A New Suspect and A New Wig in How to Get Away with Murder Recap

By Lynnette Booker

The Keating Four’s hands are stained with blood and now in one of their own: Wes. 

Possibly Connor kills Wes. 

In the last minute of How to Get Away with Murder’s “It’s War,” Oliver unearths incriminating evidence against Connor. Connor has lied to Oliver about listening to his voice mail from Annalise instructing him to meet her at the house. And before Connor could explain his indefensible lie or account for his whereabouts, the scene cuts to an unconscious Wes on the basement floor as Connor tries to revive him. Connor’s attempt to revive Wes indicates an accident, but that doesn’t explain the fire. Or maybe?

Bodies are piling up around Annalise ever since the Mahoney case. First with her unborn baby, Rose (Wes’ mother), Lila Stangard, Sam Keating , Rebecca Sutter, prosecutor Emily Sinclair , and Wes, and all the deaths that are consequence to them. It’s clear that Annalise is tired and struggles to accept the things she can’t change and change the things she can’t accept. But she has thought of Wes and the Keating Four’s well being over her own, and a few of them are ungrateful. 

Wes and Asher have been Annalise’s loyal advocates. They have a connection to Annalise that Laurel, Michaela,  and Connor don’t have: sacrifice. Laurel is anatomically annoying this episode. Everyone sympathizes Laurel’s grief, but when Annalise openes up about her brutal history with the Mahoney patriarch to empathize with her, Laurel dismisses it and accuses Annalise of acting like a victim. The truth is; she is a victim. Wes has killed and Asher has killed and Annalise has covered them up while losing a husband and career. Unfortunately Laurel, Michaela, and Connor are accomplices to their misdeeds.

In spite of their ungratefulness, Annalise, battered but no longer broken, continues to fight. It takes a little longer to revive herself to Annalise Keating whose controversial tactics and coarse demeanor make her an effective lawyer, but it’s returning in increments. She has a new wig and she’s ready to play game with D.A. Todd Denver and  A.D.A. Rene Atwood, with a little assistance from Oliver who leaked Wes’ missing body.

Not a surprise, A.D.A Atwood admits to forging Nate Laheny signature on Wes’ body transfer, but that’s not the worse; she has cremated his remains. With no body to refute time and cause of his death, there is no evidence to prove Annalise’s innocence.

The question is whether Oliver will disclose that Connor is also a suspect or keep his lie a secret.

But next week it’s a two-hour season finale to confuse the viewers with twist and turns and new possible suspects.

Meryl Streep Performs Her Most Important Role

               By Lynnette M. Booker 

Meryl Streep is hardly an overrated and barely an underrated actor; she is the epitome of meticulous craft and ingenuity. Streep has transformative perception of the human condition. Her characters are often complicated–whether the film is drama or comedy–and she effectively portrays their sensibility.

But Streep is more than an actress. She is an American citizen which is her most important role that of which she dutifully recogonizes and performs.

As a conscientious citizen of America, Streep delivers a fearless speech during her acceptance of the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes.

“It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter…This instinct to humiliate, when it’s modeled by someone in the public platform, by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody’s life, because it kinda gives permission for other people to do the same thing,” she says. “Disrespect invites disrespect, violence incites violence. And when the powerful use their position to bully others, we all lose.”

President-elect Donald J. Trump shows impeccable predictability. The following day he tweets one of his mundane diatribes. This time his target is Meryl Streep.

“Meryl Streep, one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood, doesn’t know me but attacked last night at the Golden Globes. She is a…..”

In some way, he believes that he is a huge benefactor to America.

Kanye West Meets with President-elect Donald J. Trump

                    Lynnette M. Booker

Kanye West visited Trump Towers in New York City on Tuesday morning to meet with president-elect Donald J. Trump. The reason for the meeting was undisclosed, but whatever it was about must have been highly remunerative and productive; because Trump does not like his precious time being wasted. That can’t be said for West.

For West. Maybe it was just his pigment in him that caused him to make “ign’ant” decisions, like this, but the pigment in me causes me to make moral and considerate decisions . 

