23 The Renaissance All history is the record of change, either in the direction of social progress or decay. But so gradual is this movement that, like the transition from night to dawn or noon to evening, it is beyond our vision to state the moment when tendencies began or ceased. It is only possible to note the definite changes in their achievement, and then to disentangle the threads by turning back along the twisted chain into which they have been woven. Sometimes in history there have been so many changes within a short time that the effect has been cumulative and an epoch has been created, as at the break-up of the Roman Empire, when civilization was merged in the Dark Ages. Again, it is true of Europe at the end of the 15th century and during the greater part of the 16th, a period usually called the Renaissance, or time of new birth, because then it became apparent that the old medieval outlook and ways of life had vanished, while others, much more familiar and easy to understand, had taken their place. The modern world had been called into being. The most obvious change to be found at the Renaissance was the collapse of the medieval idea of a world empire ruled in the name of God by Pope and Emperor. The Western Empire still remained pretentious in its claims, but its wiser rulers, such as Rudolph I and Charles IV, had already realized that success lay rather in German kingship than in imperial influence. The popes had been restored to Rome, but the threat of councils that could depose and reform hung like a cloud over their insistence on the absolute obedience of Christendom. And, recognizing the inevitable, the Vatican had sunk the ambitions of an innocent three in those of a temporal Italian prince. Searching along the chain of causes, it becomes clear enough that the trend of history during the later Middle Ages had been this development of the smaller unity of the nation out of the bigger unity of the world state. By the end of the 15th century, England, France and Spain were already nations, while even Germany and Italy, feeling the call in a lesser degree, had substituted for a wider sense of nationality, devotion to a province or city-state. The second to the great changes that characterized the Renaissance was the development of the idea of man as an individual. All through the Middle Ages, except perhaps in the case of rulers, men and women counted in the life of the world around them not so much as separate influences as a part of the system into which they were born or absorbed. In early days, the tribe accepted its members' acts, whether good or bad, as something that was the concern of all to be atoned for, supported, or avenged as a public duty. Still, more strongly was this attitude expressed in family affairs, as in the numerous vendettas or feuds like those of the Welfths and Weiblgen or of the Blacks and Whites in Florence. Turning from racial ties to social, we find medieval associations of all kinds holding a man bound, not by his own personal choice or discretion, but by the decision of the group to which he happened to be attached. The feudal system was never complete enough in practice to make a good example of this bondage, but in theory, from the tenant-in-chief to the landowner lowest in the social scale, there was a settled rule of life, dictating the duties and responsibilities of lord and vassal. Still more was this binding rule true of the greatest of all medieval corporations, monasticism, that demanded from its sons and daughters absolute obedience in the annihilation of self. St. Bernard, whose personality was so strong that he could not remain hidden among the mass of his fellows, was, yet, we remember, angry with Abelard for this above all other failings, that he had set up as individual judgment as a test of life. In Abelard, as in Arnold of Bressia lay the first stirrings of the independent modern spirit that at the Renaissance was to shake the foundations of the medieval world. Besides monasticism there were other associations, the universities and the class corporations, merchant guilds such as the North German Hansa and smaller city guilds such as greater and lesser arts in Florence, comprising groups of lawyers, fishmongers, and the like. All these last maintained a standard of uniformity, regulating not only hours of work, rate of pay, nature of employment, scale of contributions, like a modern trade union, but went much farther, interfering in the life of each individual member to insist on what he should wear in public and how he might spend the money he had earned. It was the spirit of benevolent slavery that held sway so long as the strivings of the individual mind were overborn by a sense of helplessness in the face of ignorance or by the weight of tradition. This weight of tradition leads naturally to the third great change heralded by the Renaissance, the breaking up of a sky curtain in mental darkness into separate groups of clouds, still heavily charged with superstition and ignorance, but their density relieved by the light of a genuine inquiry after truth for its own sake. During the Middle Ages we have seen that men and women looked back for inspiration to the Roman Empire, and this made them distressed progress, just as a timid rider will dread a spirited horse because he fears to lose control and to be carried into unknown ways. The earliest guardian of medieval knowledge had been the church, and in the light that she understood her task she faithfully taught the world about her. Her motto was reverence for the past, but bent in worship before the altar of tradition, she lost sight of that other great world motto, trust the future, which has been one of the guiding stars of modern times. Her interpretation of the faith, of the legitimate bounds of knowledge, of the limits of art, had been almost a necessary school of discipline for the early Middle Ages, with their tendency to barbaric license. But as she civilized men's minds and their aptitude for reasoning and understanding deepened, the restrictions of the school became the bars of a prison. The medieval church, once a pioneer, lost her grip on realities, her spiritual outlook became obscured by material ambitions, her faith weakened. Until, at last, so little sure was she in her heart of the complete truth of her teaching that she opposed and denounced criticism or discovery, much as a merchant who is secretly afraid that his methods of business may be obsolete refuses to entertain new fangled notions that would open his eyes. When Columbus laid his scheme for crossing the Atlantic, before a council of bishops and leading members of the Spanish universities, medieval knowledge derided his presumption by quoting texts from the Old Testament and various statements of St. Augustine and other fathers of the church. There could be no antipodes, they argued, because it was distinctly said that the world was peopled by the descendants of Noah, and how could such men have crossed these miles of ocean? Many similar objections were raised, and the Mariner's Project condemned, just as Roger Bacon had been judged a heretic for his scientific inquiries two hundred years before. It is significant of the change of mental outlook that while Roger Bacon wasted his last years in prison and Abelard was driven from the lecture hall to a monastery, Columbus found public support, vindicated his calculations, and so opened up a new world. The great secret of the Renaissance is indeed this release of the restless spirit of inquiry after truth, that is as old as humanity itself, and that, swooping like a bird through the door of a cage out into the air in sunshine, reckless of danger, carried along by the sheer joy of unfettered life, sometimes foolish and sometimes extravagant in its zest for experience, was at first too absorbed in the glory and interest of freedom to feel any regret for the prison that had been at least a shelter from the many stormy problems that were to rend the modern world. Charlemagne had believed that, without knowledge, good works were impossible. The man of the early Renaissance were not so intent upon the importance of good works, or the hope of salvation as their forefathers, but they would have ascended eagerly to the statement that, without knowledge, any true understanding of human life was impossible. Had the conditions under which knowledge could be obtained remained as restricted as in medieval times, the Renaissance on its intellectual side would, in all probability, have become a cult, a movement shared by a few learned men and women to which the mass of the people in every nation had no clue, and in this way it would have died out like a plant unable to spread its roots. Human invention intervened with the discovery of printing, which brought the great thoughts of the world out of the monastic libraries where they had been laboriously collected and copied by hand, to distribute them, slowly at first but ever faster and faster, throughout the busy centers of Europe, where brains as well as stomachs are always eager for food. It was a German, John Gutenberg, who invented printing by means of movable types, but because he had not enough money to carry out his design, he was forced to borrow from a rich citizen of mines called John Fust. This Fust treated John Gutenberg very badly, for he demanded back the money he had lent so soon as he understood the value of the other secret, and by this means forced Gutenberg, when he could not pay, to hand over his plant in compensation. Fust then began to print on his own account, and when the people of mines saw the copies of the Bible that he produced, each number an exact replica of the first, they declared that he had sold himself to the devil and was practicing magic. Thus, it is said, started the legend of Dr. Faustus that has inspired poets, musicians and dramatists.  The greatest of all Italian printers were the Venetians, whose famous Albin press produced volumes that are still the admiration of the world, as well as a treasure trove for book collectors. In modern times, the desire for knowledge, or rather for information, has become a scramble, and printing has degenerated into a trade. In the 15th and 16th centuries, it was regarded as an art, and Aldus Manutius, the Roman who established his press at Venice, intending to reproduce an edition of all the Greek authors then known, was a great scholar, who modeled his letters on the handwriting of the Italian poet Petrarch, and gathered around him the most intellectual and enterprising minds of his day to advise and help him. It was at the Aldean press that one of the leaders of the Dutch Renaissance, Erasmus, had several of his books printed, and Venice at this time became a center for scholars and for all whose minds were alive with a thirst for new impressions. 