“
Pessimism is too easy, even delicious, the badge and plume of intellectuals everywhere. It absolves the thinking classes of solutions. We excite ourselves with dark thoughts in plays, poems, novels, movies.
”
”
Ian McEwan (Nutshell)
“
Jay took out his guitar. He was decent at it, but the piano was his best talent. He couldn’t get a certain riff right, so he handed the instrument to Kaidan, and my heart flipped.
I recalled him saying he played guitar, but I’d never actually seen or heard him play. Kaidan began to pick at each string, testing and tuning with his full attention. I watched the way his hands moved across the wood and strings, gently, reverently, his body seeming to curl around it as if it were a part of him. . . . I felt my hands getting sweaty, because watching Kaidan get lost in music did crazy things to me. My breathing became ragged and I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
He looked up at that moment and caught me staring hard. He knew. He knew what it did to me! I could tell because his badge expanded.
He angled himself away from the others and signed to me, I want to be alone with you tonight.
Patti did have a lot of guests staying in the house. I signed back, I’ll work on it.
“Excellent,” he whispered, a hot grin sliding onto his face.
”
”
Wendy Higgins (Sweet Reckoning (Sweet, #3))
“
A man with a full stomach and the respect of his fellows had no business to scold about anything that he might think to be wrong in the ways of the universe, or even with the ways of society. Let the unfortunates rail; the others may play marbles.
”
”
Stephen Crane (The Red Badge of Courage)
“
Some bruises you wear like badges of honour: when you got it playing rugby, or quad racing, or falling off something while drunk, no opportunity is lost to show off a good contusion. A bruise inflicted by someone else, however, is a whole other story: it's like a big flashing arrow marking you out as punchable, and before long there'll be boys queuing up to add bruises of their own, as if they'd just been waiting for somebody to show them it could be done.
”
”
Paul Murray
“
He looked just perfect to play Dorian Gray in a film version of Oscar Wilde's novel. Young, graceful, and indecently fresh and handsome, he could easily have worn a badge that said READY FOR DEBAUCHERY!
”
”
Sergei Lukyanenko (The Last Watch (Watch, #4))
“
Life's coming to me in flashes,
Wearing my bruises like badges,
Don't know when I learned to play with matches,
Must want it all to end in ashes.
”
”
Taylor Jenkins Reid (Daisy Jones & The Six)
“
While in the United States and Europe "revolution" was an excuse to sell pop music, stage protests, and hold festivals, it was being played for keeps in Asia. Young people were not just challenging their elders but pushing them aside, expelling, imprisoning, and in many cases executing them, all the while extolling the young as the righteous vanguard, their very youth a badge of purity. They were, by definition, forward-thinking. And in Hue they were armed.
”
”
Mark Bowden (Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam)
“
You're no better. Playing dress-up like you know right from wrong. Who made you the fucking hero?
I did.
”
”
J.D. Cunegan (Behind the Badge)
“
You had a baby,” Marco adds. “That doesn’t make you worth any less.” “I’m not as thin as I used to be. And my scar—” “Your scar is a badass badge of honor for having a life you created carved right out of you. And your stretch marks are tiger stripes, Rosie. You are strong. You are fierce. You are perfect, just the way you are.” Marco sweeps my bangs aside. “Don’t doubt that the right person won’t see that, because he will.
”
”
Becka Mack (Unravel Me (Playing For Keeps, #3))
“
In real life, the value capture process is sometimes deliberately managed by elites to manipulate and control others with game design-like tactics. Gig economy platforms like Uber and Lyft use "badges" and rating systems to manage the decision-making environment of their driver employees. Even outside of work, social media features such as likes, shares, and retweets play the role of points in games. Over time, these simple metrics threaten to distort or take the place of values (say, the wish to meaningfully contribute to discussion or to take pride in the quality of one's work) that might otherwise have inflected our behavior on these platforms.
”
”
Olúfẹ́mi O. Táíwò (Elite Capture: How the Powerful Took Over Identity Politics (And Everything Else))
“
Look, Mr. Cop. I’m going easy on you because I don’t think you’re trying to be discriminatory or a jerk about this. I’m normal. I’m as normal as you. I cook, I clean, I talk on the phone, I even use a computer. I can read, I can tell time, I can pay for my own stuff with real money, I dress myself every morning and manage to color coordinate my clothes with the help of Braille labels. I can play specialized board games and figure out what socks go with which, except if the dryer monster eats them like it always seems to somehow. I’m just like you, Quint. I eat the same, brush my teeth the same, make love the same, orgasm the same, cry, smile, and get pissed…just like you.” “Will
”
”
Susan Stoker (Justice for Corrie (Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes, #3))
“
Fact was, she just wasn’t that same person anymore. Her remaining scar was a reminder of that, like an ex-smoker who kept a pack of cigarettes somewhere as proof she was stronger than that. It was a badge of honor and a marker place for where she was in her life right now. And as it turned out, memories—the good, the bad, and the ugly—really were what made a person.
