Essay from Olya Atajanova

Young Central Asian woman with black hair and brown eyes and a dark green collared silk top.
Olya Atajanova

The role of Girls in Uzbekistan

       Today, in order to develop the social importance of women in all fields of science and culture, a number of activities are being carried out.

  In particular, several funds are being established to support women and girls.

An open election for the coordination of “Girls’ Voice” has been announced in all regions of the republic, and thus the problems and suggestions of regional girls are being studied.

   In addition, the number of girls entering higher education institutions is increasing.

A number of opportunities are being created for girls who suffer from social conditions, are married and have children.

  In particular, if a certain amount of their contract money is needed, all the amount is covered by the state.

  Earlier, our wives and daughters studied only in pedagogy and medicine, but today they work in sports, construction, law, industry, department and even Ministerial positions.

  If we look at world statistics, the social role of women and girls is active in developed countries, and on the contrary, the social role of women and girls is low in underdeveloped countries.

In the Republic of Uzbekistan, the establishment of the Zulfiya state award indicates how much attention is paid to our women and girls.

  For example: Tanzilla Narbayeva is the chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis, the president of the Cycling Federation of Uzbekistan, Sahkhnaza Joldasova is the chairman of the Youth Parliament under the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis, Marjana Jorakulova is the chairman of the Republican “Council of Young Professionals”.

  Loans and subsidies in the amount of two trillion soums were allocated to more than 200 thousand projects and employment of more than 320 thousand women and girls was provided.

2,000 girls were admitted to higher education on the basis of a grant, and 190,000 women were trained in professions.

The “Business Women” program for 2022-2024 was adopted.

  In particular, a project to support the education of women and girls will be developed for 2022-2026.

These indicators alone show how important our women and girls are in Uzbekistan.

Tanzilla Narbayeva is the chairman of the Senate of the Oliy Majlis , the president of the Cycling Federation of Uzbekistan.
Shakhnaza Joldasova is the chairman of the Youth Parliament under the Legislative Chamber of the Oliy Majlis.
Marjana Jorakulova is the chairman of the Republic’s Council of Young Professionals

Article is by Karakalpak State University named after Berdak, Faculty of Biology, 1st year student  Atajanova Ogultuvak Magsat kizi.

Poetry from Bruce Roberts

Terrorists Ukrainian

	So Vladimir has started a war,
A move the world will abhor,
	
Yet he is the one responsible—
	    War,  war, war—
Homes, apartments, hospitals, stores
	    All destroyed,
   Thousands killed—elderly,
	  Women, children,
	   Whole families—
  Ukrainian culture
	    Devastated
By Russian soldiers
    Impressed into service
      In a war they hate.

Yet when a drone is suspected
 Of trying to assassinate Vlad—
That’s Vlad the Mastermind,
	Vlad the Murderer—
He cries “TERRORISTS!”
	   The Horror!
	    To think
 Anyone would seek revenge
	For his multitude of 
	    War Crimes,
     As he sits comfortable 
     In his Kremlin office,
   Smirk of satisfaction
Gratifying his murderous face!
							


The Sun Also Swallows


Daily life—waking, sleeping, eating, cleaning, 
	walking, driving, learning, playing, 
			loving--etc! 
	This is how our time is spent,
	Born to the Earth, growing up,
	Filling our days with tedium,
		  With excitement,
	Until time is up, and we move on.

	Yet this mundane saga
			Of our own self-importance
	  Is paralleled, overshadowed,
		  Dwarfed even—
		   By science!

	Today’s paper told of a RED GIANT,
		A star in the far reaches
			Of our universe,
		  For countless years 
			Grown larger,
			 And larger,
		    Until one day
		   It swallowed—
      Yes, that’s the word used—
		   SWALLOWED--
		 A nearby planet.

	  Thus today, as I bask lazily
		 In our sun’s warmth,
	  Must always be the thought
		    That our sun 
		Will one day do the same—
		 SWALLOW the Earth
			That we love.

	Do I want to wait the 5 billion years
		  To see it happen?

