This comment from Toni Morrison has always pushed me to write about my own family history, in one form or another, whether as the book based on my walking tours, or as historical fiction. And…

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A lot of people live secret lives, hiding their true selves away, fearful of mocking and misunderstandings. I've certainly done that for decades - decades too long, I would say. Well, I've made a momentous decision for the new year. I'm going to speak in public about what I truly feel in private. I'm going to - not 'admit' because that implies wrongdoing - but celebrate my sexuality. I'm going to share this first with you - the loyal readers of this blog. Out loud and out proud. Here we go... (deep breath) I, Servitor, have a sexual fetish. I get sexually aroused by thoughts of sexually dominant women, controlling, punishing and humiliating me. I am, in short, a sexual 'submissive'. There. That feels so much better! No doubt I'll lose many readers of this blog, shocked at the nature of these revelations - but it's their loss and not mine. I'd like to thank those readers broadminded enough to keep on reading. You know my secret now - and that's a sacred trust. I know I can rely on you, even though I have not the slightest idea who any of you are. Actually, I thought for a moment they were the punishment gloves. Or the other punishment gloves. It does seem rather odd that I (for example) am not allowed on the furniture but I do still get to choose the Government. Puppy play! In my youth I liked puppy play. Sadly, now it's 'tired old dog being dragged around slowly on aching knees under threat of a whipping' play. Oh. I think I have a lot of bad habits that I might need some help with, you know. You know, there's really nothing like a chastity belt for putting ladies at their ease with you. It takes away all that nonsense about being male, or a potential sexual partner, and allows you to just be yourself.

It's summer, school's out forever, and you never want to touch another college reading list again. I get it. I absolutely get it. There's nothing quite like "assigned reading" to really kill a person's love of literature, and there's nothing quite…

Amazing Book week costume ideas to help you get a little creative for this years book week parade.

The African American experience is one all Americans ought to understand, but parents often just don't know where to begin. Embrace these children's books for Black History Month, which focus on not just history but also the African-American experience.

Ethan Frome is not on this list.

This is a great social story to help your kids learn ways to help them feel more prepared for talking with family members at a family gathering. This can be a great tool to help kids feel more comfortable at Holiday events such as Thanksgiving and Christmas where they may be having a large family ga...

Reviews about The Gilded Ones THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTELLER! “Namina Forna Could Be The Toni Morrison Of YA Fantasy.” –Refinery 29 “Fans of Children of Blood and Bone, Mulan, and the Dora Milaje from Black Panther are going to adore this one.” –BuzzFeed"A dark feminist tale spun with blood and gold. Must read!"

Highlights Christy Awards (Amplify Award) 2022 1st Winner Author(s): Toni Shiloh 352 Pages Fiction + Literature Genres, Romance Description About the Book "Brielle Adebayo's simple life unravels when she discovers she is a princess in the African kingdom of Oloro Ilâe and must immediately assume her royal position. Brielle comes to love the island's culture and studies the language with her handsome tutor. But when her political rivals force her to make a difficult choice, a wrong decision could change her life"--

Find out more about the author here

This book provides a step-by-step plan for effectively using drama, role-play, music, art, and much more in the classroom to reach every one you teach. An outstanding resource for anyone involved with guiding and educating students of all ages.

