Wednesday, June 24, 2020 Dhul-Qa’da 3, 1441 AH

Doha today: 290 - 380

Perspective

Listing more than 20 must-read books to learn more about black history, racism and social justice. P4-5

Cover Story

Hollywood Back Page

Remembering Joel Swedish expat attempts to Schumacher. conquer Everest while at home. Page 15 Page 16 2 GULF TIMES Wednesday, June 24, 2020 COMMUNITY ROUND & ABOUT

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PRAYER TIME Fajr 3.14am Shorooq (sunrise) 4.46am Zuhr (noon) 11.38am Asr (afternoon) 3.01pm Maghreb (sunset) 6.29pm Isha (night) 7.59pm

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Emergency 999 Worldwide Emergency Number 112 Kahramaa – Electricity and Water 991 Local Directory 180 International Calls Enquires 150 Hamad International Airport 40106666 Labor Department 44508111, 44406537 Mowasalat Taxi 44588888 Qatar Airways 44496000 Hamad Medical Corporation 44392222, 44393333 Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation 44845555, 44845464 Transparent when he invites them to dinner en masse to share his news, Primary Health Care Corporation 44593333 DIRECTION: Joey Soloway somehow, the conversation becomes about them. The secret 44593363 CAST: Jeffrey Tambor, Amy Landecker, Gaby Hoffmann unfolds, though, when he comes home and sees his married Qatar Assistive Technology SYNOPSIS: Mort has a secret that he really wants to daughter getting intimate with her former fiancé. Now, he Centre 44594050 tell his three adult children, who are so self-absorbed they knows her secret; she learns his; and the dysfunctional family Qatar News Agency 44450205 don’t see that something has changed for divorced dad. Even finds one secret after another being exposed. 44450333 Q-Post – General Postal Corporation 44464444

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ote Unquo Qu te “To find out what one is fitted to do, and to secure an opportunity to do it, is the key to happiness.” — John Dewey

Patriot realise is that his life has been anything to be noticed. Unfortunately for him Community Editor DIRECTION: Steve Conrad but mundane. To prevent Iran from a European cop is at his heels trying Kamran Rehmat CAST: Michael Dorman, Kurtwood going nuclear, he has assumed a fake to discover who he is, his incessantly Smith, Michael Chernus persona as an average businessman grim and nervous co-worker Mr Icabod e-mail: [email protected] SYNOPSIS: John Tavner doesn’t when in reality he is actually a highly has figured out that he isn’t who he Telephone: 44466405 really fit in with his quirky colleagues skilled intelligence officer, who took says, and Steven, a chubby employee Fax: 44350474 at the industrial piping corporation the piping job because of the routine with a recent brain injury, is starting where he works. They don’t really know business trips to Luxembourg, and to remember a horrible act which John much about him, but what they don’t because the job is secluded and too dull may have inflicted. Wednesday, June 24, 2020 GULF TIMES 3 BODY & MIND COMMUNITY Masking children during pandemic Although the majority of information has been geared toward adults, it’s important to understand that it is necessary for everyone, including children older than 2, to wear face masks when they are out in public

