BOY BECOMES HERO
To Release Debut Concept Album Reverie
February 28, 2019
Available for Pre-Order Now
January 2, 2019 - Kalamazoo, Michigan - Boy Becomes Hero, the post-hardcore project brought to life by Andrew Brittingham, is kicking off 2019 with the announcement of their debut LP, Reverie. With thrashing anthems and melodic breakdowns, Reverie a story that takes listeners on a true journey while they follow a boy named Tsukuyo through his battle with the evil that has consumed his past, present and his future. The 10-track concept album features vocal performances by Kurt Travis (Royal Coda, ex-Dance Gavin Dance), Garret Rapp (The Color Morale), Aaron Gillespie (Underoath, The Almost), Darina Kayuokova (Moqumentary) and Sam Kohl (ex-Sea in the Sky).
"I hope that 'Reverie' is able to create a new experience in post-hardcore scene that will allow listeners a place to stop and escape from their struggles and to be lost in the music and story alike" shares Brittingham on the upcoming release. The debut LP from Boy Becomes Hero was mixed and mastered by Kris Crummett (Dance Gavin Dance, Sleeping With Sirens, Issues). Reverie is due out February 28, 2019 and is available for pre-order at https://www.boybecomeshero.com/.
Reverie Track listing
1: Exordium (feat. Kurt Travis and Darina Kayukova)
2: Perspicacity (feat. Garret Rapp)
3: Contrition
4: Expatiate (feat. Darina Kayukova)
5: Ingress
6: Abstraction
7: Abeyance (feat. Darina Kayukova)
8: Deluge (feat. Aaron Gillespie & Sam Kohl)
9: Delectation (feat. Kurt Travis & Garret Rapp)
10: Denouement
After battling addiction for 10+ years, Andrew became sober in early 2017. He had always struggled to find his place in the music world after bouncing around bands and finally had the clarity and inspiration to create the concept album he'd been dreaming of. He shares that "Sobriety is not a punishment for those who cannot control their use of these substances, but a reminder and privilege to have the opportunity to regain our inspiration, create amazing music and art and inspire others to do the same."
The recent loss of artists like Kyle Pavone and Mac Miller combined with Andrew's past experiences with his own addiction and depression while seeing friends struggle with similar demons on various scales, inspired Andrew to give back through Reverie. Boy Becomes Hero has partnered with To Write Love on Her Arms with the creation of the "Gravity Initiative" shirt. The shirt is available online both individually and as part of pre-order bundles. 100% of proceeds from the shirt and bundles as well as 10% of all additional album sales will be donated to TWLoHA to help further their mission.
ToWrite Love on Her Arms is a non-profit movement dedicated to presenting hope and finding help for people struggling with depression, addiction, self-injury, and suicide. TWLOHA exists to encourage, inform, inspire, and also to invest directly into treatment and recovery.
Boy Becomes Hero is dedicated to creating a musical experience across the post-hardcore scene and sub-genres while raising awareness for depression, self-harm, addiction and suicide. For more information, please visit www.boybecomeshero.com.
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THE AVERAGE AMERICAN DRIVER HAS JUST HALF OF THE SAFETY ITEMS RECOMMENDED ‘AS A MINIMUM’ IN THEIR CAR
62% of drivers feel they’d be prepared in the event of a breakdown - yet on average people have just four of the eight minimum recommended items on hand
Almost half (45%) of drivers have broken down at least once in the last five years
More than six in ten Americans (62%) believe that they’d be prepared if their car were to break down on the road, but new research from Siegfried & Jensen suggests that on average, drivers carry just four of the eight emergency items recommended by DMV.org “as a minimum”.*
This is in spite of the fact that that almost half of all drivers in the U.S. (45%) have broken down at least once in the last five years — a figure that rises to 51% among millennial drivers aged 16-34.
Although three quarters of drivers (73%) keep a spare tire and/or tire inflator sealer in the car, just half (51%) have a flashlight, 45% have a first aid kit and just 12% have flares — important not only to mark your car’s location in the case of an accident, but also to start fires in an emergency.
