
I hope this man has been able to reflect on it and is doing well."
and Barrymore Award-winning actor Jaylene Clark Owens wrote that \"Tonight I had the worst experience I have ever had on stage
one of the worst experiences period.\" She said in an interview on Saturday that \"I felt scared and threatened.\""},{"_id":"JXK744B25VBWZG7IZH3DWGZ27Q","type":"raw_html","additional_properties":{"type":"text/javascript"},"content":"// <![CDATA[\n(function(d
fjs = d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0]; if (d.getElementById(id)) return; js = d.createElement(s); js.id = id; js.src = 'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/sdk.js#xfbml=1&version=v2.12'; fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js
'facebook-jssdk'));\n// ]]><\/script>"},{"_id":"RMUA2QLN5NC6DGSHUMIBNYG7JA","type":"raw_html","additional_properties":{"class":["fb-post"],"data-href":"https://www.facebook.com/JayleneClarkOwens/posts/1800861589978172","data-width":"500"},"content":"\n\nFrom April 19
Posted by Jaylene Clark Owens on Saturday, April 21, 2018
was performing a scene that included white actor Ross Beschler and actor Justin Jain
compare the way things are done in two countries
“I had just said a line of the play in which I used the words ‘their‘ and ‘they,’ ” Owens wrote in the post
with big muscles,” raised his hand and said in a loud voice
I don’t know who they are.’ ” The players tried to go on with the scene
but the man continued to talk in a loud voice
Brianne Howey explained what drives Babcock in her completely dysfunctional but oddly heartfelt relationship with Richards:
I would say we've seen Shauna very crafty and I think she is relentless
The fact that she's turned into a viral and is madly in love with Richards
They were real before she turned and they were real after she turned
Because given her history with all the male figures in her life
I'd say it's always been hard for her to trust anyone
she feels like Richards does really care about her and stands up for her and protects her in a way she's never been protected before
viewers have gotten to see a version of Clark Richards that doesn't show up around others
and they humanized two characters who could have been little more than antagonists
Whether or not this is a good thing for humanity as a whole remains to be see
Babcock's attachment to Richards before she turned seems to have gotten even stronger since she went through the change
So many other aspects of Shauna Babcock were altered when she turned; her feelings for Richards are real and intense
Considering how he treated her with kindness when she spent a lifetime being mistreated by the men in her life
it's not surprising that a bond was formed between them
he also declared in the penultimate episode that Babcock was not the girl that he fell for anymore
and he claimed that he won't hesitate to put her down
Given that he has had many opportunities to kill her and was even on the verge of executing her
viewers have reason to doubt that Richards really has what it takes to try and end her life
The Passage revealed more of their bond in the second-to-last episode of Season 1
when Richards turned what had been a mission to chase down and recapture Babcock into the chance for a diner date of sorts
in which he shared parts of his life that few others probably know about
The man who once seemed ruthless and willing to cross just about any line confessed to studying creative writing
and treated Babcock like a human being rather than dragging her back kicking and screaming
Brianne Howey went on to chat about the diner scene and how it developed the bond between Babcock and Richards:
she's literally been through hell and back
But there's still a part of her that holds hope
Only time will tell if there's still a chance for Babcock and Richards on The Passage
There are plenty of obstacles in the way even if they do somehow both escape Project NOAH
Brianne Howey confirmed that "it's a little too late" and "a little too much as happened" for virals like Babcock to come back from what they became
so if Richards remains firm in his stance that she's not the woman he fell for
Babcock is also still very dangerous to the humans
even if she doesn't especially want to murder Richards
The connections she made while still human give her an edge in her viral state
and it's difficult to predict which aspects of which of her personalities will show up at a given moment
Let it not be said that The Passage is ever boring when Shauna Babcock is on screen
The Passage took bold strokes throughout its entire first season
and the conflict between the humans and the virals undoubtedly isn't anywhere close to being done
If Fox does order a second season of television's most unconventional take on vampires
then viewers will get to see what happens as the viral threat continues to spread
Laura HurleySocial Links NavigationSenior Content ProducerLaura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis
CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago
and a variety of other primetime television
Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why
want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios)
As The Golden Bachelor’s Gerry Turner Moves Forward With New Romance
He Weighs In On Possibly Getting Married Again
Alexandra Daddario Shared Stunning Pics After Her Move
But I Didn’t See Martha Stewart And A Cotton Candy Dress Coming
A Comedian Weighs In On His Legal Issues And How They’ll Impact ‘The Culture’
The Oak Room at the Plaza is the easiest game in town; just go early in the week
