'new locations and characters, as well as some crossover characters'

Provided that China hawks in Congress haven’t convinced you the Chinese people are all diabolical communist footsoldiers, then the trailer for this documentary will bring a tear to your eye. Mr. Chen Si, known as the Angel of Nanjing, has volunteered to patrol the Yangtze Bridge every day, and over a 21-year career, he has […] The post China ‘Angel’ Stops 469 Suicidal People Jumping off Bridge Over 21 years appeared first on Good News Network.

The post Let’s Hear It For the Moggies! An Ode to Mixed-Breed Cats by Dr. Karyn Kanowski BVSc MRCVS (Veterinarian) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com. Hi, I’m Dr. Karyn! Read my introduction to learn more about me and meet my five hilarious cats: Clutch, Cyril, Alex, Zelda, and Zazzles. You know that feeling of rage you get when someone refers to your pet as “just a dog” or “just a cat”? Well, I feel the same way when someone uses the phrase “just a moggie”. If you’re not familiar with the term, ‘moggie’ is basically the feline version of mongrel. They are also known as Domestic Shorthair, Domestic Medium hair, or Domestic Long haired cats. Whether they are a DSH, DMH, or DSH, there is nothing ‘just’ about these marvelous cats. There are five cats in my house and not a purebred among them. I don’t have anything against a pedigree puss, but I’ve always been a sucker for the less ostentatious feline variety. Torti Zazzles Over the many millennia that they have deigned humans worthy of their company, cats have mostly been spared the major physical manipulations that selective breeding has bestowed on dogs. In the vast majority of cases, feline breeds are largely differentiated by their coats and temperaments, with relatively few alterations to their anatomy. With the exception of the squishy-faces of Persians, cartilage abnormalities of Scottish Folds, and dwarfism in the Munchkin breed, most cats have the same basic form and function. But, as with any animal that has been selectively bred, there are also some invisible traits that are seen more commonly in purebreds, such as cardiac disease in Maine Coons, diabetes in the Burmese, and kidney disease in Persian cats. So when asked the question “which cat breed is considered to be the healthiest?” my answer is always going to be the moggie. White Clutch It’s All About Hybrid Vigor When a population of cats is allowed to breed without interference, the ultimate result is, quite literally, the opposite of inbreeding. The cats that win the right to reproduce are the healthiest individuals with the strongest genetics, which means that the physical traits that we humans might prefer are rapidly diluted within a few generations. The resultant population contains a mixture of genes that give the greatest chance of survival, and this is known as ‘hybrid vigor’ – strength through outbreeding. If you look at a population of feral cats – and I’m talking about proper, free-ranging cats, not just the local strays – you might notice that they tend to be mostly short or medium haired, with tabbies, tortoiseshells, black, and white being the most common colors seen. The genes for these coat colors are dominant, so when cats aren’t being selected for breeding from a limited gene pool, they will eventually take over. Ginger Alex flanked by Cyril and Clutch House of the Dominant Genes In my little gang, we have all the dominant coat colors represented: Clutch: White Zelda: Black Cyril: Tabby Alex: Ginger Zazzles: Tortoiseshell Cuddly Tabby Cyril They also come from a mixture of backgrounds: 2 strays, 1 re-homed, 2 adopted from unplanned litters, and 0 from breeders. I am not here to cast shade on the world of feline pedigree breeding, I am merely pointing out that the more ‘ordinary’ appearance of moggies is also an indication of health and hybrid vigor. Never ‘Just a Moggie’ I’m not suggesting that we should be releasing our cats to breed indiscriminately – that’s the last thing I would want to encourage! But I would like us to look beyond appearances before dismissing a non-pedigree cat as inferior when the truth is that cats with more ‘common’ or ‘boring’ coat colors are just flashing their superior genes. Zelda the Black Beauty And let’s face it, there is no such thing as an average or ordinary cat – they are all pretty darn special! The post Let’s Hear It For the Moggies! An Ode to Mixed-Breed Cats by Dr. Karyn Kanowski BVSc MRCVS (Veterinarian) appeared first on Catster. Copying over entire articles infringes on copyright laws. You may not be aware of it, but all of these articles were assigned, contracted and paid for, so they aren't considered public domain. However, we appreciate that you like the article and would love it if you continued sharing just the first paragraph of an article, then linking out to the rest of the piece on Catster.com.