uestion: Recently different sizes, it is important to there has been a find a mask that is not too big or too directive to have tight. There also are many options everyone wear to make your own. You will want to masks when out in ensure that you assist your children Qpublic. Although I with putting their mask on so that have limited outings to essential it covers their nose and mouth. things such as the grocery store, One downfall of the new masking with certain states “opening back recommendations is that we’re up,” my children are asking about finding that people have a tendency playing with friends and going on to touch their face more often. Our more outings in general. I am a kids are no different. They will want single mom with three children, to touch the mask and play with it. ages 15 months, 4 and 14. I’m One idea to consider is to practice wondering whether they need to masking at home before you go wear masks when outside, with out so your kids can get used to friends or when it is appropriate. having something on their face. It Answer: During this Covid-19 is also very important to continue pandemic, we certainly have heard reminding your children to keep a lot about face masks. The Centres their hands down and be diligent for Disease Control and Prevention about hand-washing. You will want (CDC) now recommends that to ensure you are washing your face Americans wear cloth masks in more often as well. public settings where other social If your children are anything distancing measures are difficult to like mine, they are tired of being maintain. cooped up at home and miss their Although the majority of friends. Even though some states information has been geared toward may be easing restrictions, I would adults, as the direction around say it’s still important to adhere to face masks has changed quickly the established social distancing over recent weeks it’s important to guidelines and not a good time to understand what is necessary now start having playdates with friends. that the guidance is for everyone, Unfortunately, I think with the including children older than 2, to recommendations regarding face wear face masks when they are out masks, some families might feel in public. like that means that they can do As a mother of three children certain things together with other myself, ages 18 months to 6, I have families and friends, as long as been actively looking at the issue COMFORTABLE: Though masks can be difficult to find, the recommendation is to always use cloth masks because they’re wearing a mask. The intent myself. Like my family, only your they can be more comfortable for youngsters (and adults). with more universal masking is to two older children would need have another layer of protection for masks. Although we want to protect situation. If you need to have patients and visitors are now asked always use cloth masks because ourselves and for our communities our littlest babies, newborns or an office visit with a healthcare to cover their nose and mouth. they can be more comfortable if you have to be out in public at the children younger than 2 have small provider, you will want to have a Though masks can be difficult for youngsters (and adults). And grocery store or a doctor’s office — airways and we don’t want to face covering. At Mayo Clinic, all to find, my recommendation is to because our children come in those sorts of experiences. It is not obstruct their breathing. As well, meant for us to start doing things we can protect them in other ways, with our friends and neighbours such as having them in a baby or having large family gatherings carrier or sling, which can make it because we can wear face masks. harder for them to reach out and Your children might have a lot touch things. of questions and confusion still Because social distancing around Covid-19, especially if they recommendations remain in place, are old enough to hear news reports it’s good to review when you might or are on social media. For me, as a require a mask and when you can mom, I feel like it’s my job to give forgo one. For instance, if you my children the best information are going for a walk around the possible and give it to them in a neighbourhood and unlikely to be safe environment. And that means around other groups of people, I having those honest conversations do not think a mask is necessary in about what we can and cannot do. those situations, and that’s been But it also means being a little bit outlined in the guidelines. However, more thoughtful about how much if you’re not sure that you can safely they are getting from those sources social distance when you’re out in terms of the news as well. with your family, then that’s when Although the future is uncertain you really want to think about that related to Covid-19, we are hopeful face mask for your child. that improvements will continue For instance, as a single parent, and we will be able to get our you may find yourself in a situation families back to their normal where you have to take your routines soon. Stay positive and 4-year-old to the store with you. encourage your children to do You would want to make sure PRACTICE AT HOME: One idea to consider is to practice masking at home before you go out so your kids can get the same. – Mayo Clinic News that child has a mask on in that used to having something on their face. Network/TNS 4 GULF TIMES Wednesday, June 24, 2020 COMMUNITY COVER STORY A surge in the US to read, understand race issues

By Moira Macdonald Nonfiction America by Ibram X Kendi There is no list of nonfiction books Kendi might be best known for How and Naomi Ishisaka that could ever encompass the breadth To Be an Antiracist, but before he wrote and complexity of African American that bestselling book, he wrote Stamped history and the underpinnings of From the Beginning, which takes readers ver the past few weeks, systemic racial injustice. But in an through the history of racist ideas the killing of George effort to ground this moment in history, through five “tour guides,” including Floyd by police sparked humanity and connection to place, here WEB Du Bois and William Lloyd nationwide protests are a few books for deeper exploration. Garrison. He writes, “Antiracists have against state violence long argued that racial discrimination Otoward black people. With the My People are Rising: Memoir of was stamped from the beginning of demonstrations on countless streets a Black Panther Party Captain by America, which explains why racial and the conversations taking place in Aaron Dixon disparities have existed and persisted.” countless homes, bookstores are now Dixon, who led the Seattle Black experiencing a surge of interest in Panther Party starting in 1968 through When They Call You a Terrorist: books about black history, racism and the late 1970s, wrote his memoir to A Black Lives Matter Memoir by social justice. chronicle his years leading the Seattle Patrisse Khan-Cullors and Asha Robin DiAngelo’s White Fragility, chapter during the height of the Black Bandele Ibram X Kendi’s How To Be an Power movement in the US. The book In this book, Khan-Cullors writes Antiracist and Michelle Alexander’s is a good reminder for Seattleites that of growing up in Los Angeles and The New Jim Crow all turned up racial injustice is not a problem just experiencing the persecution of black on The New York Times nonfiction in other places, but that it has long people by law enforcement, and bestseller list. It’s cause for hope, been part of our social and political particularly her brother’s experience among those who believe that fabric — then and now. Former King in jail. After Trayvon Martin’s killer reading can make us better and County Councilmember Larry Gossett went free in 2013, these experiences stronger. writes in praise at the front of the book, led Khan-Cullors, Alicia Garza and With thanks to The Seattle Times Dixon “presents a visual picture of the Opal Tometi to co-found Black Lives readers who sent us dozens of courage, commitment, and sometimes Matter to fight for accountability for suggestions, here’s a shortlist of titles shocking brutality of life as a Panther injustices against black people. There — nonfiction and fiction — for those activist.” was plenty of pushback, with a 2016 wanting to learn more about how we petition to label the movement a got to where we are, and how we can do Stamped From the Beginning: The “terrorist organisation” getting more better. Definitive History of Racist Ideas in than 140,000 signatures. Alexander, Wednesday, June 24, 2020 GULF TIMES 5 COVER STORY COMMUNITY