”
”
Jill Shalvis (Playing for Keeps (Heartbreaker Bay, #7))
“
Being an audience for God also means we have to get off center stage. We don’t need to be the center of attention and activity all the time. I think it might surprise us to realize how much crazy activity we create in our days just so we can feel important. We wear our busyness like a badge, like our busyness would somehow impress the rest of the world, or impress ourselves. How many of us go to bed with a sense of accomplishment because we checked a lot of things off our task list or someone told us how “great” we were, or we “helped” others? What if walked off stage altogether and put God there instead. Maybe then we could go to sleep at night, not with a sense of accomplishment, but with a sense of wonder, because all day we had been an attentive audience to the divine play.
”
”
Deborah Adele (The Yamas & Niyamas: Exploring Yoga's Ethical Practice)
“
99 Problems is almost a deliberate provocation to simpleminded listeners. If that sounds crazy, you have to understand: Being misunderstood is almost a badge of honor in rap. Growing up as a black kid from the projects, you can spend your whole life being misunderstood, followed around department stores, looked at funny, accused of crimes you didn't commit, accused of motivations you don't have, dehumanized -- until you realize, one day, it's not about you. It's the perceptions people had long before you even walked onto the scene. The joke's on them because they're really just fighting phantoms of their own creation. Once you realize that, things get interesting. It's like when we were kids. You'd start bopping hard and throwing the ice grill when you step into Macy's and laugh to yourself when security guards got nervous and started shadowing you. You might have a knot of cash in your pocket, but you boost something anyway, just for the sport of it. Fuck 'em. Sometimes the mask is to hide and sometimes it's to play at being something you're not so you can watch the reactions of people who believe the mask is real. Because that's when they reveal themselves. So many people can't see that every great rapper is a not just a documentarian, but a trickster -- that every great rapper has a little bit of Chuck and a little bit of Flav in them -- but that's not our problem, it's their failure: the failure, or unwillingness, to treat rap like art, instead of acting like it's a bunch of niggas reading out of their diaries. Art elevates and refines and transforms experience. And sometimes it just fucks with you for the fun of it.
”
”
Jay-Z
“
When it comes to life, loving someone like your mother and I loved each other and family are the most important things you’ll ever have. “It’s those things that’ll get you through the sad moments, the tough moments, and everything in between. Those are the things that will bring happiness into your life. Those are the people who will hold your hand through the hard times and rejoice with you in the good. Without them, a badge is just a fucking badge.
”
”
Max Monroe (Trick Play (Mavericks Tackle Love, #3))
“
How to Come Out as Gay Don’t. Don’t come out unless you want to. Don’t come out for anyone else’s sake. Don’t come out because you think society expects you to. Come out for yourself. Come out to yourself. Shout, sing it. Softly stutter. Correct those who say they knew before you did. That’s not how sexuality works, it’s yours to define. Being effeminate doesn’t make you gay. Being sensitive doesn’t make you gay. Being gay makes you gay. Be a bit gay, be very gay. Be the glitter that shows up in unexpected places. Be Typing . . . on WhatsApp but leave them waiting. Throw a party for yourself but don’t invite anyone else. Invite everyone to your party but show up late or not at all. If you’re unhappy in the closet but afraid of what’s outside, leave the door ajar and call out. If you’re happy in the closet for the time being, play dress-up until you find the right outfit. Don’t worry, it’s okay to say you’re gay and later exchange it for something else that suits you, fits, feels better. Watch movies that make it seem a little less scary: Beautiful Thing, Moonlight. Be southeast London, a daytime dance floor, his head resting on your shoulder. Be South Beach, Miami, night of water and fire, your head resting on his shoulder. Be the fabric of his shirt the muscles in his shoulder, your shoulder. Be the bricks, be the sand. Be the river, be the ocean. Remember your life is not a movie. Accept you will be coming out for your whole life. Accept advice from people and sources you trust. If your mother warns you about STDs within minutes of you coming out, try to understand that she loves you and is afraid. If you come out at fifteen, this is not a badge of honor, it doesn’t matter what age you come out. Be a beautiful thing. Be the moonlight, too. Remember you have the right to be proud. Remember you have the right to be you.
”
”
Dean Atta (The Black Flamingo)
“
My Darling Child
Yesterday, I was a child
Today, I am a Mother
So much like your Grandmother
I realised another life
Was growing inside of me
I had to embrace another being
As part of my daily living
That is how I found my healing
You are my precious gift
My love for you is so deep
When I held you in my arms
I could not help but admire
Such a beautiful Soul
I sang you a song
To express my joy
Of being a parent to you
I knew there was a reason
You were chosen
To journey with me
So, here is my promise
Will be the best Mom I can ever be
I will stand by you forever
And no one can take on
The role I play
My darling child
”
”
Gift Gugu Mona (From My Mother's Classroom: A Badge of Honour for a Remarkable Woman)
“
Giving up, I admire the rose gold chain in my hand, letting it slip through my fingers like running water. It’s not a necklace, but a lanyard for my school ID badge. The delicate chain breaks every few inches with small diamond-encrusted hoops, a matching rose gold whistle hanging off a clip. My thumb rubs methodically over the words etched into the circular pendant connecting the chain to the clip. Miss Parker it says on one side. Turning it over in my palm, I smile through my quickly blurring vision at the words on the back: World’s hottest teacher. But my favorite part? The tiny hockey skate charm that dangles next to the whistle
”
”
Becka Mack (Consider Me (Playing For Keeps, #1))
“
I listed some of these in chapter 2, when I described the five basic types of bullshit jobs and how they came about. Flunky positions are created because those in powerful positions in an organization see underlings as badges of prestige; goons are hired due to a dynamic of one-upmanship (if our rivals employ a top law firm, then so, too, must we); duct-taper positions are created because sometimes organizations find it more difficult to fix a problem than to deal with its consequences; box-ticker positions exist because, within large organizations, paperwork attesting to the fact that certain actions have been taken often comes to be seen as more important than the actions themselves; taskmasters exist largely as side effects of various forms of impersonal authority. If large organizations are conceived as a complex play of gravitational forces, pulling in many contradictory directions, one could say there will always be a certain pull in any of these five.