because later it fills up with tourists and C.P.A.’s from New Jersey
Jean Georges draws an affluent after-work crowd; a girl who knows what she’s doing can easily get a free dinner along with her drinks
if you’re looking for a man who likes to visibly spread it around
pretty much all of the Vongerichten properties are a good bet
though if you prefer a long-term arrangement with a wealthy
you’ll want to concentrate on the uptown ones
such as the bar at the aptly named Mark Hotel
And of course there are circuit standbys like the Peninsula rooftop
Diane Passage is sitting at a table holding court with
handsome men.” She’s relaying a story about another evening at another perennial
where a guy paid her $100 to kick him in the balls: “He was into humiliation or whatever.” She giggles
her grapefruit-tree physique bounces merrily
a ruddy real-estate developer we’ll call Barry
She’d been sitting at the bar with a friend who “kind of looks like a hooker,” so it wasn’t surprising when the well-dressed man who’d bought their drinks made a business proposal
“We went into this little area and he was like
go into the restroom and make me wait,’ ” she says
“So I went into the bathroom for like fifteen minutes and I was texting all my friends and then I came out and I kicked him in the nuts and he was like”—she drops her voice down to a meek whisper—“ ‘Thank you.’ ”
and the ensuing undulations manage to pull Barry’s attention back from the blonde who’d just passed by
paunchy private-equity manager who was quiet much of the evening but has become considerably more animated after a trip to the bathroom
Passage sips hers slowly; when Barry protests
Passage is one of those people that it feels like New York invented
though they thrive wherever male egos and dumb money coexist
if Holly Golightly had to kick a guy in the nuts when she went to the powder room
Passage wouldn’t have entertained the idea of sexually humiliating a man for a mere $100
taking a small puff of Barry’s spit-covered Habana cigar because he’d thrust it in her face and said “Suck it.” Until quite recently
Passage was the happy protagonist of a modern-day fairy tale: A single mother who
was plucked off the dance floor at Scores by a financier who promised to change her life
Kenneth Starr was no one’s idea of Prince Charming
But he was a money manager (not to be confused with the Whitewater investigator) and clearly successful
if the list of phone numbers of clients he scrolled through on his cell phone to impress the strippers was any indication: Al Pacino
a Who’s Who of famously wealthy people in America in the 21st century
After his whirlwind divorce and their equally whirlwind Vegas wedding
Passage moved with her son from a small walk-up to a $7 million condo on the Upper East Side in a building so sure of its fabulousness that it was called “Lux74.” In a year
she went from rubbing customers’ legs at bachelor parties to rubbing shoulders with celebrities at the Vanity Fair Oscar party
the couple toasted their good fortune in front of a small group of friends and clients at Cipriani
She was never going to have to struggle again
federal agents showed up at their apartment and arrested Starr
Attorney’s office had charged him with conducting a massive Ponzi scheme
after the cops dragged him out of the bedroom closet
Documents showed Starr had embezzled $33 million from clients
It was as if her fairy godmother had suddenly reappeared and said
the tabloid reporters camped outside the Lux heard an agonized wail coming from inside
“I’ve done nothing,” said the female voice
sat in a courtroom and listened as a judge with glasses and Janet Reno hair pronounced her husband guilty
“He seemed to have lost his moral compass,” the judge said
“partly as a result of infatuation with his young fourth wife.” Passage
adding the observation that Passage’s “cleavage was so generous that she used it to tuck in her sunglasses.”
Great—not only was she broke, she was being publicly slut-shamed. Not without a sense of humor, Passage added “moral-compass disabler” to her Twitter bio
Which is what brings her to the Peninsula on this lovely Tuesday night
It doesn’t take that many tequilas before Barry
laying a hairy hand on top of her left breast
with the sincere clarity only the extremely drunk exhibit
She’s trying to make whatever she can with what she’s got
She’s going to get out of all this bullshit
“And I love kicking guys in the balls and humiliating them,” she says
and you can imagine there are times that might feel pretty damn good
One of the things Passage dreamed about doing
once Starr’s seemingly limitless money opened up a world of possibilities to her
“Or something called How to Get What You Want From Any Man.” She’s also contemplating a memoir
Her story might begin with that old cliché
a girl arriving in New York and looking up at the dazzling lights of Times Square
and though she’d planned her outfit carefully—a distressed floral-print dress in the style of Courtney Love
and a flannel shirt—she was less sure what she wanted to do when she arrived
she’d dreamed of becoming a pop star or a veterinarian
but she couldn’t carry a tune and was allergic to hairy animals
all she really knew was that she needed to get the hell out of Detroit
“I always had a good head for business,” she says
One of the first men she met in New York hooked her up with a job selling voice-mail accounts
who a few years later became the father of her son
moving to Brooklyn not long after Passage graduated with a marketing degree from F.I.T.