15th-century Italy was not, on the surface, so very different from Italy in the 14th. The complete domination of the five powers foreshadowed in the earlier century had become fixed, and three of them, Milan, Florence, and Naples, had succeeded in forming an alliance to preserve the balance of power in the peninsula, and to keep at bay the ambitions of Venice, whose empire was still spreading over the mainland. In Naples, ruled for Ranti I, an illegitimate son of Alfonso V of Aragon, a typical despot like the Angevins his father had replaced. In Milan, the Visconti had merged themselves in the house of Sforza through a clever ruse of one of the most famous of medieval condottieri, Francesco Sforza, who, besieging his master, Filippo Maria Visconti in Milan in 1441, had forced him to give him his only daughter and heiress Bianca in marriage, and then to acknowledge him as his successor. The grim traditions established by the Visconti continued under this new family, christened with their very names. Francesco's son, Galliazzo Maria, whose life was spent in debauch, is said to have poisoned his mother and buried his subjects alive. When he was assassinated, his brother, Ludovico, called from his swarthy complexion Il Moro, or the Moor, seized the reins of government and proceeded to act on behalf of his young nephew, Gian Galliazzo, whom he kept in the background at Pavia, declaring him a helpless invalid. Filippo de Comanas describes Ludovico as clever but very nervous and cringing when he was afraid, a man without faith when he thought it to his advantage to break his word. Outwardly he displayed the genial manners customary in a Renaissance prince, and presided at Milan over a court so famed for its hospitality, wit, and intellect that it drew within its circle painters, sculptors, writers, and scholars, as well as military heroes and men of fashion. It will be seen that Italy opened her arms wide to the new spirit of intellectual and artistic enjoyment. Venice, Naples, Milan, each vied with the other in attracting and rewarding genius. Even the popes at Rome, whose natural instinct as the guardian of medieval tradition was to distrust freedom of thought, were influenced by the atmosphere around them, and to Pope Nicholas V the world owes the foundation of the wonderful Vatican Library. To the queen of the Renaissance states we turn last, to Florence, the city of flowers, that we left distracted by the internal discords of her blacks and whites, and by her wars against Filippo Maria Visconti. The turning of the century had seen great changes in Florence, the whittling away of the old ideal of liberty that would brook no master, so that she became willing to accept the domination of a family superficially disguised as a freely elected government. The Medici were no royal stock, nor were they flaunting condotiere like the Sforza, but a house of bankers who, by brains and solid hard work, had built up for itself a position of respect, not only in Florence, but also throughout Europe, where their loans had secured the fortunes of many a monarchy that would otherwise have tumbled in ruins owing to lack of funds. It was the advantage of such monarchies to preserve the credit of the house of Medici, and so the bankers gained outside influence to aid their ambitions at home. Within Florence, the Medici posed as common-sense men of business, unassuming citizens, easy of access, ready friends, ever the supporters, while they were climbing the ladder of civic fame, of the popular party that loved to shout, liberty in the streets, while it voted her destroyers into public offices. Cosimo de Medici, the first of the family to establish a position of supremacy, was related to many of the nobles debarred by their rank from any share in the government, but, though he won the allegiance of this faction, he took care to claim no honor himself that might frighten the public mind with terrors of a despot. Instead, simply clad and almost unattended, he walked through the streets chatting in friendly equality with emergency met, many of whose interests were identical or wrapped up with his own financial projects, discussing agriculture with the Tuscan farmers like a country gentleman, freely spending his money on the schemes of the working classes, or scattering it amongst beggars. When he died, his mourning fellow citizens inscribed on his tomb the words Pater Patria, father of his country. They had felt the benefits received through Cosimo's government. They had not realized, or were indifferent to, the chains with which he had bound them. Some bitter enemies he had, of course, aroused, but these with quiet but remorseless energy he had swept from his path. It was his custom to sap the fortunes of possible rivals by immense exactions, to make them pay, in fact, for the liberal government, for which he would afterwards receive the praise while drawing away their friends and supporters by bribery and threats. At last, ruined and deserted, they would be driven from the city. And here even Cosimo did not rest, since his influence at foreign courts enabled him to hunt his prey from one refuge to another until they died, impotently cursing the name of Medici, a warning to malcontents of the length and breadth of a private citizen's revenge. The Medici, it has been said, used taxes as other men used their swords, and the charge of deliberate corruption that has been brought against them is undeniable. It is better to injure the city than to ruin it, once declared Cosimo himself, adding cynically, it takes more to direct a government than to sit and tell one's beads. Neither he nor his descendants were the type of ruler represented by Charlemagne or Alfred the Great. Their ideals were, frankly, low, with self-interest in the foreground, however skillfully disguised. When this has been admitted, however, it should be also remembered that Cosimo employed no army of hired refians to terrorize fellow-citizens as the disconti had done. Florence was willing to be corrupted, and if she lost the freedom she had loved in theory, yet she rose under a benevolent despotism of the Medici to a greater height of material and political prosperity than ever before or since in her history. The authority that they possessed in Florence and throughout Christendom, says Machiavelli, was not obtained without being merited. It was under the fostering care of the Medici that Florence, more than any of the other Italian states, became the home of the intellectual renaissance, from which the new learning was to radiate out across the world. This intellectual movement was twofold. Still, under medieval influence, it began at first by finding its inspiration in the past, and so introduced a great classical revival in which manuscripts of Greek and Latin authors and statues of gods and nymphs were almost as much revered as relics of the saints in an earlier age. Rich men hastened on journeys to the east in order to purchase half-burn fragments of literature from astonished Greeks, while in the lecture halls of Italy, eager pupils clamored for fresh light on ancient philosophy and history. So great was the enthusiasm that it is said one famous scholar's hair turned white with grief when he learned the shipwreck of a cargo of classical books. Cosimo de Medici had been friend and patron of learned men, but it was in the time of his grandson Lorenzo the Magnificent that the renaissance reached its height in Florence. It was Lorenzo who founded the Platonic Academy in imitation of the old academies of Greek philosophers, an assembly that became the battleground of the sharpest and most brilliant intellects of the day. Here were fought word tournaments, often venomous in the intensity of their partisanship between defenders of the views of Plato and of Aristotle. Here were welcomed like princes, cultured Greeks, driven into exile by Mohammedan invasion, certain of crowded and enthusiastic audiences if only they were prepared to lecture on the literary treasures of their race. The enthusiasm recalled the days when Abelard held Paris spellbound by his reasoning on theology, but showed how far away had slipped the age of dialectics. The last great name amongst the schoolmen is that of Don Scotus, a Franciscan at the thirteenth century, who raised the process of logical reasoning to such a fine art that it has been said of him he reasoned scholasticism out of human reach. Ordinary theologians could not dispute with him since it made their brains real even to try and follow his arguments, so at last they snapped their fingers at him, crying, oh, dons, dons. Thus, by his excessive skill and intellectual juggling, he reduced himself in his subjects to absurdity, and dunce has passed down to posterity as a fitting name for someone unreasonably stupid. Scholasticism, the glory of medieval lecture halls, held no thriller charm for men of the Renaissance, and though Aristotle was still revered and a great deal of labor expended on trying to make his views and those of Plato match with current religious beliefs, yet the spirit that underlay this attempt was wholly different to the efforts of medieval minds. Salvation, the city of God, such words and phrases had been keys to the thought of the Middle Ages from St. Augustine to St. Dominic and St. Thomas Aquinas. To Renaissance minds, there was but one master word, humanity. What message had these classical philosophers that tradition held had lived in a golden age for struggling humanity more than a thousand years later? The men and women of the Renaissance, as they put this question, hoped that the answers they discovered would agree with the faith that the church had taught them, but there was no longer the same insistence that they must or be disregarded as heresy. The interest in an immortal soul had become mingled with interest in what was human and transitory, with the beauty and charm of this life as well as with the glory of the next. Searching after beauty, no longer under the stern schoolmistress tradition, but led by that will of the wisp literary instinct, the poets and authors under the influence of the Renaissance gradually turned from the use of Latin and Greek to that more natural medium of expression, their own language. This was the second aspect of the new learning, the disappearance of the belief that Latin and Greek alone were literary, and the gradual linking up medieval with modern scholarship by the discovery that the growth of national ideas and aspirations could best be expressed in a living national tongue. The forerunners of this movement lived long before the period that we usually call the Renaissance, thus Dante, greatest of medieval minds, was inspired to employ his native Italian in his masterpiece, the Divina Comedia, that, had his genius been less original, might have been merely a classical imitation. Petrarch, the friend of Rienzi and lover of liberty who lived at the papal court of Avion, was half ashamed of his Italian sonnets, yet it is by their charm, still more than by his Latin letters that he lives today, as is Boccaccio by the witty, easy flowing style of his tales. These are the names of literary immortals, and perhaps it may seem strange to find, when we pass from them to the new learning itself, that the greater part of the works published by members of the Platonic Academy and other intellectual circles are now as dead as the dialectics of the schoolmen. Yet it is still harder, if we turn their pages, to believe that such florid sentences and long-grown arguments could ever have stirred men's blood to a frenzied enthusiasm or passion. The explanation lies in the fact that for all the charms of its newly won freedom, the renaissance on its literary side was not a time of creation, but of criticism and inquiry. Its leaders were too busy clearing away outworn traditions, collecting material for fresh thought, and laying literary foundations to build themselves with any breadth of vision. Where they paused, exhausted, or failed, the giants of the modern world were able to erect their masterpieces. Lorenzo the Magnificent himself we can remember for the genuine love of nature and poetry apparent in his sonnets, but his claim to remain immortal in the world's history must rest not on his literary achievements, but on his generous patronage and appreciation of scholars and artists, as well as on the political wisdom that made him the first statesman of his day. If the literature of the renaissance was mainly experimental in character, painting was preeminently its finished glory, the representation of that sense of beauty in nature and in human life from which the Middle Ages had turned away as from a snare set by the devil to distract souls from paradise. Here again, in painting, there is a two-fold aspect, the artist's mind seeking in the past as well as aspiring to the future for inspiration to guide his brush. It was the life of St. Francis, the little brother of Assisi, that Giotto, the great forerunner of the new art, found that sense of humanity idealized that spurred him to break away from the old conventional Byzantine models, stiff, decorative, and inhuman, in order to attempt the realization of life as he saw it around him in the street and field. Gimabue, a famous Florentine painter, had found Giotto as a shepherd lad, cutting pictures of the sheep grouped around him with a stone upon the rockside. He carried the boy away to be his apprentice, but the pupil soon excelled the master and not merely Florence but all Italy heard of his wondrous colors and designs.  The Angevan king, Robert of Naples, once asked him to suggest a symbol of his own turbulent southern kingdom, whereupon the artist drew a donkey saddled, sniffing at another saddle lying on the ground. Such are your subjects, he remarked, that every day would seek a new master. No politician could have made a more fitting summary of medieval Naples. Giotto's chief fame today lies in his frescoes of the life of St. Francis on the walls of the double chapel at Assisi and in the Franciscan church of Santa Croce and Florence. Most of them, damaged by the action of time and weather on the rough plaster, have been repaired to their disadvantage, though a few remain unharmed to show the painter's clear, delicate coloring and boldness of outline. To the average sightseer today they seem perhaps just legendary pictures, more or less crude in design, but when Giotto painted we must remember that the crowds who watched his brush and breathless admiration read as they gazed the story of the most human of saints, a man who had but lately walked amongst the Umbrian hills and whose words and deeds were to them more vivid than many a living utterance. To understand what the genius of Giotto meant to his own day, we must first consider the stiff unreality of former art, just as we cannot realize the greatness of Columbus by thinking of a modern voyage from the continent to America, but only by recalling the primitive navigation of his time. Giotto, like Columbus, had many imitators and followers, some of them famous names, but the pioneer work that he had done for art was commemorated at the Renaissance when, by the orders of Lorenzo de Medici, a Latin epitaph was placed on his tomb containing these words, lo, I am he by whom dead art was restored to life, by whom art became one with nature. It would be impossible to condense satisfactorily in a few short paragraphs the triumphant history of Renaissance painting, the rapid development of which Giotto and his school had made practicable, or even to give a slight sketch of the artists on whom that history depends. Never before has so much genius been crowded into so few years, but before we leave this preeminent age in modern art there is one arresting figure who must be described, a man who more than any other embodies the spirit of the Renaissance at its best, Leonardo da Vinci, foremost amongst the supreme masters of the world. Leonardo, the Florentine, as he liked to call himself, was born in the fortified village of Vinci midway between Florence and Pisa, the illegitimate son of a notary, born as it would seem to no great heritage, he was yet early distinguished amongst his fellows. The richest gifts of heaven, says Vasari, are sometimes showered upon the same person, and beauty, grace, and genius are combined in so rare a manner in one man that, to whatever he may apply himself, every action is so divine that all others are left behind him. This reads like exaggeration until we turn to the facts that are known about Vinci's life, and find he is all indeed Vasari described, a giant amongst his fellows in physique and intellect, and still more in practical imagination, so strong was he that with his fingers he could bend a horseshoe straight, so full of potent charm for all things living that his presence in a room would draw men and women out of sadness, while in the streets the wildest horses would willingly yield to his taming power. Of the cruelty that rests like a stain on the middle ages, there was in him no trace, rather that hot compassion for suffering and weakness so often allied with strength. It is told of him, as of St. Francis, that he would buy the singing birds sold in cages in the street, that he might set them free. His copy books are full of the drawings of horses, and probably his greatest work of art judged by the opinion of his day, and the rough sketches still extant of his design, was the statue he modeled for Ludovico Il Moro of Francesco Sforza, the famous condottieri poised on horseback. Unfortunately it perished almost at once, hacked in pieces by the French soldiery when they drove Ludovico from his capital some years later. Leonardo has been called the true founder of the Italian School of Oil Painting. His most celebrated picture, the Last Supper, painted in oils as an experiment on the walls of a convent near Belan, began to flake away owing to the damp even before the artist's death. It has been so constantly retouched since that very little saved the consummate art in the arrangement of the figures and the general dramatic simplicity of the scene depicted is left to show the master hand. Even this is enough to convey his genius. Amongst the most famous of his works that still remain are his Mona Lisa, sometimes called Gio Conda, the portrait of a Neapolitan lady and the Madonna of the Rocks, both in the gallery of the Louvre. Leonardo excelled his age in engineering, in his knowledge of anatomy and physics, in his inventive genius that led him to guess at the power of steam and struggle over models of aeroplanes at which his generation laughed and shrugged their shoulders. He himself took keen pleasure in such versatility, but his art that held other men spellbound with admiration would plunge him into depression. When he sat down to paint, he seemed overcome with fear, says one account of him, and describes how he would alter and finally destroy, in despair of attaining his ideal, canvases that those about him considered already perfect. It is little wonder, then, that few finished works came from the brush of this indefatigable worker, but his influence on his age and after centuries was nonetheless prodigious. Leonardo stands for all that was best in the Renaissance, its zest for truth, its eager vitality and love of experiment, but most of all for its sympathy. He is the embodiment of that motto that seems more than any other to express the Renaissance outlook. Homo sum, umani nil ame alien amamputo. I am a man and nothing pertaining to mankind is foreign to my nature. Italy, as we have seen, was preeminently the home of the Renaissance, the teacher destined to give the world the new learning as she had preserved the old during the Dark Ages. In those sunny days when Lorenzo the Wise as well as the Magnificent ruled in Florence, and by his statesmanship preserved so neat a balance of politics that the peninsula divided by five ambitious powers yet remained at peace. A glorious future seemed assured, but in 1492, the year that Columbus discovered America, Lorenzo died. The peace of Italy as dead also exclaimed a statesman with prophetic insight when he heard the news, and indeed the stability and moderation that Lorenzo in his house had symbolized was soon threatened. In Florence, wisdom was succeeded by Folly in the person of Piero, Lorenzo's son, an Orsini on his mother's side, an inheritor to the full of the haughty and tractable temperament of the Roman baronage. Playing his football in the streets among the shopkeepers opened booze, insolent to the merchants his father had courted, reckless of advice, Piero was soon to learn that a despotism such as that of the Medici founded not on armies, but on public good will, falls at the first adverse wind. This wind, a whirlwind for Italy, blew from France, but it was Ludovico Il Moro, not the young Medici, who actually sowed the seed. Nervous and cringing, as Philippe de Comunez had described him, Ludovico had found himself involved by his treatment of his nephew in a fog of suspicions and fears. Left to himself, uneducated and ailing in help, Gian Galliazzo Sforza would never have dared to thwart his ambitious uncle. But he had married a neapolitan princess of stronger fiber, a granddaughter of Ferrante I, and when she complained to her relations and they in turn remonstrated with Il Moro, trouble began. It seemed to Ludovico, assailed by secret visions of naples, allying herself with Milan's most dreaded enemy, Venice, or even with Florence and Rome to secure revenge in his own downfall, that he must hastily give up the idea that Lorenzo had advocated of a balance of power within the peninsula itself, and look instead beyond the mountains for help and support. Medieval annals could give many instances of popes and former rulers of Milan who had taken the same unpatriotic step, while a ready excuse could be found for invoking the aid of France on account of the French king's descent from the second house of Anjou that Alfonso V. Ferrante's father had driven from naples. Acting then from modes of personal ambition, not from any wide conception of statecraft, Ludovico persuaded Charles VIII, the France son of Louis XI, that honor and glory lay in his renewal of the old Angevin claims to naples, and in 1494, with a great flourish of trumpets, the French expedition started across the Alps. I will assist in making you greater than Charlemagne, Ludovico had boasted, when dangling his bait before the young French king's eyes. But the results of what he had intended were so far beyond his real expectations as to give him new cause for cringing in fear. The French, said Pope Alexander VI sarcastically, needed only a child's wooden spurs and chalk to mark up their lodgings for the night. Almost without opposition, and where they encountered it, achieving easy victories, the French marched through Italy from north to south, entering Florence that had driven Piero and his brothers into exile, compelling the hasty submission of Rome, sweeping the Aragonese from naples whose fickle population came out with tears to greet their new conquerors. Certainly the causes of this victory were not due to the young conqueror himself, with his ungainly body and overdeveloped head, with his swollen ambitions and feeble brain, with his pious talk of a crusade against the east, and the idle debauch for which he and his subjects earned unenviable notoriety. Comenes, a Frenchman with a shrewd idea of his master's incompetence, believed that God must have directed the conquering armies, since the wisdom of man had nothing to say to it. But Italian historians found the cause of their country's humiliation in their political and military decadence. We have seen how companies of hired soldiers held Italy enthralled during the 14th century, but with the passing of years what was once a serious business had become a complicated kind of chess with mercenary levies for pawns. Fifteenth century condotiere were as great believers in war as ever, Sir John Hawquod. But, susceptible to the veneer of civilization that glosses the Renaissance, they had lost the medieval taste for bloodshed. What they retained was the desire to prolong indeterminate campaigns in order to draw their pay, while reducing the dangers and hardships involved to the least adequate pretense of real warfare. Here is Machiavelli's sarcastic commentary. They spared no effort, he says, to relieve themselves and their men from fatigue and danger, not killing one another in battle but making prisoners. They would attack no town by night, nor would those within make sorties against their besieging foes. Their camps were without rampart or trench. They fought no winter campaigns. Before the national levies of France, rough campaigners with no taste for military chess, but only determined on as speedy a victory as possible, the make-believe armies of Italy were moaned down like nine pins or ran away. Thus clashed two opposing systems, one real and the other by this time almost wholly artificial. And because of its noise and stir, 1494, the year of Charles VIII's invasion of Italy is often taken as the boundary line between medieval and modern times, just as the year 476, when Romulus Augustulus gave up his crown, is accepted as the beginning of the Middle Ages. In both cases it is not the events of the actual year that can be said to have created the change. They are merely the culminating evidence of the end of an old order of things and the beginning of anew. By 1494 Constantinople was in the hand of the Turks. Columbus had discovered America. John Gutenberg had invented his printing press. Vasco de Gama was meditating as voyaged India. All these things were witness of a new birth, the infancy of a modern world. But the year 1494 stands also as evidence of the death of an old, the medieval. Stung by the oppression and insolence of their conquerors, Italian armies in intrigue were to drive the French in the years to come temporarily out of Naples. But in spite of this success the effect of Charles VIII's military walkover was never to be effaced. Italy, in Roman times the center of Europe, from which all law and order had radiated, had clung to a fiction of this power in glory throughout medieval days. Now at last the sham was exposed and before the forces of nationality her boasted supremacy collapsed. The center of political gravity had changed and with it the traditions and ideals for which the supremacy of Italy had stood.


Layer double hydroxides, LDHs, have been developed as efficient drug delivery systems, DDS, due to their biocompatibility and ability to control drug release. Advances in synthesizing intercalated structures and modifying slash functionalizing LDHs have led to new biotechnological and biomedical applications, with recent progress focusing on DDS, with cardiovascular, anti-inflammatory, and anti-cancer drugs as guests. Future prospects for LDH-based drug carriers include continued research and development of novel applications.