These cue cards for middle and high school are 30 different prompts for students who need extra support and reminders during social and school situations. The idea is simple: Learners can use the card for step-by-step support during challenging social situations, including on the bus, taking tests, using a locker, walking in the hallway, and more. Digital Versions Digital versions are included to use with Google Slides. Three versions are included as separate files. Skills and Situations Targeted The cue cards gives prompts and directions for the following social situations: In Gym Changing for Gym In Art Class In the Computer Lab In the Lunchroom In a Lunch Group In the Hallways During Passing Time Using My Locker On the Bus Independent Work Tests and Quizzes Tests and Quizzes (math work) Silent Reading Group Work Partner Work Science Labs Class Presentations Feeling Angry or Upset Feeling Bored or Tired Field Trips Substitute Teacher Having an Assembly Raising My Hand During Lectures Writing Homework Down In Study Hall In Resource Room Getting Ready to Leave Class Getting Ready to Leave School Four Different Versions Included Four separate versions are include in this pack. Pages 4 - 19 include social cue cards with both pictures and words. These are perfect for students who need both the visual and written reminder. Pages 21 - 36 are the same social cue cards without the pictures. These are ideal for students who may be distracted by pictures, and benefit more just from the words. Pages 38 - 53 are the social cue cards with pictures but with no words, so that you may write your own rules and directions for those social situations. This is very helpful for those students who need individualized directions and prompts. Pages 55-63 include discreet mini-cards that take up less space. These are great for students who may be embarrassed by the cue cards and do not want to stand out. Buy the Bundle and SAVE 20%! { Middle and High School Social Skills Bundle } This social skills bundle is designed for middle and high school students with social skills challenges. All materials are specifically designed for middle and high school students. The bundle includes 100 problem solving task cards for social situations, 30 social reminder cue cards, and 20 social scripts and narratives. Topics addressed include situations in the hallways, lunchroom, locker, homework, working with partners, working with groups, and more. Special education teachers and other support professionals can use these materials to work with students in need. { Social Skills for Middle and High School MEGA BUNDLE } This is a HUGE mega bundle including social skills lessons and activities for middle and high school kids. Use these lessons and activities to teach critical social skills to older learners. Units and activities teach about basic interactions, managing emotions, conversations, empathy, and perspective-taking. Just some of the lessons and activities target being respectful, following directions, accepting criticism, working with others, understanding emotions, dealing with anger, understanding perspectives, accepting different perspectives, flexible thinking, understanding social cues, developing empathy, using perspectives to resolve conflicts, and MUCH more. This huge mega bundle includes 4 core units with 40 lessons, several sets of task cards, cue cards, and more activities to practice social learning. ***************************************************************************** Tips for Customers! Click on the ★ above to follow my store! If you have questions or problems please contact me through Product Q & A and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! Disclaimer: These resources and materials are for supplementary support/education purposes and not intended as a replacement for counseling, education, or other necessary supports. Educators, parents, counselors, and others who utilize these materials are encouraged to seek out additional support, as needed. *****************************************************************************

10 fascinating facts about Toni Morrison (1931 – 2019) American author and Nobel Laureate whose work focused on the black experience.

Rainer Rettner has been researching the Eigerwand for most of his adult life. The documents he has gathered form one of the most extensive archives of Eiger material in the world. Last year he...

Adult and contentious themes such as sex and violence are a feature of Comics Unmasked at the British Library. If you want to understand how moral and social values have changed, if you want to see how under-represented sections of society have expressed themselves, and if you want to see...

The brilliant mind behind Beloved will be honored with a U.S. stamp in 2023.

Make-up tutorial! Costuming! Set Design!

