Preview: London Review Of Books – March 30, 2023

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London Review of Books (LRB) – March 30, 2023 issue:

The Pocahontas Exception

A Nation of Descendants: Politics and the Practice of Genealogy in US History by Francesca Morgan.

In A Nation of Descendants: Politics and the Practice of Genealogy in U.S. History (University of North Carolina Press, 2021), historian Francesca Morgan tracks Americans’ obsession with tracing family ancestry. Morgan sheds light on the evolution of genealogical knowledge from the early republic to the present day. Although our New Books Network conversation concentrates on African Americans, in her text, she looks explicitly at how Anglo-American white, Mormon, Jewish, African American, and Native American people wrestled with locating and documenting their kin and ultimately shaped the practice of genealogy. A Nation of Descendants also explores the transformation of genealogical practices as it becomes commercialized and commodified.

When Thieves Retire

Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia by David Graeber

Pirate Enlightenment, or the Real Libertalia

Pirates have long lived in the realm of romance and fantasy, symbolizing risk, lawlessness, and radical visions of freedom. But at the root of this mythology is a rich history of pirate societies―vibrant, imaginative experiments in self-governance and alternative social formations at the edges of the European empire.

Bermuda Seafood: Locals Hunt For Invasive Lionfish

Eater (March 22, 2023) – In Bermuda, lionfish are an invasive species that eat many of the fish local to those waters. They have therefore become a delicacy of the island, with fishermen catching them and local chefs preparing them in dishes like ceviche, jerk lionfish tacos, lionfish tempura, and more.

Lifestyle: Country Life Magazine – March 22, 2023

Country Life Magazine (March 22, 2023) – Verdi’s land of opera and glory, Picasso in Spain’s cradle of the Arts, where leading writers find their inspiration, French breeds to provoke English envy and the best in luxury overseas property

A spectacularly converted 15th century watermill with original beams, glorious surroundings and a minstrels’ gallery

Once derelict, Gurney Manor Mill was rescued in the early 1990s and transformed into a lovely family home.

Any property that is surrounded by water is guaranteed to be impressive. It’s sort of an unwritten rule. Naturally, as a former watermill, Gurney Manor  Mill falls into this category:  the mill and its 1.2 acres of gardens are surrounded by the historicwater system, creating a bucolic setting.

Thirsty work

Amelia Thorpe selects watering cans for the home and garden

Food stuff: a simple guide to nutrients and fertilisers

Don’t know your potassium from your phosphorus? Fear not, as Steven Desmond explains what to feed your plants and when

Blossoming ideas

There’s more to ornamental apple trees than merely fruit, reveals Charles Quest-Ritson

Holey moley!

Meet the ‘gentleman in velvet’—Harry Pearson unearths the underground world of the mole

Art Exhibitions: Elizabeth Price, Sound Of The Break

View of Elizabeth Price: A LONG MEMORY, The Whitworth, The University of Manchester, Manchester, UK, 2019–2020. © Elizabeth Price and The Whitworth, The University of Manchester.

SCHIRN KUNSTHALLE FRANKFURT (March 22, 2023) – From March 23 to May 29, 2023, the Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt is presenting a major solo exhibition by the Turner Prize winner Elizabeth Price (b. 1966), including both new and recent works that are being shown for the first time in Germany.

The artist creates moving-image works, composing visuals, text, and sound to form spatial installations that restage cultural and sociopolitical events and focus attention on largely unnoticed stories. Price’s moving-image works are grounded in a conceptual approach.

ELIZABETH PRICE. SOUND OF THE BREAK

23 MARCH – 29 MAY 2023

Eliz­a­beth Price (b. 1966) makes the trans­for­ma­tion of digital works visible. The artist creates moving images, composing visuals, text, and sound to form spatial instal­la­tions that restage cultural and sociopo­lit­ical events and focus atten­tion on largely unno­ticed stories. The SCHIRN is presenting a major solo exhi­bi­tion of this winner of the Turner Prize, including both new works and others that are being shown for the first time in Germany.

Each of her video works is the result of metic­u­lous research and a wide-ranging exam­i­na­tion of archives and collec­tions of mate­rial. Over the course of her digital appro­pri­a­tion, Price develops new narra­tives from art objects and docu­ments of histor­ical events. A recur­ring topic is the changing world of work as a result of digi­tal­iza­tion, the migra­tion of manual work to emerging coun­tries that pay low wages, and the increase in infor­ma­tion work, office activ­i­ties, and admin­is­tra­tion. The SCHIRN is showing two exten­sive instal­la­tions, each with two corre­sponding videos, as well as four video lectures created during the coro­n­avirus lock­down which provide insight into the artist’s working process. Price’s videos defa­mil­iarize the past until it is no longer recog­niz­able, replacing it with new, seduc­tive, and anar­chic energy.