”
”
David Graeber (Bullshit Jobs: A Theory)
“
CHASING THE NIGHT Trouble starts when I come around Everything’s painted red when I’m in town Light me up and watch me burn it down If you’re anointing a devil, I’ll take my crown Foot on the gas, add fuel to the fire I’m already high and going higher Charging faster, ready to ignite Headed for disaster, chasing the night You turn wrong when you turn right White light at first sight Oh, you’re chasing the night But it’s a nightmare chasing you Life’s coming to me in flashes Wearing my bruises like badges Don’t know when I learned to play with matches Must want it all to end in ashes Foot on the gas, add fuel to the fire I’m already high and going higher Charging faster, ready to ignite Headed for disaster, chasing the night You turn wrong when you turn right White light at first sight Oh, you’re chasing the night But it’s a nightmare chasing you Foot on the gas, add fuel to the fire I’m already high and going higher Foot on the gas, add fuel to the fire Look me in the eye and flick the lighter Oh, you’re chasing the night But it’s a nightmare, honey, chasing you
”
”
Taylor Jenkins Reid (Daisy Jones & The Six)
“
In the spread of gender-identity ideology, developments in academia played a crucial role. This is not the place for an extended critique of the thinking that evolved on American campuses out of the 1960s French philosophy and literary criticism into gender studies, queer theory, critical race theory and the like. I will merely focus on what some have dubbed 'applied postmodernism' and the form of activism, known as 'social justice', that seeks to remake humanity along ideological lines. And I will lay out the key elements that have enable transsexuality, once understood as a rare anomaly, to be converted into an all-encompassing theory of sex and gender, and body and mind.
Within applied postmodernism, objectivity is essentially impossible. Logic and reason are not ideals to be striven for, but attempts to shore up privilege. Language is taken to shape reality, not describe it. Oppression is brought into existence by discourse. Equality is no longer achieved by replacing unjust laws and practices with new ones that give everyone the chance to thrive, but by individuals defining their own identities, and 'troubling' or 'queering' the definitions of oppressed groups.
A dualistic ideology can easily be accommodated within such a framework. Being a man or woman – or indeed non-binary or gender-fluid - becomes a matter of finding your own gender identity and revealing it to the world by the medium of preferred pronouns. It is a feeble form of dualism to be sure: the grandeur of Descartes' 'I think, therefore I am' replaced by 'they/them' on a pronoun badge.
”
”
Helen Joyce (Trans: When Ideology Meets Reality)
“
O you mad, you superbly drunk!
If you kick open your doors and play the fool in public;
If you empty your bag in a night, and snap your fingers at prudence;
If you walk in curious paths and play with useless things;
Reck not rhyme or reason;
If you break the rudder in two unfurling your sails before the storm:
Then I will follow you, comrade, and be drunken and go to the dogs.
I have wasted my days and nights in the company of steady wise neighbors.
Much knowing has turned my hair grey, and much watching has made my sight dim.
For years I have gathered and heaped all scraps and fragments of things;
Crush them and dance upon them, and scatter them all to the winds!
For I know ’tis the height of wisdom to be drunken and go to the dogs.
Let all crooked scruples vanish, let me hopelessly lose my way.
Let a gust of wild giddiness come and sweep me away from my anchors.
The world is peopled with worthies, and workers useful and clever;
There are men who are easily the first, and men who come decently next:
Let them be happy and prosperous, and let me be foolishly futile.
For I know ’tis the end of all works to be drunken and go to the dogs.
I swear to surrender this moment all claim to the ranks of the sensible.
I let go my pride of learning and judgment of right and of wrong.
I’ll shatter the vessel of memory, scattering the last drop of tears;
With the foam of the ruby red wine, I’ll bathe and brighten my laughter.
The badge of the proper and prim I’ll tear into shreds for the nonce.
I’ll take the holy vow of being worthless, and be drunken and go to the dogs.
”
”
Rabindranath Tagore
“
QUICK MENTAL RECAP: KIDNAPPED BY Mafia gang ruled by insane, chain-smoking reject from the sixties—female; discover husband has alias name and FBI badge that he’s been able to keep hidden from me for seventeen years (reminder to self: get a clue!); follow half-baked scheme provided by Brad Pitt look-alike to make a quick getaway through guest bathroom; wind up playing bad game of Twister in bathtub with Elvis Presley wannabe; witness the whacking of FBI husband; hear Elvis Presley wannabe proclaim, regarding husband’s whacker: “That’s No Toes” and follow up with obvious comment, “Dis ain’t good.” Would Al Pacino be caught dead in this movie? Definitely not.
