TOM CLARK: Leaving us hanging

Indian Navy marine commandos demonstrate their skills during a rehearsal ahead of Navy Day celebrations in Mumbai, India: photo by Danish Siddiqui/Reuters, 1 December 2016

A Houthi rebel holds the barrel of a machine gun he carries during a rally held to mobilize fighters for battles against government forces, in Sanaa, Yemen: photo by Mohamed al-Sayaghi/Reuters, 1 December 2016

A handler swims with a horse from the Garrison Savannah in the Caribbean Sea near Bridgetown, Barbados: photo by Adrees Latif/Reuters, 1 December 2016

Cool!: image via Margaret Lyons @margeincharge, 27 November 2016

Police detain a protester from India's main opposition Congress party during a protest in Kolkata

Police detain a protester from the main opposition Congress party during a protest against the government’s decision to withdraw 500 and 1000 Indian rupee banknotes from circulation in Kolkata, India: photo by Rupak De Chowdhuri/Reuters, 1 December 2016

A woman walks past posters from the far-right political movement Casapound which call to vote “No” at the constitutional referendum, in Rome, Italy: photo by AFP, 1 December 2016

Indian soldiers on Tuesday outside a camp in Nagrota, the army’s regional headquarters in the state of Jammu and Kashmir: photo by Channi Anand/Associated Press, 30 November 2016

Indian soldiers on Tuesday outside a camp in Nagrota, the army’s regional headquarters in the state of Jammu and Kashmir: photo by Channi Anand/Associated Press, 30 November 2016

#brotherhood - Kashmiri Muslims carrying the body of a Pandit Woman during her last rites at Habba Kadal in #Srinagar #KashmirSOS: image via Umar Ganie @UmarGanie1, 18 November 2016

People in #Kashmir resume normal life after 4 months of unrest; Offices, business establishments open, public vehicles plying #KashmirSOS: image via Umar Ganie @UmarGanie1, 19 November 2016

Major fire broke out from the residential houses at Dalgate area of #Srinagar #Kashmir: image via Umar Ganie @UmarGanie1, 20 November 2016
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A train moves amid heavy #fog on the #Srinagar-Budgam railway track. #kashmir #KashmirSOS #KashmirWinters: image via Umar Ganie @UmarGanie1, 21 November 2016

@IndiGo6E cancelled its flight 694 from #Srinagar tomorrow on 21 Nov. After #KashmirUnrest now #fog #kashmirWinters: tweet via Umar Ganie @UmarGanie1, 20 November 2016

All morning and one @airindiain afternoon flights cancelled so far at #Srinagar airport due to poor visibility. #KashmirUnrest now #fog #kashmirWinters: image via Umar Ganie @UmarGanie1, 21 November 2016

Another bank looted in JK - Unidentified persons looted Rs 40 lakh from Sarthal branch of #Jammu and #Kashmir Bank in Kishtwar. #DeMonetisation: tweet via Umar Ganie @UmarGanie1, 22 November 2016

On 145th day of #KashmirUnrest - Separatist Leaders extend strike call till 08 Dec. Full-day relaxation on 3,4. Calls for Lal Chowk Chalo on 05: tweet via Umar Ganie @UmarGanie1, 30 November 2016

People throng Jamia Masjid as authorities allowed Friday prayers after 138 days, in #Srinagar #kashmir #KashmirSOS #JummahMubarak: image via Umar Ganie @UmarGanie1, 25 November 2016

This is what a CRPF jawan (@crpfnews) learnt in #kashmir during last 5 months. #KashmirSOS #KashirJaJeer: image via Umar Ganie @UmarGanie1, 25 November 2016

An elderly @JKNC worker keenly listening the speech of Party working President @abdullah_omar during a function at Nawai Subha in #Srinagar: image via Umar Ganie @UmarGanie1, 30 November 2016

People wait for the arrival of the caravan carrying the ashes of Fidel Castro during a funeral procession that retraces the path of Castro’s march into Havana nearly six decades ago, in Esperanza, Cuba: photo by Ricardo Mazalan/AP, 1 December 2016