author of The New Jim Crow, said us in black lives. by Zora Neale Hurston you probably have already heard of; the book “reveals what inspired The Turner House by Angela Maybe you read this and were many of them current bestsellers, Patrisse’s visionary and courageous If Beale Street Could Talk by Flournoy dazzled by it, like I did and was, back all of them powerful and relevant to activism and forces us to face the James Baldwin This 2015 novel places the reader in college; maybe you’re due, like I this moment. consequence of the choices our Baldwin’s fifth novel, published at the centre of a large black family am, to read it again. Published in 1937 nation made when we criminalised in 1974, has as its heart a topic that in Detroit, moving us from the (and out of print for decades before The New Jim Crow: Mass a generation.” resonates all too strongly today: father’s early years in the city in being reissued in the 1970s), it’s the Incarceration in the Age of the criminal justice system’s long the 1940s to the Turner family’s story of Janie, a black woman who Colorblindness by Michelle The Forging of a Black record of unjust incarceration financial struggles in 2008. The 13 maintains her fierce independence Alexander Community: Seattle’s Central of black men. Fonny and Tish, a Turner children span a generation throughout three marriages. A key District from 1870 Through the young black couple, are in love — the oldest born during World figure in the Harlem Renaissance, The Fire Next Time by James Civil Rights Era by Quintard and expecting a child in early War II, the youngest just months Hurston wrote many novels, stories, Baldwin Taylor 1970s Harlem, but their idyll is after the 1967 Detroit race riots essays and poems, including two Published in 1994, this book by interrupted when Fonny is falsely — and the book is an immersive long-posthumous books: the Between the World and Me by Taylor, a University of Washington accused of raping a white woman examination of the complexities of nonfiction workBarracoon: The Story Ta-Nehisi Coates history professor emeritus and and sent to jail. A wrenching love sibling relationships, the housing of the Last ‘Black Cargo’ (published in founder of BlackPast.org, remains story narrated by Tish, this novel crisis’ impact on inner-city 2018) and the short story collection Eloquent Rage: A Black a must-read for those who want eloquently reminds us of the weight families like the Turners, and how Hitting a Straight Lick with a Crooked Feminist Discovers Her to understand Seattle’s history. social injustice places on families. a house becomes the story of its Stick, published earlier this year. Superpower by Brittney Cooper Taylor documents the evolution of Bonus: the beautiful 2018 film inhabitants. Seattle’s black community in the version of the book, directed by An American Marriage by White Fragility: Why It’s So Central District from the 1870s Barry Jenkins. Their Eyes Were Watching God Tayari Jones Hard for White People To Talk to the early 1990s, examining the More than four decades after About Racism by Robin DiAngelo impacts of migration, redlining, If Beale Street Could Talk comes white flight, racial covenants and Jones’ 2018 bestseller; reading How To Be an Antiracist by the movement for racial justice. the two back to back would be an Ibram X Kendi eloquent demonstration of how The Fire This Time: A New short a distance we’ve come. An Heavy: An American Memoir Generation Speaks About Race, American Marriage also examines by Kiese Laymon edited by Jesmyn Ward the effect of unjust incarceration on a family; here, the burden is carried Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde National Book Award winner by an Atlanta couple: he behind Jesmyn Ward compiled this bars for a crime he didn’t commit; Redefining Realness: My Path collection of essays and poems she waiting at home, and drawn to Womanhood, Identity, Love & about race by contemporary to a longtime friend who offers So Much More by Janet Mock writers including Carol Anderson, solace. It’s both an up-to-the- Jericho Brown, Edwidge Danticat, minute contemporary drama, and a So You Want To Talk About Kevin Young, Claudia Rankine timeless, poignant love triangle. Race by Ijeoma Oluo and Honoree Jeffers. The Fire This Time was conceived as a modern The Underground Railroad by The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison response to James Baldwin’s Colson Whitehead powerful 1963 essay collection The Whitehead’s 2016 novel, winner Me and White Supremacy: Fire Next Time (in our list below of of both the Pulitzer Prize and the Combat Racism, Change the must-read books on racial justice) National Book Award, is every bit World, and Become a Good and explores the “untidiness” of as devastating and brilliant as you Ancestor by Layla F Saad race in the US. expect it to be; after finishing it recently, I found I needed time to Just Mercy: A Story of Justice — N. I. process, to sit with the searing, and Redemption by Bryan simple beauty of his words. The Stevenson Fiction story of a young enslaved woman Reading fiction won’t give you who escapes via a secret (and The Warmth of Other Suns: a specific list of steps to take to nonmetaphorical) series of trains The Epic Story of America’s fight social injustice — but it will and stations, it’s painful, necessary Great Migration by Isabel do something just as important: reading, reminding us of our Wilkerson It places us inside someone’s head country’s horrific legacy — one and someone’s imagination, letting that’s too easy for some of us to Native Son by Richard Wright us begin the work of understanding forget. and empathising. Here are five For even more suggestions, books by black American authors — M. M. see the Schomburg Center Black (and yes, I’ve left out many of the Liberation Reading List from the greats; this is just the tiniest of 15 other titles New York Public Library. starts), new and old, that immerse And here are 15 more suggestions —The Seattle Times/TNS 6 GULF TIMES Wednesday, June 24, 2020 COMMUNITY Aspire Academy holds virtual induction meeting for parents

