text:
“Hello?” is what I heard when I woke up.  The man sitting near me was rough looking with a dark beard, he was very tall and had a strong composure, he also spoke in a very strong Russian accent.  My head hurt.  The last thing I remember was being hit in the head by a rifle.  We were losing the war.  No one really knew what the war was about, we juts knew if you see someone that doesn't look, or walk like you, they were considered an enemy and they were to be killed immediately.  I had killed 194 people.  Men,women,children, you name it, I've probably killed it, just for not looking or walking like me.  I have seen things you could never imagine.  I've seen children being burned alive by the fires of Hell we would reign onto the random designated towns we were assigned.  The terrible things I have done.  I'm not sure how anyone could forgive me.  My memory was very vague and it seemed that I  suffered from amnesia.  I can never remember what I have done exactly.  I can remember in fragments of what I've done.  I asked the man what his name was.

“Vladimr, I was caught for walking the street past the curfew, what is your name?”

I couldn't remember because of the amnesia I was suffering from at the time.  I had realized I was wet, soaking in some very thick material.  It was blood.  I had a very hard time breathing after realizing this, my throat was cut from ear to ear.  I guess the people that caught me thought I was going to bleed out and die like some dog because of the wound I had received from them.  Vladimr seemed to realize I felt the blood.

“I got the same thing you did.”  He lifted his head up to show the same scar that I had.  A long cut, ear to ear, except he seemed to have been here for a much longer time than I had been here, since it was just a scar.  I tried to remember, but I couldn't.  I didn't even know what I was trying to remember.  Vladimr was looking at me oddly, almost devilishly.  He asked me when how I was going to die.  I was confused.  I had never thought about how I would die, just when.  I thought about how I was going to die.  My mind wondered.  Not knowing if I would die here, being caged like an animal or be set free in the hopefully near future and continue the war, but end up being killed that way.  Either way, I knew I wasn't going to get to go back to my home.

I had finally answered.

“I don't know.”

This was the first thing I had said to Vlad.  I had a very hard time talking because of my throat being cut.  I didn't know what else to say to him.  I couldn't remember his name.  The amnesia would wipe my memory.

“What is your name,” I had asked him again.

“Vladimr, I already told you twice now, I'm not going to say it again or I'll beat my name into you.”

It seemed Vladimr was very short tempered.  Even though I had done many bad things to the people in the towns, I was frightened by him.  He was very muscular.  It seemed like he might be able to lift an entire ship out of the water, but there was no water around to test that argument.  I got up and tried to walk around, but my legs hurt like someone ran my legs over with a train.  I pulled up my dark green camouflaged pants to see my legs broken with bone breaking through the skin.  I don't know how I hadn't felt this until I stood up.

As I looked at Vladimr again he had a different look on his face, one I hadn't seen since I had been home which was a very long time.  It had to be at least seven and a half years.  I could recognize the facial expression Vlad had now.  He had the same look that my wife had when she was sad.  Was I imagining things?  How could I recognize this look, but still have amnesia?  Maybe I was imagining Vladimr completely.  Maybe I tried to kill myself by jumping off of a bridge and broke my legs.  This didn't make sense though.  What about the memory of me being hit in the head with a rifle.  I tried to look at Vlad again and he was gone.  I didn't know where he had gone.  I didn't know where he was from, how old he was, if he had family...this list goes on.  I kept searching for him by looking around the room.  I think I was going crazy.  A random man locked in a cage with another man named Vlad.  The funny thing is, is I just blacked out because of the blood loss and had woken back up.  I think I had waited for at least two hours for him to return.  No one did.  Then another two, and then four.  I had waited what seemed like eternity for someone to return.

Until suddenly I hear a gate open close, Vlad was back in the cell alongside me once again.   I fell asleep almost instantly.  I was not sure how long I had slept, but Vladimr was still with me, so I felt somewhat safe, except for the bad temper he seemed to have.

“Where did you go?” I had asked him.

“You didn't know?” he replied.

“Know what?” I had said back to him.

“The people here, they are not like us, they are savages.  When the people are captured, they cut their throat to see who lives.  If you live, you are strong and you made to fight for your life in an arena.”  Vladimr had a very distraught look on his face because of this.  That is where he must have been, he must have been in the fight.

“When will they make me fight?”  I had asked him.

“When you stop bleeding, they can watch and know when you stop bleeding.  Which you have, so they will be in here for you within the next two days to stitch your throat back together and make you fight.” Vladimr said back to me.

It didn't even feel like it was one minute later and someone came to get me.  They shined a bright light into my eyes so it blinded me and I couldn't see and they put a bag over my head.

I shook the blanket off of my body, I was in a cold sweat and I had realized it was all a dream.
“Hello?”, is what I heard immediately after I woke up.  The man sitting near me was rough looking with a dark beard, he was very tall and had a strong composure, he also spoke in a very strong Russian accent.  My head hurt.  I think I have amnesia.

> **Authors Note**

> This is my first short story that I have posted on the internet.  This is also my longest and best so far.  It took my about a hour and a half to write this.  If you have any suggestions, please PM or comment!  I love to hear feedback on what I should do differently and make better.  Thanks for reading and hopefully you enjoyed,

> -Logan

title: [MF] Tales of Non-Existence Part 1

question: Was the narrator having a dream within a dream?

answer: It appears he was.

question: Who was Vladimir?

answer: Vladimir was the narrator's short-tempered roommate who had been a prisoner of the savages for a while.

question: How was the narrator captured?

answer: It might be implied that he was captured during the war.

question: Why did the narrator consider himself a bad person?

answer: Because he had killed up to 194 people, including children.

question: Why was the narrator's throat slashed?

answer: To see if he would survive, which would determine if he was strong enough to fight for his life in an arena.

question: What was the narrator's fate?

answer: Since he survived the wound the savages inflicted on him, he would be made to fight for his life, even though he hadn't thought of how he would die.

question: Why was there a war?

answer: No one knew what the war was about, but they killed people that didn't look, talk or act like them.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator woke up suffering from amnesia in a dungeon with an unknown man, who had a thick Russian accent. Despite suffering from amnesia, he was surprised he remembered being hit in the head with a rifle. Vladimir, his short-tempered roommate, had been a prisoner for a while and told him the people who captured them were savages who slash their prisoners' throats and make those who survive to fight for their lives in an arena. It was not until then, the narrator realized his throat was cut and bleeding, and his legs were broken. Then, just as he was about to be taken to fight, he woke up from his dream and found himself in the same dungeon with Vladimir, with the same scenario repeating itself.


split: train

text:
[[File:No promo homo and school bullying laws in the United States.svg|thumb|upright=1.7|

]] NO PROMO HOMO LAWS are laws approved by various U.S. states that prohibit or limit the mention or discussion of homosexuality and transgender identity in public schools. In theory, these laws mainly apply to sex ed courses, but they can also be applied to other parts of the school curriculum as well as to extracurricular activities and organizations such as gay–straight alliances.[1]

These explicit anti-LGBT curriculum laws can be found in 5 US states, namely Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas.[2]

They are similar to Section 28 of the British Local Government Act 1988, introduced on May 24, 1988, which prohibits local authorities from “intentionally promoting homosexuality, publishing material with the intention of promoting homosexuality, or promoting the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship.”[3] The law was repealed in Scotland in 2000, as one of the first actions of the devolved Scottish Parliament, and in the rest of the United Kingdom in 2003.[4]

State laws

Alabama

“Course materials and instruction that relate to sexual education or sexually transmitted diseases should include ... an emphasis, in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under the laws of the state.” Ala. Code § 16-40A-2.[5][6]

Louisiana

“No sex education course offered in the public schools of the state shall utilize any sexually explicit materials depicting male or female homosexual activity ... The major emphasis of any sex education instruction offered in the public schools of this state shall be to encourage sexual abstinence between unmarried persons and any such instruction shall: ... Emphasize abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard for all school-age children.” La. R.S. § 17:281.[7][8]

Mississippi

“Abstinence-only education shall remain the state standard for any sex-related education taught in the public schools. For purposes of this section, abstinence-only education includes any type of instruction or program which, at an appropriate age ... [t]eaches the current state law related to sexual conduct, including forcible rape, statutory rape, ... and homosexual activity ... and teaches that a mutually faithful, monogamous relationship in the context of marriage is the only appropriate setting for sexual intercourse.” Miss. Code § 37-13-171.[9][10]

Oklahoma

“AIDS prevention education shall specifically teach students that: 1. engaging in homosexual activity, promiscuous sexual activity, intravenous drug use or contact with contaminated blood products is now known to be primarily responsible for contact with the AIDS virus; 2. avoiding the activities specified in paragraph 1 of this subsection is the only method of preventing the spread of the virus.” 70 Okla. Stat. § 11-103.3.[11][12]

Texas

“The materials in the education programs intended for persons younger than 18 years of age must: (1) emphasize sexual abstinence before marriage and fidelity in marriage as the expected standard ... and (2) state that homosexual conduct is not an acceptable lifestyle and is a criminal offense under Section 21.06, Penal Code.” Tex. Health & Safety Code § 85.007.[13]

“Course materials and instruction relating to sexual education or sexually transmitted diseases should include: emphasis, provided in a factual manner and from a public health perspective, that homosexuality is not a lifestyle acceptable to the general public and that homosexual conduct is a criminal offense under Section 21.06, Penal Code.” Tex. Health & Safety Code § 163.002.[14][15]

Repealed laws

Arizona

In April 2019, the Arizona State Legislature passed (House vote 55–5 and Senate vote 19–10) and the Governor of Arizona signed a repeal[16] of the 1991 HIV law (ARS § 15-716) that prohibited AIDS and HIV-related “instruction which: 1. Promotes a homosexual life-style. 2. Portrays homosexuality as a positive alternative life-style. 3. Suggests that some methods of sex are safe methods of homosexual sex.”[17] Due to several court cases running, the constitutionality of the law was questioned.[18][19] The repeal went into effect on July 1, 2019.[20][21]

North Carolina

In 2006 with the passage of 2006 N.C. Sess. Laws 264,§ 54(a)–(c), the North Carolina State Legislature amended N.C. Gen. Stat. § 115C-81(e1)(3) to remove the prohibition of discussing homosexuality.[22]

Utah

On October 21, 2016, Equality Utah filed a lawsuit with the U.S. District Court for the District of Utah against the Utah State Board of Education to strike down Utah Code § 53A-13-101(1)(c)(iii)(A).[23] On March 8, 2017, the Utah State Legislature passed SB196, which removes the phrase “the advocacy of homosexuality” from the law.[24][25] On March 20, 2017, Governor Gary Herbert signed SB196 into law. The repeal went into effect on July 1, 2017.[26]

The repealed statute stated “[T]he materials adopted by a local school board ... shall be based upon recommendations of the school district's Curriculum Materials Review Committee that comply with state law and state board rules emphasizing abstinence before marriage and fidelity after marriage, and prohibiting instruction in the advocacy of homosexuality.” Utah Code § 53A-13-101.[27]

Overturned laws

South Carolina

On March 11, 2020, the US District Court of South Carolina ruled in _GSA v. Spearman_ that South Carolina's no promo homo law “cannot satisfy any level of judicial review under the Equal Protection Clause”. The Court ordered that “[t]he Superintendent and the Superintendent's officers, assigns, successors, agents, employees, attorneys, and other persons who are acting in concert or in participation with each or any of them, are permanently enjoined from enforcing, applying, or relying on S.C. Code. § 59-32-30(A)(5).”[28] This rendered S.C. Code. § 59-32-30(A)(5) unenforceable.

The judgement was a consent decree. The defendant, the superintendent of the South Carolina Department of Education, agreed that the law was likely unconstitutional after receiving advice from South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson and decided to accept the Court's terms.[29]

[1]

[2]

[3] Local Government Act 1988 (c. 9), section 28. Accessed July 1, 2006 on opsi.gov.uk.

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20] https://www.azleg.gov/legtext/54leg/1R/adopted/H.1346FloorSHOPE_Merged.pdf

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

title: No promo homo laws

question: What are no promo homo laws?

answer: These are the laws designed to prevent or limit the mention of homosexuality in public schools. While they apply directly to sex ed courses, they can be also be interpreted to cover a wide variety of school-based activities.

question: Are there similar laws elsewhere?

answer: The no promo homo laws are similar to Section 28 of the British Local Government Act 1988 which prohibits any material that promotes homosexuality or acceptance of it. The law would be repealed in 2000 in Scotland, and in 2003 for the rest of the United Kingdom.

question: Where are the no promo homo laws found?

answer: They are in the states of: Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas.

question: How is sex education taught in these states with regards to the no promo homo law?

answer: Louisiana and Mississippi teaches that the only acceptable form of sexual intercourse is within the context of marriage. Alabama teaches that homosexuality is not an acceptable lifestyle. Oklahoma focuses on the correlation of homosexual activity with the spread of AIDS. The three values above are all taught in Texas.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: The no promo homo law is a law that prohibit mention of homosexuality in schools -primarily for sexual education, but it can also apply to other parts of academic life. It is observed in the states of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Texas. It has been repealed or overturned in other states.


text:
Shop all books by Patrick Buchanan[]

If ex-CIA Director John Brennan did to Andrew Jackson what he did to Donald Trump, he would have lost a lot more than his security clearance.

He would have been challenged to a duel and shot.

“Trump’s … performance in Helsinki,” Brennan had said, “exceeds the threshold of ‘high crimes & misdemeanors.’ It was … treasonous.”

Why should the president not strip from a CIA director who calls him a traitor the honor and privilege of a security clearance? Or is a top-secret clearance an entitlement like Social Security?

CIA directors retain clearances because they are seen as national assets, individuals whose unique experience, knowledge and judgment may be called upon to assist a president in a national crisis. [] Nixon’s White Ho... Buchanan, Patrick J. Best Price: $5.00 Buy New $10.09 (as of 11:35 EST - Details) []

Not so long ago, this was a bipartisan tradition.

Who trashed this tradition?

Was it not the former heads of the security agencies — CIA, FBI, director of national intelligence — who have been leveling the kind of savage attacks on the chief of state one might expect from antifa?

Are ex-security officials entitled to retain the high privileges of the offices they held, if they descend into cable-TV hatred and hostility?

Former CIA chief Mike Hayden, in attacking Trump for separating families of detained illegal immigrants at the border, tweeted a photo of the train tracks leading into Auschwitz.

“Other governments have separated mothers and children” was Hayden’s caption.

Is that fair criticism from an ex-CIA director?

Thursday, The New York Times decried Trump’s accusation that the media are “the enemy of the people.”

“Insisting that truths you don’t like are ‘fake news’ is dangerous to the lifeblood of democracy. And calling journalists ‘the enemy of the people’ is dangerous, period,” said the Times.

Fair enough, but is it not dangerous for a free press to be using First Amendment rights to endlessly bash a president as a racist, fascist, sexist, neo-Nazi, liar, tyrant and traitor?

 [] The Greatest Comeback:... Buchanan, Patrick J. Best Price: $1.96 Buy New $13.00 (as of 01:15 EST - Details) [] The message of journalists who use such terms may be to convey their detestation of Trump. But what is the message received in the sick minds of people like that leftist who tried to massacre Republican congressmen practicing for their annual softball game with Democrats?

And does Trump not have a point when he says the Boston Globe-organized national attack on him, joined in by the Times and 300 other newspapers, was journalistic “collusion” against him?

If Trump believes that CNN, MSNBC, The New York Times and The Washington Post are mortal enemies who want to see him ousted or impeached, is he wrong?

We are an irreconcilable us-against-them nation today, and given the rancor across the ideological, social and cultural chasm that divides us, it is hard to see how, even post-Trump, we can ever come together again.

Speaking at a New York LGBT gala in 2016, Hillary Clinton said: “You could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables … racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic … Some of those folks … are irredeemable, but … they are not America.”

When Clinton’s reflections on Middle America made it into print, she amended her remarks. Just as Gov. Andrew Cuomo rushed to amend his comments yesterday when he blurted at a bill-signing ceremony:

“We’re not going to make America great again. It was never that great.” America was “never that great”?

Cuomo’s press secretary hastened to explain, “When the president speaks about making America great again … he ignores the pain so many endured and that we suffered from slavery, discrimination, segregation, sexism and marginalized women’s contributions.”

 [] Churchill, Hitler, and... Patrick J. Buchanan Best Price: $9.48 Buy New $14.00 (as of 08:25 EST - Details) [] Clinton and Cuomo committed gaffes of the kind Michael Kinsley described as the blurting out of truths the speaker believes but desperately does not want a wider audience to know.

In San Francisco in 2008, Barack Obama committed such a gaffe.

Asked why blue-collar workers in industrial towns decimated by job losses were not responding to his message, Obama trashed these folks as the unhappy losers of our emerging brave new world:

“They get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

These clingers to their Bibles, bigotries and guns are the people the mainstream media, 10 years later, deride and dismiss as “Trump’s base.”

[]What Clinton, Cuomo and Obama spilled out reveals what is really behind the cultural and ideological wars of America today.

Most media elites accept the historic indictment — that before the Progressives came, this country was mired in racism, sexism, homophobia and xenophobia, and that its history had been a long catalog of crimes against indigenous peoples, Africans brought here in bondage, Mexicans whose lands we stole, migrants, and women and gays who were denied equality.

The people who cheer Trump believe the country they inherited from their fathers was a great, good and glorious country, and that the media who detest Trump also despise them.

For such as these, Trump cannot scourge the media often enough.

The Best of Patrick J. Buchanan

question: Why was John Brennan stripped of his top-secret security clearance?

answer: John Brennan, as an ex-CIA director, publicly and savagely criticized then-president Trump, who stripped him of his clearances.

question: What is the main point of the article regarding the security clearances of ex-CIA directors?

answer: The writer points out that being diplomatic and bipartisan should be the traits of these people while they are in public, and that their clearances aren't an entitlement like social security.

question: What are the criticisms levied against then-president Trump by the former CIA directors?

answer: John Brennan declares Trump's actions in Helsinki as treasonous. Mike Hayden insinuates that Trump's border policies are comparable to that of Hitler.

question: What examples does the author give about the views of Democrats about the USA?

answer: The writer points out the personal belittlement of rural peoples by the democrats, specifically Hillary Clinton's "basket of deplorables" comment, Andrew Cuomo's hot-take that America was "never that great", and Barack Obama calling the blue-collar workers as "unhappy losers".

question: How does the author summarize the notion that the USA is now an us-vs-them nation?

answer: He points out that Trump's opponents think the USA was and is guilty of racism, sexism, homophobia, and xenophobia. Meanwhile, Trump's supporters think the America they cheer for was a great and glorious country.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Patrick Buchanan writes about the scathing critiques of then-president Trump by ex-CIA directors John Brennan and Mike Hayden. He points out that top-secret security clearance isn't an entitlement. He then proceeds to exemplify the derisory views of the rural populace by leading Democrats and states that the USA is now an us-vs-them nation.


text:
 The Caucus  | Obama Speaks Out on Trayvon Martin Killing

1.