The urn with the ashes of Cuban leader Fidel Castro is driven through Havana starting a four-day journey across Cuba, on Wednesday. The “caravan of freedom” will leave from Havana, making symbolic stops along the 950-kilometer trek that will end in the eastern city of Santiago de Cuba over the weekend. : photo by AFP, 30 November 2016

A girl holds a Cuban flag waits with others for the arrival of the funeral procession carrying the ashes of Cuban leader Fidel Castro on its way to his final resting place, in Florida, Cuba: photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP, 2 December 2016

#Cuba The urn with the ashes of Fidel Castro is driven through Santa Clara #AFP Photo by @rschemidt: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 1 December 2016

hats: image via Margaret Lyons @margeincharge, 27 November 2016

Cat Bigney, part of the Oglala Native American tribe, waits on the shore of the Cannonball river, for travelers to arrive by canoe at the Oceti Sakowin camp where people have gathered to protest the Dakota Access oil pipeline in Cannon Ball, N.D.: photo by David Goldman/AP, 2 December 2016

No, most of us try to reduce the number of times we make the same mistake: image via Margaret Lyons @margeincharge, 27 November 2016

A woman and her daughter their respects at statues of North Korea founder Kim Il Sung (L) and late leader Kim Jong Il in Pyongyang: photo by Damir Sagolj/Reuters, 1 December 2016

#NorthKorea Pedestrians pass the portraits of late leaders Kim Il-Sung (L) and Kim Jong-Il (R) in Pyongyang #AFPPhoto by @edwardesjones: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 1 December 2016

This hair is almost as bad as the hats: image via Margaret Lyons @margeincharge, 27 November 2016

Protesters shout from a police truck following a rally calling for their right to self-determination in the Indonesian controlled part of Papua, in Jakarta, Indonesia: photo by Darren Whiteside/Reuters, 1 December 2016

Thousands of Muslims gather during a protest against Jakarta’s minority Christian Governor Basuki “Ahok” Tjahaja Purnama who is being prosecuted for blasphemy, at the National Monument in Jakarta, Indonesia: photo by Achmad Ibrahim, 2 December 201

YOU ARE 32 YEARS OLD. “Why am I so lost in life? BRB, hanging out with these guys.”: image via Margaret Lyons @margeincharge, 27 November 2016

Riot police use pepper sprays to disperse demonstrators during a protest against a fire in a dormitory that killed 11 people in the southern city of Adana, in Ankara, Turkey: photo by Reuters, 30 November 2016

Lorelai’s hat is an abomination, and Rory’s “let’s go report something!” outfit defies understanding: image via Margaret Lyons @margeincharge, 27 November 2016

Britain Wakes Up To Sub Zero Temperatures

The sun begins to rise over the town of Warminster viewed from the National Trust’s Cley Hill, as the country wakes up to sub-zero temperatures, on Wednesday in Wiltshire, England. Sennybridge in Wales recorded the lowest temperature of the season overnight, with the Met Office reporting a low of -9.4C.: photo by Matt Cardy, 30 November 2016

And I thought *I* was into analyzing Gilmore Girls: image via Margaret Lyons @margeincharge, 26 November 2016

#syria A graffiti in Arabic and English reads "From Homs, save Aleppo" and "Russia kills us" in Talbisseh #Homs #AFP Photo by Mahmoud Taha: image via AFP Photo Department @AFPphoto, 2 December 2016

Ah ... GOD Where do we live Are we awake or dreaming? Why dreaming so long and why all this injustice? Sabra my brother I wanted to be beside you and to hold you so much Aleppo: image via baraa2abd, 30 November 2016

The purification (Aleppo): image via baraa2abd, 30 November 2016

The bitterness of displacement means primitive transport... wounded and elderly and children, forced by the shelling to leave their homes in the besieged neighborhoods of East Aleppo: image via @abomaherdomair, 29 November 2016