In many ways, Arcane was a jolt of possibility of life for video game adaptations, lovers of animation, and over offered those who just love a good story. I love a good fight, and episode 7, Boy Saviors Between Jinx and Echo was one of the best I've seen in a long time. For me, this weighted battle between these two characters is a scene that I can often find myself replaying over and over again. It's perfect. To paint the picture of Jinx and Echo, we have to look at the factors that led up to this moment. Beginning with Echo, we don't see too much of Echo when he was younger, but Little Man as he grew older, became an important part of the world Arcane built. After the time skip in Arcane's second act, Echo has changed quite a bit. We don't ever see exactly what's happened to him, but through his demeanor, his body language and his words, Echo has anger that has been brewing over the past few years, and justifiably so. His initial reaction towards seeing Vi again after so many years wasn't one of warmth. It was cold, defensive. Throughout this time lost, Echo has been forced to survive and fight to build his home. He's lost people. People have changed. They have given in. While he has many people around to support him, when he falls into Vi's arms, it feels as though he hasn't felt the warmth of a good hug in a long time. And those tears quickly shed that tough exterior that he's been forced to build up after all these years.  In the moments after this, talking to Caitlyn, Echo's response to her is filled with so much rage. Not only has Piltover neglected the undercity, but they've allowed Silco and his shimmer to run rampant, to destroy lives while the enforcers enable it, and turn a blind eye to it. That mural of all the people they've lost is indicative of that. And it's a source of his anger. He's lost so many people, so many friends, and is reminded of that every day. And when we look at that mural once more, Powder is up there, even though she's still alive. Echo and those around him have separated Powder and Jinx as two different people. She's clearly made that distinction as he pleads with Vi that her sister is not the same person she once was, that she can't be changed, that she made her choice. On the other hand, Jinx has undergone a drastic change as well, the biggest of them all. As a result of her actions when she tried to save her sister and friends, joining Silco has changed her tremendously. She hallucinates now, and her old friends are the ones feeding her mind. After Silco's manipulation and constantly battling herself, Jinx has isolated herself from love. Not only does she not have any friends left, the friends that did survive, Echo for example, walk two different paths. And those paths converged when she saw her sister make a choice that would send Jinx through another transformation. From early on in the series, Powder has always had severe attachment issues, intensely afraid of being abandoned. We see that in the second and third episodes. There's sadness when separated from her sister and her reaction after Vi returns. In the third, her breakdown after Vi leaves her asking her to stay behind when Vi went to rescue Vander. Yes, Powder wanted to help her sister at that moment, but at the same time she's desperate to avoid that feeling. Following Powder's accidental destruction, Vi lashes out at her sister, eventually hitting her. But after apologizing profusely, that hit propels Powder to yell out to her sister. Why did you leave me? Finally, that desperation is most prevalent when she almost primarily tackles Silco after he offers her the slightest inkling of love and company. Like an animal fighting to survive as her last words as Powder are, she left me. So as Jinx watches Vi and Caitlyn, she first sees her giving Caitlyn a goodbye hug which she's able to ward off the voices from manipulating that image. But it's when Vi is shown carrying Caitlyn out and Milo's voice is laughing, distorting her image of Caitlyn, it causes her to break that final chain, and even shoot at the two of them. Milo is always the toughest on Powder, constantly putting her down and making fun of her. With no confidence from Milo or Clegoire, Powder's fight is to be needed and wanted, valued, to not be left behind. But years later, after the incident, and now finally being abandoned not only once but the second time, it's the final nail in the coffin. There is no one left who sees her as Powder, Vi has moved on. Now she's only Jinx. From the creators themselves, they discuss that in this battle, those stylized flashbacks are mainly from Echo's perspective, and it not only informs us of how things have changed between the former friends, but also an insight into his ability from the game. To demonstrate that Echo is able to manipulate time, as hinted by the ticking sounds and a signature stopwatch to help him, Echo is the boy who shattered time. In the background of these flashbacks, a firelight follows behind Echo and a raven behind Jinx. These two characters oppose each other in many ways, and in some cases they are two sides of the same coin. If we replace the firelight with a firefly, the obvious inspiration, fireflies represent light, illumination, and hope. And the raven in fiction represents death and tragedy, an animal that follows Jinx throughout the series. Echo has turned his anger into innovation, solutions. He's turned his solitude into family and community. Though he started alone, Echo has built up those around him to fight against any that oppress the people of the undercity. The firelights are his family who he protects, addicts and victims that he's saved. He is the boy's savior in many ways, Silk was way of life, his darkness, it's tempting. But Echo ultimately is the light in that darkness. As he and Jinx fight, the light begins on Jinx but Echo is always in control of it. Following their initial encounter, the light seems to stand behind Echo, whether it illuminates his face or his body. It represents Echo's purity, his status as a hero. Jinx on the other hand is again the raven that represents tragedy, death, but also passage from one state to another. The tragedy of Jinx is ever present in this series, and it's mainly how her trauma has influenced her perception of the world around her, how she's been abandoned, how her guilt has devoured her mind. Where Echo has found solace through building up his own community, Jinx has found solace in solitude, but she hasn't really found peace. As she's grown, she has no friends, no real loved ones. Other than Silk, Jinx is alone and left to discuss with the voices that exist inside her mind. Moving back to the fight, as Echo lets the stopwatch go, just as he did in the past, the moment before it shows Echo waiting, thinking and then smirking. He baited Jinx into recreating their old play fight. In the past, Echo got caught with the fourth shot, and in the present he's able to avoid it, but when Echo does manage to avoid that final shot, he gains the upper hand on his old friend. As the stylized memories of his childhood fade along with the music, it's replaced by the sounds of these two grappling with each other and their own breaths, the sounds of their punches, the silence of it all. It becomes hauntingly real very quickly, it's also when it becomes tragic.  What was once paint is replaced by real bullets, a toy sword is exchanged for a real weapon. There are now stakes in this fight, consequences. The world has forced Echo to let go of his friend, Powder, and embrace Jinx, the enemy, and he does, until he sees her face. As Echo looks at her all bloodied up, it reminds me of that look Vi had after hitting Powder. He said earlier in this episode that Powder doesn't exist anymore, but at this moment when he looks at her, when he sees her eyes, he sees Powder again. He's reminded of that little blue haired girl that used to tag along with Vi and the others. This is Powder. Powder's eyes always had a distinct gray color, but Jinx's eyes are blue, or purple when she's with Silco. But her eyes here are that gray color, not a hint of blue. This is the girl he grew up with.  This was a chance at revenge, but he couldn't do it. Maybe when he was saying that Powder doesn't exist anymore, he was trying to convince himself of that, trying to let her go, but he can't. And as this is from Echo's perspective, you can hear Jinx struggle to catch her breath. Whether it was because she's injured or because she was going to cry, Echo recognizes this, all of it. And he seems relieved that he can finally see Powder again. Even he hasn't seen in years. At that moment, maybe he believed Powder could still be saved, and Jinx's reaction seems to mirror his. When Jinx sees Echo, there's no manipulation, no hallucinations. There doesn't appear to be any extra baggage or trauma attached onto Echo personally. He is still a friend, and she recognized the way he saw her. There are many discussions over the final moment of this episode, it can be seen a few different ways. One can see it as, while Echo might have been able to use the past to inform his present, the reality is that Jinx isn't Powder. Echo might have baited Jinx into repeating the same moves, but that bomb wasn't something he could have predicted. Jinx is not only unpredictable, but intelligent. Intelligent enough to manipulate Echo. However, I am of the perspective that Jinx's bomb wasn't to damage Echo, but it was for herself. One of the writers wrote that Jinx doesn't have a healthy fear of death.  This girl who's finally been reunited with her sister after so many years, who's so incredibly damaged and carrying so much guilt, she's torn. Her mind is fractured, split between Jinx and Powder, simultaneously trying to prove that she has value as Jinx, but also fighting her inner child. She killed her friends, her sister abandoned her now twice, and now everyone she's aligned with only knows her as Jinx. From her perspective, even Vi, her own blood, who came back for Powder, found that Powder doesn't exist anymore, and Vi doesn't like Jinx. She never did, and so she abandoned her again. Vi lied, in addition to her fear of abandonment, she also despises liars. But when Echo sees her, the real her, Powder, she's relieved, truly the boy's savior. With that look, she can move on away from the pain and the trauma that came with being Jinx, and she can die as Powder. The fact that someone, a friend, Echo, saw her as Powder again, it was enough. Enough for her to let go of being Jinx. This video has kindly been sponsored by Skillshare. Skillshare is an online learning community with thousands of inspiring classes for anyone who loves learning and wants to explore their creativity and learn new skills. Skillshare can help you make 2022 a year of new learning, growth, and connection. From photography and illustration, to graphic design, freelancing, and more, you can find classes that will match your goals and interests. If you're interested in learning how to edit videos, Skillshare is the perfect place for you. I personally enjoyed some of the lifestyle courses. I took the happy houseplants class to help me get a better understanding of how to take care of my plants, since I unfortunately neglected my last one. The course was quick and super informative, and it helped me to get started on not only choosing the perfect plan for me, but also how to properly take care of them. Another thing I appreciate is that Skillshare is ad free, they offer new premium classes every week, and their entire catalog is available with subtitles in Spanish, French, Portuguese, and German. So if you are interested in joining Skillshare, there's a link in the description, and the first 1000 people to use this link will get a one month free trial of Skillshare. Again, the link is down in the description, and the first 1000 people to use it will get one month free. So thank you for watching, and I'll see you all soon.