”
”
Karen Cantwell (Take the Monkeys and Run (Barbara Marr Murder Mystery, #1))
“
If soccer really is a ‘a slum sport played in slum stadiums increasingly watched by slum people’ as declared by the Sunday Times in 1985 after the Bradford fire disaster that took 56 lives, then Rayo Vallecano wear their slum affiliation like a badge of honour.
”
”
Robbie Dunne (Working Class Heroes: The Story of Rayo Vallecano, Madrid's Forgotten Team)
“
So many people are carrying their regret and pain around like they are badges of honor. Guess what? They’re not. There’s nothing you can do about it now, so stop playing victim to it. Before you email me, listen clearly. I’m not belittling the event, what I’m saying is that…it is over. God did not intend for us to carry around such heavy burdens and baggage. It's the enemy of our souls that ties us down with such things. It’s to keep us from living our lives in the freedom Christ offers and it hinders us from being all Christ calls us to be. Remember Romans 8:1, ‘There’s no condemnation for those who are in Christ.
”
”
Unoma Nwankwor (To Live Again)
“
the case with Heidegger, Horkheimer, and Adorno. Their prose wears its difficulty as a badge of pride, on the grounds that philosophy needs to be challenging if there is to be any point to it.38 By employing allusions, ambiguities, word play, and an array of other rhetorical devices, these thinkers attempt to counter what they see as the increasing scientification and commercialization of language and thought.
”
”
Henk De Berg (Modern German Thought from Kant to Habermas: An Annotated German-Language Reader (Studies in German Literature Linguistics and Culture))
“
NBA 2K18 Wishlist - Good Badges To Deal Problems In 2K17
The NBA 2K18 release date has basketball fans hyped. The new game in the series will be the definitive way for fans to take control of their favorite franchises and players on the Xbox One and PS4. As of the features player wish to be added into NBA 2K18, we can compare it with NBA 2K17. Today, we'll list the best badges players would like to see in the latest NBA franchise.
Flashy Dunker
2K Sports has spent a large amount of time recording flashy dunk animations that look great when they trigger. Unfortunately players do not equip any of these because they get blocked at a higher rate than the basic one and two hand dunk packages. NBA 2K17 has posterizer to help with contact dunks but Flashy Dunker would be for non-contact animations. The badge would allow you to use these flashy dunk packages in traffic while getting blocked at a lower rate in NBA 2K18.
Bullet Passer Badge
Even with a high passer rating and Hall of Fame dimer you can still find yourself throwing slow lob passes inexplicably. These passes are easy to intercept and give the defense too much time to recover. Bullet Passer would be an increase in the speed of passes that you throw, allowing you to create open looks for teammates in 2K18 that were not possible in NBA 2K17. A strong passing game is more important than ISO ball and this badge would help with that style of play.
3 And D Badge
The 3 and D badge would be an archetype in NBA 2K18 ideally but a badge version would be an acceptable substitute. This badge would once again reward players for playing good defense. The badge would trigger after a block, steal, or good shot defense and would lead to an increase in shooting percentage on the next possession from behind the 3 point arc.
Dominant Post Presence Badge
It's a travesty that post scorer is one of the more under-utilized archetypes in NBA 2K17. Many players that have created a post scorer can immediately tell you why they do not play it as much as their other MyPlayers, it is incredibly easy to lose the ball in the post. Whether it is a double team or your matchup, getting the ball poked loose is a constant problem. Dominant Post Presence would trigger when you attempt to post up and would be an increase in your ability to maintain possession of the ball as long as NBA 2K18 add this badge. In addition the badge would be an increase in the shooting percentage of your teammate when you pass out of the post to an open man.
The Glove
NBA 2K17 has too many contested shots. The shot contest rating on most archetypes is not enough to outweigh the contested midrange or 3 point rating and consistently force misses. It's obviously that height helps you contest shots in a major way but it also slows you down. However, the Glove would solve this problem in NBA 2K18. This badge would increase your ability to contest shots effectively, forcing more misses and allowing you to play better defense.
Of course, there should be more other tips and tricks for NBA 2K18. If you have better advices, tell us on the official media. The NBA 2K18 Early Tip-Off Weekend starts September 15th. That's a total of four days for dedicated fans to get in the game and try its new features before other buyers. The game is completely unlocked for Early Tip-Off Weekend. Be sure to make enough preparation for the upcoming event.
”
”
Bunnytheis
“
concentrating on just one. The William Badge was only one of hundreds of ships of her kind. They played a significant role in pre-Civil War maritime commerce, when cotton was still king. Many of them later traded bales of cotton for kegs of oil, their decks eventually mired in brine, blubber, and blood. But once the American Civil War started, only a few did not end up as so much kindling and metal scrap. The William Badger was one of them.