spire Academy recently them with the perfect balance held a virtual induction between academics and sports, but meeting on Zoom with also make them grounded men who the parents of the 70 respect others. They will travel the new student-athletes world, building a global outlook and Aselected to attend the Academy in an understanding that you have to the new academic year 2020/2021 work hard to pursue what you want on full scholarships, one of the to achieve.” largest batches of young talent to The meeting continued with a ever join Aspire Academy since its brief introduction of the different establishment in 2004. departments and explained the Their formal enrolment process of the kids’ enrolment at follows three stages of intensive the academy. The speakers also physical and psychological trials talked about the experience of in talent identification in schools balancing sports training and an and at the Academy’s facilities. academic education, and how Impressing Aspire scouts during the students manage to cope this process, the talented 10 and with relatively longer school days 11-year-old boys were recognised compared to normal schools. The for their efforts during the whole parents were assured that their kids selection process. During this will be cared for very well while virtual meeting, the parents were receiving the highest education and welcomed by Academy officials, professional trainings. The speakers including Jassem al-Jaber, also answered parents’ questions Principal of Aspire Academy and concerns, indicating the doors School; Abdulaziz al-Jedaia, are always open for direct day- Student Affairs Services Manager; to-day contact with the academy Mohammed Essa al-Thawadi, Head would day have any questions or of Team Co-ordinators; Fahad al- issues to be clarified. Shammari, Head of Feeder Teams Aspire Academy student- Administration; Abdallah al-Afifi, athletes are developed via a Dormitory Manager; and Roula comprehensive athlete portfolio Mattar, Senior Nurse in charge. management process, whereby The session kicked off with a coaches, educators, support staff, brief opening speech by Abdulaziz service providers and management al-Jedaia. He welcomed the parents personnel actively co-operate to and said, “We are incredibly excited create an integrated Long-Term to welcome these boys into the Athlete Development programme Academy. It is a great achievement based on specific and measurable to be offered a place here and they performance outcomes. Progressive should all be tremendously proud of Jassem al-Jaber, Principal of Aspire Academy. development, rigorous adherence such an achievement.” to duty-of-care and a fun and Speaking on the occasion, the of trust between the Academy adding, “We need you to work their full potential. Being at Aspire interactive learning environment principal stressed the importance and the student athletes’ families, with us to help your sons to reach Academy will not only provide are all core to these efforts.

Abdulaziz al-Jedaia, Student Affairs Services Manager. Abdallah al-Afifi, Dormitory Manager at Aspire Academy. Wednesday, June 24, 2020 GULF TIMES 7 INTERIOR DESIGN COMMUNITY A modular home in Camberwell This immaculate single-storey house is still bursting with the design details that made it a 1970s classic, writes Kate Lawson