Poetry from Vernon Frazer

Pricing Out 


cream detachment

heard a blast within

the many 

               and



          another antic



                                gone



         disaster commandeering



             reveals 

             a digital scribble racket



                       *



dark songs

measured loose bits

             as sacred



          deeper, prescient

          of swollen definition



more ale along the water bars



         flavor bursts

        replenish filched steel



Invigorating the spat



                                  unlike no



                 *



the bars crack shut 

their sea against marriage 







     roaming acclamations 

     across the surging gape 

          against 

                      the chronically nostalgic



                          as place 

                                      colors 

                                               drift



                                 no profit comes stainless 







Cognitive Flight in the Day Cart


ontological waters

 ear from a mattress sea



     bubbling rise singing 

          postulate shaft zero 

               in monochord plan



bookmark  prophecy cautious

of the weary regret 

                              her delay cold vibrations

     bleed

       the         scratched

     feats        precious militia culpas  

   parroting

                            the sound of wringer memories

    rotor

 torment                           supple slavering wings

                                        turn the commissioned jitney

                        his lost waters punctuating rubric



          plastered cigars

          numbing forklift patterns 

                   dark and strong





              every supposition doorway

              requires a widening alcove 



                                            the slump no victory 



                                     *



a speechless pent 

scripted percussive exchanging



     tidal ratcheting reflects

     mitosis beans with membranes 

     along the garbanzo torn   



                   with age laundering

                   the mashed clasp margins

                   stemming

                                    rank turn juices



          the cavernous claims clunk and scratch



                                         the discerning frenzy installation



desecrated scattered truths



                                            the roving self escaped pleasures




Christmas Spirited



vocalist workbench climb

bearded the somnolent hydrant

     its fin stain 

                       a wireless vacancy



          morbid curls 

          motoring the gray inscription



                              portable volume gone menu



a past among therm

fetal homecoming revenue

manipulated

                     breath pageants



          (the ravenous breathe frequency mustard)



                                *



              a stateroom glower 

       from past celebrant 

boiled the dreamer

                                                                              the

          delivering                                                  shaver

                                                                        curriculum

                           palette temples                          

                                to spite swallowers

                                     only one getaway fired



                 repentance scoreboard a facet achievement



                     the hinterlands 

                     a predicated nostrum



                                glimpsing 



                                      a roast metallurgist

                                      cackle before disparity 



                             a spectral typescript

                                                              dreamers ration







Current Events Downstream

cornered eyeballs 

lost their mimetic vibrations 



torn without swords

traffic vibrations transformed

atonal hamlets 



while masked 

the raisin hippies outlined 

galloping rejection



its repression invisibly dentist 



a pawned handbag

spilled their watercourse keep



iteration punctuating 

a dead period darkening ooze 



nitrous eyeballs 

burnt a lava memorial forward



old crease brickading

darkened the stalkers

dipping the bloodbath



a weary mist welled

scattered stapled trickles 



retrofit removed the newsman





A  Lost Season Coming Back




a sinking dock set flagons

steaming a leftward transit

lashed a nascent horsewhip        



a fresco malfunction churning 

fountains toward ruder color

turns the next night cautious



conjecture burns rumination

greatest hit payola memories



the jerk admonished to wait 

silent over a nominal milestone

stowed a disconsolate elastic



in the ebb vat last welled out

fruition spinning from stucco

in dribbles traces their tingle 



rudiments to fanlight colanders

spread through riot repression



an empty grip let bandwidth 

ripple equinox emerges angry
tips the ether bottles round



billiard asset cruises a sleek

atrium habitat infernal meter

glints a habit lost to vacuum



simulacra subsidy scatters

skin play’s tingling symbols



BIO



Vernon Frazer’s latest poetry collection is Memo from Alamut.



Poetry from Garret Schuelke

The Graves of Heroes and Villains

On my weekend vacation to Chicago, I revisited the graves of labor activists and leaders I've long admired, as well as the graves of two genuine, absolute monsters.