”
”
Peter Kurtz (Bluejackets in the Blubber Room: A Biography of the William Badger, 1828-1865)
“
Communities that offer their members protection must themselves be protected. Norms play that role. If you visit the homes of those high in conscientiousness, for example, you are likely to find lawns well kept and flower beds free of weeds. These people mostly go to church, as churches serve as centers of communities and purveyors of traditional values that have stood the test of time. What might seem to those who lack conscientiousness to be small details make the community a better place. Neighbors care what other community members do, in essence policing community standards. If you live in a suburban area, which is likely to be heavily populated by people high in conscientiousness, see what happens if you don’t mow your lawn for a couple of weeks or fail to replace a broken mailbox in a timely fashion. Count how many of your neighbors take it upon themselves to comment on your yard and your mailbox. Among people who are lower in conscientiousness, individual expression, not hewing to community standards, is a badge of honor. People who are low in conscientiousness might take notice of norm violators, just as people who are high in conscientious do—but they might embrace them rather than shun them, as people who are high in conscientiousness might do.
”
”
Marc Hetherington (Prius Or Pickup?: How the Answers to Four Simple Questions Explain America's Great Divide)
“
Your scar is a badass badge of honor for having a life you created carved right out of you. And your stretch marks are tiger stripes, Rosie. You are strong. You are fierce. You are perfect, just the way you are.
”
”
Becka Mack (Unravel Me (Playing For Keeps, #3))
“
If I were my own role-playing game character, I would never just stay in town, be idle and do nothing – the real life equivalent of watching TV, “hanging out” and leaving dreams unfulfilled.
”
”
Yu-kai Chou (Actionable Gamification: Beyond Points, Badges, and Leaderboards)
“
The best answer I could come up with was the simplest one. Yes, these kids had been dealt a bad hand. Role models like Orlando Montoya were few. Their schools were almost uniformly lacking. Violence was often endemic in their neighborhoods. All that played a role, but above it all was the power to belonging. Gang membership entails certain obligations: Only kids willing to be badasses need apply. But gangs also gave them the definition and meaning they hungered for, and prison by those terms was less a punishment than a badge of honor.
”
”
Jana Monroe (Hearts of Darkness: Serial Killers, the Behavioral Science Unit, and My Life as a Woman in the FBI)
“
We take pride in our ability to multitask, and we wear our willingness to put in long hours as a badge of honor. The term 24/7 describes a world in which work never ends. We use words like obsessed, crazed and on-fire, not as negative terms used to describe the insanity of it all, but instead, as playfully motivational “mantras” to drive us onward and characterize the experience of our everyday lives.
”
”
Gregg Swanson (Self-Mastery: Live a Life of Power, Purpose and Passion with Perseverance!)
“
two girls sat. Without warning, Sahra reached for Lauren’s chest, grabbing and reading the badge around her neck. They should just staple the things to our foreheads when we come in, it’d save time, Lauren thought.
”
”
Adele Huxley (Playing with Power - Book 2)
“
The Beast Her flesh shook wildly with his zeal His mounting thrusts and grouses Her dangling breasts, the scene surreal Hanging low in bestial crouches She didn’t enjoy this rough and tumble, The discomfort on her knees The ignominious avowal That indulged his boorish needs. It must be humiliation, The yearning need to dominate, Or perhaps subjugation Relentless craving to tailgate Coitus more ferarum Such cheeky form complied, Should I pretend delirium To assuage his fragile pride? “Is this what you like?” he groans, Panting his impending crest As she patiently marks his moans A rousing book might be best. His hard appendage, badge of jock The emblem of his gender He struts and prances like a cock The self-confident contender To take a woman from behind Subjugate her femininity In favor of a selfish grind The bestial superiority Other problems are created By this brutish currier Air with thrusting is injected Magnifying discomfiture In erogenous responses Tis anatomy prevails In a woman’s breaths and arches That would exorcise travails Don’t you realize that, fool, A woman’s body is a canvas So come with brush and paint and oil To flaunt your vibrant feathers. Two bodies tangled in emotion Excite my inner essence As you ride into oblivion Rejoin my acquiescence. Sex is relished done in tandem, Essence of anatomy Locus charm of lotus blossom As you make a play for me.
”
”
Demetrios Anastasia (Winds of Passion: Passion - An inscrutable, indefinable specter of emotions (Passions Unfolding ... Book 1))
“
The cheery woman was coming toward me from the adjoining yard as if she had been standing at the corner of the house there, waiting. She was maybe five-eight, and dark the way you’re dark when you spend a lot of time in the sun running and working out and playing sports. I made her for her early- to mid-thirties, but the lines around her eyes and mouth were deep. Probably from all the sun. She was wearing designer jeans like the black guy and Reebok court shoes and a loose linen top that she would probably cover with a linen sport coat if it weren’t so hot. Stylish and attractive, even with the Browning 9mm clipped to her right hip. She badged me with an LAPD detective shield as she approached, still cheery with the smile, and I recognized her just before she said, “Mr. Cole, my name is Angela Rossi. The detective in the gray suit would like to ask you a few questions.” She glanced at the guy in the bad suit and I followed her look just as she knew I would, and when I did she stepped close and threw an overhand with a black leather sap, trying for the side of my head. Sucker shot. I picked up her move and tried to twist out of the way, but she was good and fast and I caught most of the sap on my right cheek with a blossom of pain. The guy in the suit yelled, “Hey!” and the black guy grunted, “Shit!” like they were surprised, too. Rossi followed the sap with a hard knee, but it caught me in the thigh instead of the groin, and then the older guy was there, wedging himself between us, forcing her away and saying, “Dammit, Rossi, you want another beef in your file? Is that what you want?