and she and her son soon decamped to an apartment in Times Square
Passage was again supporting her son on her own in New York
selling classified ads for a small agency called Bayard
“a little tilt in the hip,” says one former co-worker—and had an ability to soothe even the most difficult clients
I know what I’d do,” said a male colleague one day in 2004
Some women might have gone straight to human resources
But Passage is a person who considers all offers
she was fascinated by the women working the room in G-strings and heels
“They hustled like no one’s business,” she explains
basically.” She auditioned that day and started working that night
Her first dance was to Madonna’s “Material Girl.”
It soon became clear that her nine-to-five was no longer worth getting out of bed for
I’d watch these salespeople talk and jump through hoops,” she says
“And at night I’d go to work and watch these girls making $400 an hour to get people to go to rooms where nothing happens.” She widens her eyes
these girls are better than people who went to school and got master’s degrees and bachelor’s degrees.”
“to figure out who was real” and what they were willing to give
sometimes it’s a priority for them to spend $2,000 a week,” she explains
she learned little tricks for getting something extra
It all really boiled down to one thing: “There’s a great line in The Other Boleyn Girl,” she says
in which Anne Boleyn’s mother gives her advice: “You have to allow the men to believe they are in charge,” Passage intones dramatically
This advice didn’t work out for Anne Boleyn
who started using Scores tactics outside the club
“Let’s go on a hustle,” she and her friends would say before heading out to a bar
One of her friends from that time got so good she installed a credit-card swiper on her iPhone in order to take immediate donations
“She doesn’t even need to get them wasted,” Passage says admiringly
while they were coating themselves in body spray and covering up their tattoos
was their “arrangements”—the longer-term sugar daddies
the abject behavior of men on the Scores floor
Passage started to rethink her approach to dating
“I used to believe in love and romance,” she says
“But I felt like in a lot of cases I was contributing too much to my relationships
It took a year before the perfect prospect fell into her lap
Ken Starr was in the market for a somewhat unusual arrangement
as evidenced by the fact that he came to Scores with his wife
It was a busy night at the club: The billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban was there
They herded several girls into the Champagne room and
offered Passage and another dancer $1,000 each to come to dinner at their Park Avenue penthouse
and the Starrs promised they wouldn’t even have to take off their clothes
“I bet you’re wondering why we invited you here.” The couple had an open marriage
and Marisa was looking for someone or someones to occupy her husband while she spent time with her boyfriend
and agreed to go out a few more times as a foursome
though Passage’s friend never made it past the second date
after she arrived at The Four Seasons in jeans
“Don’t try to steal him from me,” she hissed
The Starrs bragged a lot about their properties and their relationships with celebrities
but even with the skills she’d honed at Scores
Passage couldn’t get a read on how big a fish she’d caught
She asked a public-relations guy at the club how to find out if Ken Starr was for real
“Ask him to take you to Per Se on short notice,” he told her
When Starr called to set up a follow-up date
“There’s this restaurant I really want to go to?” she began sweetly
but after a while Passage came to realize that he was a hustler much like her
He’d grown up in the South Bronx and entered college at 15
after which he worked his way into the city with a job at a big accounting firm
He told her an apocryphal story of how he landed his first high-net-worth client
“Who’s your accountant?” the heir to one of the country’s largest banking fortunes
The association with the Mellons had changed his life
getting the other big names was relatively easy
He was a schmoozer and made sure his calendar was packed with all the right events—charity dinners
restaurant openings—where wealthy and powerful people would be
Starr started bringing Passage with him to everything from movie premieres to a talk with Henry Kissinger at the Council on Foreign Relations
“I don’t know if I have the right clothes for that,” Passage suggested
They went shopping for dresses at Escada and Bloomingdale’s
Passage told him she felt like Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman
and he said she reminded him more of Holly Golightly; when she said she didn’t know who that was
he rented the DVD of Breakfast at Tiffany’s
“I look at old pictures of us from some of these events