What they gon' do with me now? I'm still a twerk of the town Don't need assistance, I'm hoakin' them down Thank you for tuning in to another episode of Talk of the Town I'm your host Enrique, and today with us we've got a very special guest What's going on guys? I'm Groovy from New Jersey Alright, so we like to start things off with rapid-fire questions So I will ask you some questions and you'll answer them rapidly For sure Alright, but so, which rapper would you not let date your daughter? Oof Any of them, honestly, none of them could be my daughter Uh, who's your celebrity crush? Can I give two? Yeah Pink Panthers and Ice Spice together Wow, the dynamic duo Yeah, yeah, yeah I resonate with you there Yeah What is, uh, what are three things you would take with you on an abandoned island, or a deserted island? My phone My Nintendo Switch Okay And a bag of, like, almonds Interesting I really like almonds Yeah, I got a nut allergy, so I can't, I can't agree with you there on that last one Ayo But Alright, I got a tree nut allergy There you go My bad, it caught me there What is the craziest DM you've ever received? The craziest message I actually got was from an email This girl sent in her application to be my wife With, like, footnotes, pictures It was, like, it was like an essay, yeah It was crazy Wow, did she, like, include references and stuff, too?  Outside of R&B R&B So my favorite hip-hop artist Oh, yeah I love Playboy Cardi Okay I can't explain it I just like him, yeah I don't know, I'm not, like, I can't say I'm part of, like, opium gang or anything like that Or, like, I'm a vamp or anything I, like, I see what he's done for music But something about, like, I don't know Maybe it's just, like, I don't like rage music Gotta get in tune Yeah It feels like an acquired taste for sure It is for sure, it takes time Yeah, cause, like, watching his rolling-loud sets, like It's crazy Yo, every single one No context And any aesthetic, like, it's great, he's great Yeah, nah, that shit is nuts What, um, uh, what's your favorite app on your phone? Instagram Okay Yeah Nah, I feel that I'm addicted to it, yeah Probably my most used as well Outside of, like, messages, maybe And YouTube, I like YouTube a lot Yeah, yeah, do you have YouTube premium? Nah, I feel like you don't need it Yeah, me neither The ads are, like, what, 5, 30 seconds I'm saying, yeah You can typically skip them pretty quickly, too Exactly, yeah Yeah What is, uh, what's your favorite song? My favorite song currently Mm-hmm I can't lie, it might be Jay Holiday 2 by Cache Cobain I listen to that a lot Yeah, no, that's a good one Very good pick Yeah, yeah, yeah Definitely quick to, like, get you to turn up What is, uh, okay So, keeping on the song tip What is one song you know every word to? Jersey Love Okay All right, what, okay A song that's not yours That you know every word to Um, a song that's not mine That I know every word to Mm-hmm I've been listening to Massage and Me by Future a lot It's just really turn, yeah Okay All right, we'll take that What is, uh, what's a conspiracy you think is real? That we didn't land on the moon That first time, though Okay I think we've been there, like, now But, like, I think that first one was fake Interesting Mm-hmm Okay What, um, uh, if you could put any collab together What would it be? So, like, any set of artists You would put together to make something Pharrell is a producer, no matter what Mm-hmm And then something weird, like Alive or dead Okay I definitely would like to hear Michael and, like, Cardi Like, that would be crazy Michael Jackson and Cardi on a Pharrell beat Who knows where that could go Who's the feature? Michael or Cardi? Cardi's a feature Okay Cardi's a feature, yeah I feel like Cardi as a feature always kills it Like, on first play Yeah, exactly And he can hit different vibes So, like, Michael can get in his bag Pharrell's going crazy on the production And you get, like, some waw, waw, waw Man, what I would give to listen to Michael Jackson Over 808s Oh, my God I feel like that's one of the, like, biggest world tragedies And we never got to hear him now, you know Yeah Like, a Michael and Kanye collab That would have gone crazy It's been insane And I feel like it would have happened Because Michael was, like, that type of person At least from what he's seen, from what we know of him That's, like, I love Michael Jackson I love his one of my biggest influences Wow What's your favorite Michael album? Off the Wall Wow, I thought you were going to say Thriller Oh, no, what? You can't say Thriller? Yeah, Off the Wall is great And there's, like, a lot of, like, the beat tracks on there are amazing Yeah, it's a really complete album Honestly, it's probably my favorite as well And he wrote a lot on that one, too Compared to later albums Yeah, I always find it so interesting Because I didn't know until, like, much after the fact But the fact that even though he didn't play any instruments He was able to compose songs, like By just vocalizing them or using his fingers A lot of people do that, though Really? Like, when I'm, like, in the studio with my producers I'd be like, yo, do something like that, that, that Like, you don't really know what you're saying But you have, like, the vibe Oh, I can't spend more time in the studio I don't know What is your most underrated song? That's Out? Yeah I like Platonic Okay And it's actually, like, getting a lot of love now Since, like, Jersey Love's been going crazy It's just, like, a really nice, like, dance vibe Without it necessarily being a club vibe I think it's cool Okay It's nice and vibe-y, I agree with that And, um, I think that's...  Food Nice A lot of money on food Yeah, I don't blame you All right, that concludes Rapid Fire Questions For sure All right, so let's get into it So, Groovy, how did your musical journey start? Honestly, like, just with my friends Like, in a closet My friend from back in Union His name is Reg Mason He's been rapping since, like, high school And, uh, we would go to his house after school And he'd be, like, rapping You know, we'd just be hanging out And, like, doing whatever Yeah And one day he was like, Yo, like, everybody, like, come say something on the mic And, like, when I heard my voice on the mic Even though I didn't know it at the time I knew something about that moment I really liked I was like, yo, like, I like hearing my voice on the mic Hmm And then eventually it just progressed from there It just was, like, a hobby that got serious Yeah So, you make R&B now But was that always a case or no? No, I used to make hip-hop I was really rapping Wow Like, OD, yeah No, that's crazy I can't imagine that And that's why I switched Because I feel like it didn't fit, like, my image But I was a good, like, I can rap, for sure But R&B fits my demeanor better Okay Who were some of your early, like, rap influences growing up?   That's a lot It's a lot of work A lot of, like, feeding all those animals All those fish A lot of fish poop You know what I mean? But I do, like, I love fish bowls Like, something about them is just very nice to look at Hmm Yeah I had a beta fish At several points in my life Like, there'd be, like, little festivals and stuff in my area In Brooklyn And, like, you'd throw a ping pong ball in Get a beta fish Yeah But they can't be with another one, right? Nah They fight Yeah, they fight a lot I don't know if it's, like, if you put the two males in together I honestly don't even know how to tell, like, a beta fish's gender So, like, yeah But anytime I put two of them in together It hasn't ended well Yeah, that's sad for the beta fish Yeah, RIP to my guys Or girls For real So, okay, you started off with hip-hop At what point did you realize that it just, like, wasn't your thing And then transitioned on R&B So, it was definitely, like, a gradual thing Like, my first song that I put out That was, like, R&B or whatever was that song, Come Around And even when I made that song, I was still rapping Like, I was still in the studio making rap demos And then we got to a point where we were ready to start releasing some music And when my producer Alejandro was like, Yo, what do you want to drop?  So, I met Alejandro through that friend, Reg We used to be in a rap group together And when the rap group kind of dispersed, I was, like, asking around For, like, yo, who's a good producer And me and Alejandro actually had made a song years ago But we never met each other It was just all, like, via email and stuff So I hit him up and I was, like, yo, like, I'm looking for some new production Like, what type of vibe are you on?  Oh, yeah, he's my, he's that guy for me Nice Like, I'll be like, yo, Alej is this good? And he'll be like, nah Like, and he won't sugarcoat it And Alej's a nice guy, so he might say something like, yo, I think you could do better But he'll, like, he'll never let me drop something that he doesn't like And he's very, like, honest about his opinions with my music Wow Nah, that's a very good friend Nah, yeah, he's like, Alej's a gem, bro I wouldn't trade him for nothing Nice Yeah, there's, like, I feel like, especially in studio sessions that I've been in I've definitely seen my fair share of people just kind of agreeing, you know Because, and sometimes I don't think that it's, like, disingenuine I think that people get into, like, a vibe And, like, you're all there, you're all having a good time You might be drinking or whatever in the studio And everybody's like, yo, this is hard, this is hard But no one actually takes the time to, like, really listen and, like, critique what you guys did Because you're all having fun But Alej's that person to really step back and be like, yo, like, I know we had a good time Like, I don't think this is it Yeah, nah, I feel like, I feel like more people need that nowadays, especially I think if you could, it's hard to find people like that And if you can, you need to hold on to those people Yeah, I agree I feel like coming from, like, a music reviewer slash critic standpoint I always feel like giving people constructive criticism is one of the hardest things to do Yeah Because you always gotta make sure you, like, word it a certain way For sure Because, you know, music, like, for a lot of people it's very, it's cathartic And it's their art and it's therapeutic So, last thing you wanna do is, like, listen to this track where somebody's pouring out their heart And be like, damn, that shit is ass Yeah So it's like, yeah, trying to make sure that you don't say that And you word your feelings in a way that it doesn't hurt someone's, like, feelings as well Probably, like, one of my hardest things to do, absolutely I think it's good, though, because, like, for me, I really respect when people give me, like, stern criticism Because, like, all day, all you see is, yo, fire, fire, love this, love this, this, this, this So, like, when you see something different, especially if it's coming from a good place For me, it's appreciated Yeah, nah, it's great to get, like, fucking fly, sorry Nice It's great to get, like, so many different points of view Because having too much of that, yes, yes, great, fire It becomes meaningless, like, because it's just the same thing over and over and over again Yeah, I mean, like, there's a bunch of great artists out there But I don't think everything that they make is fire, you know Literally Like, Michael's got to have a few duds in the vault He does, Michael Jackson has songs that I don't like, honestly But then he has so many other ones that I love, you know what I mean? So you need the balance Yeah, no, absolutely