”
”
Robert Crais (Sunset Express (Elvis Cole and Joe Pike, #6))
“
On our trip from Atlanta to San Diego we had a stopover in Dallas at Love Field. There’s a huge statue of a Texas Ranger in the terminal and it’s inscribed: “One Riot, One Ranger.” It reminded me of an incident when I was playing baseball in Amarillo. There were about five or six players having a drink at a table in the middle of this large, well-lit bar, all of us over twenty-one. Suddenly, through the swinging doors—Old West fashion—come these four big Texans, ten-gallon hats, boots, spurs, six-shooters holstered at their sides, the works. They stopped and looked around and all of a sudden everybody in the place stopped talking. I wouldn’t have been surprised if one of them said, “All right, draw!” They spotted us ballplayers and sauntered over, all four of them, spurs jangling, boots creaking, all eyes on them. “Let me see your IDs, boys,” one of them says. I don’t know what got into me, but I had to say—I had to after that entrance—to these obvious Texas Rangers, “First I’d like to see your identification.” I said it loud. He rolled his eyes up into his head in exasperation and very slowly and reluctantly he reached for his wallet, opened it and showed me his badge and identification card. I gave them a good going over. I mean a 20-second check, looking at the photo and then up at him. Then I said, “He’s okay, men.” Then, of course, we all whipped out our IDs, which showed we were all over twenty-one, and the Texas Rangers turned around and walked out, creaking and jangling. We laughed about that for weeks. I find it curious that of all the things Dallas could have chosen to glorify in the airport, it chose law enforcement. The only thing I know about Dallas law enforcement is that its police department allowed a lynching to occur on national television. Maybe the statue should have been of a group of policemen at headquarters, with an inscription that read: “One Police Department, One Lynching.
”
”
Jim Bouton (Ball Four)
“
Our Mothers
Your eyes see hope for tomorrow
Your hearts are made of gold that many wish to borrow
Your minds sharp enough for others follow
Your hands ensure that children grow
Your feet go places where some cannot know
Your courage makes you stand where strong winds blow
Your presence becomes warmth, regardless of the snow
Your influence can be felt within a stone’s throw
You hold nothing back for whom you protect
You speak words with good intent
You treat others with so much respect
You fight and never retract
You pursue a path that keeps your faith intact
You fulfil dreams and make a significant impact
You pass through tough times while remaining steadfast
You conquer battles as you pray and fast
You instil discipline that becomes a great shield
You serve others until they succeed
You give inspiration among those who bleed
You understand that you are rearing a rare breed
You plant and nurture the right seed
You help attract breakthroughs with speed
You care for those in need
You touch lives, indeed
You lead your own to be great every step of the way
You play your role very well, even without a pay
You smile as if every day is your pay day
You exude wisdom and put it on full display
You save generations from going astray
You run your race just like in a relay
You pass the baton with no delay
You carry so much worth as you get to be gray
Hence, we salute you, our Mothers
”
”
Gift Gugu Mona (From My Mother's Classroom: A Badge of Honour for a Remarkable Woman)
“
Be The Best
I woke up every morning
Saying an earnest prayer
Asking the Angels to surround you
To keep you safe wherever you go
Remember to play your part
Please be smart
And wear your crown with pride
Ensure you rise
My precious child!
Always follow the light
When it gets dark at night
Continue to shine where you are
Look beyond the confines
Touch the skies
Make history
You are not ordinary
My own flesh and blood
Be the best!
”
”
Gift Gugu Mona (From My Mother's Classroom: A Badge of Honour for a Remarkable Woman)
“
A Better Future
A special tribute to my beautiful Mother
When you were strict towards me
I thought you were being mean
When you advised me to behave
I would sometimes misbehave
When you instilled discipline
I assumed you were ill-treating me
When you taught about being responsible
I did not want to be accountable
When you told me to go to school
I felt it was not cool
When you gave me less money for lunch
I somehow expected more
When you asked for my homework
I was keen to do nothing
When you said I should pray
I only wanted to play
Mother!
It was because back then
I did not know, but now I realise
You were preparing me
For a better future!
”
”
Gift Gugu Mona (From My Mother's Classroom: A Badge of Honour for a Remarkable Woman)
“
Migrations from the Middle East and into central Europe seem to play a significant role in the development of Ashkenazi as a distinct cultural group within Judaism, especially into southern Germany, Italy, and France; in some of those places during medieval times, there was compulsory wearing of the yellow badge to identify Jews. Expulsions from those countries and Britain also contributed to the pushing of Ashkenazi Jews east, into Poland and Prussia. These centers of Jewish populations were relatively stable and would form the basis for the majority of the six million Jews systematically murdered during the Holocaust.
”
”
Adam Rutherford (How to Argue With a Racist: What Our Genes Do (and Don't) Say About Human Difference)
“
Since Dain told me about the patch denoting his top secret signet, I’ve been playing close attention to the patches other cadets have sewn into their uniforms. Most wear them like badges of honor, but I recognise for what they really are - intelligence that I might one day need to defeat them.