and I look like he just picked me up from Scores and put me in a suit,” Passage now says
“I had the lashes and probably body glitter
It was a bold move on his part to have brought me to some of those things.” In retrospect
she suspects there was a part of Starr that wanted to show the clients who treated him like a lackey that he’d made it to their level—that
telling the story of how Passage fell asleep when Kissinger was talking
He was smart and funny and “knew everything about everything
the more I really started to enjoy his company.” They became sort of friends-with-benefits
although at first the benefits were weighted toward Passage
when Starr showed up at the Hamptons house he’d rented for her and said he’d fallen in love with her and wanted to leave his wife
we decided to be in a relationship,” she says
They planned a June wedding in Las Vegas at the Wynn hotel
and it was just close friends and family: Passage’s son
along with the basketball player Julius Erving
The maid of honor was a girl from Scores called Lydia
Passage’s friends at Scores were shocked: “You’re not supposed to marry them,” one of them told her
since she’s now married to a doctor and living in a small Christian town in the Midwest
including a record producer and a celebrity chef
“But I guess Ken was kind of her knight in shining armor that was going to give her a better life,” Heather says
Starr hosted 100 people at a wedding reception at the Central Park Zoo
Passage wore an Alexander McQueen dress (just like Kate Middleton
“Stun-ning.” The day had only one flaw: When Planet Hollywood founder Keith Barish stood up to give a toast
The song that came on was Kanye West’s “Gold Digger.”
Starr amped up the couple’s already vigorous social schedule
“It was really important to him to be visible,” says Passage
Who could miss the brunette bombshell with Audrey Hepburn cheekbones and breasts augmented so that each was roughly the size of a human head
accompanied by a beetle-browed accountant old enough to be her father
his pride and joy that he loved to show off,” says Joan Jedell
Who is the stunning beauty on the cover of Joan Jedell’s Hampton Sheet magazine?” Liz Smith gushed in the Post
“Joan tells me Diane is married to financial wiz Ken Starr.”)
Passage wanted to do something to help single mothers
and Starr helped her set up a nonprofit called S.P.I.N
(Single Parents in Need) and a pole-dancing competition
and enamored as he was of her God-given talents—one year
he played a video of Passage’s pole-dancing on his iPhone for a group of moguls—Starr was also aware of the optics
“It was important to him that I have some sort of career title when he introduced me to clients,” says Passage
He encouraged her to pursue a career in the entertainment industry
introducing her to producers and urging her to develop movie projects
so he goaded investors into buying an interest in a record company so that she could work in A&R
He also pushed Passage to shed her friends from Scores and pal around with socialites instead
society was not that receptive to Ken’s young wife
“I got a reputation for being a gold digger,” Passage says
“But I would say that the majority of women on Park Avenue are probably up to worse stuff than I ever was.” Occasionally at parties
with his intimate knowledge of the financial lives of the rich and famous
would fill her in on the backstories of the people in attendance
“There are a lot of women married to powerful men who come from colorful backgrounds,” she says
Like the Upper East Side doyenne who forced her husband to sign over property by threatening to reveal that he was gay
Or the well-known woman whose relationships with exclusively high-net-worth individuals came with an expiration date—if they don’t propose in the allotted time
where dancers will call it quits on a customer if they don’t spend enough money after two or three songs
Starr pointed out a billionaire and the new wife he’d met online
She was a single mother and had been living in a trailer park when they met
who was much older and had to be a full foot shorter than his wife
“He always just saw the romance,” she says now
I saw 80-year-old men with 40-year-old wives
Starr pouted the rest of the night—her comment had perhaps hit a little too close to home
Passage says she didn’t marry him for purely mercenary reasons
But “there was always an element of it that still felt like an arrangement,” she says
“I was his show pony.” And she was expected to perform
Ken’s social mania meant the couple was out nearly every night
and it took a toll on her relationship with her son
who was coming home from school around the time his mother was getting her hair and makeup done
“Some of those black-tie events were so fucking boring
I can’t believe I spent so much time getting ready for this.”