So jumping forward a little bit in your musical timeline to Jersey Love Yeah So spoiler alert, the track is huge Yeah People love it It's been an absolute staple in the nightlife scene here in New York But also, like, it's been really big on TikTok For sure So let me backtrack that just a little bit When you were creating that song, what was the vibe like in the studio, you know? Like, what were people feeling about it? So Jersey Love was mad interesting because, like, when I first got that beat So when I first got that beat, there wasn't even a speed-up Like, it just was a slow R&B song Oh, wow Alejandro had sent it to me kind of just because Just because he knows I like Jersey Club Because at that point we weren't even making Jersey Club, really Oh, wow And so he sent it and he was like, yo, like, I think you could really do something cool on this So I sat with it for a little bit because, like, we weren't even in that bag yet And one night I was in the studio with my main engineer, Danny, is who records me And I was like, yo, Danny, like, let's load up that Jersey Love beat And I had already, like, wrote lyrics to it And so we did it and we just kind of knocked it out, like, very quickly Like, it wasn't a big to-do And then I want to say, like, maybe a couple days later, I was like, yo, Danny, like, we should speed up that second half So I said, like, ale, speed it up, which is now, like, cringe to say And so we sped it up, but then it kind of was just like an open beat Okay And we had this, like, crazy, like, R&B first half, we had a speed-up We had this, like, bangin' Jersey Club beat And I texted it to this girl and I was like, yo, do you like this? And she was like, yeah, but, like, I feel like you need a rapper on it Like, she was like, it feels incomplete And then I was like, well, I don't really listen to drill Like, if I'm being real, I don't really listen to drill So I was like, who's a good drill rapper? And so I'm, like, thinking, I'm scrolling through Instagram And I see Mr. Yahya Wait himself, B-Jacks And I was like, it's gotta be him And so, honestly, the longest part for Jersey Love was, like, trying to get in contact with B-Jacks And, like, get him to do it and all that stuff, yeah Did you know B-Jacks beforehand or no? Like, we're from a similar area, so, like, I've heard of him And, like, I saw him on the gram, but, like, we didn't know each other at that point Gotcha Okay Wow, that's crazy Yeah Because, like, I feel like what works so well in Jersey Love's favor is that juxtaposition Exactly, yeah Like, that R&B first half and then, like, that club second half Yeah Because I feel like so many, like, a lot of rappers nowadays And a lot of artists in general, like, they have the versatility to do both parts in one But it hits differently Like, it's not, like, how things used to be, you know Like, when rappers would do the rap part and then, like, bone in and R&B artists to do, like, the verse on it I think it's, like, it's cool when people, like Because if I did rap, like, it'd be cool And, like, if B-Jack sang, it'd be cool But I think what's so good about Jersey Love is we both did our specialty It's, like, separately, you know what I mean? And I think it really does shine on the record No, yeah, absolutely It's like, you guys have got your aces in your places, if you will Yeah, literally Yeah, so what's, like, what was the reception like when it first dropped compared to how it is now? So it was honestly good, like, on TikTok, before everything I did this 30 days until I'm famous, like, leading up to me dropping Jersey Love Oh, sure That was, like, my whole little campaign And so we had traction, like, as I was going I think at the release point, we had, like, 150 creates on TikTok Oh, wow Which now seems small compared to where it's at, but, like, that was big for me Like, I never had anything like that And on first week, we had, like, 5 or 10,000 streams or something Which was big for me at the time, too Yeah So Jersey Love, from before it came out, was moving And, like, now it's just way bigger than I, you know, it's just huge Yeah So what's it been like seeing it explode to this, like, essentially, like In New York, especially, almost like this cultural phenomenon It's crazy, I mean I'm still, like, I still feel like, like, I'm still pushing it I still want to push it further I feel like it has potential to go further And I'm still trying to, like, attach my name to the song more Because, like, the song has 10 million streams, it's everywhere But I still feel like a fairly small artist So I feel like it's still a consistent grind Like, I definitely haven't got, like, complacent or comfortable at where Jersey Love has gotten I want to do more, I want to eventually release more music But it's been crazy Like, I'm just, I'm just from Union, you know, like And I'm not, like, the coolest person in the world Like, I kind of was nerdy growing up and stuff So this is all just, like, culture shock for me Being in the club and all this stuff It's insane Yeah, man, no, I could imagine because, like Yeah, no, going from being in a hip-hop group Yeah Not really feeling the hip-hop wave and transitioning to R&B Yeah And then, like, having what, your third song blow up like that? Literally, yeah Yeah, literally It's gotta be nuts It is insane, and, like, at first it was a lot Like, I eventually ended up getting fired from my job But right before that was when everything was getting crazy And I'm, like, getting all these calls And I'm in New York every other night I was just, like, taking days off work for, like, mental health breaks Because it just was getting to be a lot Oh, sure Yeah, yeah, yeah Wow Do you have any people, like, any artists, like, reach out to you After the song came out, like, as it started to blow up And be like, yo, I thought what you should Yeah, a bunch of people have reached out Just various artists from all over A bunch of A&Rs were reaching out early on Everyone's been showing me love It's been crazy Nice Have you thought of, like, well, let me phrase that Not have you thought, but rather, like Is there talk of a Jersey love remix on the way? Yeah, of course Yeah? Okay All right, but I'll leave that alone Don't worry So, how important do you think, like, what TikTok was In blowing that song up? I think it was crucial But I do want to give credit to New York City a lot Because on the ground floor The DJs here were running it up in the club And, like, whether that be a Kintami or Kintabeejax Whatever, we're, like, a team in that way DJs here were going crazy Like, I'm getting videos of people playing in the club And getting videos of it from parties Girls just at home doing their thing to it So, I definitely want to give New York its credit That, like, at the beginning of this New York was really going hard for me Yeah No, that's awesome It's, like, it's great because I feel like I don't really get what the But, like, not, like, a rivalry I mean, I guess in a way But just, like, the Not everybody is so, from New York Is so, like, abrasive, if that's the word Of Jersey And I can't really say it's the same vice versa Like, I know there's a lot of people from Jersey Who fuck with a lot of stuff that goes on in New York But it's definitely hard to, like, I feel like sometimes get that love the other way I get it because New York Like, I talk to a lot of people from New York And their whole thing What everyone from New York always says is, like, Everything's here Why would we care about the other places? And I get that Like, you guys do literally have everything here Like, there's nothing in Jersey Besides maybe, like, diners That you guys don't have here in New York City So I get it But what I want to do Is show people that, like, we have talent there, too So, like, don't always overlook us Because there is stuff here, you know what I mean?  Mm-hmm So now Jersey Club is very important Yeah, my introduction to Jersey Club Probably came when I was in, like, high school Probably, like, I think 2016 Right before I graduated around 2017 It started to blow up around that time Got Lottage Yeah, yeah He used to have, like, he probably still does But have, like, a bunch of compilations of songs Yeah, and he had big remixes Yeah And a Lil C4 There was, like, a lot of big Jersey DJs Who, like, had songs on the radio Around that 2016 time period Yeah, I don't think I'd ever heard Maybe I'm wrong, because it's a while ago That I'm trying to recount But I think at that point in time All I knew Jersey Club for was, like, the remixes I don't think I'd heard, like, an original Jersey Club song yet Yeah There wasn't many before, like, Cookie Kawaii And, like, um... Oh, yeah, that was a big moment Ben Meru Mm-hmm I think any original Jersey Club music Before then was, like, very old, like, 2009 And prior Oh, wow Yeah So now that Jersey Club has had such a foothold In the industry And has really... And Jersey Club was Well, rather, Jersey Love blew up Really well, you know, along with the Jersey Club rave Like, do you see yourself making more Jersey Club music? For sure, but I want to, like, tweak it a bit Like, I don't want us to get lost in just the boom, boom, boom You know what I mean? Because that could be very boring after a while When I eventually dropped my EP Like, I wanted to be dance music with Jersey influence Not just, like, a straight Jersey Club album You know what I mean? I definitely want to keep leaning into R&B Leaning into dance and, like, house and things like that But with the influence from Jersey Gotcha Have you been listening to, like, any house music lately? Like, any new art or any new projects? I don't listen to a lot of new house music I listen to a lot of old house music Because my dad was a DJ Oh, sure Yeah, so I grew up listening to house music Like, Chicago style house music Oh, wow Like, follow me And all that So, like, was your dad ever playing any, like... I know it's, like, house adjacent But, like, freestyle music? Like... Like what? I know it was really big in New York in the 80s But stuff like, you know, ever heard of Lisa Lisa? Oh, yeah Yeah, he plays that stuff I feel like his main thing, though, is, like, very... Like, house music that was popular, like, in the UK Got you And a lot of, like, stuff that you would hear, like, in, like, very late night clubs Or maybe even, like, stripper house Like, stuff like that Okay, interesting So what was it like having a house DJ dad Like, how did that affect you and your musical influences? Um... I just have a very, like, large music bank You know, like, I listen to a lot of music from a lot of different time periods Because that's what he did Mm-hmm And, like, I saw a lot of artists Like, there would be artists in and out of my house from time to time They're not huge artists, but just, like, artists he was working with Um... And he was, like, away a lot He was gone a lot So there was that But, um...  