”
”
Rebecca Yarros (Fourth Wing (The Empyrean, #1))
“
Oxford and Cambridge had offered degrees with music since the mid-fifteenth century which mostly focused on musical theory. Music was perceived as a gentlemanly pastime rather than as a serious part of a student’s studies. The best secular opportunity for employment for a musician other than court was as a city wait. Waits were essentially watchmen who patrolled cities and played instruments to assure people all was well. By the mid-sixteenth century they were officially municipal musicians who played at civic occasions and were available for private hire. London owned six waits who, from 1548, were allowed two apprentices each. Waits possessed summer and winter livery of blue gowns and red caps. They wore silver chains and a silver badge displaying the arms of the city. The musicians were in great demand for weddings and an important citizen might employ them when impressing
”
”
Carol McGrath (Sex and Sexuality in Tudor England)
“
He began with a blanket code which every business man was summoned to sign—to pay minimum wages and observe the maximum hours of work, to abolish child labor, abjure price increases and put people to work. Every instrument of human exhortation opened fire on business to comply—the press, pulpit, radio, movies. Bands played, men paraded, trucks toured the streets blaring the message through megaphones. Johnson hatched out an amazing bird called the Blue Eagle. Every business concern that signed up got a Blue Eagle, which was the badge of compliance.
”
”
John T. Flynn (The Roosevelt Myth (LvMI))
“
But when you work on a joint project with people from many companies, which squad are you playing for? Who are your teammates? Teams are identities. To truly be on one, people must know it. So BAA gave everyone working on T5, including its own employees, a clear and emphatic answer: Forget how things are usually done on big projects. Your team is not your company. Here, your team is T5. We are one team. Wolstenholme is an engineer with decades of experience in construction, but he started his career in the British military, where the squad you play for is literally on your forehead—in the form of your unit’s “cap badge.” When people came to T5, Wolstenholme says, they were told, “Take off your cap badge and throw it away, because you work for T5.” That message was explicit, blunt, and repeated. “We had posters on the walls of people with lightbulbs going on, and they were saying, you know, ‘I get it. I work for T5.’ ” MAKING HISTORY Identity was the first step.
”
”
Bent Flyvbjerg (How Big Things Get Done: The Surprising Factors That Determine the Fate of Every Project, from Home Renovations to Space Exploration and Everything In Between)
“
Mike, have you ever heard that marriage is like a deck of playing cards?” Badde said. “Rappe . . . ?” Jan said, her tone warning. “No, can’t say that I have heard that,” Santos said. Badde grinned. “Yeah,” he said, “in the beginning of a marriage you just need two hearts and a diamond . . .” “Ha,” Santos said. “. . . But in the end you want a club and a spade.
”
”
W.E.B. Griffin (Deadly Assets (Badge of Honor Book 12))
“
To interfere with the free development of talent, to obstruct the natural play of supply and demand in the teaching profession, to foster academic snobbery by the prestige of certain privileged institutions, to transfer accredited value from essential manhood to an outward badge, to blight hopes and promote invidious sentiments, to divert the attention of aspiring youth from direct dealings with truth to the passing of examinations,– such consequences, if they exist, ought surely to be regarded as drawbacks to the system, and an enlightened public consciousness ought to be keenly alive to the importance of reducing their amount. Candidates themselves do seem to be keenly conscious of some of these evils, but outside of their ranks or in the general public no such consciousness, so far as I can see, exists; or if it does exist, it fails to express itself aloud. Schools, Colleges, and Universities, appear enthusiastic over the entire system, just as it stands, and unanimously applaud all its developments.
I beg the reader to consider some of the secondary evils which I have enumerated. First of all, is not our growing tendency to appoint no instructors who are not also doctors an instance of pure sham? Will any one pretend for a moment that the doctor's degree is a guarantee that its possessor will be successful as a teacher? Notoriously his moral, social, and personal characteristics may utterly disqualify him for success in the class-room; and of these characteristics his doctor's examination is unable to take any account whatever.
”
”
William James
“
The POUM leaders were handed over to NKVD operatives and taken to a secret prison in Madrid, a church in the Calle Atocha. Nin was separated from his comrades and driven to Alcalá de Henares, where he was interrogated from 18 to 21 June. Despite the tortures he was subjected to by Orlov and his men, Nin refused to confess to the falsified accusations of passing artillery targets to the enemy. He was then moved to a summer house outside the city which belonged to Constancia de la Mora, the wife of Hidalgo de Cisneros and tortured to death. A grotesque example of Stalinist play-acting then took place. A group of German volunteers from the International Brigades in uniforms without insignia, pretending to be members of the Gestapo, charged into the house to make it look as if they had come to Nin’s rescue. ‘Evidence’ of their presence was then planted, including German documents, Falangist badges and nationalist banknotes. Nin, after being killed by Orlov’s men, was buried in the vicinity. When graffiti appeared on walls demanding ‘Where is Nin?’ communists would scribble underneath ‘In Salamanca or in Berlin’. The official Party line, published in Mundo Obrero, claimed that Nin had been liberated by Falangists and was in Burgos.