She got whatever she wanted: diamonds—at least a quarter-million dollars’ worth
Starr paid $7.5 million for Passage’s dream home
a five-bedroom triplex on 74th Street with a pool and a home theater
they had friends over to celebrate in their 1,500-square-foot garden flanked by towering bamboo fronds
Passage worked the crowd in a blue Gucci dress from that season
She was the perfect Upper East Side hostess
albeit with a tattoo snaking around her arm
It was the first and last party in their home together
and Passage has forgotten how to work the projectors in the plush theater where she holed up for months after Starr’s fraud was revealed
mindlessly watching episodes of Ace of Cakes
“Welcome to the Titanic,” she said when I visited a couple months ago
warning me to avoid a leak in the ceiling of the mansion that she and her son were essentially squatting in
Attorney wants to repo them?” she joked of her breasts.)
when federal agents came knocking on the door of apartment 1C with a warrant for his stepfather’s arrest
It wasn’t until they turned on the news that they heard what had happened: How Uma Thurman had stormed into Starr’s office
he had misappropriated millions “for his own personal use
Starr swore to her that he had done nothing wrong
even as the facts increasingly contradicted him
Then she found out that he’d lied to her about the timing of his divorce from Marisa (it had come through only two weeks before their wedding)
and she was apoplectic when she learned from Vanity Fair the details of their generous settlement
she found out she wasn’t even his third wife but his fourth
“The fact that he had this whole other wife,” she says
Starr lied to her when she confronted him about it
Because she was named as a co-defendant in the SEC case
mostly because she’s afraid the SEC would seize her wages and use them to pay off the Carly Simons and Bunny Mellons of the world
a distribution of assets she sees as grossly unfair
so I’ve got to give restitution money too?” These days
she’s surviving on the “generosity of family and friends”—some of whom are former Starr clients—and her own “creativity.” “Jordan’s a hustler too,” she says proudly of her son
can I get you coffee?’ And of course I don’t see the change.”
So he wrote long e-mails in which he pledged his love and promised he would make it all up to her
as soon as he cleared up what he still implied was a misunderstanding
“I thought I was doing all I could to continue to be successful but I will do more,” he wrote in one e-mail
“You will have more than you will ever need and I want you to flaunt it,” he promised in another
after his friends and family refused to post his bail
“Mostly because I love you so much,” he added
“but also because I want them to choke on it.”
and really expressed a lot of remorse,” Passage explains
“And I finally felt his ego sort of go away
in the first place.” Looking at her husband
“I kind of gained a whole new level of respect for him.” And for the first time
our relationship was sort of shallow,” she says
I felt like we were able to just really connect
they talked at least five times a day and saw each other once a week
“More roses from Ken just arrived!!” she tweeted in February
“Even from behind bars he continues to make other husbands look like a$$holes … Lol!”
he’s been incarcerated,” she told me in May
“That’s kind of significant.” And she’d spent the last few visits yelling at him
“Sometimes I get really angry at the situation,” she said
“Our relationship is not exactly fun anymore.” In June
she wished him a happy anniversary by text
and when she told him she was seeing other people
“My hope for her is simple,” Starr writes in an e-mail from prison
“That she has the life she wants and dreams of—she deserves it.”
Am I a good boy or a bad boy?” Paul asks again
breaks his conversation to watch as Passage settles into a table
pulling her skirt daintily over the tops of her thighs
While Paul busies himself with hugging the restaurant’s employees
It’s late July and Passage has recently been to see a divorce attorney
“I promised him that I would never abandon him
Her lawyers are working to get her funds unfrozen by the SEC
and she’s starting to think seriously about the next chapter of her life
She’s been consulting on opening a nightclub in the Flatiron district “that caters to an older audience,” with Tommy Tardie
before deciding the genre is “tacky.” In the meantime
Barry pays the check in cash and immediately collects on his investment
“I used to be a quarterback at Notre Dame!” He buries his head in his hands
Passage didn’t have to tell Starr that she was filing for divorce
He read about it in “Page Six.” A few days after the night out with Barry and Paul
when she got the call from the Post confirming it
Inside the magazine was a picture of herself and Starr
alongside an article about the trials and tribulations of Bunny Mellon
I’m wearing like diamond earrings and a cocktail dress,” she says
Passage and her son finally moved out of the Lux
calling from their tiny apartment overlooking the glittery
where people from everywhere arrive each day to live out stories whose endings they can’t yet imagine
Password must be at least 8 characters and contain:
you’ll receive occasional updates and offers from New York
One of the glories of migration is that anything can turn up almost anywhere
At the end of October Cairo was still sweltering in heat of thirty degrees plus
a humid mugginess that will probably only get worse as the black cloud from burning rice chaff is expected to descend soon
