{"id":10305,"date":"2020-12-25T12:07:18","date_gmt":"2020-12-25T12:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/?p=10305"},"modified":"2020-12-25T12:07:18","modified_gmt":"2020-12-25T12:07:18","slug":"unforgettable-year-january-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/2020\/12\/25\/unforgettable-year-january-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Unforgettable Year: January 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here begins our journey back through the #unforgettableyear of 2020\u2026<\/p>\n<p>The drone-strike assassination of Qassem Soleimani on January 3<sup>rd<\/sup>, 2020 seems a long time ago now, but to our <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/current-affairs\/global\/predictions-2020-5g-rollout-trump-card-reuters-report\/\">U.S. columnist Bull Moose<\/a><\/span> it suggested a new phase in U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Who knows what would have happened in that region during an election year, if a certain respiratory pathogen hadn\u2019t risen to such prominence.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6441\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6441\" style=\"width: 577px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-6441\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/H65D2B1-300x184.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"577\" height=\"354\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6441\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Paul Hennessy\/Alamy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/music\/musician-of-the-month-hilary-woods\/\">January\u2019s Musician of the Month Hilary Woods<\/a><\/span> also appears to be speaking of a different age, when<span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/music\/irish-musicians-lives-without-live-music\/\"> live music<\/a><\/span> was still to be found in Ireland.<\/p>\n<p><em>In October last, I was at a Russian Circles gig in Galway. It gave me a much needed stark reminder of the power of live sound: washing over me, enveloping, reverberating my insides, shaking me out of an internal slumber. Requiring a medium to travel, the body is a conductor for sound. Filtering vibrations moving through it. Sound percolating in time through tissue and sinew, connecting, evading, resonating, confronting, decoding, making pliable.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>I emerged from the show a renewed being: sensorially realigned, perceiving things afresh, and happy I made the effort to go. As Rumi says, \u2018whatever purifies you is the right path\u2019.<\/em><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6272\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6272\" style=\"width: 633px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-6272\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Hilary-Woods-Pic-300x260.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"633\" height=\"549\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6272\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hilary Woods, by the photographer Joshua James Wright.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Elsewhere <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/society-culture\/society\/on-procrastination\/\">Billy O\u2019Hanluain<\/a><\/span> seemed to have been preparing us for the joys of working from home, surrounding by unfinished tasks. \u2018Procrastination is a very cunning mistress.\u2019 he wrote, \u2018She masquerades so expertly at being a muse; seducing me with an ever expanding array of tantalizing tasks that acquire greater urgency with her every whisper and sensual suggestion.\u2019<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"Ff6lpUy8jt\"><p><a href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/society\/on-procrastination\/\">On Procrastination<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" style=\"position: absolute; visibility: hidden;\" title=\"&#8220;On Procrastination&#8221; &#8212; Cassandra Voices\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/society\/on-procrastination\/embed\/#?secret=xVbH8nPbDq#?secret=Ff6lpUy8jt\" data-secret=\"Ff6lpUy8jt\" width=\"500\" height=\"282\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>And if it was a form of escapism you were after last January, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/science-environment\/science\/psychedelic-therapy-love-is-the-glue\/\">Desmond O\u2019Brien\u2019s account of his psilocybin treatment for depression and anxiety<\/a><\/span> would have been the best medicine. During the trip he had the unmistakable feeling that love is the glue holding us together.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-10313 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Psychedelic-300x228.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"739\" height=\"562\" \/><\/p>\n<p>On a less optimistic note, Frank Armstrong explored how increasing news fatigue had been orchestrated by the likes of <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/current-affairs\/global\/democracy-in-decay-steve-bannon-and-jordan-peterson\/\">Steve Bannon, who targeted followers of Jordan Peterson<\/a><\/span>, who has earned the dubious distinction of being the first internet intellectual.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_6444\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-6444\" style=\"width: 668px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-6444\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/JordanPeterson-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"668\" height=\"445\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-6444\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image by Gage Skidmore.