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases. The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Readerbuzz, and Book Date. The Sunday Post #292 On The Blog Last Week On Tuesday, I showed off the books I got for Christmas. On The Blog This Week On Tuesday I read popular books and see if they deserve the hype. On Wednesday I show you February book releases. In My Reading Life Last week, I only finished one book because I spent way too much time at the vet, but it was my first 5-star book of 2022! Home by Toni Morrison seems simple on the surface. It's about a brother and sister who are learning to cope with major changes in their lives. The brother has just come home from the Korean War and is living in a mental hospital. The sister has left her husband and accepted a new job. One day, the brother gets a letter from a stranger that says his sister's life is in danger. She'll die if he doesn't go to Georgia and rescue her. That's where the story begins. How did I make it through 11 years of college without having this book forced upon me? If you want to learn how to write, you have to read Home. The writing style is poetic. The author is able to accomplish so much with so few words. This is a tiny book that feels huge. Every sentence is necessary. There's no fluff or filler. My copy is only 150 pages, but I feel like I know these characters. I badly wanted them to overcome their problems. I was scared and frustrated by their ignorance. They're so real that you love them and hate them at the same time. Home doesn't have much of a plot, but the characters and writing style make it worth reading. Parts of it are extremely bleak. It's a book about racism, poverty, war, and mental illness. Not happy subjects. The characters knowingly and unknowingly get themselves into a lot of trouble. If you can handle depressing, character-driven literature, please read it! It's worth your time, especially if you want to be a writer. I'm still reading The Lincoln Highway by Amor Towles. This one is adult historical fiction about a group of young men who have just been released from a work farm. They're trying to figure out what to do with their new freedom. I'm thoroughly enjoying this book. It reminds me of the adventure stories I read as a young teen. The characters are gallivanting around the US and making bad choices. So far, it's an entertaining novel about a road trip gone wrong. In The Rest Of My Life Five things that made me happy last week: Baby Brooklyn's arm has healed! She spent Christmas at the hospital because she was jumping on the couch, fell off, and broke her arm. She had a cast for a month and learned nothing from the experience. She still jumps on the couch every chance she gets. Doughnuts! I got new sunglasses. Who watched Archive 81 on Netflix? I had a hard time getting interested in it, but I really liked it by the end. I started playing Wordle. It's fun, but I'm bad at it. I need to Google strategies because it always takes me all 6 guesses to figure out the word. What are your favorite words to guess? I won't annoy you with my wordle victories Pinterest || Bloglovin’ || Goodreads || Instagram || Twitter || Donate || Wish List || TikTok Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other. See you around the blogosphere!