The annual fall migration of birds flying through Egypt to sub-Saharan wintering grounds does not seem to have really taken off yet — though there was a passage of European bee-eaters early in October — but I have yet to spot my first White Wagtail
How different from the news from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust at Slimbridge in southern England
They have already recorded their first Bewick’s Swan of the winter a full 25 days earlier than its 2014 counterpart
the environmental pundits have been pondering
is the precursor of a particularly long and cold winter
Bewick’s Swan is an arctic species breeding in Siberia and wintering farther south and west
They have been studied for decades at Slimbridge where the iconic naturalist Sir Peter Scott
founder of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)
pioneered the study of swans by identifying individual birds by their unique bill patterns
The beak of the Bewick’s Swan is patterned black and yellow and the extent and shape of each color enable researchers to recognize individual birds
It is a technique used now to study creatures as diverse as Humpback Whales
tigers and Little Bustards by looking at tail patterns
It has never been recorded in modern Egypt though the very similar Whooper Swan has
One was ‘collected’ on Lake Idku in the northern Delta in 1948 and another seen on the Nile south of Assiut in 1976
Both species have been claimed from a number of Ancient Egyptian tomb and temple friezes but size apart
the two species are so similar as to probably not be reliably separated in ancient art
Relatively recent records include a dead bird from Lake Bardawil in 1985 and a singleton noted on Lake Qarun in 1987
This species can be distinguished from the previous two by the bill which sports a distinct black knob
larger in the male (cob) than in the female (pen)
In the Bewick’s and Whooper swan the neck is held straight and vertical
In the Mute Swan it is held in a beautiful
This latter feature has enabled experts to positively identify a particularly striking wooden sculpture from the tomb of Princess Itiwert at Dahshur
Dating from the 12th Dynasty thus some 4,000 years old
this near life-size representation is so accurate in detail that it can be specifically identified
exhibits that beautifully sinuous S and the head
bears the diagnostic knob at the base of the bill
The purpose of the sculpture is unclear though Patrick Houlihan
suggests it “must have possessed some religious significance” based on earlier studies
Today it resides in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo and is
one of the finest animal representations in Egyptian sculptural art
Sadly the neck and legs are much the worse for wear though I sincerely hope that the curators do not resort to epoxy resin for a botched repair job
One of the species I will be looking out for will be a small but very elegant falcon
longwinged raptor is a scarce migrant and winter visitor to Egypt
It is 30-35cm in length (as is common in birds of prey the female is slightly larger than the male)
pale streaked dark below and with red-rufous ‘trousers.’ The head is clearly patterned with bright white cheeks and throat and a black moustachial streak
I have only seen it a few times in the country but it is a beautiful bird with real elan and worth looking out for
it is often associated with wetlands and reed beds where it hunts for dragonflies
especially the big-bodied species of the genera Anax and Aeshna
The prey is caught and consumed almost exclusively in the air
Another small falcon passing through in fall is the slightly smaller Red-footed Falcon
The female is bright rufous below fading to yellowish on the crown and nape
red legs and feet and a red eye ring and base to the bill
it too hawks for dragonflies in similar habitat
Indeed in his stunning cover portrait to his Birds of Europe
Lars Jonsson painted a pair of Red-footed Falcons perched on a bare tree limb with a dragonfly beautifully rendered in the bottom left-hand corner
This is a bird almost exclusively of passage
It has only been recorded in Egypt once in winter
A third small falcon is a bird of very different habits and habitat
Superficially both sexes resemble the male Red Footed Falcon but the Sooty Falcon is slightly larger
It is largely a summer visitor here lingering through to late November and with good cause
The Sooty Falcon feeds largely on birds and delays its breeding until fall so it can take advantage of the massive numbers of migratory small species passing through at this time
Wadi el-Gimal in the southern Red Sea seems to be a particularly rich breeding spot for them with large numbers nesting on the island
They are also found in Sinai and the Eastern Desert and more sparsely in the Western Desert
encounters are more generally with isolated pairs or individuals
The late Mindy Baha El Din even had a record of the Sooty Falcon from the Gezira Club
The Gezira Club is also renowned — or used to be — as one of the best sites in Egypt for wintering Long-eared Owls
These handsome and very nocturnal birds are extremely cryptic and difficult to find but used to winter in the Club until they started to prune the trees rather more fiercely
thus removing much of the protective foliage into which they blended almost invisibly with their cryptic browns and beiges
To stare up into a dense tangle of leaf and twig and branch and find a pair of glaring orange eyes staring right back down at you is a wonderful
And not one you expect in the center of a city of some 20 million people