On the hero side: the Haymarket Martyrs', Emma Goldman, Lucy Parsons, and all the other socialists,   communists, anarchists, unionists, and other leftists buried in Forest Home Cemetery.

On the villain side: Allan Pinkerton and George Pullman - the mercenary and the industrialist, whose          actions and power decimated the poor and working class during their eras, buried in Graceland Cemetery.

(Additionally, I also visited the grave of famous boxer Jack Johnson, and returned to the grave of Augustus Dickens, brother of Charles Dickens.)

I remember part of a conversation I had with a Grand Rapids comedian on my podcast awhile back,            where we basically agreed that leftists generally care more about their comrades - living and dead - than reactionaries do.

Today, and yesterdays, grave visits reminded me of how right we were.

The graves and monuments on Forest Home's "Radicals Row" are visited often, and are abound with tokens of respect, remembrance, and Love - flowers, coins, buttons, handwritten personal      
messages, and sometimes even discarded employee I.D.'s!

There have been numerous gatherings, lectures, vigils, and even concerts in this area!

People not only want to visit these comrades, they feel like they NEED to come here.

They need to honor those who have passed, those that are struggling now, those who will join the fight in the future, and to honor themselves - to know that their lives are not futile.

Pinkerton and Pullman's graves, on the other hand, show no such signs of visitations and affection.

Parts of Pinkerton's grave, along with his family members, and agents who I guess were deemed worthy enough to be buried next to their boss, are so washed out now that you can barely make out some of the inscriptions.

His grave had to be guarded 24/7 for some time after he passed because it was feared that the various peoples his organization oppressed, beaten, and murdered would dig him up and fuck with his 
corpse.

You don't see the FBI, CIA, or other intelligence and "security" agencies coming by to pay respects to Allan's plot, even though they descend from his organization.

Other than being known as historical, strike-breaking, union busting thugs, the only real time you hear of the Pinkerton's these days is when they're suing games companies like Rockstar for         
defaming their image by making them the bad guys in their games, or bands like Weezer for apparently infringing on their trademarks by titling one of their two great albums after a opera character who shares the same name.

What a shitty legacy to have.
 
(NOTE: this poem is largely made up of a Facebook post I made of this visit, and the best comment I got was "Pinkerton's went after Arthur Morgan too I’ll never forget")

Pullman's grave is much better off, but then you remember that he had his lead casket encased in cement, steel rails, and even MORE cement, because he feared the workers he exploited and  attacked would still be so pissed at him that, after he took a dirt nap, they would dig him up and             fuck with his corpse.

You won't ever see corporate maniacs like Musk or Bezos leaving flowers on Pullman's grave, despite their thought processes and business tactics descending from scumbags like him.

You won't see your typical small business tyrant looking up to Pullman as a hero, even though they have the same desire to control their workers, as well as their communities if it'll help them fill their pockets.

And you certainly won't see these sigma grindset, alpha male motivational influencers cite Pullman as someone to emulate - and you can be sure these huskers have NEVER even heard of him - even though they share the same fiery motivation to be looked upon as capitalist deities.

What a REALLY shitty legacy to have.

TLDR: if you gain money and power by fucking over people, you won't be honored nor remembered,  even by those whose emulate your actions in the far future.

If you try to help mankind, even if you die early, penniless, and in pain, you will be honored,      remembered, and Loved by those who continue the fight.

Keep that in mind.

(FINAL NOTE: Jack Johnson's grave was adorned with flowers, coins, and cigarettes, and Augustus Dickens had nothing, because who's gonna remember Charles Dickens brother other than literary nerds like me?)


