Latest news with #TheQuiet
Winnipeg Free Press
09-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Dystopian future puts son's life in jeopardy
In The Quiet, London composer and author Barnaby Martin crafts a gripping tale of a near-future dystopia in which the sky is deadly and British citizens worry the government will abduct their children. Those threats are top of mind for Dr. Hannah Newnham, an anthropology professor who teaches nights while minding six-year-old Isaac, a mute musical savant who's shown in the prologue to be a prime target for kidnapping. Children with his abilities are who the British government wants. In the late 21st century, the atmospheric Soundfield appeared without warning, creating a barrier around the world that destroys anything that touches it. It also drastically increased the UV and heat effects of sunlight, causing an epidemic of cancer, droughts and a global migration crisis. The Quiet In the U.K., this led to a totalitarian regime where the army slaughters refugees arriving on its shores who are already half-dead from exposure. Rationing and scarcity are commonplace. All societal activity is reversed; only at night is it safe to go outside. Its psychological effect wears on Hannah: 'Now I can't tell what time it is. It all seems dark to me.' Her love for Isaac makes his safety more important to her than national security, which drives the story. She feels a bitter responsibility for the government's rationale, if not its policies: her research on human evolution unearthed shocking insights into the Soundfield. Its ever-present Hum and its musical Calls are indecipherable. Despite Hannah's insight into its patterns, which stumped her colleague and lover Elias Larsson, a physicist, not even she knows where it came from or why. While trying to eke out a living, Hannah defends Isaac against threats both bureaucratic, such as the university security guard who won't let her six-year-old in without a pass, and tyrannical, when a government agent breaks into her flat to get him. She also struggles to care for her mother, dying of skin cancer and increasingly alone after Hannah's brother joins the army. 'I tried to come up with ways to help her — walks by the lake, board games, listening to her favourite music together — but nothing really worked. She was in a room that was locked from the inside.' Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. Martin's deft weaving of ideas from genetics, music and history strengthen the story, even as they raise questions. What is the Soundfield? Why is Hannah forbidden from teaching about her groundbreaking paper on it? What's the connection between children like Isaac and what the regime wants? As Hannah observes, science itself isn't as black-and-white as we'd like. 'When you think of people making discoveries, you imagine the point of inspiration, the moment when every idea comes together in a single thought, but in reality, science is just work. It's weeks and months of reading, writing, and checking and double checking. But it's also a process of finding questions that you can't answer, or not even finding the questions at all.' That, unfortunately, is the only problem in an otherwise excellent novel. Martin's evocatively written, tense story is driven by mysteries about the characters, their world, and how those unfold. But despite satisfying twists and shattering revelations, there is at least one left unsolved, which makes for an unsatisfying ending. Still, The Quiet remains a fascinating sci-fi novel, one that rings all too true in our climate-changing world with the threat of fascism at multiple doors. David Jón Fuller is a Winnipeg writer and editor.
Time of India
14-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
From EMIs to exhaustion: Akshat Shrivastava breaks down life's struggles and the one solution that works at every age
Akshat Shrivastava's recent post on X outlines how each stage of life brings its own challenge—money in youth, time in middle age, and energy in old age. His solution is rooted in early planning, urging people to use forward thinking to manage health, wealth, and time better, offering a rare but realistic roadmap for smoother living. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The Three Stages of Silent Struggles Why This Struck a Chord Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The Quiet Power of Thinking Ahead In a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), popular educator and entrepreneur Akshat Shrivastava sparked an emotional and philosophical reflection across generations. With a simple but striking thread, he encapsulated the unspoken truth of human life in three distinct stages—each with its own silent battle. Yet what truly caught attention was his core insight: one ability separates us from all other species, and it's our greatest tool to cope— forward thinking In his tweet, Shrivastava described the universal struggles that follow us like shadows across life's timeline: 'A young person struggles with money. A middle-aged person struggles with time. An old person struggles with energy.' His suggested solution isn't grandiose or out of reach—it's rooted in deliberate planning and self-awareness at the right advice is almost parental in tone, but grounded in wisdom: Study well when you're young to ease financial burdens early. Plan finances smartly in your 30s and 40s to reclaim time. Take care of your health early to stay energized in old age. 'You don't need to constantly keep worrying about the future,' he wrote, 'but planning for better health, wealth, and time will keep your life smoother.'The post quickly resonated with thousands, not just because it's relatable—but because it captured the pain, pressure, and paradox of modern life. One commenter summarized it poetically: 'Life is just: Broke at 20, Busy at 40, Tired at 60… as if EMIs, inflation, and back pain respect your Google Calendar.' Another echoed Shrivastava's evolutionary lens: 'Forward thinking isn't optional; it's the only advantage evolution gave us over entropy.'Some offered caution, noting that not everything can be predicted or planned. 