IMPERIAL TWILIGHT by Stephen R. Platt

Took me over a month to read Imperial Twilight: The Opium War and the End of China's Last Golden Age.

In my defense, on Saturday, April 16, around 4:30 PM, I saw a mouse in my apartment. It hid under my printer table and overnight two of my white glue traps caught it. I took it out to the dumpster. When I returned to my apartment, I saw another mouse stuck on one of my green glue traps, in front of the heating-A/C unit; the bottom half of its body was on the trap, and it was trying climb up into the crack it had come in: between the unit and the wall. Maintenance came around, Monday I think it was, to stuff steel wool in the crack. On Wednesday afternoon, I heard some squeaking. I thought maintenance might be working on an apartment above or below me. The squeaking became too annoying to ignore. It was coming from a mouse on a black glue trap under my printer table, against the wall. And that night, after I went out for about a half-hour walk, the ugliest mouse I've ever see was on a green glue trap between the dining room area and the kitchen. Its eyes were bulging out and I have a memory of colorful eyebrows, though that could be a trick of my imagination. I think it was an adult because it was bigger than the one from earlier in the afternoon, and its long tail touched my carpet. I took it out to the dumpster ASAP 'cause every minute or so it flayed, trying to get out of the trap, without any luck; and two guys from maintenance — Jeremy again and this time Wes — came around the next day, Thursday, to again plug up the gap between the wall and the heating unit, and also to jam steel wool in other places throughout the apartment. Needless to say, I wasn't reading too much that week, freaked out if more rodents were in my living space 'cause Jeremy said the two mice from Wednesday may have been in there for a few days after he plugged my the wall/heating unit gap on Monday. All told, there have been at least five or six mice in my apartment since I moved in last summer. In the fall, one came in on a Friday night and hid under my black backpack on the floor. When I lifted up the backpack, the mouse darted for the aforementioned crack in the wall. A few weeks later, when I was enjoying my mid-morning snack on a Friday, I saw something crawling under by dining room table. Overnight a mouse's (the same one from before?) lower body got stuck on a black glue trap under my printer table. The property manager said maintenance was too busy to get rid of it, so I had to take the rodent out to the dumpster. Oh, and one more mouse antidote: the other night (Wed. I think it was) I went to take the trash and recyclables out to the trash room. The door was partially blocked. I pushed it open. There was an untied trash bag and an open pizza box on the floor. Next to the pizza box was a mouse wiggling around on a white glue trap. I assumed it was from someone's apartment and they had  threw it in the pizza box. So I went down the hall and threw my trash and recyclables in other smaller trash room. UPDATE: I came home on Mother's Day at night and there was one mouse caught on the trap in my bedroom under the heating/AC unit, which was a bitch to get out cuz I wear garden gloves and use pliers to pick up end of trap (had to use gloves to grab trap and move it over lip of that gap), and there was another one under my printer table in the dining room area. The latter was running towards the window, so I'm assuming it came in from the kitchen. Not sure if the one in the bedroom came in from the kitchen as well. So far, the traps have caught seven mice, then there was that one mouse that got away back in the fall on that Friday night.

Anyway, Imperial Twilight was OK, but I gave it three stars out of five at LibraryThing and my library. It's not really about the actual Imperial War, but the events leading up to it. The title is a little misleading, but I'm glad I read it. Don't know why it was such a tough read. Platt's prose isn't dense like other academics (I'm talking about you, Joseph Tainter!) and there weren't an overwhelming number of historical figures to keep track of. I dunno, maybe it comes down to length. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if it were between 300 and 400 pages, instead of 500 pages. And it's probably the only book I'll read about that war . . . would've been nice if more chapters were devoted to the battles, instead of just one chapter.

Oh well, I got an overdue library book to start reading now. It, like the two library holds waiting for me, are nonfiction. Can't wait to finish reading them so I can dive into a novel in my TBR pile. I'm thinking Lauren Beukes' The Shining Girls, then I can watch the film adaption on Apple+, before I cancel it in the summer, after watching the third season of For All Mankind, which premiers sometime in June.

The merchants were "a rapacious and ravenous race of wolves," wrote his wife, "each howling after his prey."