Ah! Um... Okay, let me just move on to my bed Uh, so, I saw... I think it was in the major stage I think Six Seasons was the major stage You said your favorite genre is Motown, right? Like, 70s? I do love Motown, yeah So, what are some of your favorite acts from that time period? Because I really love soul music in, like, the 70s Motown era Probably, like, early Michael Jackson and, like, Stevie Wonder I got into Stevie Wonder maybe a couple years ago Um... I can't name anymore right now, I'm blanking But I do like that time period a lot Yeah My moment with that was really, like, in high school and such Like, I remember listening to a lot of, like, late 60s soul A lot of Otis Redding Okay Yeah Oh, man, I had, like, a huge Otis Redding moment Remember, one of my teachers put on the Temptations, um, the VH1 movie they had? Yeah So that really set me on a course, like... The Temptations are great, too Yeah, I really like, um, Marvin Gaye's, like, almost all of his music Especially that duo album He has with Tammy Tyrell, that first one Yeah Oh, I like, um, James Brown a lot, too Mm Yeah I actually did it, this is crazy I did a report when I was still in college Of how Playboy Cardi is the new James Brown And I had, like, examples and footnotes and, like, video footage It was kind of crazy, I got an A on it Oh, shit That's crazy You know, for what college was, that's, like, probably One of the things I enjoyed most is that freedom and assignments, you know Yeah Like, you have the ability to pick and choose certain topics Yeah Like, I had, um, in my English class, my freshman year I was a big, big, so I'm a big Brock Hampton fan Okay, shout out to Brock Hampton In fact, shout out to Brock Hampton and RIP to Brock Hampton Yeah Fuckin', nah, my um, it was after the saturation trilogy had dropped So I was over here because they were so new in everything It was before, like, they had their fallouts and Amir left the band It was, I was talking about how they were, like, the future of hip hop Yeah They were going ahead and, like, doing all of this, like, they were getting really vulnerable in their music Yeah They were doing so many different kinds of, like, rhythms and cadences Yeah And fucking around, like, experimentally with the music and everything And I just felt like that was what hip hop was gonna be for, from that point forward And in some ways, yes and also in some ways, no I think after saturation three, they lost a lot of, like, what made them special, in my opinion Yeah, absolutely Like, also, like, just in the trend of music, like, hip hop is like, not that hip hop's dying out But, like, I feel like dance music is on the rise Absolutely So they came at a weird time Yeah, nah, most definitely I feel like a lot of their later stuff definitely incorporated more of, like, that house aesthetic But still have, like, a boom bap, like, weird experimental thing to it Yeah Damn RIP Not that they're Sure, but they were great Yeah I went to one of their shows and I got punched in the face Oh, shit, really? In the Moscow Wait, which one was it? Somewhere here in New York Yeah, was it at Irving Plaza?  They did Oh, you were there?   Star I think so, yeah Yeah They just raged every single time Yeah It was insane That was a hit Yeah, that was a good song Wow Yeah, they had that shock value, too That was another thing I liked Yeah, yeah Like, if you have an abstract Like, him not being afraid To say, like, anything Yeah, yeah Shout out to him Shout out to Kevin Abshark Wow, my bad I did not mean to go on, like, A long-ass, pro-camped and tangent Nah, it's cool It's cool Um, excuse me So, how about we play another game? Let's do it It's called Finish the Sentence For sure I'll read one half And then you give me your answer Oh, nice, okay, let's do it Alrighty, so First one When I make music, I feel Focused Yeah When you hear my music, it makes you want to Dance Okay I hate when I procrastinate Okay, I feel that Yeah As a huge procrastinator Oh Yeah Every day Every day Um, music is Energy Love is Possibly not real Interesting Interesting I want to unpack that a little bit We'll get there Um, when I feel sad, I Sulk Mmm What is Oh, my bad My favorite word is Keyster Interesting Why is keyster your favorite word? Because what's that? This girl was saying something What did I say? I was like, nah, because you was outside Shaking your keyster And she was like, did you just say keyster? I'm weird And she was like, what does that mean?   Because, well, for one, it changed my life It's done so much for me But it also distracts me a lot Sometimes I doom scroll and I get lost And I waste time So it could be both really positive or really negative Depending on how you utilize it Yeah, I feel that I'm not the biggest social media person I mean, I'll agree It's definitely been helpful for what I want to do In terms of career aspirations But there's definitely Like you're saying, a double-edged sword nature to it Because on the one hand it does that But then it's also really exhausting trying to keep up on it Oh, yeah, and sometimes it can make you depressed When I feel like I'm not doing as well as other people Or if I'm comparing people's likes to my likes Or whatever the fuck, it can just get crazy But it does, it's a great tool Oh, absolutely It allows you to connect with so many different people I've met lifelong friends on social media Have you ever seen that documentary, The Social Dilemma? No, I haven't It's on Netflix, it actually talks about social media But more so like the social engineering aspect Like how these companies created this thing That essentially gave us these thoughts That we never would have had otherwise True Crazy When would you ever take a picture with your friends and family And be like, I hope this goes up on Instagram You know what I mean, that's kind of sick When you really think about it But I don't know, it's just part of life now Not for real, it's such a uniquely 21st century thing Yeah, because it didn't exist And now it's like a huge part of my life Social media is probably like 35% of my life Honestly Which is a big chunk Yeah, and then think about like, especially like with Artists and entertainers from just like all around Even just like businesses in general It's like social media is where you go to get that audience To get people, to get the word out about your product Or whatever you're doing Yeah, now it's crazy how important and influential it's become I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for social media You know what I mean, so it's like It's both great and kind of crazy, you know Yeah What I'm, oh okay My fans are Nuanced They got good taste in music Yeah Relationships are Responsibility Big facts, absolutely My favorite memory is when I'm with my friends without an agenda When we're all just hanging out Yeah Okay, my family is Supportive Nice, that's always helpful Bless My dream is for To be successful enough that my success Makes other people successful That's my goal Nice, that's good too, it's very like Very generous goal because I feel like a lot of people It's just like getting to that one point for themselves But having that Awareness of wanting to bring others up That's dope Alright, awesome, that was Finnish Sundance Thank you for finishing Sundances You're welcome And so One of my last questions is What do we have to look forward to In the rest of the year, musically speaking Coming very soon is the Jersey Love Versions Pack So there'll be Sorry Not good, there'll be a lot of surprises On the Jersey Love Versions Pack Possibly a remix Possibly a different version of the song Who knows what's gonna be on there Just tune in when it drops I'm gonna try and be outside more Sitting with people like this Yeah, just more music, more content I'm gonna be doing more shows I'm just gonna be outside I actually like being outside now For the first time in my life Yeah man, I'm sorry, go ahead No, no, no, just more me More groovy Yeah, let's turn the groovy summer into a groovy year Into a groovy forever, you know Yeah, that was smooth, did you practice that? Nah, I just made that up, I'm actually shocked Nah, that was hard Alright, groovy, thank you so much It's been a pleasure Thank you Of course, why don't you tell the people where they can find you So you can find me on Instagram at groovy.ju You can find me on TikTok at groovyexclamationpoint And everywhere else, I'm just groovy On all streaming platforms, on YouTube Search Jersey Love Yeah, show me some love, because I'd love you guys genuinely Alright, awesome Thank you for tuning in, and we'll see you next time


So this is it. I'm gonna have a lot of energy coming into this game, baby Just kidding. She curved me, but then she didn't respond two days later So I'm in the midst of not being curved. It's kind of a big dog. Get shit on Colin Coward All right, here we go Interesting season I didn't explain that very well new season We're one and oh now a stipulation on this new season that we're doing I'm not re-explaining it go to that first video and check it out explains it super well, but a stipulation But a stipulation is I'm only going one wheel spin per episode because my team is already so good All right, I crank the wheel All I could really take right now. I take a center. I take a center I take a left tackle and Ooh, ooh, ooh wheel spin is replaced one player with the same overall and that's actually kind of clutch because I just now got Literally just got this Jarvis Landry episode 97 overall and quite frankly he's useless on this team. I didn't do anything Also, I have two insanely good halfbacks. I could replace a 99 halfback. Dude. I know what I'm doing X-Factor's coming off Trans-Answery Sanders.  He's not gonna see the field All right boys now. We got our radum set challenge I'll feel it real good Let's go. What do you got 100 plus? Let's go back to the last game I've never Died I've never my life finished this challenge ever and I do it I do it random games all the time when it's not my challenge. I know it's possible Knock over a pile of opponents team night train lane Julio and Mike Vic Dude, I have this sinking feeling that I forgot to turn on Barry Sanders X factor, but I go two straight games without it Shake one Berkeley goes down though. It won't matter. It won't matter.  Oh Going down. I don't even know what that's just said fourth and seven instantly going for it doesn't even think about it Just don't know it's my ball.   Maybe not Well, he didn't pick it. Wow, what a horrible couple plays there I'm not really sure what I should run here, but I'm in no means way until I can't really punt this I'm gonna look for gentry I'm throwing it As long as we can tackle him. It's kind of like a pun. Whoa Okay, not like a pun here. I'm on Patrick Willis.  I'm on the wrong dude. I'm on Simeon rice. Oh Heater came in but it didn't get there in time. He might have just thrown an interception come again. Let's go Didn't matter who I was on Okuda breaks the tackle Out to the 33 great defense. Here we go. This edge has the set. This is perfect for a stretch in perfect Barry Sanders Yes, I Almost wiggled him. I think he's he's guessing the edge Okay Dude, Barry is a freak. There is a freak get this edge set the edge set the edge Wait, I just said get it. Wait a second. Wait a second. Wait a second. Did that pile on fall over? Wait a minute Yo, okay, so technically technically I did not knock the pile on over I technically pushed it out of the way, which is more than I've ever done on this challenge. Yo boys What do you think do I count it? That's hysterical Officially knock over a pile on in this video. I'm gonna have a Lexa choose Dude, there's a deep post kind of open. Nope Stay in bounds.  He's not gonna get to it, dude. This guy's a joke. Oh My god Dalvin cook getting me a solid five Machine right now. I thought for sure I could get around that. Is he gonna go with a slip screen I want to see him go to slip screen here. No, but he might want to throw Barclay.    Anyway, I want to run redoption out of this so bad Come on. I need more Taylor to bite on Barry. Come on bite. No, he doesn't bite I'm just getting rocked by enforcers right now. I want to get this one like a man I get it. I could throw I could quick throw Tyreek. I could throw a lot of you central dude.  