Books Poetry Twelve Poems That Remix and Reimagine Fairy Tales Inspired by classic fairy tales, these poets find endless ways of reshaping old fables into new stories, and using them to ask crucial questions. By Holly Kybett Smith | Published on August 2, 2024 Illustration by Paul Hey (Credit: The Jack Zipes Historic Fairy Tale Postcard Collection/Minneapolis College of Art and Design; CC BY 2.0) Comment 0 Share New Share Illustration by Paul Hey (Credit: The Jack Zipes Historic Fairy Tale Postcard Collection/Minneapolis College of Art and Design; CC BY 2.0) For as long as humans have existed, we have told each other stories. And today, some of our oldest surviving stories are fairy tales. Passed from the mouths of our ancestors, we continue to rework these tales into all manner of shapes, using them to express the innumerable facets of our lived experience. They connect us. They help us understand each other. And they make our world a little more magical. I touched upon Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid” in May’s article—Twelve Mermaid Poems to Celebrate MerMay—and it got me thinking about all the other fairy tales poets have drawn creative inspiration from. So this month, here are twelve poems which rethink our relationship with classic fairy tales, reshaping them into new stories, and using them to ask crucial questions. “Fairy-tale Logic” by A.E. Stallings Fairy tales are full of impossible tasks:Gather the chin hairs of a man-eating goat,Or cross a sulphuric lake in a leaky boat,Select the prince from a row of identical masks,Tiptoe up to a dragon where it basks… Our first poem introduces the wonderful (and sometimes horrible) logic that dictates the world of fairy tales. Stallings’ examples (cross a sulphuric lake, select the prince from a row of masks) do not come from any specific story, but nonetheless each one feels perfectly at home in the fairy tale world. “Sleeping Beauty” by K. Iver You enter the stage as Lilac Fairy& fairies make critical things happen,though underneath your tulle brushingsleep over a kingdom, you’re a mousewho gets eaten every night… Entwining three art forms—the fairy tale, the poem, and the ballet—Iver’s “Sleeping Beauty” weaves a gauzy, lilac-scented tale of queer love existing in the face of adversity. Here, the beauty’s sleep becomes a little like a closet; the spell it casts on its town is one of complacent rule-following and going through the motions. All of it encapsulated in a few beautiful moments snatched upon the ballet stage. “Lost Cinderella” by Edith Weaver Little rich girl, glittering with bells,come running lightly asthe fawn of the fairytales… First published in Poetry in 1947, “Lost Cinderella”is a richly atmospheric interpretation of the fairy tale princess: Cinderella is named in the title, but this creature could just as easily be any of them. Her journey takes her off the written path and into the woods, where prettiness and whimsy are juxtaposed against darkness and dismay. “Shirt of Nettles, House of Thorns” by Nathalie F. Anderson Where’s the girl ripe for piercing, who shutteredher windows and latched fast her doors? Where’s the chinkto press an eye to? Where’s the coy lip to kiss?Oh prince, rip your hands, rip your heart out. Someonewalked through the briars with her eyes wide open… This gorgeous poem by Nathalie F. Anderson is told in four parts—“Strange Seed,” “House of Thorns,” “Shirt of Nettles” and “Ever After”—traversing seamlessly from fairy tale to fairy tale with heady, evocative use of imagery. Some of its fairy tale references are quite obvious; others more obscure. But all work together to create a captivating narrative. “How To Skin Your Wolf” by G.E. Woods Carry a basket filled with sweets,with ripened jams, with the thin bladesyou sharpen in the gloaming… Our fifth poem retells the story of Little Red Riding Hood, reversing its circumstances so that the titular Red is now the hunter, the Wolf the hunted. However, this is not the only twist. “Shadowskin” by Shveta Thakrar She would write her own storyPrick her own fingerCast her own spell of bloomAnd bloodAnd sing it to the world… Shveta Thakrar’s take on the fairy tale draws from her background as a “writer of South Asian-flavored fantasy [and] social justice activist” (per her Strange Horizons bio). In incisive verse, “Shadowskin” calls out the (often unquestioned) racial inequalities inherent to many of the fairy tales we know and continue to retell today. “Mr. Darcy” by Victoria Chang didCinderella really love the prince orjust the prints on the curtains in theballroom… Chang’s “Mr. Darcy” weaves the tale of Cinderella with other classic literary “fairy tales” to ask a poignant question: are these tales really all about true love, or is the allure of the rags-to-riches narrative more about class, wealth, and financial stability? “Lying Flat” by Lynne Sargent like it is the fault of beesthat there are no longer wildflowersto sustain a stolen sunset.as though sleeping beautywas a layaboutand not twice cursed… Just as Thakrar and Chang use the fairy tale in their poetry to interrogate the complexities of racism and classism, Sargent takes “Sleeping Beauty” and asks us to think about disability and ableism. Their verse is unflinching in its takedown of ableism in the modern day—provocative, insightful, and beautiful to read. I keep repeating lines to myself, and suspect this poem will stay with me for a long time. “Seven Swans” by Carina Bissett Brothers dear, known only to me    as letters carved on coffin lids,        midnight visits and a wing’s caress —Do you think of me when drifting,    passing by clouds and dreams long lost? This poem retells “The Six Swans” by the Brothers Grimm (which commonly also appears as “The Seven Swans.” Another well-known variant of the same tale is Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Wild Swans.”) Its tender, melancholy verse follows the princess from the tale on her self-sacrificing quest to save the family she loves. “The Stepsister’s Story” by Emma Bull You were not more beautifulSpinning in a cloud of silk,Laughing in spangle-light,Than on that cold hearth… It’s become increasingly common in recent times to see retellings of fairy tales from the perspectives of their villains: Maleficent and Cruella are just two examples of films which do this. But I have yet to see a retelling of “Cinderella” which puts itself into the mind of one of the stepsisters. This poem is suffused with empathy that lends a tragic cast to the fairy tale—and subverts its ending. “Rapunzel: I Like the Quiet” by Jeannine Hall Gailey like layers of golden hair. Stacks of booksand I can sing as loud as I please all day and night… Our penultimate poem is a cheerful one. Gailey’s reinterpretation of “Rapunzel” paints the tower as a place of liberation, emphasising the blissful freedom of privacy, peace and quiet. “The Pea Princess” by Colleen Mills She arches like a bowed branch of willow,Quivering from stem to leaf.With each flex of the wrists,Roll of a shoulder,Gentle realignment of the ribs,The lump burrows deeper… Last of all, a poem which aptly summarises our inability to ignore the fairy tale’s enduring presence as a literary form: Colleen Mills’ retelling of “The Princess and the Pea.” (Although I must say, I enjoy fairy tales far more than I enjoy finding a stray crumb in bed.) Mills evocatively conjures the feeling of an irritating pea beneath layers of mattress in this elegant verse. Do you have a favourite fairy tale—one you remember sentimentally from childhood, perhaps, or one that speaks to you more deeply than the others? (I do. It’s “Rapunzel.”) Feel free to share it in the comments—alongside any poetic adaptations you know of![end-mark] The post Twelve Poems That Remix and Reimagine Fairy Tales appeared first on Reactor.

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