'Too much worry about the future can steal today's happiness,' one person commented, bringing balance to the optimism. And yet, the thread managed to offer a timeless message: if we align our intentions with action early enough, we can create room to breathe—even in the chaos of post doesn't claim to offer a fix-all formula, nor does it dismiss life's unpredictability. But it does shine a quiet spotlight on what often gets buried beneath deadlines and survival mode—our ability to step back and strategize our lives like we would a we can learn to treat time, money, and health with the reverence they deserve at the right time, maybe life won't feel like an endless trade-off. In a world chasing productivity hacks and hustle habits, perhaps the most revolutionary act is simply to pause and plan the post overtly generalized, if there's one takeaway, it might be this: You don't need to be extraordinary to future-proof your life—you just need to start early, and think like a human.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Elite NYC private school volleyball coach groomed and raped student for years, horrific lawsuit charges
A volleyball coach at the Ethical Culture Fieldston School allegedly groomed and repeatedly raped one of his players — and told her she was 'just as much a villain as he was' during the years-long abuse, according to a shocking new lawsuit. The abuse allegedly occurred on the campus of the elite Bronx private school, after volleyball practices, at the movies and at the girl's home, and began when she was 17, she claimed. Now 36, the victim, identified in her Bronx Supreme Court filing only as Jane Doe, said she has suffered decades of depression, anxiety and post traumatic stress syndrome following the two years of abuse by former girls varsity coach Collin Henry. Once a high-performing student, the Westchester resident was forced to forego medical school because of the fallout, she contended in the suit, which was filed Thursday against Fieldston, Henry and former JV coach Lynford Foreman. A former Jamaican national volleyball team player in the 1990s, Henry, 55, was lauded for building a championship-winning program but 'regularly crossed boundaries and made sexually inappropriate comments or acted flirtatiously with his players,' the victim said in court papers. The coach allegedly sent the girl sexual messages beginning in 2004, drove her to off-season practices for a club team in Queens and spent the long car rides 'deliberately [eroding] the boundaries between coach and student with his sexual 'jokes' and personal stories,' according to the suit. Once she turned 17 in the spring of 2005, the married father allegedly told her she was 'old enough' for a sexual relationship, and said he wouldn't go to jail for it but could lose his job, according to the suit. After a summer of grooming the victim to 'foster emotional dependence, encourage obedience, and establish his expectation for sexual contact' with her, the abuse became physical in the fall when Henry kissed her after a practice — then made her the team captain, she said in the legal filing. He allegedly groped and kissed her during a showing of the psychological thriller 'The Quiet,' about a dad who abuses his teenage daughter, and forced her to perform oral sex during another movie outing, she said in court papers. When she turned 18, Henry allegedly began raping the girl, refusing to use a condom and telling her to 'get through' the pain, she charged in the suit. As part of his alleged manipulation, Henry featured the girl in a book he wrote about coaching and would threaten that if the 'relationship' was discovered it would jeopardize her shots at college, according to the filing. In late April 2006, while in history class, she received a text message from Henry saying he could no longer see her because his wife was pregnant — but the abuse continued anyway until her freshman year of college, according to the lawsuit. School staff was aware of the abuse and even gossiped and joked about it, she alleged. 'Due to my mental health, I struggled to maintain a full-time job … and currently work as a warehouse associate,' she said. 'However, I still wish to pursue a fulfilling career.' In July, she filed a complaint with the school detailing the abuse, addressing it to then-Head of School Joe Algrant and Upper School Principal Stacey Bobo. 'I decided to report Henry and Foreman's abuse to Fieldston to reclaim the power and control that had been stolen from me as a teenager and change the trajectory of my life, which had been defined for too long by the sexual abuse I endured,' she said. The $65,540-a-year Riverdale school, which boasts alumni including Barbara Walters, Sofia Coppola and Sean Ono Lennon, hired an outside law firm to investigate and fired Henry based on its preliminary findings, according to a spokesperson. In August, it sent an email to the school community about a 'staffing update' related to Henry's 'misconduct' and termination, but didn't mention the sexual abuse. In a statement, the school denied mishandling the allegations and said it had not received any complaints regarding Henry in the past. 'The safety and wellbeing of our students is our top priority, and ECFS acted quickly and appropriately to address this issue as soon as a concern was raised,' a spokesperson said. All staff undergo comprehensive background checks, including criminal background and fingerprinting, and are trained annually in preventing abuse and misconduct, she added. Henry declined to comment on the allegations and Foreman did not respond to messages from The Post.