See next articles See previous articles

[The Caucus - The Politics and Government blog of The New York Times]

By Michael D. Shear
March 23, 2012 10:50 am March 23, 2012 10:50 am

Video
President Obama on Trayvon Martin Case

At a press conference in the Rose Garden Friday, President Obama was asked to comment on the killing of Trayvon Martin.

 By WhiteHouse.gov on Publish Date March 23, 2012.

1:20 P.M. | UPDATED President Obama spoke in highly personal terms on Friday about how the shooting in Florida of a 17-year-old black youth named Trayvon Martin had affected him, saying that “if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon.”
The comments by Mr. Obama were his first on the explosive case in which a neighborhood watch captain, George Zimmerman, has claimed self-defense after shooting Mr. Martin several weeks ago. The case has generated outrage about the state’s so-called Stand Your Ground law.

Mr. Obama was asked about his feelings regarding the case during the announcement of his nominee for president of the World Bank in the Rose Garden on Friday morning.

The president often appears perturbed when he is asked off-topic questions at ceremonial events, but on Friday, he seemed eager to address the case, which has quickly developed into a cause célèbre around the country. He cautioned that his comments would be limited because the Justice Department was investigating. But he talked at length about his personal feelings about the case.

“I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this,” Mr. Obama said. “All of us have to do some soul searching to figure out how does something like this happen.”

The brief remarks were nonetheless a rare example of Mr. Obama speaking to the nation as an African-American parent and the father of two children.

“Obviously, this is a tragedy. I can only imagine what these parents are going through,” Mr. Obama said, his face grim. “When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids.”

[President Obama spoke in the Rose Garden at the White House on Friday.] Jonathan Ernst/ReutersPresident Obama spoke in the Rose Garden at the White House on Friday.

The most powerful line came at the end of his brief remarks, as he said that his “main message” was directed at the parents of Mr. Martin, who have expressed their deep grief during interviews on television over the last several days.

“You know, if I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” Mr. Obama said, pausing for a moment. “I think they are right to expect that all of us as Americans are going to take this with the seriousness it deserves, and we are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened.”

Mr. Obama sidestepped some of the most sensitive and politically charged specifics about the case — whether Mr. Zimmerman should be arrested; whether the Stand Your Ground law goes too far in protecting people who shoot others; whether the police chief in Sanford, where the shooting took place, should be fired. (The chief, Bill Lee, stepped down temporarily on Thursday, saying he had become a distraction to the investigation.)

“I’m the head of the executive branch, and the attorney general reports to me,” Mr. Obama said. “So I’ve got to be careful about my statements to make sure that we’re not impairing any investigation that’s taking place right now.”

Thousands of supporters of Mr. Martin’s parents expressed their outrage about the killing at a rally in Florida on Thursday night, adding to the growing political dimensions of the case.

[Trayvon Martin.]Courtesy of Sybrina Fulton Trayvon Martin.

The shooting took place Feb. 26, when Mr. Zimmerman, 28, pursued, confronted and fatally shot Mr. Martin, an unarmed high school student carrying only an iced tea and a bag of Skittles.

In a statement on Friday, Mitt Romney, the presumed front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, said: “What happened to Trayvon Martin is a tragedy. There needs to be a thorough investigation that reassures the public that justice is carried out with impartiality and integrity.”

Rick Santorum made some pointed comments about the killing while campaigning at a shooting range in West Monroe, La., before the Louisiana primary on Saturday.

“Well, stand your ground is not doing what this man did,” he said. “There’s a difference between stand your ground and doing what he did. It’s a horrible case. I mean it’s chilling to hear what happened, and of course  the fact that law enforcement didn’t immediately go after and prosecute this case is another chilling example of horrible decisions made by people in this process.”

Newt Gingrich, campaigning Friday in Port Fourchon, La., said the district attorney had done “the right thing” in empaneling a grand jury. But, speaking of Mr. Zimmerman, he said it was “pretty clear that this is a guy who found a hobby that’s very dangerous.”

“Having some kind of neighborhood watch is reasonable, but you had somebody who was clearly overreaching,” Mr. Gingrich said. “As I understand Florida law, what he was doing had nothing to do with the law that people are talking about.”

A HISTORY OF CAUTION ON RACE

The last time the president waded into a racially charged incident, it became a political problem for him.

Asked at a news conference about the arrest of a black Harvard professor in the summer of 2009, Mr. Obama offered his opinion, saying that the white officer from Cambridge, Mass., had acted “stupidly” and starting a weeklong controversy about what he said.

“I think it’s fair to say, No. 1, any of us would be pretty angry; No. 2, that the Cambridge police acted stupidly in arresting somebody when there was already proof that they were in their own home; and, No. 3 , what I think we know separate and apart from this incident is that there’s a long history in this country of African-Americans and Latinos being stopped by law enforcement disproportionately,’’ Mr. Obama said at the time. “That’s just a fact.’’

Mr. Obama eventually invited the professor, Henry Louis Gates Jr., and the police officer, James Crowley, to the White House to discuss the situation over some beers.

But despite that incident, the president has been careful not to wade into racial politics. As the nation’s first African-American president, he is sometimes criticized by black leaders who say he is not doing enough to deal with problems in that community.

Asked about the issue in a news conference in his first few months in office, Mr. Obama defended his approach as one that “will lift all boats” by working to “level the playing field and ensure bottom-up economic growth.”

“I’m confident that that will help the African-American community live out the American dream at the same time that it’s helping communities all across the country,” Mr. Obama said in April of 2009.

_Richard A. Oppel contributed reporting from West Monroe, La., and Trip Gabriel from Port Fourchon, La._

question: What happened in the Trayvon Martin case?

answer: Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old black youth was shot dead.

question: What did President Obama have to say about it?

answer: The President spoke in highly personal terms regarding the incident, saying that "if I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon."

question: Who shot Martin?

answer: Martin was shot by George Zimmerman.

question: What is the Stand Your Ground law?

answer: This information can't be found.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer:
Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old black youth, was shot dead by George Zimmerman on Feb. 26. On being asked to comment on the incident, President Obama spoke on highly personal terms. The President sidestepped the more sensitive and politically charged specifics about the case.

Thousands have come out expressing their outrage about the killing at a rally in Florida.


text:
James H. Anderson, of Virginia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Defense, vice Robert M. Scher, resigned.

Rubydee Calvert, of Wyoming, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for a term expiring January 31, 2022, vice David J. Arroyo, term expired.

Bonnie Glick, of Maryland, to be Deputy Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development, vice Alfonso E. Lenhardt.

Jennifer L. Homendy, of Virginia, to be a Member of the National Transportation Safety Board for a term expiring December 31, 2019, vice Mark R. Rosekind, resigned.

Heidi R. King, of California, to be Administrator of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, vice Mark R. Rosekind.

John P. Pallasch, of Kentucky, to be an Assistant Secretary of Labor, vice Portia Y. Wu.

Mark Rosen, of Connecticut, to be United States Executive Director of the International Monetary Fund for a term of two years, vice Margrethe Lundsager, resigned.

Laura Gore Ross, of New York, to be a Member of the Board of Directors of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for a term expiring January 31, 2022, vice Jannette Lake Dates, term expired.

Raul M. Arias-Marxuach, of Puerto Rico, to be United States District Judge for the District of Puerto Rico, vice Jose Antonio Fuste, retired.

Pamela A. Barker, of Ohio, to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Ohio, vice Donald C. Nugent, retired.

Kenneth D. Bell, of North Carolina, to be United States District Judge for the Western District of North Carolina, vice Richard L. Voorhees, retired.

Stephen R. Clark, Sr., of Missouri, to be United States District Judge for the Eastern District of Missouri, vice Carol E. Jackson, retired.

Charles L. Goodwin, of Hawaii, to be United States Marshal for the District of Hawaii for the term of four years, vice Gervin Kazumi Miyamoto, term expired.

James Patrick Hanlon, of Indiana, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Indiana, vice William T. Lawrence, retiring.

Scott Patrick Illing, of Louisiana, to be United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Louisiana for the term of four years, vice Genevieve Lynn May, term expired.

John D. Jordan, of Missouri, to be United States Marshal for the Eastern District of Missouri for the term of four years, vice William Claud Sibert, term expired.

Jonathan W. Katchen, of Alaska, to be United States District Judge for the District of Alaska, vice Ralph R. Beistline, retired.

Scott E. Kracl, of Nebraska, to be United States Marshal for the District of Nebraska for the term of four years, vice Mark Anthony Martinez, term expired.

R. Don Ladner, Jr., of Florida, to be United States Marshal for the Northern District of Florida for the term of four years, vice Edward M. Spooner, retired.

Cheryl A. Lydon, of South Carolina, to be United States Attorney for the District of South Carolina for the term of four years, vice William N. Nettles, term expired.

Erica H. MacDonald, of Minnesota, to be United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota for the term of four years, vice Andrew Mark Luger, resigned.

Paul B. Matey, of New Jersey, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, vice Julio M. Fuentes, retired.

Mary S. McElroy, of Rhode Island, to be United States District Judge for the District of Rhode Island, vice Mary M. Lisi, retired.

David Stephen Morales, of Texas, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Texas, vice Janis Graham Jack, retired.

Sarah Daggett Morrison, of Ohio, to be United States District Judge for the Southern District of Ohio, vice Gregory L. Frost, retired.

David James Porter, of Pennsylvania, to be United States Circuit Judge for the Third Circuit, vice D. Michael Fisher, retired.

J. C. Raffety, of West Virginia, to be United States Marshal for the Northern District of West Virginia for the term of four years, vice Gary Michael Gaskins, term expired.

Gadyaces S. Serralta, of Florida, to be United States Marshal for the Southern District of Florida for the term of four years, vice Amos Rojas, Jr., term expired.

Mark F. Sloke, of Alabama, to be United States Marshal for the Southern District of Alabama for the term of four years, vice Charles Edward Andrews, term expired.

question: What is a list of?

answer: People nominated to various positions.

question: What are some of the states are represented here?

answer: Virginia, Wyoming, Florida, Maryland, California

question: Which place is included that is not a state of the US?

answer: Puerto Rico

question: Who nominated these people?

answer: It is unclear who nominated them.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: This is a list of people who were nominated to various positions. Many states are represented, along with Puerto Rico.


text:
[Neutral living room]

4 min read February 9, 2018

Design trends are always changing, and today’s homebuyer wants an up-to-date house. Shag carpet and veneer walls were popular in the 1970s but now, those are seriously outdated. A home with that type of interior design can be harder to sell.

When you are looking to improve a home before a sale, you should consider some of the current interior design trends. Here are several of the hottest design trends for 2018:

Earthy Colors Reign Supreme

For the last several years, gray tones have been all the rage. Sometimes called greige, it is a mixture of gray and beige. Gray is dominant, but the color palette adds a little color to the soften gray. Soft pastels and earthy tones are the trend for 2018. They are tones that appear in nature, like browns and soft greens. An example is poised taupe, which was named Color of the Year last year by Sherwin-Williams. Purple is also popular as accent colors, but purple can be really hard to pull off well. It tends to dominate a room. You should test a few colors on the wall before you paint so you can make the best choice for the room.

[Top Interior Design Trends for 2018: earthy living room]

White in the Kitchen Is Out

Historically, kitchens have been white — countertops were white and cabinets were white. That is no longer the trend. Some designers are adding natural wood tones to cabinets, and others are getting even bolder. They are painting cabinets green or a bright blue. The color adds a little spice and brightens the space. And why not, a kitchen is often the center of activity in the house and where entertaining takes place. It is also easier to keep clean. White shows every blemish, but a brighter color can hide the day-to-day grim of daily kitchen use.

Formal Dining Table in the Kitchen

The eat-in kitchen is usually the place for a quick breakfast or a snack. It’s an informal space. When entertaining, guests will normally eat in the formal dining room. But formal dining rooms are becoming less common, and some people are moving the expensive dining room furniture into the kitchen. That usually means removing the center island from the kitchen to make room. Rather than gather around the island, your guests sit at the table while you cook. It centralizes entertaining to the kitchen and makes serving food simpler.

[Top Interior Design Trends for 2018: Kitchen colors]

Concrete Accents

Concrete counters and concrete floors have been a common trend in recent years. Many designers are now using the material as an accent feature. A space that might normally have wood trim or a beam as an accent can have concrete. Concrete can be dyed pretty much any color, and the texture of concrete can add a soft tone to an interior space. When done correctly, concrete can even have the same quality finish as granite or marble. Designers are also building concrete furniture and concrete light fixtures.

Banana Leaf Accents

Banana leaf accents might seem a little crazy in today’s push toward natural colors, but they are perfect for adding a little color to a space. You can do just a little, like placing a couple of green banana leaf pillows on a grey couch. The pattern also works on curtains and as a duvets cover in a bedroom. If you want to be really bold, banana leaf wallpaper is a possibility. Bananas are also becoming popular as an interior houseplant, bringing a little bit of the tropics inside your home.

[Top Interior Design Trends for 2018: banana print]

Turn off the Edison Light Bulbs

Edison light bulbs have become ubiquitous in coffee shops and restaurants. They are often covered by mason jars or just exposed. Designers were going for an industrial theme and softer lighting. Home interior designers have followed the trend. Go to any light store these days, and the majority of the fixtures have Edison bulbs. Now the trend is toward starburst chandelier, resembling something out of the 1950s, and rustic light fixtures with wood finishes. Many have a DIY feel. They are efficient at lighting a space and can be used in a variety of rooms.

Personalize the Space

The real 2018 interior design trend is making the space your own. You can do a lot of the work yourself, adding your own personal touch to the space. DIY has gone mainstream, and there are numerous online resources that can help. You don’t have to go to the local furniture store. Instead, head down to the hardware store and do the work yourself. The trend strays away from smooth finishes that look store bought. A couple imperfections are fine — that means it has character. You want to leave your mark on the interior of the home. It’s your home: make it feel like it.

[]

James Shea is an award-winning journalist and author. He owns Media Lab, a content marketing and search engine optimization company is Richmond, Virginia.

question: What are the trending colors in 2018?

answer: Soft pastels and earthy tones trend in 2018. Purple is popular as an accent color but it can be difficult to pull off. In the kitchen, white is no longer on point. Now, designers are painting cabinets in bolder colors like blue and green. Natural wood tones are also popular.

question: Why are householders removing the center island from their kitchens?

answer: Formal dining rooms have become less common as people entertain in the kitchen. To do this they are moving the dining table into the kitchen. They often have to remove the center island to make room for the table.

question: What does the author advise for bathroom trend updates?


text:
I was there when my parents told her. I watched them sit my sister down in the lounge room; I was peering around the wall. I already knew. There must have been some expression on their faces as they sat in a moment’s silence. Because she knew. She was only 10, but she knew.

The silence turned into a minute, a time during which I saw many expressions: confusion, worry, disbelief, sorrow, and pain. All in silence. Because she knew.

“Pogo,” Dad finally said, and, before he spoke another word, I watched her eyes widen and glisten with tears waiting to waterfall down those smooth cheeks. “He’s been in an accident.” That was all that needed to be said, the key to open the floodgates behind the shiny, blue eyes. Because she knew.

*She’d gotten Pogo as a puppy, only three years beforehand. A birthday gift, a basket and a bow tie and a ribbon. Sure, it was clichéd, but she didn’t care. Neither did Pogo, the bouncing bundle of fluff, who on seeing his new companion had leapt clean out of the wicker and showered her with licks. I had been there too; I had seen the eyes widen with happiness, not sorrow; I had seen the cheeks grow red with excitement, not pain; I had seen bright smiles, not quivering lips. He was hers and she was his. He knew that. She knew that.*

Mum got up and sat next to her, arm gently around her shoulder, drawing her in tight. Dad did the talking; Mum was comfort.
“Is he going to be alright?” The words were slow spoken and shaking, because in only that short time, her mind had put everything together. They would have been happier if Pogo was going to be alright; they would not have made such a big deal about it all. She’d be with Pogo right now if all would be fine, stroking his fur, and whispering comfort into those floppy ears. They would have been at the vet. But they weren’t. She wasn’t. She knew.

“I’m sorry, darling,” said Dad, as Mum squeezed just that little bit tighter.

“What happened?” She didn’t really want to know.

“There was a car.”

She stood up quickly, letting out a gasp and a squeak of shock. I reeled back from the corner as she approached, running to her room. She passed me, and in the second’s eye contact I felt her burn. I had been listening in, watching. She knew. And her heart, I feel, broke that little bit more. I wasn’t there for her. But I’m not good at comfort, at caring, knowing what to do or say, or even whether to do or say anything at all. Mum does that. Mum and Dad.

I looked around the corner again. Dad had joined Mum on the lounge. He had her in his arms.
“She’ll be alright.”

**I remember it all, running through my mind as I stand in front of her door. Do I knock? Do I open it? Do I walk away? I am lost in the moment, sent back, reliving the same feelings, the feelings that sunk into my heart as she walked past. The torture of the past. I hadn’t known what to do then. How could I know now? And so I stand in front of that door, silent and still, wanting to enter and wanting to run. She didn’t know. I had to tell her.**

I followed her to her room. I was in the hallway when I heard the door slam shut, followed by the creaking metal of the old bed springs and the muffled scream into the pillow. Again. Again.

I stood in front of the door. Over time the screams stopped, replaced by perhaps a more heart wrenching sound: sobbing. I reached forward with my hand, placing it onto the cold metal handle. It squeaked as I pushed down.

“Go away!” I turn and leave. She didn’t need me.

**She needs me now. She needs me and she doesn’t know it, doesn’t know why. I have to tell her. So many years have come and gone, but right now the memory is as clear as if it happened yesterday. The house has changed and the years have changed us, but it’s still the same. It’s still me standing at her door, wanting to run. But I have to stay.**

**The handle doesn’t squeak; she doesn’t notice me until the door is wide open. She’s lying on her bed, laptop flipped up, studying ever so hard, writing her thesis. She looks at me.**

**The demon returns, that dreadful silence. I stand there. She opens her mouth to speak but then she stops and her lips close softly. She has seen that look before, the look I do not know I am wearing. I guess it must always be the same look, no matter who gives it. The laptop closes and she sits up, turning on the side of the bed. Our eyes haven’t broken.**

**Then it’s my turn to relive the past, as her still-smooth face goes through the very same list from all those years ago: confusion, worry, disbelief, sorrow, and pain. All in silence. Because she knows. Somehow she knows.**

**I open my mouth to speak. I wish I did not have to. I wish that Dad and Mum were here to do it, here to say what has to be said. I do not want to be the one to open those floodgates, release the shimmering stream from those deeper, blue eyes. But I have to be.**

**Dad’s not here anymore, and never again will Mum hold her close.**

**So I do.**

title: [RF] Because she knew.

question: Summarize the plot of the story.

answer: The narrator remembers when their parents told their sister about her dog dying. The narrator didn't comfort their sister, she said she didn't need them. Now the narrator needs to break some news to her sister. Their parents aren't coming back, and they comfort their sister.

question: Summarize the narrator's sister's relationship with Pogo.

answer: The narrator clearly cares a lot about Pogo. She knew Pogo was dead before being told, as if they had some sort of bond. She had gotten Pogo three years ago on her birthday, and they immediately companions. After she learns Pogo is dead, she runs to her room and cries and screams.

question: Summarize the narrator's relationship with their sister.

answer: The narrator watches their parents break the news to their sister. As their sister runs away, she sees them, and her heart breaks more because they weren't there for her. Later the narrator tries to comfort her but she doesn't want it. Years later the narrator has to be the one to tell her that their parents are dead, and they relive those memories.


text:
[By 1853, when the popular song “Spirit Rappings” was published, spiritualism was an object of intense curiosity.] SPIRITUALISM is a religious movement based on the belief that the spirits of the dead exist and have both the ability and the inclination to communicate with the living.[1] The afterlife, or the “spirit world”, is seen by spiritualists, not as a static place, but as one in which spirits continue to evolve. These two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits are more advanced than humans—lead spiritualists to a third belief: that spirits are capable of providing useful knowledge about moral and ethical issues, as well as about the nature of God. Some spiritualists will speak of a concept which they refer to as “spirit guides”—specific spirits, often contacted, who are relied upon for spiritual guidance.[2][3] Spiritism, a branch of spiritualism developed by Allan Kardec and today practiced mostly in Continental Europe and Latin America, especially in Brazil, emphasizes reincarnation.[4]

Spiritualism developed and reached its peak growth in membership from the 1840s to the 1920s, especially in English-speaking countries.[5][6] By 1897, spiritualism was said to have more than eight million followers in the United States and Europe,[7] mostly drawn from the middle and upper classes.

Spiritualism flourished for a half century without canonical texts or formal organization, attaining cohesion through periodicals, tours by trance lecturers, camp meetings, and the missionary activities of accomplished mediums. Many prominent spiritualists were women, and like most spiritualists, supported causes such as the abolition of slavery and women's suffrage.[8] By the late 1880s the credibility of the informal movement had weakened due to accusations of fraud perpetrated by mediums, and formal spiritualist organizations began to appear.[9] Spiritualism is currently practiced primarily through various denominational spiritualist churches in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Beliefs

Spiritualism and its belief system became protected characteristics under Law in the U.K. in 2009 by Alan Power at the UKEAT (Appeal Court), London, England.[10]

Mediumship and spirits

Spiritualists believe in the possibility of communication with the spirits of dead people, whom they regard as “discarnate humans”. They believe that spirit mediums are gifted to carry on such communication, but that anyone may become a medium through study and practice. They believe that spirits are capable of growth and perfection, progressing through higher spheres or planes, and that the afterlife is not a static state, but one in which spirits evolve. The two beliefs—that contact with spirits is possible, and that spirits may dwell on a higher plane—lead to a third belief, that spirits can provide knowledge about moral and ethical issues, as well as about God and the afterlife. Many believers therefore speak of “spirit guides”—specific spirits, often contacted, and relied upon for worldly and spiritual guidance.[11][12]

According to Spiritualists, anyone may receive spirit messages, but formal communication sessions (séances) are held by mediums, who claim thereby to receive information about the afterlife.[13]

Religious views

[Spiritualism was equated by some Christians with witchcraft. This 1865 broadsheet, published in the United States, also blamed spiritualism for causing the American Civil War.]

Declaration of Principles

As an informal movement, Spiritualism does not have a defined set of rules, but various Spiritualist organizations within the USA have adopted variations on some or all of a “Declaration of Principles” developed between 1899 and 1944 and revised as recently as 2004.[14] In October 1899, a six article “Declaration of Principles” was adopted by the National Spiritualist Association (NSA) at a convention in Chicago, Illinois.[15][16] An additional two principles were added by the NSA in October 1909, at a convention in Rochester, New York.[17] Finally, in October 1944, a ninth principle was adopted by the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, at a convention in St. Louis, Missouri.[18]

In the UK, the main organization representing Spiritualism is the Spiritualists' National Union (SNU), whose teachings are based on the Seven Principles.[19]

Origins

Spiritualism first appeared in the 1840s in the “Burned-over District” of upstate New York, where earlier religious movements such as Millerism and Mormonism had emerged during the Second Great Awakening, although Millerism and Mormonism did not associate themselves with Spiritualism.

This region of New York State was an environment in which many thought direct communication with God or angels was possible, and that God would not behave harshly—for example, that God would not condemn unbaptised infants to an eternity in Hell.[20]

Swedenborg and Mesmer

[_Hypnotic séance_. Painting by Swedish artist Richard Bergh, 1887.] In this environment, the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772) and the teachings of Franz Mesmer (1734–1815) provided an example for those seeking direct personal knowledge of the afterlife. Swedenborg, who claimed to communicate with spirits while awake, described the structure of the spirit world. Two features of his view particularly resonated with the early Spiritualists: first, that there is not a single Hell and a single Heaven, but rather a series of higher and lower heavens and hells; second, that spirits are intermediates between God and humans, so that the divine sometimes uses them as a means of communication.[21] Although Swedenborg warned against seeking out spirit contact, his works seem to have inspired in others the desire to do so.

Swedenborg was formerly a highly regarded inventor and scientist, achieving several engineering innovations and studying physiology and anatomy. Then, “in 1741, he also began to have a series of intense mystical experiences, dreams, and visions, claiming that he had been called by God to reform Christianity and introduce a new church."[22]

Mesmer did not contribute religious beliefs, but he brought a technique, later known as hypnotism, that it was claimed could induce trances and cause subjects to report contact with supernatural beings. There was a great deal of professional showmanship inherent to demonstrations of Mesmerism, and the practitioners who lectured in mid-19th-century North America sought to entertain their audiences as well as to demonstrate methods for personal contact with the divine.[23]

Perhaps the best known of those who combined Swedenborg and Mesmer in a peculiarly North American synthesis was Andrew Jackson Davis, who called his system the “harmonial philosophy”. Davis was a practising Mesmerist, faith healer and clairvoyant from Blooming Grove, New York. He was also strongly influenced by the socialist theories of Fourierism.[24] His 1847 book, _The Principles of Nature, Her Divine Revelations, and a Voice to Mankind_,[25] dictated to a friend while in a trance state, eventually became the nearest thing to a canonical work in a Spiritualist movement whose extreme individualism precluded the development of a single coherent worldview.[26][27]

Image:Emanuel Swedenborg, 1688-1772, ämbetsman (Per Krafft d.ä.) - Nationalmuseum - 15710.tif|Emanuel Swedenborg Image:Franz Anton Mesmer.jpg|Franz Mesmer Image:Andrew Jackson Davis.003.jpg|Andrew Jackson Davis, about 1860

Reform-movement links

[The Fox sisters] Spiritualists often set March 31, 1848, as the beginning of their movement. On that date, Kate and Margaret Fox, of Hydesville, New York, reported that they had made contact with a spirit that was later claimed to be the spirit of a murdered peddler whose body was found in the house, though no record of such a person was ever found. The spirit was said to have communicated through rapping noises, audible to onlookers. The evidence of the senses appealed to practically-minded Americans, and the Fox sisters became a sensation. As the first celebrity mediums, the sisters quickly became famous for their public séances in New York.[28] However, in 1888 the Fox sisters admitted that this “contact” with the spirit was a hoax, though shortly afterward they recanted that admission.[29][30]

Amy and Isaac Post, Hicksite Quakers from Rochester, New York, had long been acquainted with the Fox family, and took the two girls into their home in the late spring of 1848. Immediately convinced of the veracity of the sisters' communications, they became early converts and introduced the young mediums to their circle of radical Quaker friends.[31] [Cora L. V. Scott] [Paschal Beverly Randolph] Consequently, many early participants in Spiritualism were radical Quakers and others involved in the mid-nineteenth-century reforming movement. These reformers were uncomfortable with more prominent churches because those churches did little to fight slavery and even less to advance the cause of women's rights.[32]

Such links with reform movements, often radically socialist, had already been prepared in the 1840s, as the example of Andrew Jackson Davis shows. After 1848, many socialists became ardent spiritualists or occultists.[33] Socialist ideas, especially in the Fourierist vein, exerted a decisive influence on Kardec and other Spiritists.

The most popular trance lecturer prior to the American Civil War was Cora L. V. Scott (1840–1923). Young and beautiful, her appearance on stage fascinated men. Her audiences were struck by the contrast between her physical girlishness and the eloquence with which she spoke of spiritual matters, and found in that contrast support for the notion that spirits were speaking through her. Cora married four times, and on each occasion adopted her husband's last name. During her period of greatest activity, she was known as Cora Hatch.[34]

Another famous woman Spiritualist was Achsa W. Sprague, who was born November 17, 1827, in Plymouth Notch, Vermont. At the age of 20, she became ill with rheumatic fever and credited her eventual recovery to intercession by spirits. An extremely popular trance lecturer, she traveled about the United States until her death in 1861. Sprague was an abolitionist and an advocate of women's rights.[35]

Yet another prominent Spiritualist and trance medium prior to the Civil War was Paschal Beverly Randolph (1825–1875), a man of mixed race, who also played a part in the abolitionist movement.[36] Nevertheless, many abolitionists and reformers held themselves aloof from the Spiritualist movement; among the skeptics was the famous abolitionist Frederick Douglass.[37]

Another social reform movement with significant Spiritualist involvement was the effort to improve conditions of Native Americans. As Kathryn Troy notes in a study of Indian ghosts in seances:

  Undoubtedly, on some level Spiritualists recognized the Indian spectres that appeared at seances as a symbol of the sins and subsequent guilt of the United States in its dealings with Native Americans. Spiritualists were literally haunted by the presence of Indians. But for many that guilt was not assuaged: rather, in order to confront the haunting and rectify it, they were galvanized into action. The political activism of Spiritualists on behalf of Indians was thus the result of combining white guilt and fear of divine judgment with a new sense of purpose and responsibility.[38]

Believers and skeptics

In the years following the sensation that greeted the Fox sisters, demonstrations of mediumship (séances and automatic writing, for example) proved to be a profitable venture, and soon became popular forms of entertainment and spiritual catharsis. The Fox sisters were to earn a living this way and others would follow their lead.[39][40] Showmanship became an increasingly important part of spiritualism, and the visible, audible, and tangible evidence of spirits escalated as mediums competed for paying audiences. As independent investigating commissions repeatedly established, most notably the 1887 report of the Seybert Commission,[41] fraud was widespread, and some of these cases were prosecuted in the courts.[42]

Despite numerous instances of chicanery, the appeal of Spiritualism was strong. Prominent in the ranks of its adherents were those grieving the death of a loved one. Many families during the time of the American Civil War had seen their men go off and never return, and images of the battlefield, produced through the new medium of photography, demonstrated that their loved ones had not only died in overwhelmingly huge numbers, but horribly as well. One well known case is that of Mary Todd Lincoln who, grieving the loss of her son, organized séances in the White House which were attended by her husband, President Abraham Lincoln.[43] The surge of Spiritualism during this time, and later during World War I, was a direct response to those massive battlefield casualties.[44]

In addition, the movement appealed to reformers, who fortuitously found that the spirits favoured such causes _du jour_ as abolition of slavery, and equal rights for women.[45] It also appealed to some who had a materialist orientation and rejected organized religion. In 1854 the utopian socialist Robert Owen was converted to Spiritualism after “sittings” with the American medium Maria B. Hayden (credited with introducing Spiritualism to England); Owen made a public profession of his new faith in his publication _The Rational quarterly review_ and later wrote a pamphlet, ''The future of the Human race; or great glorious and future revolution to be effected through the agency of departed spirits of good and superior men and women.[46]

Image:Frank Podmore.jpg|Frank Podmore, ca. 1895. File:Portrait of Sir William Crookes (1832 - 1919), chemist Wellcome M0002308.jpg|William Crookes. Photo published 1904. Image:Harry price by william hope.jpg|Harry Price, 1922.

A number of scientists who investigated the phenomenon also became converts. They included chemist and physicist William Crookes (1832–1919), evolutionary biologist Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913) and physicist Sir Oliver Lodge.[47] Nobel laureate Pierre Curie was impressed by the mediumistic performances of Eusapia Palladino and advocated their scientific study.[48] Other prominent adherents included journalist and pacifist William T. Stead (1849–1912)[49] and physician and author Arthur Conan Doyle (1859–1930).[50]

Doyle, who lost his son Kingsley in World War I, was also a member of the Ghost Club. Founded in London in 1862, its focus was the scientific study of alleged paranormal activities in order to prove (or refute) the existence of paranormal phenomena. Famous members of the club included Charles Dickens, Sir William Crookes, Sir William F. Barrett, and Harry Price.[51] The Paris séances of Eusapia Palladino were attended by an enthusiastic Pierre Curie and a dubious Marie Curie. The celebrated New York City physician, John Franklin Gray, was a prominent spiritualist.[52] Thomas Edison wanted to develop a “spirit phone”, an ethereal device that would summon to the living the voices of the dead and record them for posterity.[53]

The claims of Spiritualists and others as to the reality of spirits were investigated by the Society for Psychical Research, founded in London in 1882. The society set up a Committee on Haunted Houses.[54]

Prominent investigators who exposed cases of fraud came from a variety of backgrounds, including professional researchers such as Frank Podmore of the Society for Psychical Research and Harry Price of the National Laboratory of Psychical Research, and professional conjurers such as John Nevil Maskelyne. Maskelyne exposed the Davenport brothers by appearing in the audience during their shows and explaining how the trick was done. [Houdini exposed the tricks of “mediums”.] The psychical researcher Hereward Carrington exposed fraudulent mediums' tricks, such as those used in slate-writing, table-turning, trumpet mediumship, materializations, sealed-letter reading, and spirit photography.[55] The skeptic Joseph McCabe, in his book _Is Spiritualism Based on Fraud?_ (1920), documented many fraudulent mediums and their tricks.[56]

Magicians and writers on magic have a long history of exposing the fraudulent methods of mediumship. During the 1920s, professional magician Harry Houdini undertook a well-publicised campaign to expose fraudulent mediums; he was adamant that “Up to the present time everything that I have investigated has been the result of deluded brains.”[57] Other magician or magic-author debunkers of spiritualist mediumship have included Chung Ling Soo,[58] Henry Evans,[59] Julien Proskauer,[60] Fulton Oursler,[61] Joseph Dunninger,[62] and Joseph Rinn.[63]

In February 1921 Thomas Lynn Bradford, in an experiment designed to ascertain the existence of an afterlife, committed suicide in his apartment by blowing out the pilot light on his heater and turning on the gas. After that date, no further communication from him was received by an associate whom he had recruited for the purpose.[64]

Unorganized movement

The movement quickly spread throughout the world; though only in the United Kingdom did it become as widespread as in the United States.[65] Spiritualist organizations were formed in America and Europe, such as the London Spiritualist Alliance, which published a newspaper called _The Light_, featuring articles such as “Evenings at Home in Spiritual Séance”, “Ghosts in Africa” and “Chronicles of Spirit Photography”, advertisements for “Mesmerists” and patent medicines, and letters from readers about personal contact with ghosts.[66] In Britain, by 1853, invitations to tea among the prosperous and fashionable often included table-turning, a type of séance in which spirits were said to communicate with people seated around a table by tilting and rotating the table. One prominent convert was the French pedagogist Allan Kardec (1804–1869), who made the first attempt to systematise the movement's practices and ideas into a consistent philosophical system. Kardec's books, written in the last 15 years of his life, became the textual basis of spiritism, which became widespread in Latin countries. In Brazil, Kardec's ideas are embraced by many followers today.[67][68][69] In Puerto Rico, Kardec's books were widely read by the upper classes, and eventually gave birth to a movement known as _mesa blanca_ (white table). [Middle-class Chicago women discuss spiritualism (1906)] Spiritualism was mainly a middle- and upper-class movement, and especially popular with women. American Spiritualists would meet in private homes for séances, at lecture halls for trance lectures, at state or national conventions, and at summer camps attended by thousands. Among the most significant of the camp meetings were Camp Etna, in Etna, Maine; Onset Bay Grove, in Onset, Massachusetts; Lily Dale, in western New York State; Camp Chesterfield, in Indiana; the Wonewoc Spiritualist Camp, in Wonewoc, Wisconsin; and Lake Pleasant, in Montague, Massachusetts. In founding camp meetings, the Spiritualists appropriated a form developed by U.S. Protestant denominations in the early nineteenth century. Spiritualist camp meetings were located most densely in New England, but were also established across the upper Midwest. Cassadaga, Florida, is the most notable Spiritualist camp meeting in the southern states.[70][71][72]

A number of Spiritualist periodicals appeared in the nineteenth century, and these did much to hold the movement together. Among the most important were the weeklies the _Banner of Light_ (Boston), the _Religio-Philosophical Journal_ (Chicago), _Mind and Matter_ (Philadelphia), the _Spiritualist_ (London), and the _Medium_ (London). Other influential periodicals were the _Revue Spirite_ (France), _Le Messager_ (Belgium), _Annali dello Spiritismo_ (Italy), _El Criterio Espiritista_ (Spain), and the _Harbinger of Light_ (Australia). By 1880, there were about three dozen monthly Spiritualist periodicals published around the world.[73] These periodicals differed a great deal from one another, reflecting the great differences among Spiritualists. Some, such as the British _Spiritual Magazine_ were Christian and conservative, openly rejecting the reform currents so strong within Spiritualism. Others, such as _Human Nature_, were pointedly non-Christian and supportive of socialism and reform efforts. Still others, such as the _Spiritualist_, attempted to view Spiritualist phenomena from a scientific perspective, eschewing discussion on both theological and reform issues.[74]

Books on the supernatural were published for the growing middle class, such as 1852's _Mysteries_, by Charles Elliott, which contains “sketches of spirits and spiritual things”, including accounts of the Salem witch trials, the Lane ghost, and the Rochester rappings.[75] _The Night Side of Nature_, by Catherine Crowe, published in 1853, provided definitions and accounts of wraiths, doppelgängers, apparitions and haunted houses.[76]

Mainstream newspapers treated stories of ghosts and haunting as they would any other news story. An account in the _Chicago Daily Tribune_ in 1891, “sufficiently bloody to suit the most fastidious taste”, tells of a house believed to be haunted by the ghosts of three murder victims seeking revenge against their killer's son, who was eventually driven insane.

Many families, “having no faith in ghosts”, thereafter moved into the house, but all soon moved out again.[77]

In the 1920s many “psychic” books were published of varied quality. Such books were often based on excursions initiated by the use of Ouija boards. A few of these popular books displayed unorganized Spiritualism, though most were less insightful.[78]

The movement was extremely individualistic, with each person relying on his or her own experiences and reading to discern the nature of the afterlife. Organisation was therefore slow to appear, and when it did it was resisted by mediums and trance lecturers. Most members were content to attend Christian churches, and particularly universalist churches harboured many Spiritualists.

As the Spiritualism movement began to fade, partly through the publicity of fraud accusations and partly through the appeal of religious movements such as Christian science, the Spiritualist Church was organised. This church can claim to be the main vestige of the movement left today in the United States.[79][80]

Other mediums

[Emma Hardinge Britten] London-born Emma Hardinge Britten (1823–99) moved to the United States in 1855 and was active in Spiritualist circles as a trance lecturer and organiser. She is best known as a chronicler of the movement's spread, especially in her 1884 _Nineteenth Century Miracles: Spirits and Their Work in Every Country of the Earth_, and her 1870 _Modern American Spiritualism_, a detailed account of claims and investigations of mediumship beginning with the earliest days of the movement.

William Stainton Moses (1839–92) was an Anglican clergyman who, in the period from 1872 to 1883, filled 24 notebooks with automatic writing, much of which was said to describe conditions in the spirit world. However, Frank Podmore was skeptical of his alleged ability to communicate with spirits and Joseph McCabe described Moses as a “deliberate impostor”, suggesting his apports and all of his feats were the result of trickery.[81][82]

Adelma Vay (1840–1925), Hungarian (by origin) spiritistic medium, homeopath and clairvoyant, authored many books about spiritism, written in German and translated into English.

Eusapia Palladino (1854–1918) was an Italian Spiritualist medium from the slums of Naples who made a career touring Italy, France, Germany, Britain, the United States, Russia and Poland. Palladino was said by believers to perform spiritualist phenomena in the dark: levitating tables, producing apports, and materializing spirits. On investigation, all these things were found to be products of trickery.[83][84]

The British medium William Eglinton (1857–1933) claimed to perform spiritualist phenomena such as movement of objects and materializations. All of his feats were exposed as tricks.[85][86]

The Bangs Sisters, Mary “May” E. Bangs (1862-1917) and Elizabeth “Lizzie” Snow Bangs (1859-1920), were two Spiritualist mediums based in Chicago, who made a career out of painting the dead or “Spirit Portraits”.

Mina Crandon (1888–1941), a spiritualist medium in the 1920s, was known for producing an ectoplasm hand during her séances. The hand was later exposed as a trick when biologists found it to be made from a piece of carved animal liver.[87] In 1934, the psychical researcher Walter Franklin Prince described the Crandon case as “the most ingenious, persistent, and fantastic complex of fraud in the history of psychic research.”[88] [Helen Duncan] The American voice medium Etta Wriedt (1859-1942) was exposed as a fraud by the physicist Kristian Birkeland when he discovered that the noises produced by her trumpet were caused by chemical explosions induced by potassium and water and in other cases by lycopodium powder.[89]

Another well-known medium was the Scottish materialization medium Helen Duncan (1897–1956). In 1928 photographer Harvey Metcalfe attended a series of séances at Duncan's house and took flash photographs of Duncan and her alleged “materialization” spirits, including her spirit guide “Peggy”.[90] The photographs revealed the “spirits” to have been fraudulently produced, using dolls made from painted papier-mâché masks, draped in old sheets.[91] Duncan was later tested by Harry Price at the National Laboratory of Psychical Research; photographs revealed Duncan's ectoplasm to be made from cheesecloth, rubber gloves, and cut-out heads from magazine covers.[92][93]

Evolution

Spiritualists reacted with an uncertainty to the theories of evolution in the late 19th and early 20th century. Broadly speaking the concept of evolution fitted the spiritualist thought of the progressive development of humanity. At the same time, however, the belief in the animal origins of humanity threatened the foundation of the immortality of the spirit, for if humans had not been created by God, it was scarcely plausible that they would be specially endowed with spirits. This led to Spiritualists embracing spiritual evolution.[94]

The Spiritualists' view of evolution did not stop at death. Spiritualism taught that after death spirits progressed to spiritual states in new spheres of existence. According to Spiritualists evolution occurred in the spirit world “at a rate more rapid and under conditions more favourable to growth” than encountered on earth.[95]

In a talk at the London Spiritualist Alliance, John Page Hopps (1834–1911) supported both evolution and Spiritualism. Hopps claimed humanity had started off imperfect “out of the animal's darkness” but would rise into the “angel's marvellous light”. Hopps claimed humans were not fallen but rising creatures and that after death they would evolve on a number of spheres of existence to perfection.[96]

Theosophy is in opposition to the spiritualist interpretation of evolution. Theosophy teaches a metaphysical theory of evolution mixed with human devolution. Spiritualists do not accept the devolution of the theosophists. To theosophy humanity starts in a state of perfection (see Golden age) and falls into a process of progressive materialization (devolution), developing the mind and losing the spiritual consciousness. After the gathering of experience and growth through repeated reincarnations humanity will regain the original spiritual state, which is now one of self-conscious perfection.

Theosophy and Spiritualism were both very popular metaphysical schools of thought especially in the early 20th century and thus were always clashing in their different beliefs. Madame Blavatsky was critical of Spiritualism; she distanced theosophy from Spiritualism as far as she could and allied herself with eastern occultism.[97]

[Gerald Massey]

The Spiritualist Gerald Massey claimed that Darwin's theory of evolution was incomplete:

  The theory contains only one half the explanation of man's origins and needs spiritualism to carry it through and complete it. For while this ascent on the physical side has been progressing through myriads of ages, the Divine descent has also been going on—man being spiritually an incarnation from the Divine as well as a human development from the animal creation. The cause of the development is spiritual. Mr. Darwin's theory does not in the least militate against ours—we think it necessitates it; he simply does not deal with our side of the subject. He can not go lower than the dust of the earth for the matter of life; and for us, the main interest of our origin must lie in the spiritual domain.[98]

Spiritualists believed that without Spiritualism “the doctrine of Darwin is a broken link”. Gerald Massey said “Spiritualism will accept evolution, and carry it out and make both ends meet in the perfect circle”.[99]

A famous medium who rejected evolution was Cora L. V. Scott; she dismissed evolution in her lectures and instead supported a type of pantheistic Spiritualism.[100]

Alfred Russel Wallace believed qualitative novelties could arise through the process of spiritual evolution, in particular the phenomena of life and mind. Wallace attributed these novelties to a supernatural agency.[101] Later in his life, Wallace was an advocate of Spiritualism and believed in an immaterial origin for the higher mental faculties of humans; he believed that evolution suggested that the universe had a purpose, and that certain aspects of living organisms are not explainable in terms of purely materialistic processes, in a 1909 magazine article entitled “The World of Life”, which he later expanded into a book of the same name.[102] Wallace argued in his 1911 book _World of Life_ for a spiritual approach to evolution and described evolution as “creative power, directive mind and ultimate purpose”. Wallace believed natural selection could not explain intelligence or morality in the human being so suggested that non-material spiritual forces accounted for these. Wallace believed the spiritual nature of humanity could not have come about by natural selection alone, the origins of the spiritual nature must originate “in the unseen universe of spirit”.[103][104]

Oliver Lodge also promoted a version of spiritual evolution in his books _Man and the Universe_ (1908), _Making of Man_ (1924) and _Evolution and Creation_ (1926). The spiritualist element in the synthesis was most prominent in Lodge's 1916 book _Raymond, or Life and Death_ which revived a large interest for the public in the paranormal.[105]

After the 1920s

After the 1920s, Spiritualism evolved in three different directions, all of which exist today.