Below is a breakdown of the proportion of drivers who keep each of the eight minimum recommended items in their car:
Item
% of all
Spare tire and/or tire inflator sealer
73%
Tire changing tools
68%
Jump leads/cables
58%
Torch/flashlight
51%
First aid kit
45%
Water bottle
42%
Tool kit
39%
Flares
12%
The most common items in drivers’ cars are as follows:
Item
% of all
Registration and insurance certificate
84%
Car manual
82%
Pen/pencil
79%
Spare tire and/or tire inflator sealer
73%
Tire changing tools
68%
Tissues
67%
USB charger
67%
Windshield ice scraper
61%
Siegfried & Jensen found that less than a quarter of Americans keep paper maps in the car — and only 11% have a sat nav, suggesting drivers are relying on cell phones for directions. But as signal can drop in remote areas and phone batteries can die after several hours, this system can prove to be both unreliable and unsafe.
Just 6% of drivers keep an empty gas can in their car, while 9% have a small shovel. Other uncommon but useful items most drivers are choosing not to carry are a fire extinguisher (5%), tow rope (6%) and high-vis bib (1%).
“This research goes to show how gravely underprepared drivers are for accidents on the road,” says Ned Siegfried, President of Siegfried & Jensen. “Some 62% of respondents believed they would be prepared in the event of a breakdown, but this misplaced confidence suggests there isn’t enough being done to educate drivers about how to get their vehicles ready.
“It’s important to anticipate potential accidents, particularly amidst the holiday season. Temperatures and weather conditions will be dropping across much of the country, a significant number of drivers will be embarking on long journeys, and waits for breakdown services will likely be longer than usual.
“Although getting lost without access to a map or being stuck on the side of the road for a couple of hours can be a minor annoyance, it’s crucial to prepare for more serious accidents for the safety of all road users.”
- ENDS -
Methodology
We surveyed 2,121 US car owners who drive on 9th-10th October 2018. The list of eight essential items was sourced from DMV.org, which recommends a basic emergency kit for drivers. The remaining essential and non-essential items were gathered from a selection of reputable websites, such as the AAA, driving-tests.org, Car-care.org, DMV.org, and fact sheets from WSDOT.
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A LOOSE CANNON FOR PEACE?
By Robert C. Koehler
889 words
Circle the wagons!
Apparently what’s under assault is war itself, or so the Establishment believes, in the wake of the shocking announcement by the president that he plans to withdraw all 2,000 U.S. troops now deployed in Syria and 7,000, or half, the U.S. troops in Afghanistan.
No, can’t do that! Can’t do that! This screws everything up. “. . . we must be resolute and unambiguous in our approach to those countries whose strategic interests are increasingly in tension with ours,” writes Defense Secretary Jim “Mad Dog” Mattis in his resignation letter to Donald Trump over the issue.
And the New York Times noted that Trump’s decision “risks leaving United States’ allies in the long-running war weakened while strengthening rivals backed by Iran and Russia.
“American troops entered Syria in 2015 as part of a coalition fighting the Islamic State, which had seized large swaths of territory in Syria and Iraq. In the three years since, the extremist group’s self-declared caliphate has crumbled. But the continuing lack of stability in both Syria and Iraq could provide fertile ground for the jihadists to retrench.”
Sounds sensible enough until you factor in the fact that the pursuit of short-term national interests and, indeed, war itself — particularly the wars fomented by, underwritten and armed by the United States over the last two decades — are the primary cause of global instability and the upsurge of terrorism. There’s never an acknowledgment, by the war establishment, of the consequences of militarism, just an abstract discussion of strategy and “interests.”
Since Mad Dog is the face of reasonable opposition to these U.S. troop withdrawals, let me pause for a moment simply to note that, as commanding officer of the two U.S. invasions of Fallujah in the early stages of the Iraq war, in April and November 2004, he’s a full-on war criminal.
Dahr Jamail, writing at Truthout, tells us: “While reporting from inside Fallujah during (the April) siege, I personally witnessed women, children, elderly people and ambulances being targeted by U.S. snipers under Mattis’ command. Needless to say, all of these are war crimes.
“During the November siege of Fallujah later that same year, which I also covered first-hand, more than 5,000 Iraqi civilians were killed. Most were buried in mass graves in the aftermath of the siege.