hen interior to make a statement and show designer Jason off our collaborative work.” The MacLean kitchen space also includes three discovered an unobtrusive Joe Colombo Fresnel original 1970s wall lights above the hob and the WCalifornia-cool modernist house innovative Zip HydroTap Celsius for sale in Camberwell in 2006, All-In-One, which dispenses he jumped at the chance to buy instant boiling, cold and sparkling it. “I came to view the house on water. the Saturday and bought it on the In the master bedroom, a funky Monday,” he recalls. “The week space-age-like shower pod with before, I had been to Palm Springs. a bright orange door, is a new I love the period architecture there addition made in-house by Studio and I had visited the Eames House, MacLean, along with the double too. So when I saw this place I fell in bed and wardrobe. The shower love with it.” walls are lined with an electric Built and once occupied by mix of mosaic tiles in orange, British architect Martin Crowley black, white and yellow, the design in 1979, the single-storey compact of which is inspired by Berlin’s house with a flat roof is a classic U-Bahn station, Konstanzer piece of infill architecture. It’s set Strasse. “We’ve always loved the on a back street where it is virtually colour of the walls in that station invisible, tucked away between a and we wanted to recreate it here,” row of garages. The black-painted says MacLean. front facade is largely blank, save A bespoke teal-green wall for a bright orange door through cupboard next to a bed fitted into which you access a cobbled a snug alcove in their son’s room courtyard. Here, Douglas Deeds features shelves with unusual white fibreglass pots are dotted yellow storage baskets. “They’re around underneath a black I-beam actually old snail crates we picked frame that extends out from the up in France,” laughs MacLean. steel, glass and brick structure of Just as the Eames house was full the house. A bamboo garden helps of colour and collected objects, there to screen the towering Georgian is an assortment of mementos the terraces behind. couple have acquired over the years “It’s so private here, no one in various rooms, from sculptural really knows the house exists,” says ALL THE ANGLES: Slopes and shapes in the wood-panelled interior. ceramics, old architectural models MacLean, who now shares the live- and unusual antique metal shoe kit work space with his wife Jenny Rose retained original interior leftovers wall in the living area. There are Loving Bollards by designer Eley boxes, to a French industrial clock – with whom he opened the design including wooden doors, radiators bursts of colour everywhere, used Kishimoto. by Brille and three original posters agency Studio MacLean in 2013 – and steel light fittings by Charlotte as focal points or room dividers, “The house lends itself to by graphic artist Hans Schleger and their six-year-old son, Stanley. Perriand. Modular shelving by such as the vibrant yellow walls colour,” says MacLean. “The rest that MacLean’s father helped Inside, the layout is built to a Dieter Rams, now full of design of the showstopper kitchen that of the white and grey palettes design. “My dad was involved in the modular plan with three bedrooms and fashion books, lines almost match the bespoke cabinetry with in the place are muted, so we fishmonger industry in the late 50s (one of which has been converted the entire white-painted concrete an optical graphic print called Sun designed this kitchen with Eley to the 80s, and worked with Schleger into a studio), an original bathroom to design the posters for a company that the couple plan to redesign called MacFisheries. They look great next year, and a fluid open-plan here.” kitchen, living and dining space There is also a covetable mix of whose sliding doors give on to the furniture design classics, ranging peaceful entrance courtyard. from German Flötotto Profilsystem Full-height glass windows bring storage containers and an Alvar in light to the exposed concrete Aalto 41 Paimio chair in the living walls of the space and everything area, to a George Nelson roll-top has been kept structurally as it desk and midcentury string chair by was originally intended, with a Allan Gould in the study. new roof added only for extra “We’ve randomly collected things insulation. “There were two former over the years, but we don’t have owners before us who were also a passion for one thing or look at sympathetic to Crowley’s vision,” pieces to specifically suit the house,” says MacLean. “So everything says MacLean. “We have a home in is exactly as it was when it was France, too, so we love going to vide- finished.” greniers, and we’ll often swap things A minimal update to the tired- between the houses.” looking interior a few years ago Now their interior mission is included reinstating terracotta almost complete, the family are Welsh quarry tiles to replace enjoying their home and despite laminate flooring across the house, having planning permission for and this year the couple have a second storey, the couple have embarked on a complete makeover. decided against it. “We don’t want “Everything inside our home now to ruin the feel of the house, so we’ve is bespoke: we made it ourselves or just focused on creating our dream with collaborators,” says MacLean. space instead. It’s most definitely a In keeping with the architectural forever home.” origins, the design-savvy duo have THE ONLY WAY UP: A metal staircase leads from the open-plan kitchen to the loft. – The Guardian 8 GULF TIMES Wednesday, June 24, 2020 COMMUNITY BOOK REVIEWS 10 of the best books set in Ireland – that will take you there Explore Ireland’s history and culture through these tales of loss and love by Sally Rooney, Edna O’ Brien, Colm Tóibín and more, writes Vic O’Sullivan

was born in Toronto and written shortly before we got to moved to Ireland as a see the full horror the high walls boy, where I spent some of the Magdalene Laundries formative years in a planned, and Industrial Schools had been Khrushchevian-style hiding. Isatellite town in south County Clare. Settlers arrived in waves Angela’s Ashes by Frank from Belfast, London, New York McCourt or further afield – from cities Limerick’s Georgian avenues and throughout Chile and South compact medieval quarter have Africa. In this multicultural finally emerged from the cloudy outpost, populated by residential streetscape of Frank McCourt’s tourists, we became wry observers poverty stricken 1930s childhood of traditional nuances. For me, to become a vibrant destination. Ireland’s political, historical This moving memoir and tribute and cultural landscapes were to his mother, Angela, published in first properly discovered in the 1996, laid bare his bid for survival country’s literature. The greats, in tenement conditions on the such as Wilde, Yeats and Joyce, fringes of Limerick’s society, offered signposts to the past and earned him a Pulitzer prize. while more contemporary writers, Unknown to the young McCourt, including Roddy Doyle, Flann across town future Hollywood O’Brien and Jamie O’Neill, shone a legend Richard Harris and Terry light on lesser-heard Irish voices. Wogan were growing up in And so my selection of novels different circumstances, without echoes Ireland’s literary journey the rainy-day backstory of death, from pre-famine to the present near starvation and destitution. day. Head to O’Connell Avenue to South’s Bar and see where Frank’s The Silent People by Walter father drank away their family’s Macken meagre earnings. The second novel in Walter Macken’s sweeping trilogy was The Country Girls by Edna published in 1962 and captures O’Brien the harrowing decades in the The ground-breaking 1960 lead up to the 1847 famine. At the novel by County Clare author start of the novel Dualta Duane’s Edna O’Brien gave a voice to life changes for the worse after Irish women’s liberation, and the a chance encounter with the son ensuing parochial outrage and of a landowner. It is set in a time censorship on its publication when Catholics still bore the scars guaranteed its enduring success. of the last blight and eked out a This first book in the trilogy traces bare existence working farms while the lives of young Cait Brady and paying exorbitant rents and tithes Baba Brennan, from their drab, to corrupt landlords who relished cloistered life in County Limerick a violent eviction. Dualta is the to the bright lights of Dublin. voice of these silent people. The Scaling the pages were older sparkling waters of the Atlantic, men, like the predatory Mister stone cottages burrowed into the Gentleman, who used the country landscape and blue turf smoke girls’ bid for emancipation to keep his spirit alive as he journeys exploit their vulnerability. The south along Ireland’s west coast book incensed the country’s power to meet “The Liberator” Daniel houses at the time – church and O’Connell, before Black 1847 state – who struggled to grasp the devours the county’s population. concept that women may want more from life than domestic Falling For A Dancer by servitude. Deirdre Purcell Sometimes death can make a Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín cheerful appearance, as is the case Colm Tóibin’s Costa Award- in Deirdre Purcell’s 1993 novel winning novel, published in 2009, about repression and isolation. is the story of the immigrant, With the windswept beauty of transformed by the loneliness West Cork’s Beara peninsula and freedom of her journey. Eilis as a backdrop, the protagonist, Lacey returns home to Ireland in Elizabeth Sullivan, falls as hard the 1950s and her married life in for the ocean-sculpted landscape New York becomes obscured in a as she does for the young dancer haze across the ocean. She adapts – Daniel McCarthy. Despite a to the old familiar pace of life in loveless marriage and unwanted County Wexford and begins to pregnancy in 1930s Ireland, see handsome Jim Farrell with happiness is discovered in the fresh eyes. However, Brooklyn mucky corrals beneath the shadow eventually finds her in the cosy of a mountain. The novel was Irish coastal cocoon and she has Wednesday, June 24, 2020 GULF TIMES 9 BOOK REVIEWS COMMUNITY 10 of the best books set in Ireland – that will take you there