West may blame his lunatic behaviors on his pigment as he versed in the song “Clique,” but he can’t blame his pigment for meeting with Trump–that was just an uber act of irresponsibility.

As a black artist whose music is intended to promote cultural responsibility and awareness in the black community, especially among black men, West possibly ruined his reputation  by meeting with a man who has promoted racism and sexism, and xenophobia.

I know that I couldn’t and wouldn’t stand beside a man of his character–no matter what deal he had made.

The Worst TIME Person of The Year: Donald Trump

                      Lynnette Booker

TIME named president-elect Donald J . Trump the person of the  year. In spite of his lack of popularity, Trump had the greatest influence on the events in 2016. People protested him and people praised him for being a disagreeable demagogue. Trump upended the propriety in politics by using divisive language to shape his campaign.

By selecting Trump for person of the year, TIME editors inadvertently endorsed Trump’s egregious behaviors. Trump alienated Muslims, tagged Mexicans as rapists, promulgated the denaturalization of President Barack Obama (also known as the birther movement), labeled Black Lives Matter protesters as criminals, and erroneously discredited Secretary Hillary Clinton’s years of public and benevolent services. 

The latter should have been a reason to select Clinton for person of the year. And aside from that, the credulous voters who hung onto Trump’s every words needed to be reminded of the facts, but who would have bought that story.

But the people who went, not all, out to purchase a shinning story of hailed leader Trump: white supremacists. Trump’s taboo-defying speeches appealed to a perverse subculture that has been hidden in the shadows until recently.

Some can be described as anti-semites and white supremacists and so on, but they disguised themselves within the alt-right movement. Formally known as alternative movement, alt-right is “set of far-right ideologies, groups and individuals whose core belief is that ‘white identity’ is under attack by multicultural forces using ‘political correctness’ and ‘social justice’ to undermine white people and ‘their’ civilization,” Southern Poverty Law Center described.

Trump probably caused an irreversible paradigm shift in race relations in America. Where in an enormous part of America’s history,  white people were superior to all other races, particularly the black race. And many like-minded people would like to regain cultural, economic, and political dominance. The alt-right has a new way of doing something, but they are incentivized by the old way of thinking.

Post-election Prompts Post-it Feed on New York Subway

                         Lynnette Booker 

A Subway Therapy station has been set up by Matthew Chavez-Levee in 14 Street Union Square Station in New York City. The Subway Therapy station is to provide a place for subway riders, who are outraged by president-elect Donald J. Trump, to express themselves on post-it notes. 

Levee’s Subway Therapy project has transformed into a brilliant art installation. Similar to a Twitter feed, a myriad of post-it notes utilizes space on the Mezzanine wall. The post-it notes include messages of love and unity such as “HUMAN RIGHTS ARE WOMEN’S RIGHTS” and “LOVE TRUMPS HATE.”

Unlike Twitter, the art installation is a personable and singular experience, and like Twitter the irresistibility to participate is infectious. It is a unique method to protest Trump’s divisive rhetoric.

Union Square is a convenient location to encourage hundreds of people to participate. It receives plenty of foot traffic without the hurriedness of Times Square.

 

An Inquisitive Mind Is A Cultivated One?

Hi, I am Elle, formally known as Lynnette Booker. Writing is my form of drug, and we are all addicts to something. I don’t see myself as a great writer but rewriter. I am avid about literacy and anything pop culture.

-Lynnette M. Booker (Lynnette.m.booker@gmil.com)

Hard-water damage on Black hair

                     Lynnette M. Booker 

The various titivation of black hair is an aesthetic that other cultures constantly fail to understand. Black hair is the center piece of one’s self-confidence and self-consciousness, and either one can cause a black woman or man to make undue mistakes in avoiding the latter.
Everyone wants healthy hair that is splendid with shine and volume, but not everyone knows that one of the most insidious dangers is water. Water is a no-no to black hair whether the hair is processed or natural. Water is crucial to the cycle of life but detrimental to life of healthy hair.

But healthy hair for black people is sometimes hard to achieve when the environment incessantly seems to be working against them. Air, water, and sunlight (sometimes beneficial) are unseen problems to achieving and retaining healthy hair. Excessive heating and processing of the hair are prominent problems, of course, but hard water is much more insidious problem to reducing healthy hair.    