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Among the most important stories we published last year was <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/current-affairs\/global\/camp-moria-lesbos-hell-in-europe\/\">Fellipe Lopes\u2019s heart-rending account of the rapidly deteriorating conditions for refugees in Camp Moria, Lesbos in Greece<\/a><\/span>. He described murder and rape, but also a strong sense of community.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7102\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7102\" style=\"width: 701px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-7102\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/The-Smokescreen-of-MoiraLesbosDecember-2020-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"The-Smokescreen-of-Moira-Lesbos-December-2020\" width=\"701\" height=\"395\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7102\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Smokescreen of Moria, Lesbos, December 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Meanwhile, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/arts\/artist-of-the-month-keshet-zur\/\">featured artist Keshet Zur<\/a><\/span> aspired to be a photographer but felt heartbrake in the digital era, now she engages with nature and social inclusion through Expressive Art Therapy.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_7112\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-7112\" style=\"width: 580px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-7112\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Keshet-Zur-e1580069435570-300x255.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"580\" height=\"493\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-7112\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Keshet Zur<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/society-culture\/society\/a-monk-mankue-what-a-young-girl-in-love-will-say-to-keep-her-man\/\">Bob Quinn&#8217;s memoir<\/a><\/span> continued with an account from the 1950s of teaching English in Pforzheim, Germany, where a student Trudie falls for his teaching charms<\/p>\n<p>David Langwallner also continued his public intellectual series with an account of the life and times of <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/history\/the-public-intellectual-series-noam-chomsky\/\">Noam Chomsky<\/a><\/span>, with reference to his works Manufacturing Consent, Public Intellectual, Media Control, Henry Kissinger, George Orwell.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10307 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Noam-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"676\" height=\"507\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Next there was <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/politics\/the-late-risers-manifesto-2020\/\">Frank Armstrong\u2019s Late Risers\u2019 Manifesto 2020<\/a><\/span>, in which he quoted the late great David Graeber to the effect that \u2018The real question is how to ratchet down a bit more toward a society where people can live more by working less.\u2019 Graeber further opined that the non-working poor may be \u2018pioneers of a new economic order that would not share our current one\u2019s penchant for self-annihilation.\u2019<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10308 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Siberian-300x175.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"604\" height=\"352\" \/><\/p>\n<p>In fiction, <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/society-culture\/society\/siberian-blue\/\">Siberian Blue by Mick Sobyanin<\/a><\/span> includes childhood memories of Prokopyevsk, Siberia inside the Soviet Union, dating from 1974, including insights into prevailing Russian attitudes towards Volga Germans.<\/p>\n<p>Lastly we had a satirical poem from the irrepressible <span style=\"color: #0000ff;\"><a style=\"color: #0000ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/literature\/poetry\/kevin-higgins\/\">Kevin Higgins<\/a><\/span> irreverently portraying the grant application process.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-10309 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/cassandravoices.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/Breshnev-300x170.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"630\" height=\"357\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here begins our journey back through the #unforgettableyear of 2020\u2026 The drone-strike assassination of Qassem Soleimani on January 3rd, 2020 seems a long time ago now, but to our U.S. columnist Bull Moose it suggested a new phase in U.S. involvement in the Middle East. Who knows what would have happened in that region during [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":6392,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[976,980,1048,1067,1197,1245,2244,2278,3228,3449,4091,5023,5182,5219,6644,7516,7568,8656],"class_list":["post-10305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-billy-o-hanluain","tag-billy-o-hanluain-on-procrastination","tag-bob-quinn","tag-bob-quinns-memoir","tag-bull-moose","tag-camp-moria","tag-david-langwallner","tag-david-langwallner-noam-chomsky","tag-fellipe-lopes","tag-frank-armstrong","tag-hilary-woods","tag-jordan-peterson","tag-keshet-zur","tag-kevin-higgins-poetry","tag-noam-chomsky","tag-psilocybin-treatment","tag-qassem-soleimani","tag-steve-bannon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10305"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10305\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/casswp.eutonom.eu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}