“Mosques were deliberately targeted by the U.S. military, hospitals bombed, medical workers detained, ambulances shot at, cease-fires violated, media repressed, and the use of depleted uranium was widespread. All of these are, again, war crimes.”
The horror inflicted on Fallujah is, of course, merely the tippy-tip of the military iceberg, but my God, I must ask the New York Times and all the rest of the media that fell in line behind GWB and supported the horrific and pointless invasion of Iraq: Why are the consequences — and failures — of our past wars never part of the present discussion? Why is a larger vision, a peace vision, never given serious consideration when it comes to U.S. foreign policy?
“It is common,” Richard Falk pointed out in an interview with Daniel Falcone, “for media pundits to question policy choices so long as they do not touch the fundamental guidelines of structure and geopolitical priorities that have shaped the American global role ever since 1945. These fundamentals include . . . the globe-girdling military presence as typified by more than 800 overseas military bases, a sizable naval operation patrolling in every ocean, and a capability to wage hyper war from any point in space.”
Beyond the establishment’s offense taken, the question remains: What is the value of Trump’s decision to start shrinking U.S. involvement in several war-ravaged sectors of the Middle East?
Understandably, peace activists remain wary. He’s an America Firster who wants to wall off “USA! USA!” from the global rabble at our southern border. He’s a racist and NRA shill who feeds refugee children to his base. He’s a corrupt narcissist with fascist inclinations and an ego the size of Mussolini. He’s a loose cannon. Has he suddenly become a loose cannon for peace?
Well, maybe.
A statement released by the organization World Beyond War, which has been calling for the U.S. withdrawal from Syria since 2015, acknowledges that Trump’s plan is a beginning, but only that. In a statement released shortly after Trump’s announcement, it notes:
“Removing troops from the ground — all of them, not just some — and ceasing base construction, if it happens, will be a start.
“Even more important is ceasing to bomb from above.
“In addition, alternative approaches need to be launched, including unarmed peaceworkers, a weapons ban for the region, a disarmament program, major actual humanitarian aid (and an end to sanctions that harm ordinary people), and diplomacy.”
The statement acknowledges that leaving a war is enormously complex and things can get worse before they get better, especially without intelligent preparation and a willingness to invest in social healing. However: “Things have been getting worse for years all over Syria, without that ever being understood as a reason to halt the militarism.”
What has to happen next is that building peace becomes the norm. As Falk pointed out in his interview: “Humanity remains trapped in a cage sometimes called ‘the war system,’ which has the semblance of a permanent lockup.”
Without intending to, Trump may have opened the cage door. Now the hard part must begin.
–end–
Robert Koehler, syndicated by PeaceVoice, is a Chicago award-winning journalist and editor.
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OGDEN, UT – Stevens-Henager College has partnered with the African Library Project to open a library in Ghana, Africa. We are collecting one-thousand gently used, or new pre-school to 6th-grade books. Donations are to be dropped off at Stevens-Henager College, 1890 South 1350 West, West Haven, UT 84401. The drive will take place until January 31st, 2019.
The African Library Project partners with African schools and villages to start small libraries in African countries. To start these libraries, the ALP coordinates book drives in the United States and Canada. This project supports both children and adults to read and write in English, a language that is critical to their education. Because of poor access to reading materials, literacy tops out, even for teachers, at about the 8th grade US level in the rural areas in which the African Library Project works.
Education is the one way that any Ghanaian can improve their own life and life of their family. There are established schools in Ghana, but the lack of an adequate supply of books makes it impossible to learn more than what is presented in schools.
Stevens-Henager College is a nonprofit educational institution that offers degrees designed for employment. Students who attend our college enjoy small class sizes, caring instructors with relevant industry experience and career-focused learning.
“For over a 100 years, Stevens-Henager College has been solely focused on providing education and training to help people change and improve their lives. That’s what we’re all about! Changing lives is what drives our staff and faculty every day. We know that education, perhaps more than anything else, is the key to opportunity, growth, a building a better future. Providing educational resources beyond just our own colleges, like we’re doing with the project in Ghana, is simply another extension of our employee’s dedication to changing lives.”
Eric Juhlin, President of Stevens-Henager College
Please support our efforts to make a difference in African families lives by spreading the word of our book drive. You can find us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for drive updates @Stevens-Henager.