“Hard water can affect all hair types because it leaves calcium mineral deposits along the hair shaft that cause the hair to dry, brittle, and lack shine,” says certified trichologist Sophia Emmanuel Powell.             

The hair is already predisposed to buildup on the hair. Hard water minerals such as calcium carbonate (CaC03) and magnesium sulfate (MgS04) bind the hair shaft during regular washing and conditioning, and the calcium coats the hair causing shampoos and conditioners to build on the hair, Powell explains. Because the hair is dry and lacks luster, more oil-base products are applied on the hair for moisture and shine. These products weigh hair down and decrease style retention, causing a person to frequently wash his or her hair.             

Shakia Humphries, hair stylist and specialist, says there are other ways to cleansing products from the hair without using water. Humphries recommends “dry shampoo between washing to preserve the hair’s natural oils.” But if you prefer washing your hair with water, Humphries suggests using a shampoo and conditioner that hydrates and moisturizes, and because water hardness tends to leave the hair dry and brittle; she recommends to get conditioner treatments.  The conditioner treatments penetrate through the shaft of the hair strands while working to strengthen the strands and scalp.           

For women who are extremely active throughout the week and washing their hair is required, they should add a filter to the faucet to protect their hair from hard-water damage.

Housing the homeless solves nothing, Ticker

A new study claims giving homes to the homeless is more cost-effective than leaving people on the street.

Conducted by the Central Florida Commission Regional on Homelessness, a new study shows it is three times cheaper to give housing to the homeless than to keep them on the street. The study claims that Florida residents pay $31,065 per chronically homeless person every year they live on the streets. A maturing body of academic research now confirms that long-term housing assistance not only successfully reduces homelessness but also is highly cost effective.

Coincidentally, providing permanent housing is the future for New York City. Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration plans to dedicate 750 apartments a year in public housing to homeless families, which will reduce the number of people in homeless shelters. Until then, however, this plan far from helps the growing number of homeless refugees and impact on the taxpayer’s dollars. Currently, the Department of Homeland Security is forecast to spend $1.04 billion towards preventing homelessness in New York City through June 30. The forecast spending for the homeless initiative is more than each of the city’s budgets for transportation, parks, libraries, cultural affairs and affordable housing.

Homelessness in the New York City shelter system has risen by 73 percent since 2002. In January 2014, the Coalition for Homeless, an advocacy group that tracks the shelter population, recorded 53,615 homeless people in the New York City shelter system. Two months later in March, the number of homeless people each night in the New York City shelter system was recorded to be 54,386, a 2 percent increase since January.

The idea of inducing the development of affordable housing and providing housing for the homeless is utopian. Yes, the homelessness assistance system has decreased the number of people living in the streets. But this temporary solution does not decrease the number of people who become homeless.

Economic fairness, or more formally known as income inequality, is the defining problem for homelessness. The government wants to prate on how they combat homelessness by decreasing and increasing enough homelessness is solve. But the fact is that the government is not decreasing the number of people who become homeless every year.

The New York residents who breach the poverty threshold and fall below the poverty line experience the most housing-cost burden, paying more than 50 percent of their income towards housing. The number of people at risk of homelessness, those in poverty, those living with friends and family and spending half their income on rent, has remained high despite improvements in unemployment and the overall economy.

The U.S. economy has improved since 2007, but wages are still at an all-time low. The middle class, who ensure the stability for the economy, are at the heart of spending. The low wages have shrunk the middle class and pushed them into the poverty threshold.

The 2012 average unemployment rate for workers in the city’s middle class was 6.2 percent, according to NYCC Finance Division Calculation from ASEC-CPS for New York City middle class and March Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) for New York City unemployment rate.

New York and any other state with a vicious cycling of unemployment will experience higher budgets for homeless initiatives and an increase in efforts in pulling grants together to build more housing with no string attach.

With the decrease in number of homeless people staying in shelters, the public should be concerned with the number of people being transitioned into permanent housing. One of New York’s many housing programs, DHS has placed more than 3,000 chronically homeless individuals into transitional and permanent housing since 2007.