Garret Schuelke is the author of the GODAN series (Bakunin Incorporated), WHUP JAMBOREE: STORIES (Elmblad Media Group), and ANAMAKEE (Riot Forge Studios). He hosts The Garret Schuelke Podcast, and makes music under the moniker Neobeatglory. He currently resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and can be found on Twitter: @garretschuelke

 

Garret Schuelke is the author of the GODAN series (Bakunin Incorporated), WHUP JAMBOREE: STORIES (Elmblad Media Group), and ANAMAKEE (Riot Forge Studios). He hosts The Garret Schuelke Podcast, and makes music under the moniker Neobeatglory. He currently resides in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and can be found on Twitter: @garretschuelke

Poetry from Pat Doyne

                 STAND  YOUR  GROUND

		When everyone is armed, we will be safe.
		No crime.  No problems.  That’s the Promised Land. 
		So now we’re armed and strong on “self defense.”
		We stockpile pistols, shotguns, rifles, air guns,
		submachine guns, even AR-15s. 
		From coast to coast, we watch the bullets fly. 

		North Carolina—here’s a six-year-old
		playing basketball.  It bounces wide,
		and into someone’s yard.  Guy charges out--
		he shoots her, and her frantic mom and dad.
		“I told you kids stay off my frickin’ lawn!”
		When everyone is armed, we will be safe.

		Missouri, now, a teen-aged honor student, 
		comes to get his twin. He rings the doorbell. 
		Wrong door opens. Fearful man inside
		shoots him in the face. No questions asked.
		When everyone is armed, we will be safe—
		unless you’re black, and knock on the wrong door. 

		Upstate New York has mazes of back roads.
		A young girl, 20, looking for a house,
		pulls into a likely driveway, hopes it’s right.
		The homeowner’s irate. He shoots her dead.
		When everyone is armed, we will be safe—
		unless you’re searching for an obscure address.

		New Mexico cops.  Domestic violence call.
		Police respond. Wrong house, Knock on the door.
		Owner opens, handgun for support.
		The lawmen open fire, and shoot him dead.
		When everyone is armed, we will be safe—
		unless some nervous cops come to your door. 


		Two Texas cheerleaders scanned the parking lot,
		thought they found their car. Opened the door.
		Wrong car. Apologized. The man inside
		pulled out a gun, took aim, and shot them both.
		When everyone is armed, we will be safe—
		unless your car’s a common make and hue.

		Angry people hole up in a fortress.
		Frightened people think a gun gives clout.
		Shoot first, question later;  stand your ground!
		Look what really happens at the door
		when everyone is armed—blood, pain, and death. 
		When everyone is armed, no one is safe. 

		Copyright 4/2023                Patricia Doyne


Poetry from Ian Copestick

Extra Points For Sarcasm

10:30 a.m.
I'm on my
way home after
a wild,
stoned night.

Feeling tired,
but having no
hangover feels
like a blessing.

Especially when
dealing with
dead head bus
drivers.

I don't know why,
but they never give
you a straight
answer about
their route.

I think that at
the interviews
they must employ
the nastiest people
they can possibly find.

The more of a twat
they are, the more
they want to employ
them.

Sarcasm causes
them to get extra
points  too.

Or that's how
I imagine  it to
be.

Poetry from Chris Butler

Eight Day Weeks


Between
sunny Sundays
and
blue Mondays,
laid a day
so dark
and full
of hate
that it shall
not be named.




Gray


There's no black,
there's no white.
There's no wrong,
there's no right.
There's no good,
there's no evil.
There's no dark,
there's no light;

because just before
the looming storm,

exists distant, infinite
shades of gray.




Thoughts and Prayers


When a national tragedy
becomes just another day
and the news is always
"BREAKING",

grab a letter sized
white envelope
and fill it with all of the

thoughts and prayers

from your big heart
and your little head,
then lick and seal it
shut before they escape
into the open air,
stick on a stamp,
and wait until the
next day's tragedy
for the address
to mail it to
your child's school.




Hello Sorrow


Hello Sorrow
my first friend,
will you allow
me to drown
in burning rivers
of fire water,
or float like
a hollow log
as you hover over
the ghostly souls
of all who you
have met before,
until you arrive
to make the
skies cry,
or will you keep
me afloat like
a log flowing
downstream,

and we meet again,
my last friend.




Even When You're Dead


Even when you're dead
the neurons keep firing

ping-zing-bing-ding
against the inside of the skull,

but tricking others into thinking
that figeting, flickering and flinching
doesn't mean that you're still living.