All right, we are gonna pin this one 10 to 7 and I give all half So we're in a good spot. I think that do you think we could set the edge here on an inside zone? This would be real savage if that edge got set wait a second Dude why is Barry Sanders a machine this is this is a classic right here guy right in front of you. Oh, that's not open Damn it looks open and then it's not I keep making the wrong read there First players that get the luckiest. Are you kidding me? He just get what did he just get a legal man downfield interesting Jonathan Ogden a legal man downfield That's a good ball. Oh, and he takes himself out of bounds The running lane was there. Oh I can't believe you committed to that My ball Patrick Willis most feared. Oh my god. We needed that. I was getting sketchy You're just See, I got a juke every time man. Why do I ever not juke? How to win a game one-on-one. I'm gonna just dip inside of this. Oh Dalvin could want more playing time apparently alright, Barry's back in a third and six exact same place Can we do it one more time? The answer is yes. I think that's our first. It's our first Goddamn, we're gonna try the opposite side this time. Oh, he guessed left side. Wow.  Oh my god I better be recording. This is a banger. Let's go Post trial Julio. No, he throws the hat back out of the backfield, but he gets sad Bob Miller's having a day This is so sketchy post post. I got the post.  It's 17 of 14. Why was I doing that? I don't know. Oh Okay, okay Okay, I Don't need anything man lights out second and for the final play of the game. Let's see where this takes us Oh, that's an enforcer. Wait, you're lying. Wait, you're lying. Oh my god. I tackled him I had a conservative.  I just got enforcer hit stick for a fumble in the last play the game Patrick Willis who played awesome, but you are not the player the game Lamar Just saved the game with that tackle Can we talk about the fact that I absolutely knocked the pylon over though? That's so high though for completing our challenge Our new reward is to get a 97 overall theme builders I'm pretty much just spamming this thing for like an offensive Wait, what would I just open which happened? I guess I'm opening another one now Sutton did everyone in stream chat wants me to get this court and something so bad I'm in I don't expect me to do much but who is the other guy I got newest let's start by newest It was Fred Warner, so it glitched out and I should have gotten Fred Warner by then due to see better than Bob Miller Nah by millers. I mean Bob Miller does have all the boosts and the team chemistry stuff, but I still think So I'm gonna just gonna say that the Cortland Sutton was my pick and now I can take Michael Thomas out And I'll throw Cortland Sutton. All right, the team is looking beautiful. That's a big win for sure I will see you boys in the next episode. We're doing all we're on our way to the playoffs. I'll see you the next one. Peace out


I'll say two things. First of all, it's very interesting to me that so many people are now running away from the label of critical race theory. But I'm going to quote two critical race theorists, Barbara Applebaum with the book Being Good, Being White.   So what you're doing is you're playing a series of word games. You know that critical whiteness studies is a solid field of critical race theory? No, it's not. These things are all deeply interrelated. No, they're not. They're not. They're just not. And I'm not going to let you play word games. And this is really, I think, the most essential thing. But I don't think it's right is that forcing eight-year-olds in Cupertino, California to deconstruct their racial identities and then rank themselves according to power and privilege. It's intersectionality theory, which was invented by Kimberly Cranshaw. That's intersectionality. It's a separate thing, which is part of critical race theory. No, it's not, dear. You had her on your show. Hello, and welcome back to another Gaslighting Therapy session with DroneTech. You know, because Misery Loves Company. This time, we're going to be talking about Joyless Reed, MSNBC's resident racist huckster. In this interview, she's talking with a well-known CRT critic, Christopher Rufo, who, like many of us, see right through this Marxist Trojan horse. Now, I don't claim to be a CRT expert, but I do know a little about it, and it is tied to some nefarious ideas in ideology. We're going to dive a bit more into this interview, but first, check out this free offer for my viewers. There's a 5,000-year-old asset that's seen off every world crisis there ever was, and thrive. Gold and precious metals. The oldest hedge against inflation and disaster. Your stability insurance. Put it into an IRA. You even defer the tax on all the gains until you retire, so you get compound growth on everything. That can add extra thousands of dollars to your fund over the years. Take out an IRA with Noble Gold this month, and along with First Class Service, they're gifting a 110th-ounce Gold Bullion American Eagle Coin. You can find out more by visiting the link in the description or pen comment, or simply go to their website at www.nobelgoldinvestments.com, or you could even call them at<PHONE_NUMBER>. Make sure to tell them DroneTechPolitics sent you. Just look at all those insane facial contortions she makes throughout this interview. It's almost like her skull is trying to escape her face.  Not to mention, her ratings hard tanking and getting owned on her own show by a CRT critic definitely won't help her. Read plays this game of spin where Rufo will to read off clearly racist statements from Joey's heroes and her only response is that they're not critical race theorists. She doesn't have to be a critical race theorist, whatever that is. She just needs to use it as the basis for her anti-white racist ideas.  You wanna make a campaign and stuff everything in there that people get annoyed. You played my highlight reel, give me a chance to respond. And you wanna stuff it all into critical race theory, right? Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong.  I'm not annoyed by CRT because I'm white or conservative, nor do I see it as a white issue. I care about CRT because I care about this country and everyone in it. I want us all getting along, not hating each other because of some Marxist cult. This is right, is that forcing eight-year-olds in Cupertino, California to deconstruct their racial identities and then rank themselves according to power and privilege. It's intersectionality theory, which was invented by Kimberly Cranshaw. That's intersectionality, it's a separate thing. The intersectionality is a separate thing. No, it's not, dear. You had her on your show, you know this. Yeah, she invented both things. And here's the bottom line, Joy. She invented both things. What you've done in tonight's segment is exactly what I'm fighting against. Okay, see, here we go again, where she's just making up these strawmen that these people aren't certified critical race theorists. But as Rufo keeps attempting to point out, their rhetoric is derived from the tenets of CRT. Just pulled up in front of an old rickety building that looked like a project. Now, I'd never been there before. I'm not sure if it was a project, but it certainly had all the familiar symptoms of a project. She just admitted that, yes, she invented both things, both intersectionality and critical race theory. It's a manipulation of language. I'm fighting against language deconstruction.  All of these euphemistic terms with subversive content.  Parents all over this country, they know what's happening in schools, they know what's happening in their public institutions, and you're seeing people revolt against this divisive identity politics.  My God, that woman is insufferable. She wasn't even listening. She's just condescending because she knows that she's the one sitting in the position of power and influence.  And believe me, I think we all know this, she cannot stand that people are standing up and pushing back against these school boards that have just assumed all this power and right to dictate what's going on in public schools. Most parents have just sat back and trusted these school boards for way too long, and it's time to put it into it. No doubt, and she's already been doing it, Joy will use her power to attack and demonize those parents. All right, folks, that's all I have for that one. You all know what to do, and I'll see you all for tomorrow's video.


Spring Cleaning is here and Appalachian Wireless has the deal to get you started. Get a Samsung Galaxy S8 for a penny or a Galaxy S8 Plus for only $89.99 on the region's best network. Better service, bigger savings, that's today's Appalachian Wireless. To your agreement required, see store for details. Evidence was the main focus today when John Russell Hall, the man accused of murdering Pikeville Police Officer Scotty Hamilton, was back in Pike Circuit Court. 56-year-old John Russell Hall made his first appearance in Pike Circuit Court since his arraignment on a murder charge in Pikeville Police Officer Scotty Hamilton's death. Hall is accused of shooting and killing the veteran police officer on the night of March 13th at Hurricane Creek. In today's pretrial hearing, Commonwealth Attorney Rick Bartley said his office received back a large amount of discovery evidence in the case. It probably exceeds a thousand pages. It includes numerous photographs, statements, things of that type, a lot of documentary evidence. There were, however, some concerns voiced during Thursday's hearing. The main concern voiced in today's hearing was how the evidence, which totals more than a thousand pages at this point, could be inflammatory to the general public and could make it difficult to find an impartial jury in Pike County. Bartley said in order to protect John Hall's right to a fair trial, he believes the discovery evidence and evidence expected to be received back in late July should be sealed in the court file, effectively blocking it from the view of the public before John Hall's murder trial. Part of my concern in this case, frankly, is some of the stuff that's in here is highly inflammatory. And I'm really concerned about it being made public in some ways, that it might bring a disultimate jury in this case, the jury that's ultimately chosen in this case. And so I wanted to just kind of advise the defense of that, because, of course, I know there's a way in court to a fair trial. We could. So we've got that issue as I want to bring. We could. We could have a follow-up discovery under seal, and then have a conclusion of the case. It would be unsealed. They're kind of a parallel that's close to judge with purposes. Yeah, I think that's an acceptable alternative to both protect the record and protect our ability to seek a fair trial. I think there's already quite a bit of media coverage and information out there. Bartley said sealing the evidence will protect John Hall's right to a fair trial. A status hearing in the case was set for the morning of August 9th. A trial date has not yet been set.  In addition to today's discussions about evidence, it was briefly mentioned about the prosecution's desire to seek enhanced penalties in this case. Commonwealth Attorney Rick Bartley announced at a recent event that he plans to seek the death penalty against John Russell Hall. The defense did not have a comment on today's hearing, but they did say that today's hearing was the beginning of a very long process in this case. Reporting in downtown Pikeville, Chris Anderson, EKB News.