Anderl Hinterstoisser (dcha) junto a su amigo Toni Kutz La conquista de algunas montañas supone en algunos casos, superar una serie de dificultades determinadas, unos pasos técnicos, que en ocasiones se consiguieron por primera vez con altas dosis de audacia y grandes sacrificios. Es el caso del Muro Kinshofer del NangaParbat, o del de Seigneur del Makalu, del Escalón Hillary del Everest, o más cercanos a nosotros: del Paso de Mahoma del Aneto o el del Gato en La Munia. Pero ahora nos vamos a los Alpes, a la montaña más conocida e impresionante: el Eiger y su espectacular cara norte. Para su conquista fue preciso vencer un paso clave, el que se conoce como la Travesía Hinterstoisser, una amplia losa vertical de roca prácticamente lisa. Actualmente está graduada en Vº A0, lo que en escalada alpina y en la década de los 30, era algo que parecía prácticamente insuperable. Las circunstancias que llevaron a su conquista, y el resultado final de quienes lo consiguieron, bien merece una entrada. Abajo, la vía de la primera ascensión al Eiger (pinchar encima para ver ampliada) Julio de 1.936. Coinciden en la pared 2 cordadas poderosas. Son los austríacos Edi Rainer y Willi Angerer, y los bávaros Andreas Hinterstoisser y el simpático Toni Kurz. Angerer es el mayor de los 4, a pesar de que tan solo contaba con 27 años, los 2 bávaros tenían tan solo 23. En la pared deciden aunar esfuerzos y formar equipo. Abajo: Edi Rainer y Willy Angerer Su progresión es vertiginosa, se les ve el primer día llegar hasta justo debajo de la “Rote Fluh”, la roca roja. Es justo allí en donde está el paso clave de la vía: una lisa y vertical losa de unos 40 metros de largo que deben atravesar. El joven, y valiente Hinterstoisser se lanza decidido, y tras varios intentos, consigue superla con gran habilidad y anclar la cuerda al otro lado. El resto de la cordada pasa sin dificultad asegurándose y empleando la cuerda como pasamanos. Abajo: detalle de la Rote Fluh y de la aproximación al comienzo de la Travesía Hinterstoisser En plena Travesía Hinterstoisser Tras pasar todos, recogen la cuerda que habían tendido y continúan escalando por el “Primer Nevero”. Superan una zona más complicada denominada el “Resalte Difícil” y llegan al “Segundo Nevero”, en cuya parte superior se detienen y hacen el primer vivac. Han ascendido 800m de pared, casi la mitad, en la primera jornada. Desde las terrazas de los hoteles de Grindelwald, turistas y periodistas, provistos de prismáticos y telescopios, observan asombrados la rapidez y seguridad de la escalada en lo que parece ser el intento definitivo de vencer al Eiger. Solo una sombra de duda enturbia la euforia de los espectadores. La pareja Angerer-Rainer parece que al final se iba retrasando. Daba la impresión de que a Angerer le había sucedido algún percance, quizá le ha golpeado una roca de las muchas que caen. A la mañana siguiente se les ve salir decididos a las 7h. Han decidido formar una única cordada y se les ve progresar por el Segundo Nevero, aunque bastante más despacio que el día anterior.Emplean todo el día en llegar a la zona del “Vivac de la Muerte de Sedelmayr”. Y finalmente deben vivaquear una segunda noche en un lugar cercano al comienzo de “la Rampa”. Al comienzo del tercer día se ve como Kurz y Hinterstoisser salen hacia la Rampa. Los austríacos no les siguen, al parecer Anderer está peor de lo que se suponía. A la media hora, los primeros se dan la vuelta, llegan donde el vivac, y tras largo rato, los 4 juntos inician el descenso. Atraviesan de vuelta el Segundo Nevero y comienzan a montar rápeles para alcanzar el Primer Nevero. Pero van muy lentos, empapándose en las numerosas cascadas y torrenteras de la pared, y lo que es peor, el tiempo está empeorando, el cielo se encapota de nubes y desciende bruscamente la temperatura y comienza a llover. Les cuesta horas llegar al Primer Nevero y cuando lo hacen ya se les ha echado la noche encima y deben afrontar un terrible tercer vivac, totalmente empapados. Debilitados por la fría noche, se enfrentan al cuarto día con un terrible reto: atravesar de vuelta la Travesía Hinterstoisser. Angerer está peor, a duras penas pueden arrastrarlo con ellos. Llegan a la zona de la Travesía, pero no contaban con hacerla de vuelta, y habían retirado la cuerda. El panorama que presencian debe ser penoso: la lluvia se ha congelado sobre la pared dejándola completamente cubierta de hielo. El camino de retorno parece estar cerrado, es imposible pasar la Travesía de vuelta, incluso para Andreas Hintestroisser. Abajo, una imagen para el recuerdo: la cordada de los aragoneses Rabadá y Navarro en la Travesía Hinterstoisser Deben afrontar un descenso en vertical, de más de 200m, mediante rápeles volados encadenados, precisamente por la zona de mayor caída de agua, y desprendimientos de piedras, hielo y cascadas de nieve. El objetivo es superar el desplome que hay bajo el primer nevero y descender un poco más, en diagonal hasta el boquete de la pared que comunica con el túnel del ferrocarril del Jungfrau, que atraviesa la pared a esa altura. Un vigilante del ferrocarril les oye desde el boquete del túnel de la línea del Jungfrau. Los tiene unos 150 metros por arriba, y les grita que les va a preparar un te.Una hora después, cuando vuelve a asomarse ya solo oye los gritos de Toni Kurz pidiendo socorro. Al parecer han sido alcanzados por un desprendimiento. -Mis compañeros han muerto, solo yo sigo vivo, le dice Kurz a gritos. Continúa en la siguente entrada: EIGER. 2.- “Ich kann nicht mehr“ (No puedo más) Abajo: Anderl Hinterstoisser, que logro abrir el camino para alcanzar la cima del Eiger La travesía Hinterstoisser en la actualidad, con numerosos seguros y cuerdas fijas que facilitan la progresión.