Chapter 12: The Last Honest Man, p. 335

Cheese

Been meaning to do this for a while, so last week I created a Cheese playlist: 1980s one-hit wonders. Below are songs that didn't make the cut, followed by the 100 songs on the playlist. I tried to stay between 1981 and 1987 because that's what really defined the decade, and my playlist is mostly U.S.-based, though I did include Ultravox's "Vienna" because it's such a great song. When I think of Biz Markie and Rob Base, that's more like 1990. And I didn't include The McKenzie Brothers' "Take Off" because I don't consider that a one-hit wonder, since they also had "The Twelve Days of Christmas".

• Altered Images: “Happy Birthday”
• Artists United Against Apartheid: “Sun City”
• Associates: “Breakfast”
• Rob Base: “It Takes Two”
• Big Country: “In a Big Country”
• Biz Markie: “Just a Friend”
• Book of Love: “Boy”
• Boomtown Rats: “I Don't Like Mondays”
• Cult: “Sanctuary”
• Doctor And The Medics: “Spirit in the Sky
• De La Soul: “Me Myself & I”
• Flying Lizards: “Money”
• Frankie Goes To Hollywood: “Relax”
• Herbie Hancock: “Rockit”
• Kidd Video: “You Better Run”
• Love And Rockets: “So Alive”
• M/A/R/R/S: “Pump Up the Volume”
• Meco: “Ewok Celebration”
• Mr. Mister: “Is It Love?”
• John Parr: “Naughty Naughty”
• Rush: “Distant Early Warning”
• Spandau Ballet: “True”
• Sundays: “Here's Where the Story Ends”
• XTC: “Dear God”
• Paul Young: “I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down”

Geography Is Destiny

Wes Clark, Jr. retweeted this on March 28th. Keep thinking of the line “Unfortunately, the old adage that geography is destiny seems to be true.”

https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/3/28/a-letter-to-the-people-of-mariupol

OPINIONOPINION,

A letter to the people of Mariupol

Whatever you do, do not lay down your arms.

• 
  Emir Suljagic

  Emir Suljagic is ex-deputy defence minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Published On 28 Mar 202228 Mar 2022

Dear brothers and sisters,

I spent three and a half years of my life where you are now – completely encircled by enemy troops bent on my people’s wholesale destruction. I am familiar with the anguish, frustration, fear, and desperation that you must be feeling. But let me give you the good news first: You will prevail. There is no doubt in my mind that Russian troops will never conquer Mariupol.

For one thing, they do not have the manpower to do so. It takes a lot more troops to occupy and control a city of more than 400,000. The Serb forces in Bosnia and Herzegovina laid siege to our capital of Sarajevo and shelled it for three and a half years, without ever managing to enter. The Russian armed forces do not have the fighting spirit and are nowhere near the determination of the defenders of Mariupol.

I am no military professional or military historian, but I maintain that the Ukrainian military is the best fighting organisation in the world at this time. The Russian military is simply not willing or capable of paying the price to occupy your city.

Let me also give you the bad news: you will pay for your freedom with your lives and the lives of your loved ones – your brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. With every step, you will lose those you could not imagine your lives without. This is not just a war between Russian invaders and Ukrainian defenders. This is an attempt at politicide. The Russian goal is not just to conquer Ukraine, but to wipe Ukraine, as a state, off the map, relegating your history, culture, and people to a footnote in the history books to be written by the future likes of Ivan Ilyin and Aleksandr Dugin.

Now, let me tell you about what comes after. For you, it is never going to be over. This war has already hijacked your lives and the best you can do is embrace the fate that has been thrust upon you. History has been unusually cruel to you. In this war, you are fighting not only for yourselves but for future generations that are yet to be born. It is a crushing burden that you have not asked to bear. To make matters worse, you are also fighting this war on behalf of an ungrateful continent that cares more about warming up its homes with Russian gas than saving your children from bombs and starvation.

Whatever you do, there is one notion you should never entertain: laying down your arms. As we learned from the Serbs in Bosnia, the Russians can only exterminate you – and they certainly will – if you are unarmed. Allowing yourselves to be disarmed is the quickest way to a mass grave.

Indeed, historically, the Russian military is no stranger to this precept – recall for instance the Katyn forest massacre of 1940. Your own history is also full of examples of Russian brutality. The alternative to fighting off the present Russian invasion is something akin to Holodomor. You are paying with thousands of lives to avoid losing millions.

I know this is difficult to remember as Russian artillery is raining down upon you. I know it is of little to no consolation to the many thousands of children displaced in Ukraine or in refugee camps who will grow up without their parents. Having lost my own father to the ravages of war, I know exactly the gaping hole in the heart that this loss results in. However, I must say that I have only come to fully appreciate my own father’s sacrifice after witnessing the tremendous bravery of Ukraine’s people. I hope that this holds for you at least some meaning and tells you of the enormous inspiration that your courageous fight has been to the entire world.

There are many parallels to be drawn between our war for Bosnia and your war for Ukraine. In the 1990s, we too were fighting against a larger neighbour, ruled by a deranged autocrat who sought to rob us of our lives, freedom and identity as a distinct and sovereign people. However, the dissolution of Yugoslavia was of far less consequence beyond the region than the fight for Ukraine. The fate of the world is literally being decided on the Ukrainian chernozem.

Unfortunately, the old adage that geography is destiny seems to be true. In that respect, the only thing worse than sharing a border with Serbia is sharing a border with Russia.

Finally, you need to know that we see you. You are not fighting in the dark. When this is over – and it will be over, when the Russians have withdrawn in shame and defeat, I hope to come to Mariupol to listen to your stories, because that is all that you will be left with. When this is over, I hope to come to a free Mariupol and a free Ukraine to pay homage to your sacrifice.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

---

• 
  Emir Suljagic

  Emir Suljagic is ex-deputy defence minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

  Emir Suljagic is ex-deputy defence minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He teaches International Relations at the International University of Sarajevo

Publishers Weekly: possible library reserves

Two nonfiction books look promising, Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past by Richard Cohen and The Religious Revolution: The Birth of Modern Spirituality, 1848–1898 by Dominic Green. Haven't reserved them yet.

Making History: The Storytellers Who Shaped the Past

Richard Cohen. Simon and Schuster, $40 (736p) ISBN 978-1-98219-578-6

Cohen (How to Write Like Tolstoy), former publishing director of Hodder & Stoughton in the U.K., demystifies the act of history-making in this sweeping survey. He documents how European history was shaped by Greek philosophy, Roman mythology, and Judeo-Christian theology and formalized as a discipline by 19th-century German scholar Leopold von Ranke and others. Along the way, he profiles noteworthy historical figures including Isaac ibn Yashush, a Jewish physician living in 11th-century Spain who cataloged inconsistencies in the Pentateuch, and Marc Bloch, a historian turned French Resistance fighter who was executed by the Nazis in 1944. Elsewhere, Cohen examines academic debates over the ethical limits of revisionist history, analyzes the influence of cinema and digital technologies on historical scholarship, and compares ancient historians such as Thucydides and Herodotus, who “wrote to be read aloud,” with Hamilton playwright Lin-Manuel Miranda. Though the biographical minutia threatens to overwhelm, Cohen makes a persuasive argument that history is created by historians as much as by politics, war, economics, and other forces, and convincingly shows how “the rivalries of scholars, the demands of patronage, the need to make a living, physical disabilities, changing fashions, cultural pressures, religious beliefs, patriotic sensibilities, love affairs,” and other human concerns have shaped the understanding of the world. The result is a fascinating and finely wrought history of history.

The Religious Revolution: The Birth of Modern Spirituality, 1848–1898

Dominic Green. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, $35 (464p) ISBN 978-0-374-24883-3

Critic and historian Green (Three Empires on the Nile) delivers an incisive study of the Western world’s shift from institutional religion to more personal beliefs in the second half of the 19th century. He contends that interaction between “innate religiosity” on the one hand and science and technology on the other produced “the irrational appeals to salvation by nationalism, socialism, and racism that derailed the global civilization, once in 1914 and again in 1939.” Not all the era’s “isms” were so catastrophic, however. The Transcendentalism of Emerson and Thoreau, the Spiritualism of John and Margaret Fox, and the protofeminism of Elizabeth Cady Stanton either encouraged Westerners to take in ideas from the Middle and Far East or expanded the rights-based society first espoused by John Locke and Thomas Jefferson. Green also explores how Charles Darwin’s theories about the “common origins” of all species were disputed by “polygenists” including Josiah Clark Nott and George Robins Gliddon, who believed in “fixed racial differences” between Africans and Europeans, and documents how composer Richard Wagner’s racist ideas were eventually rejected by his devotee, Friedrich Nietzsche, whose conception of the Übermensch looked beyond simplistic moralizing and dubious racial claims. Throughout, Green draws illuminating connections between these transformational thinkers and briskly contextualizes the political, economic, and technological shocks of their epoch. This is intellectual history at its most comprehensive and convincing.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/89015-pw-picks-books-of-the-week-april-18-2022.html

Blade Runner: Black Lotus

Finished watching the 13th episode of the Blade Runner: Black Lotus series. Very good! The script was a little clichéd in spots and the animation at times felt like I was watching a 1990's video game, but I enjoyed it. Immersed me into the Blade Runner world. Last night, after finishing up Black Lotus, my hay fever had me wiped out, so I finally watched the three short films that were prequels to Blade Runner 2049.

I'm on the fence of buying the four-disc collector's edition of the 1982 film. It's about $60, allegedly new on Amazon from a reseller. I have The Final Cut on DVD, but I don't like how it axed the voiceover and VHS ending with Harrison Ford and Sean Young's characters riding in a car into the countryside. The voiceover was cool 'cause it gave the film a 1940's film noir feel, even though it's supposed to be set in 2019. Sometimes studio notes are make a movie improve a director's "vision".

Oh, and I picked up the score to Black Lotus. It is awesome! Little pricey at $18.34 for 32 tracks (though about a third aren't even two minutes), clocking in at 74 minutes. Listening to it now. I've already added it to my Electro Instro playlist with the Mr Brooks soundtrack, the two albums and one EP from 65daysofstatic, the Contagion soundtrack, Tweaker's instro album, and bis' Low Level.

Cure T-shirt

Pretty cool: The Cure Ukraine T-shirt I bought on March 15 arrived in the mail today. Proceeds are supposed to go to the UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees). It came with a badge (button, for you North Americans). I also purchased a "Primary" mug. It'll all go well with the two-row studded belt I bought recently at Crash Bang Boom at 4th & South Streets.

Killing Eve

Finished watching the fourth season on Monday night. I had expected to only watch the penultimate episode because I purchased the season on Amazon and they made an episode available one week after it aired; however, the last two episodes (7 & 8) were available Sunday night around midnight.

I don't regret buying the season, but I'm glad it's over. Show got progressively worse with each season. I was reading reviews of the last episode on Variety and The Guardian, and one writer mentioned that the first season's showrunner, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, wrote the show into a corner at the end of the first season. I think that writer was right. Plus, it didn't help having a different showrunner each season . . . what kind of continuity is that? They probably should have ended it after the second or third season.

The series really lost its way. What made it alluring was that Villanelle was an antihero you were repulsed by, but still sympathized with in some sick way. Of course, that may be an unreliable observation because actress Jodie Comer is so beautiful.

I will give props for not showing the face of the members of The Twelve that Villanelle kills near the end of the series. I dunno, kinda of a bummer when creators have a gift like this series and just go off in unentertaining directions.

SCARY MONSTERS by Michelle de Kretser

I put it on my Barnes & Noble wishlist because it's up for reserve at my library.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/08/books/review/michelle-de-kretser-scary-monsters.html

Dumb Like Dinosaurs

The human race just might survive Climate Change. We're not dumb like dinosaurs.

It's been almost a week since I read this article. Maybe all the money spent on my music collection wasn't a complete waste of cash 😁

https://www.phillyvoice.com/music-therapy-mental-health-benefits/

MARCH 28, 2022

Creating music, or simply listening, boosts well-being, research shows

Music has received more recognition as a viable health intervention in recent years. A new analysis suggests it can reliably improve overall quality of life

BY MAGGIE MANCINI
PhillyVoice Staff

laying and listening to music can provide a clinical improvement in overall quality-of-life and well-being, a research analysis finds.

Music can provide significant improvements to well-being and quality of life – not unlike the mental health benefits provided by exercise and losing weight, according to an analysis published by the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

Making and listening to music may present a "more attractive and effective" non-pharmaceutical alternative to other health interventions, researchers wrote. Their findings suggest music – either on its own or as a supplement to other forms of health care – can reliably improve overall mental health and quality of life.  

"Many of us know from personal experience how profound a music intervention can be at times that include surgery, ill-health or mental health episodes," Kim Cunio, associate professor and convener of musicology at Australian National University, told The Guardian. 

The use of music and art as health interventions has received more recognition in recent years, particularly after the World Health Organization found substantial evidence that music and art can help prevent ill health and play a role in managing and treating illnesses throughout life. 

Previous research has shown music therapy can help reduce symptoms of depression and some menopause symptoms like hot flashes, sexual dysfunction and difficulty sleeping. It found music therapy could be used as a non-pharmaceutical treatment for the management of menopause symptoms.

"All of us are experts in music because we've spent thousands of hours listening to music, codifying it in our brain and responding to it," Cunio told the Guardian. "Is it any wonder that when we listen to music, something remarkable happens?"

In the JAMA analysis, researchers examined 26 studies on the effects of various music interventions, including singing, listening to music and music therapy. They found that singing, listening and playing music all had similar boost on well-being.

The researches noted that music is "reliably ranked as one of life's greatest pleasures," perhaps mitigating the uptake and adherence challenges associated with other non-pharmaceutical interventions, like exercise or weight loss. However, though the benefits of music are within range of those other interventions, they are at the low end. 

"Future research is needed to clarify optimal music interventions and doses for use in specific clinical and public health scenarios," the researchers wrote. 

In Philadelphia, Audrey Hausig runs a trauma-informed, music therapy practice that is designed to help people facing various mental health obstacles reach a sense of wholeness.  

"There's a lot of therapeutic use of music," said Hausig, founder of Philadelphia Music Therapy. "That is wonderful and I encourage it, but it's different from music therapy, which is based on an assessment and a treatment plan, and evaluation." 

Music therapists in Pennsylvania do not have official licensure, but they must be board certified, Hausig said. Although New Jersey and Maryland have passed legislation to license music therapists, advocates are working toward it in Pennsylvania. 

In her practice, Hausig begins with a check-in for clients to determine how they're feeling and where they are in regard to their goals and understanding of themselves. For instance, when working with people experiencing substance abuse, Hausig begins by asking what their strengths are, what they're proud of, and what is important to them. 

"I would ask about goals, and then present ways to reach that goal through music," Hausig said. "It might be writing a song about it. It might be listening to songs and discussing them. It might mean taking the instruments out. It could mean making beats together or singing. If they're adults, we would verbally process it and see what insights they got from it before moving on to another song."

Hausig noted the importance of the therapeutic relationship, saying it is foundational regardless of the type of therapy being practiced. In this way, music can strengthen the therapeutic relationship and provide a way for people to communicate with one another and know they are not alone. 

For those using music or music therapy as a way to cope or overcome trauma, Hausig said it can provide them with the space to voice their stories without fear of reliving their trauma. 

"It gives a buffer, and helps folks with their feelings," Hausig said. "Feeling it, understanding it, but not having to relive it can be really empowering." 

Using music as a method of healing is not a fad. In fact, the earliest known instrument was made 40,000 years ago, signaling that music has been helping people communicate and understand their feelings for thousands of years. Even something as simple as listening to music that explores the feelings a person is experiencing can be empowering and provide listeners with the knowledge that they are not alone. 

MAGGIE MANCINI
PhillyVoice Staff

maggie@phillyvoice.com

library reserve

 ATOMIC ANNA

By Rachel Barenbaum

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/05/books/review/atomic-anna-rachel-barenbaum.html

Quip #17

kowtow or curtsy

Ted Lasso: Season Two

Loved the first season, the second season not so much. Been stuck on episode 5 since January. The other night I tried watching and didn't finish it again. I dunno, that whole storyline with Nate trying to get a window seat at a restaurant to impress his parents was painful to watch. Plus that standoffish therapist they brought in wasn't very likable. And that Christmas episode was a bit hokey; not to mention it's obvious they shot it nowhere near December. They probably should've only did one season . . . quit while you're ahead.