Children's suffering while they're runaway or while they're trying #Aleppo #standwithaleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtib, 30 November 2016

My Home after the first bomb was Half survived: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtib, 29 November 2016

The second picture Today after 9 Barrel bombs on the #Alansari was enough to destroy it 100%: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtib, 29 November 2016

This is how my House and my barber salon look like, But today is Gone Alhamdollah No one killed, #Aleppo Today #StandWithAleppo: image via Ahmad Alkhatib @AhmadAlkhtib, 29 November 2016

Martyr Yasser Ruslan #Douma #Syria #epaphotos: image via Mohammed Badra @badramet, 21 November 2016

Maybe the best shot of the whole series: image via Margaret Lyons @margeincharge, 26 November 2016

A tied and decomposed body at a mass grave found at a trash dump on the outskirts of Hamam al-Alil, Iraq: photo by Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times, 30 November 2016

A tied and decomposed body at a mass grave found at a trash dump on the outskirts of Hamam al-Alil, Iraq: photo by Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times, 30 November 2016

A federal police officer speaks to a family in Hamam al-Alil. In the days before the killings, Islamic State militants herded people from nearby villages and took them to that town, using them as human shields against possible American airstrikes: photo by Sergey Ponomarev for The New York Times, 30 November 2016

This bird is my favorite new character: image via Margaret Lyons @margeincharge, 27 November 2016

Soldiers of the Iraqi Army drag the body of an Islamic State fighter in the village Al-Qasr, 7 kilometers outside of Mosul, Iraq, Wednesday: photo by Manu Brabo/AP, 30 November 2016

wha: image via Margaret Lyons @margeincharge, 27 November 2016

Would Emily really sleep in this much makeup?: image via Margaret Lyons @margeincharge, 27 November 2016

Steven Mnuchin, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for Treasury Secretary, gets on an elevator after speaking with reporters in the lobby of Trump Tower, Wednesday, in New York: photo by Evan Vucci/AP, 30 November 2016

5 comments:

Jonathan Chant2 December 2016 at 10:47
Nice to see Cley Hill, not too far from me, amongst this extraordinary montage. I hope you are keeping well Tom.
Unknown2 December 2016 at 14:19
Recalls for me George Saunders’s short story “The Semplica-Girl Diaries”. Danish Siddiqi’s opening images, the Gilmore Girls exams, the horse latitudes, the unforgiving madness wreaked by U.S. nation building and the flight from failed and failing states. As Saunders’s hapless narrator tries to keep everyone happy, he says, “Point is, I said, everything relative. SGs have lived very different lives from us. Their lives brutal, harsh, unpromising. What looks scary/unpleasant to us may not be so scary/unpleasant to them, i.e., they have seen worse.” This is a consciousness-changing effort, Tom.
TC2 December 2016 at 23:56
Jonathan, yes, I DID think of you... and of Hardy, whose poems were brought into head, by that beautiful photo.

I'm forever asking my favourite poems and poets to assist in these grim nocturnal labours.

They are shielded from such use however, more and more any more, by the lack of a right hand. Not to mention eyesight.

On my part not theirs of course.

Tom,

That Saunders story is certainly of interest as we attempt from within our cracked nutshell to peep outside and figure out what the heck is going on in the world, which it begins to seem we never did have the first clue about. Like Saunders' narrator, we thought we were doing out best. Mostly.

The microline through the brain may turn out to be running through the brains of the Gilmore Girls.
TC3 December 2016 at 00:31

and talking of Red Right Hands...

...a story goes with the bottom picture here
Michael Peverett5 December 2016 at 07:54
I'm local to Cley Hill too. Saved that amazing image for some future blogpost of my own..... Feels a bit wrong to cherrypick it from the total context of your post but hey.

All of that frosty immemorial countryside back of Warminster is SPTA army land without a single inhabitant since WW2. Somewhere in the middle of it is the cleared village of Little Imber on the Down, now opened to the public once a year.

Friday, 2 December 2016

Leaving us hanging

5 comments: