Category: News

As Oskar Reinhart’s Winterthur art museum near Zurich is undergoing refurbishment this year, The Courtauld has cleverly seized the opportunity to display twenty-five of its more important works in its exhibition Goya to Impressionism: Masterpieces from the Oskar Reinhart Collection. This is a real coup, the Winterthur collection never having loaned out its painting en masse like this before, alone marking the exhibition an exciting one. Reinhart’s predilection for the ever-popular Impressionists also affords the occasion for a crowd-pleasing show. While perforce eclectic, a substantial number of the paintings, more than one might expect, really do strike home.

The show opens with Goya’s sole contribution, Still Life with Three Salmon Steaks (1808-12). An exercise in skill rather than delight, there is little appetising about these slabs of fish flesh which, probably intentionally, look more like meat. This painting has attracted considerable interest, perhaps being an allegory, in a time of political censorship, for the dreadful carnage of the Napoleonic War, so famously depicted in Goya’s other works. Next to it, and equally dominated by a gloomy, crepuscular background, is Théodore Géricault’s A Man Suffering from Delusions of Military Rank (c. 1819-22), a study, it is believed, in mental illness, with the subject wearing his hospital tag like a military medal. (The theme of psychological disquiet within a hospital is returned to later in the show). The melancholy continues with Gustave Courbet’s The Wave (1870), a large time leap to an artist who inspired early Impressionists, in which a crushing wave under a storm-laden sky threatens to soak the viewer. And then, in a complete change of mood, comes Courbet’s The Hammock (1844), an airy, light-weight work depicting a young woman provocatively lolling in a grove. Controversial in its time, it is as if a Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood picture has turned just a bit seedy. More decorum is afforded to Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot’s Girl Reading (1850-55): sweet, accomplished and perhaps a little dull. That this painting was a favourite of Reinhart, and that Pierre-Auguste Renoir (as we shall see) was his most much-loved Impressionist, strongly suggests a substantial sentimental streak within the collector. 

From hereon in we are in mid-1860s onwards territory. The rest of the first room comprises four more paintings. Two are portraits by Edouard Manet and Cézanne, the latter, yet another Portrait of Dominque Aubert (1866), being the more accomplished of the two. Here, Cézanne lays on thick applications of oils with a palette knife and establishes his potential as an artist. Even so, both he and the later Manet (1873) still adhere to a conventional murky, even black, background. A distinctly odd Honoré Daumier painting, Don Quixote and Sancho Panza (c.1865-70), sees Mannerism meet the modern. Finally, the first of four Renoirs makes its appearance, the frankly hideous Lily and the Greenhouse Plants (1864), an early effort devoid of his later lustre and sparkle.

If this seems an unimposing start, the second room begins in a similar vein, with three more Renoirs in a row, all portraits. While one can appreciate the delicacy of Renoir’s brushwork and execution, the effect is almost uniformly saccharine and just plain twee. What people see in his depictions of chubbily cherubic children, fit only for the lid of a Victorian biscuit tin, I cannot fathom. His adults are rarely better. But the middle of the three on show — Portrait of Victor Chocquet (c. 1876) — has the merit of being more interesting than the others. The subject, being male, is not depicted with the usual degree of Renoir’s grating, soft focus filter. Here, the black gaze of Chocquet contrasts with great effect the lightness and colour of the rest of the painting. At least we have moved on from the omnipresent sepulchral backgrounds of earlier portrait painting.

And then the transformation begins. The following eight paintings on the next two walls have a sensational effect, both collectively and individually. The ubiquitous but, at the same time, neglected Alfred Sisley (where was the exhibition to celebrate his works last year during the 150th anniversary celebrations of Impressionism’s beginnings?) starts things off gently and assuredly with Barges on the Saint-Martin Canal (1870). Here we are acquainted fully with the familiar Impressionist style. It is a typical Sisley and, like all his work, a scene out in the open. Short strokes capture the water while the grey clouds behind bare trees retain a blueish tinge for light. Next to him, Claude Monet takes Impressionism some steps further with his Break-up of Ice on the Seine (1880-1), its pinkish, light-blue hues for sky and river and white dabs for ice approach the abstract, while assuredly and with great control not crossing into it. The elegiac atmosphere is reinforced by the knowledge that Monet had recently lost his wife.

Cézanne’s absolute mastery and understanding of colour truly elevate his still lifes to great art

Three majestic Cézannes are displayed in succession. Two wonderful landscapes — The Pilon du Roi (1887-88) and The Château Noir (c.1885) — depict the groundbreaking skill of the artist, the first admirably displaying his technique of horizontal planar layering to project perspective, the latter adding mystery at the deliberate expense of clarity as we peer through lush, green trees to a non-distinct ochre building. But best of all — and for this viewer the highlight of the exhibition — is his large and ambitious Still Life with Faience Jug and Fruit (c. 1900), which, in his characteristic modernist inclinations, renders the simple and quotidian into something both luxurious and indulgent and, simultaneously, imbuing it with profound meaning. Here there is less of his more familiar still life off-lines, lack of physical balance, gravity-defying fruit and tables seemingly defying the laws of physics. It really is beautiful. Cézanne’s absolute mastery and understanding of colour truly elevate his still lifes to great art. Make no mistake, it is Cézanne who dominates this exhibition.

Another visionary of colour presented here is Van Gogh. He will always cause the greatest herding around a painting in any show. The two on display at The Courtauld do just that. The Courtyard of the Hospital at Arles (1889) wonderfully depicts a scene of yellows and flowers which remains very much the same to this day. Much rarer is his The Ward in the Hospital at Arles (1889), an interior that is altogether more uneasy in tone. Van Gogh stayed there, convalescing after his self-mutilating breakdown. As he wrote to his brother, “a few days in the hospital were very interesting …. One perhaps learns how to live from the sick.” One is unsettlingly reminded of sketches made by prisoners of war in internment camps. 

An ordinary Manet and Toulouse-Lautrec, and two watercolours (the only ones in the show) by Cézanne, almost complete the selection. But two others are eminently worthy of notice, both representing early-career achievements. Paul Gauguin’s richly coloured Blue Roofs (Rouen) (1884) and Picasso’s magnificent Portrait of Mateu Fernández de Soto (1901) from his blue period, reveal the talent of these artists before restraint and maturity were superseded by innovation for its own sake. That Picasso’s painting could easily be mistaken for a Cézanne reveals again how the French artist towers over this interesting and often exhilarating exhibition. For, as Picasso declared, Cézanne “is the father of us all”.

This award season has been all about Zoe Saldaña as she took home a bunch, including an Oscar, Golden Globe, BAFTA and Screen Actors Guild award for her role in “Emilia Pérez.” With all that winning, the 46-year-old actress has had to make plenty of acceptance speeches, and one thing they all have in common – she always makes time to thank her family.

It’s said that parents are a child’s first teachers, so who are the teachers who helped Zoe Saldaña reach the peak of her field? Here’s what we know about her parents.

A Daughter of Immigrants

Zoe Saldaña was born in New Jersey on June 19, 1978, to a Puerto Rican mother Asalia Nazario, and a Dominican father, Aridio Saldaña. Zoe and her two sisters grew up in a bilingual household, speaking Spanish and English in their home – something she proudly professed during her Oscar acceptance speech.

“My grandmother came to this country in 1961,” she said. “I am a proud child of immigrant parents with dreams and dignity and hardworking hands.”

Saldaña noted that she is the first Dominican-American actress to win an Academy Award expressing pride that she won for a role which required her to sing and speak Spanish.

Losing a Hero

Saldaña lived with her parents and sisters Mariel and Cisely in Queens, New York until their father, who she looks exactly like, died unexpectedly in a car accident in 1987. When she was 10 years old, Zoe’s mother sent the girls to the Dominican Republic to live with their grandparents while she worked as a courtroom translator and a hotel maid in New York City to support them.

In a 2015 AOL Original Series, “Zoe Saldaña Presents My Hero,” Zoe acknowledges the tremendous toll her dad’s loss took on her family.

“When we lost him, it was hard. It was very, very tragic. He was a really good guy,” she said.

Zoe honored her father by naming one of the three boys she shares with her husband, Marco Perego, Cy Aridio.

But Saldaña is forever grateful for the sacrifices her mother made to provide for her and her sisters, and she takes every opportunity to give her her flowers for being a source of support over the years.

“You protect us, guide us, and nurture our every inquiry. Through the thick of it all you manage to smile and face the universe with an open heart,” she wrote in a September 2019 Instagram post. “Your mother raised you well @asaliasaldana and now you get to show her just how powerful you are. Thank you mother! We will always remain your most apt pupils and biggest fans.”

Experts from the Health Research Board and Trinity College Dublin found that children who experienced dysfunction in their home life were more likely to go on to develop problem drug or alcohol dependence by the age of 20.

Dr Deirdre Mongan said the research, the first of its kind in Ireland, examined the link between nine adverse childhood events and alcohol/drug use in young adulthood.

“We’ve had anecdotal reports that drug use is embedded in childhood trauma, but this is the first time we’ve been able to try to quantify it in any meaningful way,” said one of the authors.

Using data from the Growing Up in Ireland (GUI) study, the research team examined the responses from 4,729 young people at the age of 20 on their experiences of stressful life events.

They were asked if they had experienced the death of a parent, a family member or a close friend. They were also questioned if there was conflict between their parents, a divorce or separation of their parents or a stay in a foster home or residential care.

We need to look beyond the person being treated and include the family around them

They were also asked if there was a mental-health disorder or a history of drug or alcohol abuse in the immediate family, or a parent in prison.

It emerged that children who experienced conflict between parents were 100pc more likely — twice as likely — to develop problem substance use, compared to a 56pc increased likelihood among children whose parents divorced or separated.

Dr Mongan said there was “no relationship” between childhood experience of divorce or separation and alcohol dependence as a young adult. However, she said there was a strong link to alcohol dependence in 20-year-olds who experienced conflict between parents.

The study found young adults with possible alcohol dependence were 73pc more likely to have suffered the death of a close friend. Overall, over a fifth of the group had suffered this kind of loss.

Conflict between parents was recorded for 30pc of young adults during the study period, with 22pc having experienced the divorce or separation of their parents.

A mental-health disorder in the immediate family was recorded for 15pc of the young adults, while almost 13pc reported having experienced drug taking or alcoholism in their family.

Excluding death of a family member other than a parent, just over 30pc of young adults had experienced two or more adverse childhood experiences during the study period, which studied the children at the ages of nine, 13, 17, and 20.

The study found three main childhood traumas were linked to alcohol dependence or problem drug use at the age of 20.

“If you experienced drug-taking or alcoholism in your immediate family, you were more than twice as likely to develop problem drug use as a young adult,” said Dr Mongan, research officer with the Health Research Board.

“If you had conflict between parents, again, you are twice as likely to have problem drug use as a young adult, and if there was a mental health disorder in the immediate family, it almost doubled the likelihood of using drugs.

“So those three adverse childhood experiences are most strongly associated with problem drug use.”

Conversely, the study found that young people who stayed in foster care or residential care or who had a parent in prison were less likely to binge drink or drink alcohol frequently compared to their peers.

But it found that 20-year-olds with addiction issues were three times more likely to have had a parent in prison.

Dr Mongan cautioned that these numbers were small, with 56 of the young adults experiencing foster or residential care and 53 having a parent in prison.

“And in some ways they’re quite contradictory – because if you look at having a parent in prison, our results suggest that you’re less likely to drink frequently or to binge drink, but you’re also more likely to have alcohol dependence.

“It seems to be that if you have a parent in prison, it can go one of two ways, either they avoid alcohol use, or they use it in a problematic way.

“We didn’t see any relationship between staying in a foster home or having a parent in prison with problem drug use. It could be the case that if you are staying in a foster home, you’ve been removed from a household with a lot of dysfunction.”

Dr Mongan stressed the cumulative effect of multiple adverse events in childhood. Young adults who experienced three or more adverse childhood experiences had a three-fold increased odds of alcohol dependence, compared to those who experienced no adverse events.

She said the findings show there is a need to help the children of people receiving treatment for a mental health problem or a drug or alcohol addiction.

“We need to look beyond the person being treated to also include the family around them.”

The studies have just been published in the Child Abuse and Neglect journal and the Addictive Behaviours journal.

No file has been sent to DPP on Kerry couple who were identified as parents Their life is still ‘on hold’ two years on, as Garda investigation continues

Two years ago this month, on a Thursday evening, a couple living in a small Kerry town had finished their day’s work, had eaten their evening meal and were pottering about their home.

They were a woman in her 50s, and her partner in his 60s, who both worked locally and were very much involved in their community. Their two adult children, who no longer lived at home, had gone to local schools and played sports locally.

Prominent Bronx businessman Sylvester Zottola, 71, was gunned down while ordering coffee at a local McDonald’s drive-thru on October 4, 2018.

“This was a targeted hit,” Jarrett J. Ferentino, a retired prosecutor, said in the “Death in the Drive-Through” episode of New York Homicide, which airs new episodes on Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on Oxygen. 

“Sylvester Zottola was trapped, like an animal, cornered and surrounded and repeatedly shot,” Ferentino added.

The gunman fired through the passenger-side window. “It was a gruesome sight,” said former New York City Police Department Homicide Detective Sean Butler. “There was blood everywhere.” 

Zottola’s slaying wasn’t a complete surprise to members of the NYPD. He’d faced several earlier death threats.

Sylvester Zottola’s ties to organized crime

Detectives initially considered that Zottola’s murder could have a mob tie. Gambling machines are the kind of business that draw the Mafia’s attention. It was no secret that Zottola was an associate of the Bonanno crime family.

Detectives formed a task force with the FBI to determine if Zottola had been whacked by the mob. But a thorough investigation “dispelled any notion that any of the five families were involved with the murder,” Butler told New York Homicide. 

RELATED: New York City Clubgoer Killed, Butchered, Dumped in Hudson River Over Drug Money

Detectives focus on previous death threats

Detectives looked closer at the previous death threats against Zottola. On September 8, 2017, an unidentified young male approached Zottola on the sidewalk and asked about a job opening. He then beat the elderly man up and left him with a broken rib.

On November 26, 2017, Zottola reported to police that a group of masked men tried to abduct him while he was in his car. Zottola was able to drive away.

On December 27, 2017, Zottola was brutally attacked in his home by men who tied him up and demanded money. Before leaving, “they ended up essentially slicing his throat,” said Soto. 

Zottola survived because his screams for help were heard by a neighbor who called 911. Detectives found no forced entry and a mystery concerning home-security footage. 

“We were told that the video either wasn’t working or was stolen by the perpetrators,” said Franz Ebertz, a now-retired NYPD detective.

Zottola went into hiding and only his inner circle knew of his whereabouts. “The family was terrified,” said Gerdes. “They had young children of their own, and they were just constantly looking over their shoulders.”

On June 12, 2018, Zottola was no longer in hiding. An assailant tried to shoot him outside his home, but the gun jammed. On July 11, Zottola’s son Salvatore was ambushed and shot and narrowly survived.

Sylvester Zottola’s car yields a key clue

A day after Zottola’s murder, detectives found a GPS tracking device in a wheel well of Zottola’s car. The tracker showed that Zottola had been targeted — and that the murder was a coordinated effort.

“Prior to when this tracking device was found, we were just scratching our heads and wondering why are they able to find Mr. Zottola all the time,” said NYPD Detective Jose Ortiz.

Detectives focused on the SIM card in the tracker to identify who’d placed the device. On October 11, 2018, two days after Zottola’s funeral, the GPS tracker information came in. 

The GPS data revealed that the tracker had been activated two days before the brutal homicide. That information led detectives to Topping Ave. in the Bronx.

“Detectives got video of individuals holding the tracking device and putting it on a car,” Gerdes said. “It appeared to me that those individuals were testing out the tracker.” 

Himen Ross and Bushawn Shelton become suspects

The video revealed two men who were known to police — Himen Ross and Bushawn Shelton, who worked as a recruiter but was also a high-ranking member of the Bloods street gang.

Police lacked evidence to arrest the men because the surveillance footage was not of Zottola’s vehicle. Days later, detectives caught a break thanks to another Bloods associate.

RELATED: The Disturbing Murders Behind Bodies Found on New York City Beaches

He told detectives that he was the attempted shooter in the June attack on Zottola. “He knows he had something to do with this plot, and he doesn’t want to have any part of an indictment or a conspiracy… so he comes forward and he goes to the police,” journalist Mary Murphy told New York Homicide. 

In return for a reduced sentence, the witness offered details about his role in the plot to kill Zottola on June 12. He said he was promised $10,000 and introduced to Shelton and Ross. 

“He was provided with a schedule, keys, security codes, all kinds of information, directing him to Mr. Zottola,” Ferentino said.

Anthony Zottola the brains behind murder plot against his dad

Shelton and Ross were arrested and their residences were searched. A cell phone found at Shelton’s home contained text messages that led to the shocking mastermind of the cruel murder — Anthony Zottola, the victim’s son.

“It was all Anthony feeding that information to Bushawn, and then Bushawn feeding it to the individuals acting on it,” said Ortiz. 

Shelton’s text messages also revealed that in late September of 2018, he hired Ross to pull the trigger in the attack at the McDonald’s, according to New York Homicide.

“Moments after Sylvester Zottola was gunned down, Shelton called Anthony and told him the deed was done,” said Robert K. Boyce, a former NYPD Chief of Detectives who now hosts New York Homicide. “Then he texted him, ‘Can we party today or tomorrow?’”

Butler said, “I think the motive behind Anthony is just pure greed.”

RELATED: NY Man Found Guilty Of Elderly Father’s 2018 Assassination To Rule Multi-Million Dollar Real Estate Business

Anthony Zottola arrested for his father’s murder

Shelton and eight co-conspirators were charged in connection to the attacks on the Zottola family. Anthony was charged with murder-for-hire on June 17, 2019.

In August of 2022, Shelton pleaded guilty to murder for hire. He and Ross were sentenced to 37 years in prison. Anthony was sentenced to life in prison, plus 112 years. That additional time was the combined ages of his father and brother.

“What we were seeing in this case was just a level of greed and depravity that I had never seen before,” Gerdes said.

To learn more about the case, watch the “Death in the Drive-Through” episode of New York Homicide, which airs new episodes on Saturdays at 9/8c p.m. on Oxygen.

Liam Gallagher is facing a new legal challenge from the mother of his love child, just as the Oasis reunion tour looms large.

Liza Ghorbani, 51, who shares 12-year-old daughter Gemma with the rockstar, has reportedly filed for a significant increase in child support payments. 

A source close to Liam claims Ghorbani is asking for a ‘silly amount,’ taking advantage of Liam’s upcoming payday from the Oasis reunion, which is expected to net the singer a cool £50million.

‘It’s clear that Liza and her legal team are hoping to cash in on Liam’s big tour earnings,’ said the insider to the Sun. 

‘He’s always been generous with his child maintenance, but now she’s asking for even more money. It’s causing Liam unnecessary stress as he prepares for the tour.’

The new claim, filed in the New York Supreme Court, comes after a confidential settlement was reached back in 2015. 

At the time, Liza was receiving £3,000 a month in child support, but it appears she’s now seeking a higher sum.

Liam, 52, and his brother Noel, 57, are set to earn a massive £50million each from their highly anticipated world tour. 

However, Liam’s personal life is once again being thrust into the spotlight as he battles the demands of his former fling.

A source said: ‘It’s added pressure on Liam, who’s never even met Gemma. This latest case is just one of the many issues he’s had to deal with when it comes to his personal life.’

The trouble began when Liam, who had a brief affair with Ghorbani in 2010, was forced to confront the paternity of Gemma after she filed a £2million lawsuit for child support in 2013. 

Liam was fined for missing court hearings and publicly admitted that he hadn’t met his daughter, although he offered to help her if needed.

The former Oasis frontman has had a tumultuous love life, with children from several relationships. 

He shares daughter Molly, 26, with singer Lisa Moorish and son Lennon, 25, with ex-wife Patsy Kensit. He also has son Gene, 23, with ex-wife Nicole Appleton.

Liam is now engaged to his former personal assistant, Debbie Gwyther, 40, and appears to be enjoying a more settled relationship. 

Representatives for Liam Gallagher and Liza Ghorbani have been approached for comment. 

Liam Gallagher appeared to confirmed Oasis’ line-up for their summer reunion as he revealed which members won’t be returning.

The musician, 52, told fans not to ‘get their knickers in a twist’ in an update to X and said he ‘holds no grudges’ with his brother Noel in a rant.

As he answered questions from his followers, he also confirmed that drummer Alan White will not be joining them for their highly anticipated reunion tour.

Liam previously confirmed that Oasis co-founder Paul Arthurs, who is better known as Bonehead, will, however, join the brothers as part of the lineup.

The band originally consisted of Liam, Noel Gallagher, Bonehead, Paul McGuigan (aka Guigsy) and Tony McCarroll.

Andy was Oasis’ drummer from 1995 to 2004 after Tony left the band, making him the longest-serving drummer. He was replaced by Zak Starkey in 2004.

EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — The cries of Liliana Olivero watching from Venezuela through a cellphone pierced through the somber Christian music and gusts of wind as her son’s casket was lowered into the ground.

Gustavo Alfonso Garcia Olivares died at 24, drowning in the Rio Grande not far from where he was buried Thursday at the Maverick County Cemetery in Eagle Pass, a Texas border town of about 30,000 people. About 10 people attended the service, which was streamed live to his parents in Venezuela.

It was the first funeral service for a migrant by Border Vigil, a human rights organization on the U.S.-Mexico border, one of the world’s deadliest.

“Today we’re trying to bring back some of that humanity not just by giving his name but also by having his photo and having his family in the service,” said Amerika Garcia Grewal with Border Vigil, which is supported by Frontera Federation.

It came a day after Vice President JD Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth visited Eagle Pass, which became a flashpoint between the Biden administration and Texas’ Republican governor, Greg Abbott, over who polices the border and how. The Trump administration and Abbott are closely aligned on border policy.

Border Vigil started in 2023 amid an increase in border crossings that led to many migrant deaths. The International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrants Project has tallied 6,438 dead and missing on the U.S.-Mexico border since 2014.

The U.S. Border Patrol’s published data goes through the 12-month period that ended Sept. 30, 2022, when 895 bodies were discovered by its own agents and other government agencies.

Garcia Olivares’ parents last saw their son alive in a video shared by a friend showing him crouched in a corner of a fast-moving train heading to Mexico’s northern border in 2023.

Victor Garcia recalled their last conversation: “Dad, I’m going to make it, Dad. Don’t worry because you won’t be in need anymore. I’ll buy Mom a house and I’ll help improve your business.”

He described his son as brave and ambitious, having learned to become a barber at 14. He encouraged his son to go to college, but he decided to seek a life in the United States. His mother never had a chance to say goodbye. Not until Thursday.

The ceremony “was very sentimental, sad, but at the same time we are able to breathe a sigh of relief,” the father said.

Garcia Olivares’ body was swept up in the river and identified through Operation ID, an academic organization that partners with state, federal and international agencies. Although his family preferred to have him buried back home, they could not afford the nearly $9,000 cost.

A church volunteer built the white pine paneled coffin. As the ceremony closed, a backhoe shoveled dirt into the grave and a placard was placed by a simple, white cross near two dozen similar crosses laying nearby in a corner lot of the cemetery near a maintenance shed.

___

This story has been updated to correct the name of the organization that supports Border Vigil. It is Frontera Federation, not Fronteras Fund.

• Jeremy Howe welcomes baby before GWS clash
• Footy star had time for a cuddle before flying out

By JAMES COONEY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 01:08 GMT, 9 March 2025 | Updated: 01:08 GMT, 9 March 2025

Warning: SPOILERS for 1923 Season 2, Episode 2, “The Rapist Is Winter.”1923 season 2, episode 2, paves the way for an awful character’s redemption — a character even more horrible than Banner Creighton (Jerome Flynn) or Donald Whitfield (Timothy Dalton). 1923 introduced chilling and controversial villains into the Yellowstone franchise. Still, most want to take the Duttons’ land, and we know they won’t succeed. In 1923 season 1, Whitfield wants the Yellowstone Ranch for its minerals. In season 2, he hatches a new business scheme after discovering his miners from Norway skiing down the side of the mountain.

However, the villains hunting Teonna Rainwater (Aminah Nieves) are more horrifying than anything the Duttons face in Montana. In 1923 season 2, Teonna is on the run from Father Renaud (Sebastian Roché) and Marshal Kent (Jamie McShane) after escaping an abusive boarding school in North Dakota. While they haven’t encountered Teonna yet in season 2, the men have terrorized other Indigenous American groups trying to find her. Still, a conversation between the obsessed men in episode 2 paints a vital difference between the predators.

How 1923 Season 2, Episode 2, Sets Up The Father’s Redemption

Father Renaud Has A Chance To Recognize His Cruelty

Believe it or not, the discussion between Father Renaud and Marshal Kent opens the door for the former’s redemption. While Renaud and Kent rest in episode 2, a group of young Comanche warriors attack them. Renaud and Kent fight back, supported by the Marshal’s keen gunslinging skills. However, Renaud is hesitant to use a weapon against their attackers, telling Kent that he is a man of God and implying that it isn’t righteous for him to kill. The comment was surprising, considering the Father beat one of his students to death in season 1.

Father Renaud notices the differences in ideals, giving him a chance to reflect.

In 1923 season 2, episode 2, a conversation between Renaud and Kent before the attack shows their essential differences. Renaud believes that if Indigenous Americans assimilate, they should be rewarded with equal rights. The conversation reveals that Renaud doesn’t think much of race and focuses more on whether a group of people has accepted “their evolution.” On the other hand, Kent proves he is simply bigoted with his treatment of Mamie Fossett (Jennifer Carpenter) and the suggestion that he doesn’t think people like Teonna deserve citizenship. Father Renaud notices the differences in ideals, giving him a chance to reflect.

Father Renaud’s Entanglement With Teonna Rainwater Explained

Renaud’s Boarding School Mission Informs His Obsession

Father Renaud is the leader of the Catholic Church-run boarding school Teonna attended. In line with the authentic government- or church-operated “Indian” boarding schools at the time, Renaud’s mission is to assimilate his students into “civilized society.” The slogan of the most infamous of these boarding schools was: “Kill the Indian, save the man.” The schools aimed to strip Indigenous American children of their culture to “save” them. Renaud is fixated on Teonna because he has dedicated himself to that mission, letting it prevent him from adhering to the mindset of love and acceptance that defines his religion.

The more time the priest spends with the Marshal, the more Father Renaud sees Kent’s bigoted ways. The difference between Renaud and Kent is that the Father genuinely believes he is doing the right thing. Kent, on the other hand, has proven to be brazenly discriminatory and prejudiced, using religion to justify his actions and assume forgiveness. The events in 1923 season 2 could cause Renaud to reconsider his predetermined ideas, and he could redeem himself by letting Teonna go free, realizing that he, too, has been unjustly discriminatory and cruel.

Remember, like it was yesterday, when Karan Johar was inexorably fixated on Alia Bhatt this, Alia Bhatt that, Alia Bhatt every two words I spout. The diminutive, baby-faced mascot of cute emojis had to sit the pouty gentleman down, and said: “You are not my mother! STFU.”

Freud has said: If it’s not one thing, it’s your mother.

Ever since I wrote my mother’s memoir, on her life as a tawaif before and after me, the title of which I find too long to type and refer in its abbreviated form as ‘TLC’ (Tender Loving Care), I have been talking nonstop about her. I wish to wash my hands of her. As timelines refresh, I look forward to when I do not have to mention her name, except when I am paid to reflect, like this gig. My ears may voluntarily turn deaf any moment now hearing my own nasal voice howl a thumri about her khooobsurti, hunar, adab, shokhi, adaa, saadgi and her unparalled akal-mandi arriving by the accidental criss-crossing of her gardish ke sitare.

My mother has been dead for two years. Grieving isn’t a daily ritual like a prayer when prayer itself isn’t a habit I wear like an undershirt. I want to move on to the next story. I want to tell my own story. It may not be as raw, brave, courageous (same as brave), poignant and inspiring as hers, as reviewed and reported in the media. That has made me jealous, unapproving of her posthumous glory. In sync with the vainglorious times we inhabit, let’s move on to the next chapter: Me, me, me.

My mother had a rough, tumultuous life, and thereof she then had the smarts to make my life velvety and painless. Even privileged, I would say. Not entitled, which is debatably a bulwark of lineage, but privileged, sure; in my case, elite boarding school education, a sheltered childhood and a healthy dose of pep talk: “Bade naazon se paala hai tujhe maine,” she said, “kisi baat ki kami nahi honay di hai.” You can almost hear a taraqqii-pasand sher, a ghazal, a melody in her tender voice. Yes, I know, I should not be making fun of her. But here’s the thing: she would dil khol ke welcome it. Part of surviving with grit is the ability to make light of it. Humour alleviates suffering. She balanced it stupendously.

I don’t get to complain about having a hard life. Nonpareil to hers, mine’s a moonwalk eclipsed by her strife. She had improved me in her mould. I unctuously resent her for it. She gets all the smoky, sultry, messy, masaledar Seventies disco and bang-bang drama. Mine is lyrically Nineties’ post-existential art house as watching a red balloon float into the blue, blooming sky. After a few minutes, one gets bored of staring at something so dull and uneventful. What else is a balloon’s fate other than fading into the white sun? I ask myself if that’s all I have to do for the rest of my life, hover in the shadow of my mother’s brilliant, meteoric rise in death.

In the dark comedy film ‘Throw Momma From The Train’, every time Danny DeVito, a wannabe writer, sits at his typewriter to punch a story, his irascible old mother interrupts him with an errand that makes him lose his train of thought. He struggles with his weird imagination to poison her Pepsi, impale her with surgical scissors, make her trip down a basement staircase or by blowing a trumpet into her ear. I wish for a similar confrontation. I imagine my dear and positively departed mother punching my Adam’s apple and saying: “Bas, chup kar, mujhe bolne de.” Let her nautch ghost dance. Touche.

The first time I was on stage at a literature festival to talk about my mother shortly after the release of her memoir, I was convinced that the glare of the strong light focused on us was partially blinding me. I was shaking like a leaf, my co-panellist, human rights activist Naseema Khatoon, informed me later. She was raised in a brothel. She spoke eloquently, formidably about her mother. What she said allayed my fears of speaking on stage, interacting with a crowd, facing a spotlight.

She said: “Hum andheron se nikalkar ab roshni mein hain, aur jo log ab tak roshni mein thay woh ab andhere mein hamein sun rahe hain.” (We emerge from the darkness into light, and those who were in the light now heed us in the dark).

Her encouraging words lit my tail. From then on, it became ‘todo sobre mi madre’ (all about my mother). I am able to re-direct the focus light on to my mother. When words fail me, I say: Just read the damn book!

I am, however, unequivocally abstemious of well-intentioned compliments from readers. You are so brave, it takes a lot of courage, I hear. No. Bravery and courage were not silver-stacked in my quiver to pull out at convenience. It was just about plucking the right sur in her voice, her truth. I am, what we call in political parlance, the spokesperson for her story. I don’t want to take any credit. If only she would briefly return without spooking (and ghungroos) to inform that I didn’t make her famous, it’s them readers, and instead of me, they should never stop talking about her.

For, if this serves as a fitting tribute to her who is often reductively introduced as my mother, but whom I always re-introduce as a woman of her own making, her own personhood first before any permanent labels are applied, this sher of Allama Iqbal, read aloud in ‘Pakeezah’s’ closing shot, places the writer as merely a gardener in the splendour:

Hazaaron saal nargis apni be-noori pe roti hai/Badi mushkil se hota hai chaman mein deeda-war paida (Unadmired, the narcissus weeps a thousand years/For an aesthete to cherish its inimitable beauty).

— The writer is the author of ‘TLC (The Last Courtesan: Writing My Mother’s Memoir)’ and ‘Lean Days’