”
”
Antony Beevor (The Battle for Spain: The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939)
“
There is something odd, suspiciously odd, about the rapidity with which
queer theory–whose claim to radical politics derived from its anti-assimilationist
posture, from its shocking embrace of the abnormal and the marginal–has been
embraced by, canonized by, and absorbed into our (largely heterosexual) insti-
tutions of knowledge, as lesbian and gay studies never were. Despite its im-
plicit (and false) portrayal of lesbian and gay studies as liberal, assimilationist,
and accommodating of the status quo, queer theory has proven to be much
more congenial to established institutions of the liberal academy. The first step
was for the “theory” in queer theory to prevail over the “queer,” for “queer” to
become a harmless qualifier of “theory”: if it’s theory, progressive academics
seem to have reasoned, then it’s merely an extension of what important people
have already been doing all along. It can be folded back into the standard practice
of literary and cultural studies, without impeding academic business as usual. The
next step was to despecify the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or transgressive
content of queerness, thereby abstracting “queer” and turning it into a generic
badge of subversiveness, a more trendy version of “liberal”: if it’s queer, it’s
politically oppositional, so everyone who claims to be progressive has a vested interest in owning a share of it. Finally, queer theory, being a theory instead of
a discipline, posed no threat to the monopoly of the established disciplines: on
the contrary, queer theory could be incorporated into each of them, and it could
then be applied to topics in already established fields. Those working in En-
glish, history, classics, anthropology, sociology, or religion would now have
the option of using queer theory, as they had previously used Deconstruction,
to advance the practice of their disciplines–by “queering” them. The outcome
of those three moves was to make queer theory a game the whole family could
play. This has resulted in a paradoxical situation: as queer theory becomes
more widely diffused throughout the disciplines, it becomes harder to figure
out what’s so very queer about it, while lesbian and gay studies, which by con-
trast would seem to pertain only to lesbians and gay men, looks increasingly
backward, identitarian, and outdated.
”
”
David Halperin
“
The wound that was made when white people came and took all that they took has never healed. An unattended wound gets infected. Becomes a new kind of wound like the history of what actually happened became a new kind of history. All these stories that we haven't been telling all this time, that we haven't been listening to, are just part of what we need to heal. Not that we're broken. And don't make the mistake of calling us resilient. To not have been destroyed, to not have given up, to have survived is not a badge of honor. Would you call an attempted murder victim resilient?
When we go to tell our stories, people think we want it to have gone differently. People want to say things like "sore losers" and "move on already, quit playing the blame game." But is it a game? Only those who have lost as much as we have see the particularly nasty slice of smile on someone who thinks they're winning when they say "Get over it." This is the thing: If you have the option to not think about or even consider history, whether you learned it right or not, or whether it even deserves consideration, that’s how you know you’re on board the ship that serves hors d’oeuvres and fluffs your pillows, while others are out at sea, swimming or drowning, or clinging to little inflatable rafts that they have to take turns keeping inflated, people short of breath, who’ve never even heard of the words hors d’oeuvres or fluff. Then someone from up on the yacht says, “It’s too bad those people down there are lazy, and not as smart and able as we are up here, we who have built these strong, large, stylish boats ourselves, we who float the seven seas like kings.” And then someone else on board says something like, “But your father gave you this yacht, and these are his servants who brought the hors d’oeuvres.” At which point that person gets tossed overboard by a group of hired thugs who’d been hired by the father who owned the yacht, hired for the express purpose of removing any and all agitators on the yacht to keep them from making unnecessary waves, or even referencing the father or the yacht itself. Meanwhile, the man thrown overboard begs for his life, and the people on the small inflatable rafts can’t get to him soon enough, or they don’t even try, and the yacht’s speed and weight cause an undertow. Then in whispers, while the agitator gets sucked under the yacht, private agreements are made, precautions are measured out, and everyone quietly agrees to keep on quietly agreeing to the implied rule of law and to not think about what just happened. Soon, the father, who put these things in place, is only spoken of in the form of lore, stories told to children at night, under the stars, at which point there are suddenly several fathers, noble, wise forefathers. And the boat sails on unfettered.
If you were fortunate enough to be born into a family whose ancestors directly benefited from genocide and/or slavery, maybe you think the more you don’t know, the more innocent you can stay, which is a good incentive to not find out, to not look too deep, to walk carefully around the sleeping tiger. Look no further than your last name. Follow it back and you might find your line paved with gold, or beset with traps.
”
”
Tommy Orange (There There)
“
problematic within post-Reformation dogmatics. Is faith something I `do' to earn God's favour, and, if not, what role does it play? Once we release Paul's justification-language from the burden of having to describe `how someone becomes a Christian', however, this is simply no longer a problem. There is no danger of imagining that Christian faith is after all a surrogate `work', let alone a substitute form of moral righteousness. Faith is the badge of covenant membership, not something someone `performs' as a kind of initiation test.
”
”
N.T. Wright (What Saint Paul Really Said: Was Paul of Tarsus the Real Founder of Christianity?)
“
They’re playing the long game here, while the rest of us are living between election cycles. And if a national divorce hasn’t been cemented already, it certainly appears to be in the process. The far right has realigned itself. Groups that previously had no contact with one another have united in common cause, thanks to Trump in effect becoming their voice and giving them license to spout hate speech and take reactionary stances.
”
”
Joe Moore (White Robes and Broken Badges: Infiltrating the KKK and Exposing the Evil Among Us)