to make a difficult choice between bombing of a sandwich shop. The her two different worlds. two friends’ tangled lives are told in fast-paced prose and peppered The Green Road by Anne with satire, a foreshadowing of Enright the author’s future role at Charlie Man Booker prize-winner Anne Hebdo. Enright sets her softly lyrical novel at the tail end of Ireland’s Celtic The Spinning Heart by Donal Tiger economy. Rosaleen Madigan Ryan is entering her twilight years at Donal Ryan spins a Booker- her homestead by an old famine prize longlisted yarn set in the (green) road on the Burren Park’s lush Tipperary countryside, a ocean-ridged limestone landscape place where looming hillsides and in County Clare. Rosaleen’s four wide lakes block escape paths children return to spend one to mental and physical liberty. last Christmas together, and the Mourning mother Bridie sits with intricate backstories of their her back to the River Shannon to scarred lives unfold in the first block neighbouring County Clare half of this 2015 novel. Hanna where her child died, while Vasya is in Dublin, Dan is in Toronto, concedes that he will drown if he Emmet drifts through Mali and tries to swim across Lough Derg. Constance stays close to home. They are just two of 21 desolate Personalities clash over Christmas, voices marooned by circumstance before Rosaleen wanders into the in his novel, published in 2012. darkness to escape the drama. It’s set at a time when Ireland was haunted by ghost estates Eureka Street by Robert and zombie hotels as reckless McLiam Wilson bank lending destroyed the Irish Two tales of the same city economy and normal people sharply conveyed by unlikely were left to rebuild lives from the working-class friends: one a carnage. toughly veneered Catholic, the other a capitalist Protestant. The Normal People by Sally Belfast setting for this novel, Rooney published in 1996, straddles Published in 2018 and longlisted the months before and after the for a Booker prize in the same year, 1994 IRA ceasefire. The often- Sally Rooney’s tale of fractured humorous take on the slowly hearts and minds crosses class retreating shadow of the troubles structure and Ireland from Dublin’s Trinity College cool Strand in Sligo played the novel’s and sorrow. He returns to County graphically depicts the violence the west coast to Dublin – and girl and he loses his way in fictional town of Carricklea. Wexford, where he spent summer of a fractured Belfast, as the appeared on Barack Obama’s top the bigness of life there. The holidays as a child. You can almost protagonists try to normalise their 19 book list for 2019. It traces book’s small-screen production The Sea by John Banville taste the salty air and feel the lives in the chaos and prejudice. the fragile relationship between dominated ratings and press John Banville’s 2005 Man Booker gentle breeze burn tender skin as One chapter lulls the reader into a a popular high-school student, coverage throughout the Covid-19 prize-winning novel depicts art the prose ebbs and flows between soft, harmonious take on the city Connell, and marginalised lockdown, as did Connell’s short historian, Max Morden, as a man the past and the present, in this and it’s followed by another, which Marianne, through their reversal shorts and necklace. Onscreen, all at sea, trying to navigate his timeless, meditative, disquieting blows apart the setting with the of fortunes when she becomes Tobercurry and Streedagh way through the turbulence of loss masterpiece. – The Guardian 10 GULF TIMES Wednesday, June 24, 2020 COMMUNITY INFOGRAPHIC Wednesday, June 24, 2020 GULF TIMES 11 LIFESTYLE/HOROSCOPE COMMUNITY Decoded: Why women keep their blood pressure down