Syncretism

The first of these continued the tradition of individual practitioners, organised in circles centered on a medium and clients, without any hierarchy or dogma. Already by the late 19th century Spiritualism had become increasingly syncretic, a natural development in a movement without central authority or dogma.[106] Today, among these unorganised circles, Spiritualism is similar to the new age movement. However, theosophy with its inclusion of Eastern religion, astrology, ritual magic and reincarnation is an example of a closer precursor of the 20th century new age movement.[107] Today's syncretic Spiritualists are quite heterogeneous in their beliefs regarding issues such as reincarnation or the existence of God. Some appropriate new age and neo-pagan beliefs, while others call themselves “Christian spiritualists”, continuing with the tradition of cautiously incorporating spiritualist experiences into their Christian faith.

Spiritualist art

The Spiritualism also influenced art, having a pervasive influence on artistic consciousness, with spiritualist art having a huge impact on what became modernism and therefore art today.[108]

The Spiritualism also inspired the pioneering abstract art of Vasily Kandinsky, Piet Mondrian, Kasimir Malevich and Frantisek Kupka.[109]

Spiritualist church

The second direction taken has been to adopt formal organization, patterned after Christian denominations, with established liturgies and a set of seven principles, and training requirements for mediums. In the United States the spiritualist churches are primarily affiliated either with the National Spiritualist Association of Churches or the loosely allied group of denominations known as the spiritual church movement; in the U.K. the predominant organization is the Spiritualists' National Union, founded in 1890. [Arthur Conan Doyle, creator of Sherlock Holmes] Formal education in spiritualist practice emerged in 1920s, with organizations like the William T. Stead Center in Chicago, Illinois, and continue today with the Arthur Findlay College at Stansted Hall in England, and the Morris Pratt Institute in Wisconsin, United States.

Diversity of belief among organized Spiritualists has led to a few schisms, the most notable occurring in the U.K. in 1957 between those who held the movement to be a religion _sui generis_ (of its own with unique characteristics), and a minority who held it to be a denomination within Christianity. In the United States, this distinction can be seen between the less Christian organization, the National Spiritualist Association of Churches, and the more Christian spiritual church movement.

The practice of organized Spiritualism today resembles that of any other religion, having discarded most showmanship, particularly those elements resembling the conjurer's art. There is thus a much greater emphasis on “mental” mediumship and an almost complete avoidance of the apparently miraculous “materializing” mediumship that so fascinated early believers such as Arthur Conan Doyle.[110] The first Spiritualist church in Australia was the United Stanmore & Enmore Spiritualist Church[111] established in 1913. In 1921, Conan Doyle gave a farewell to Australia speech there.

Psychical research

Already as early as 1882, with the founding of the Society for Psychical Research (SPR), parapsychologists emerged to investigate spiritualist claims.[112] The SPR's investigations into Spiritualism exposed many fraudulent mediums which contributed to the decline of interest in physical mediumship.[113]

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[41] _Preliminary Report of the Commission Appointed by the University of Pennsylvania_, The Seybert Commission, 1887. 2004-04-01.

[42] Williams, Montagu Stephen. 1891. _Later Leaves: Being the Further Reminiscences of Montagu Williams._ Macmillan. See chapter 8.

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[56] Joseph McCabe. (1920). _Is Spiritualism based on Fraud?: The Evidence Given by Sir A.C. Doyle and Others Drastically Examined_. London: Watts & Co.

[57] _A Magician Among the Spirits_, Harry Houdini, Arno Press (June 1987),

[58] Chung Ling Soo. (1898). _Spirit Slate Writing and Kindred Phenomena_. Munn & Company.

[59] Henry Evans. (1897). _Hours With the Ghosts Or Nineteenth Century Witchcraft_. Kessinger Publishing.

[60] Julien Proskauer. (1932). _Spook crooks! Exposing the secrets of the prophet-eers who conduct our wickedest industry_. New York, A. L. Burt.

[61] Fulton Oursler. (1930). _Spirit Mediums Exposed_. New York: Macfadden Publications.

[62] Joseph Dunninger. (1935). _Inside the Medium's Cabinet_. New York, D. Kemp and Company.

[63] Joseph Rinn. (1950). _Sixty Years Of Psychical Research: Houdini And I Among The Spiritualists_. Truth Seeker.

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[66] _The Light: A Journal Devoted to the Highest Interests of Humanity, both Here and Hereafter, Vol I, January to December 1881_, London Spiritualist Alliance, Eclectic Publishing Company: London, 1882.

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[74] (Alvarado, Biondi, and Kramer 2006: 61–63)

[75] Charles Wyllys Elliott, _Mysteries, or Glimpses of the Supernatural_, Harper & Bros: New York, 1852.

[76] Catherine Crowe, _The Night Side of Nature, or Ghosts and Ghost-seers_, Redfield: New York, 1853.

[77] “Dreadful Tale of a Haunted Man in Newton County, Missouri”, _Chicago Daily Tribune_, January 4, 1891.

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[81] Frank Podmore. (1902). _Modern Spiritualism: A History and a Criticism_. Volume 2. Methuen & Company. pp. 283-287 “It seems reasonable to conclude that all the marvels reported at [Moses] seances were, in fact, produced by the medium's own hands: that it was he who tilted the table and produced the raps, that the scents, the seed pearls, and the Parian statuettes were brought into the room in his pockets: and that the spirit lights were, in fact, nothing more than bottles of phosphorised oil. Nor would the feats described have required any special skill on the medium's part.”

[82] Joseph McCabe. (1920). _Spiritualism: A Popular History From 1847_. Dodd, Mead and Company. pp. 151-173

[83] Joseph Jastrow. (1918). _The Psychology of Conviction_. Houghton Mifflin Company. pp. 101-127

[84] Walter Mann. (1919). _The Follies and Frauds of Spiritualism_. Rationalist Association. London: Watts & Co. pp. 115-130

[85] Montague Summers. (2010). _Physical Phenomena of Mysticism_. Kessinger Publishing. p. 114. . Also see Barry Wiley. (2012). _The Thought Reader Craze: Victorian Science at the Enchanted Boundary_. McFarland. p. 35.

[86] Simeon Edmunds. (1966). _Spiritualism: A Critical Survey_. Aquarian Press. p. 105. “1876 also saw the first of several exposures of another physical medium, William Eglington, in whose trunk a false beard and a quantity of muslin were found by Archdeacon Colley. He was exposed again in 1880, after which he turned to slate-writing. In this he was exposed by Richard Hodgson and S. J. Davey of the SPR in 1885. Davey, a clever conjuror, was able to duplicate all Eglington's phenomena so perfectly that some Spiritualists, notably Alfred Russel Wallace, insisted that he too was really a genuine medium.”

[87] Brian Righi. (2008). _Ghosts, Apparitions and Poltergeists: An Exploration of the Supernatural through History_. Llewellyn Publications. p. 52. “One medium of the 1920s, Mina Crandon, became famous for producing ectoplasm during her sittings. At the height of the séance, she was even able to produce a tiny ectoplasmic hand from her navel, which waved about in the darkness. Her career ended when Harvard biologists were able to examine the tiny hand and found it to be nothing more than a carved piece of animal liver.”

[88] C. E. M. Hansel. (1989). _The Search for Psychic Power: ESP and Parapsychology Revisited_. Prometheus Books. p. 245.

[89] Joseph McCabe. (1920). _Is Spiritualism based on Fraud?: The Evidence Given by Sir A.C. Doyle and Others Drastically Examined_. London: Watts & Co. p. 126

[90] Malcolm Gaskill. (2001). _Hellish Nell: Last of Britain's Witches_. Fourth Estate. p. 100.

[91] Jason Karl. (2007). _An Illustrated History of the Haunted World_. New Holland Publishers. p. 79.

[92] Simeon Edmunds. (1966). _Spiritualism: A Critical Survey_. Aquarian Press. pp. 137-144.

[93] Paul Kurtz. (1985). _A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology_. Prometheus Books. p. 599.

[94] Janet Oppenheim, The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850–1914, 1988, p. 267

[95] Janet Oppenheim, The Other World: Spiritualism and Psychical Research in England, 1850–1914, 1988, p. 270

[96]

[97] G. Baseden Butt, Madame Blavatsky, p. 120

[98] Gerald Massey, _Concerning Evolution_, p. 55

[99] Gerald Massey, Concerning evolution, pp. 60–61

[100] Frank Podmore, Bob Gilbert, Modern spiritualism: a history and a criticism: Volume 2, 2001, pp. 135–136

[101] Debora Hammond, The Science of Synthesis: Exploring the Social Implications of General Systems Theory, 2003, p. 39

[102]

[103] Martin Fichman, An elusive Victorian: the evolution of Alfred Russel Wallace, 2004, p. 159

[104] Edward Clodd, Question: A Brief History and Examination of Modern Spiritualism, p. 300

[105] Peter J. Bowler, Science for all: the popularization of science in early twentieth-century, 2009, p. 44

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[107]

[108] https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20191001-how-spiritualism-influenced-modern-art

[109] https://www.nytimes.com/1986/12/21/arts/art-view-how-the-spiritual-infused-the-abstract.html

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[112] Ray Hyman. (1985). _A Critical Historical Overview of Parapsychology_. In Paul Kurtz. _A Skeptic's Handbook of Parapsychology_. Prometheus Books. pp. 3-96.

[113] Rosemary Guiley. (1994). _The Guinness Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits_. Guinness Publishing. p. 311.

title: Spiritualism

question: What proof did Spiritualists have of an evolving afterlife?

answer: None, they primarily depended on the word of accomplished mediums who may or may not have been lying.