Just because you provide someone with a home does not make him or her well-off. Poverty and homelessness are interconnected. Individuals who judge the homeless do not realize that people in shelters continue to obtain and maintain jobs. In 2013, the city’s Human Resources Administration (HRA) made 7,000 employment placements for New Yorkers in shelters. Wages stagnating against rising costs, such as for rent homes and health care, take into consideration that these elements of living weigh down people already living in poverty. Therefore, putting them in increased risk of becoming homeless.

The point is not to discourage permanent housing but to raise awareness that it is not the solution to the homelessness epidemic and should not serve as a campaign plank for politicians.

Americans need a government that will be the voice for the voiceless who are economically vulnerable in society.

Corroding Language with Technology, Ticker

Journalism 15′

Recently, Kyle Wiens wrote a contemptuous article for the Harvard Business Review blog that crucified grammar offenders entitled, “I Won’t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar.”

Wiens wrote, “If you think an apostrophe was one of the 12 disciples of Jesus, you will never work for me… If you scatter commas into a sentence with all the discrimination of a shotgun, you might make it to the foyer before we politely escort you from the building.”

Wiens’ article raises an important issue permeating the workforce: professionals do not value good grammar. The reason for this trend is that the English language is being disrupted.

Everything in our world is being disrupted due to the progression, growth and innovation of technology. In the past, the 18th century embraced the idea of progress. The 19th century had growth and then innovation, and our era displays disruption as a trend.

With mind-numbing technological improvements, we live in an era of disruptive technology (e.g., smart phones, Internet, and television) that affects human intelligence. As a result, fewer people are respecting the noblest possession of humanity–language.

Language has always been fluid and has evolved to embrace new realities. However, I fear that realities that our young students are facing in this digital world. Thanks to technology, the distinction between informal and formal language has been blurred. People have replaced sophisticated language with jargon and slang.

It is not just that people are forgetting to “cross their Ts and dot their Is,” they are corrupting the native language of Shakespeare and Milton with double negatives and improper use of words. When people are unsatisfied with their diction, they think they can memorize vocabulary from the dictionary, or google a synonym of a simpler word and replace it with a larger one to construct a complex sentence. This not the way to utilize language.

Moreover, smart phones and their smart applications have destroyed intelligence by discouraging digital users from developing and constructing complex thoughts.

People need to read the greats like Faulkner, Hemingway and Melville; and analyze how they use words in their writing in order to improve their own abilities. Memorizing words only to misuse them makes people appear ignorant. Words have meaning, and they are projection of a writer in place of his or her physical presence.

The rise of technology has disrupted our language. And now, as technology advances, human intelligence seems to decrease. After all, we think we have all the answers at our fingertips.

 

Donald Trump’s Wall Will One Day Be Underway

By Lynnette M. Booker

Donald Trump has high ambitions and low expectations on Americans building a wall on Mexico’s dime. Basically, he is in denial. The refusal to acknowledge the reality of it is in Trump’s tone and behavior when addressing the subject. Trump speaks emphatically with finger pointing and other quixotic hand gestures, but there is also a smugness in his eye squints and hard smiles that seemingly transitions into playful grin, as if he knows something that the rest of world is mute to. He is America’s ingenious gentleman Don Quixote and naive Peter Pan. Trump believes. But when reality sets in, he can channel his failures and save face by building a wall of trees instead of a wall of steel and concrete. A wall of trees along Mexico’s border is eco-friendly and economic. 

In The Economist: What is Africa’s “Great Green Wall”?, J.A.R.B explains the apparatus behind “The Green Wall” initiative. J.A.R.B reports “solving the twin problems of land degradation and desertification poses a greater challenge still. But more than 60 years after it was first proposed, just such a project is underway at the edge of the Sahara.” Trump’s greater challenge is convincing president of Mexico, Enrique Pena Nieto, to pay for the wall. Perhaps, Pena Nieto will pay to plant a swathe of trees along the border. The proposition may not hinder illegal immigrants from entering California, Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas, but it will block wind and sand and improve the soil.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2016/09/economist-explains?fsrc=scn/tw/te/bl/ed/whatisafricasgreatgreenwall