ow you know why In the face of a multipronged your wife keeps her front to drive blood pressure up, blood pressure down including a high-salt diet, females even when you keep are better able to keep their on sulking during a pressure down by increasing levels Nquarrel at home. According to an of a T cell that selectively dials back interesting research, females have inflammation. an innate ability to increase levels of The cell’s levels are known to anti-inflammatory T cells to keep increase to help maintain a healthy their blood pressure down. pregnancy, for example, so the Called Tregs, the cells are known immune system does not attack to help protect us from an excessive the fetus, which has DNA from immune response, and are naturally both parents. This is just a different associated with lower blood challenge, but we are using those pressures and less organ damage. same protective pathways to do Females, at least before something else good for us,” said menopause, tend to have lower Sullivan. blood pressures than males. Sullivan’s work, published in the We think, based on studies in journal Hypertension, supports the this and other models, that the hypothesis that females rely heavily innate ability that could provide differences may be in the infection fighting. If we can ability of the female to maintain on Tregs for blood pressure control a promising new hypertension recruitment and proliferation to better understand how and why or upregulate those T regulatory and this mechanism accounts for treatment strategy, particularly for organs key to blood pressure control females are increasing their Tregs cells is critical to their ability to at least one of the sex differences in women. like the kidneys, one reason she that could lead to therapies, maintain a lower pressure,” said Dr that control. Sullivan suspects males and wanted to look specifically at Treg potentially for both sexes, to also Jennifer C. Sullivan, professor in It’s a compensatory response females likely make similar levels there. avoid or treat high-inflammation the Department of Physiology at to an increase in blood pressure numbers of Tregs — they have Both sexes actually experienced conditions like autoimmune and the Medical College of Georgia at to help the overall cardiovascular found similar numbers in the increases in pro-inflammatory cardiovascular disease,” Sullivan Augusta University. impact,” Sullivan said of this spleen, for example — but T cells, which contribute to noted. — IANS

Aries Taurus Gemini March 21 — April 19 April 20 — May 20 May 21 — June 20

Getting in touch with your closest friends could bring about some A heightened level of intuition and understanding of others might Communication with friends who have travelled widely could have you intense communication, with many revealing some of your deepest catapult you to the centre of attention at a gathering, Taurus. hankering to make a future visit to a distant place that you’ve always concerns, Aries. Your thinking should be greatly influenced by Knowledge combined with experience results in wisdom today. wanted to experience. At the very least, you’ll probably want to take a feeling, so you might experience a high level of understanding that Insights could lead to more efficient ways of doing things. You’ll virtual tour of your city of choice. If you’re dreaming of travelling to a your friends are going to appreciate. This could well bring all of you probably pass this on to others, especially since more than one foreign country, you may want to take a stab at learning the language. closer together and increase future contact. Enjoy your day! person could ask you for insights into their particular situation. Actually, this is a good time to study a language. Cancer Leo Virgo June 21 — July 22 July 23 — August 22 August 23 — September 22

Dreams or visions could put you in touch with deep feelings that you Relationships of all kinds are likely to be strengthened by an Today your emotional intuition intensifies your mental abilities, may not have been aware of before, Cancer. This could enable you to increased level of understanding today, Leo. Your thinking is greatly Virgo. Friends and family members are likely to grow closer to you. release traumas from your past and give you a new sense of lightness. enhanced by your emotional intuitiveness, so you’ll be more You may be more aware of what they really need and want, and However, your logical mind is very much at work, so you could use this able than usual to identify with the needs and desires of those they could see you in a new light. This can make you feel loved and experience to shed light on others’ experiences and help them, too. around you. As a result, acquaintances could become friends, and wanted. The downside is that your empathy is so high that you may Whatever happens today is likely to produce noticeable results. friendships could progress into bonds that last for life. pick up on everyone’s aches and pains. Libra Scorpio Sagittarius September 23 — October 22 October 23 — November 21 November 22 — December 21

Relationships with those closest to you, particularly friends, should Dealing with the ups and downs of other family members could be Today your mind is strongly influenced by feeling and intuition, be enhanced by an increased understanding of their emotional easier for you today than usual, Scorpio. You’re less inclined to be Sagittarius, so you’ll be able to communicate especially well with world, Libra. You’re likely to identify even more strongly than logical and more apt to identify with what other people feel. This others. You might sense what they need to hear before they know it usual with others’ feelings, and this could provide inspiration for will increase your understanding of their situation’s undercurrents, themselves. This ability could be used in many ways. It could enhance artistic activities of some kind. This is also a great day to have deep, and they’ll likely appreciate your empathy. Don’t forget your own your writing skills. If you’re into performance of any kind, it could philosophical conversations with your friends. concerns. You may see a lot of things in a different light today. sharpen your ability to speak, teach, or act. Make the most of it. Capricorn Aquarius Pisces December 22 — January 19 January 20 — February 18 February 19 — March 20