Press release

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Travel: Walking Tour Of Galata Tower In Istanbul

March 21, 2023 Upload: Considered among the oldest towers in the world and one of the symbols of Istanbul, Galata Tower (Galata Kulesi) was included in the UNESCO World Heritage Temporary List in 2013. Galata Tower, one of the most important structures that make up the silhouette of Istanbul, was used as a long-term fire watchtower and was named Galata Fire Tower.

Video timeline: 00:00 INTRO 01:35 BUYUK HENDEK STREET (AROUND GALATA TOWER) 07:40 GALATA TOWER SQUARE 10:40 GALIP DEDE STREET 14:40 ISTIKLAL STREET ISTANBUL 38:10 TASIM SQUARE ISTANBUL

Galata Tower was first built by the Byzantine Emperor Justinianos in 507-508 AD. The ancient Tower of Galata “Megalos Pyrgos”, which means Great Tower stood on the north side of the Golden Horn in Istanbul, located in the citadel of Galata. The tower then marked the northern end of the great chain, which was expanded across the mouth of the Golden Horn to prevent enemy ships from entering the harbor. The tower contained a mechanism for raising and lowering the chain. This tower should not be confused with the present time Galata Tower, which is still standing and located at the northernmost and highest point of the citadel of Galata.

Filmed and edited by: Walking Tour With Araz

Politics: The Guardian Weekly – March 24, 2023

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The Guardian Weekly (March 24, 2023) – You’d be forgiven for having allowed the collapse of the tech industry lender Silicon Valley Bank, earlier this month, to pass you by. Even the news that SVB’s UK operation had been salvaged in a deal brokered by the British government might not have registered too much. But the rescue this week of Switzerland’s second-largest lender Credit Suisse had a more ominous feel to it, a sense of fiscal dominoes cascading slowly into one another.

For our big story this week, Anna Isaac and Kalyeena Makortoff report on a week that brought back anxious memories of the 2008 financial crash, while economics editor Larry Elliott argues that only the era of ultra-low interest rates that followed the previous crash has prevented a further correction happening sooner.

Chinese president Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia this week had the feel of a pivotal moment for global diplomacy. Russian affairs reporter Pjotr Sauer and senior China correspondent Amy Hawkins look at what the strengthening of the Sino-Russian alliance signifies for Moscow, Beijing and the rest of the world.

This week also saw the 20th anniversary of the US invasion of Iraq. Diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour reflects on a botched intervention that still haunts global politics to this day, while on the Opinion pages Randeep Ramesh argues that the US foreign policy debacle still serves to underline what he describes as “the capricious and self-centred nature of American global power”.

Arts/Books: Times Literary Supplement-March 24, 2023

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Times Literary Supplement @TheTLS (March 24, 2023) – This week’s @TheTLS, featuring Claire Lowdon of The Rachel Paper at fifty; @Veidlinger on the Holocaust; @margarettelinc1 on Defoe’s letters; @_RachelHandley on Murdoch, Foot, Midgley & Anscombe; new poems by Bidhu Padhi and @otium_Catulle – and more.

Spring 2023 Views: Cherry Blossoms, Washington DC

Associated Press (March 21, 2023) – With spring officially here, the Cherry Blossom trees in Washington, D.C. are nearing their full bloom.

The cherry blossom trees are without a doubt the stars of springtime in Washington, DC. Visit the District during this time and you’ll find the nation’s capital is accented in pink for the National Cherry Blossom Festival, which takes place from March 18 – April 16, 2023.

News: Xi Jinping & Putin’s New World Order, Kishida In Kyiv, New Brexit Deal

March 22, 2023: Two Asian leaders visit countries at war: China’s Xi Jinping is in Moscow, while Japan’s Fumio Kishida travels to Kyiv.

We ask what this reveals about how Asia views the conflict. Plus: the new Brexit deal faces its first parliamentary test in the UK and why the demand for transatlantic travel is soaring to record levels.

Front Page: The New York Times – March 22, 2023

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Xi and Putin Bind China and Russia’s Economies Further, Despite War in Ukraine

A photo released by Russian state media on Tuesday shows President Xi Jinping of China and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia at the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow.

On the second day of the Chinese leader’s state visit in Moscow, Xi Jinping and Vladimir V. Putin declared an enduring economic partnership, in an effort to insulate their countries from punitive Western measures.

A Big Question for the Fed: What Went Wrong With Bank Oversight?

As the Federal Reserve reviews the failure of Silicon Valley Bank, and Congress prepares for hearings, bank oversight is getting a closer look.

Ferraris and Hungry Children: Venezuela’s Socialist Vision in Shambles

After years of extreme scarcity, some Venezuelans lead lives of luxury as others scrape by. The nation of grinding hardship has increasingly become one of haves and have-nots.

Video Shows Virginia Man’s Death in Custody

Irvo Otieno’s death was a devastating ending to a journey that began when his family immigrated from Kenya when he was a young boy, “compelled by the American dream.”