You generally like to think of yourself as someone who faces life Your intuition is usually very strong, Aquarius, and your level of Your intuition is heightened almost to the point of telepathy today. logically and rationally, Capricorn, but today your intuitive side could empathy enhances your relationships. Today, however, a burst of Pisces, you may be able to sense what others want and need even prove a valuable resource, especially when it comes to dealing with logic could enable you to see many things in a different light. This before they know it themselves. You could also experience a few others. Your communicative ability is enhanced by a strong sense adds a new dimension to your communicative abilities and could visionary impressions that prove valuable inspiration for creative and of what others are thinking and feeling. This opens the door to more prove valuable in bringing you closer to the ones you love the most. artistic work. When images well up from your psyche, don’t dismiss effective communication with everyone. It can also increase your understanding of yourself. them as irrelevant. They could make a big difference in your life. 12 GULF TIMES Wednesday, June 24, 2020 COMMUNITY CARTOONS/PUZZLES

Wordsearch Adam

Pooch Cafe

CARACAL PANTHER LYNX JAGUAR CHEETAH SERVAL OUNCE LION COUGAR CATAMOUNT PUMA OCELOT LEOPARD CIVET WILDCAT

Codeword Every letter of the alphabet is used at least once. Squares with the same number in have the same letter in. Work out which number represents which letter.

Garfield Puzzles courtesy: Puzzlechoice.com courtesy: Puzzles

Sudoku

Bound And Gagged

Sudoku is a puzzle based on a 9x9 grid. The grid is also divided into nine (3x3) boxes. You are given a selection of values and to complete the puzzle, you must fill the grid so that every column, every anone is repeated. Wednesday, June 24, 2020 GULF TIMES 13 PUZZLES COMMUNITY

Super Cryptic Clues Colouring

Across Down 1 Region cares about bad lad (8) 1 Mix gallons in pool (5) 5 Undergarment for cricketer (4) 2 Fluid I hand up for French 8 Hooligan feeling unwell (5) prince (7) 9 Not much time for another 3 Pest a party leader concealed helping (7) (5) 11 Egg-laying mammal can hide 4 Consternation when boy turns when disturbed (7) up with girl (6) 12 Indian leader back in favour 6 Perform illegal execution in henceforth (5) Brooklyn church (5) 13 A loose woman in the family 7 Grazing land on far side of river (6) (7) 15 Take a chance with Blackpool’s 10 Short river seen before a outsiders in match (6) dance (5) 18 Times for musicians in the 13 Wild beast in French port (7) Stockport Empire (5) 14 Nationality of flag on top of 20 Sailor in small tub for rest hotel (5) day (7) 16 Run after Bach’s first organ (7) 23 Wailing spirit has been 17 Claim a sure thing, so we hear wandering (7) (6) 24 Wood that’s cared about (5) 19 Some clergyman’s edifice (5) 25 Offspring of top player (4) 21 No taxi turns up for sandwich 26 Fish isn’t cooked by poet (8) filler? (5) 22 Tough English novelist (5)

Solution Answers

Wordsearch Codeword 14 GULF TIMES Wednesday, June 24, 2020 COMMUNITY BOLLYWOOD

Irrfan’s son Babil: “Instead we must celebrate Stand for what’s right the evolution of these sincere without using Sushant’s men and let their wisdom death as an excuse manifest in our own journeys in some way, hoping to keep Late actor Irrfan Khan’s little lanterns of their memories son Babil has a suggestion for ignited in our sensitive souls.” those who have opened up on “I’m saying stand up for nepotism after the demise of what’s right without using Sushant Singh Rajput. In a new Sushant’s demise as an excuse, Instagram post, Babil says those if you want to rebel against who want to stand up for what nepotism, do so, but don’t use is right, should do so without Sushant as a reason to why using Sushant’s demise as an you’re doing so now. excuse. Concluding his post, Babil At the end of his long post, he wrote: “Stand up for what’s also left a cryptic line that seems right regardless anyway in any to suggest that he might join the case. (And it would and should film industry. In brackets right at be my fight to prove to the the end of the post, he uses these audience that I deserve a shot)”. words: “it would and should be IN REMEMBRANCE: An old photo of Irrfan Khan with his son Babil. Sushant Singh Rajput was my fight to prove to the audience found hanging in his Mumbai that I deserve a shot”. the blame on something or happening, I urge you to accept residence on June 14. While Babil’s post said: “It’s still someone, which in itself is the that life is filled with leg spin Mumbai Police is investigating not settling in. We’ve lost most futile act because to find deliveries bouncing off spin the 34-year-old actor’s two very sincere people and peace by playing the blame with no apparent explanation untimely death, many in sincerity is key in our spiritual game is not honest peace, it is a or understanding provided, I Bollywood as well as on social journey, thus it comes as an fleeting reflection of a lie.” urge you to stop investigating media have concluded that the unbelievable shock, the way “I urge you to not blame the reason because it only brings actor a victim of power play UNIQUE: Namit Das has previously Sushant has departed. Naturally, someone or something for more despair to the people and nepotism within the film acted, sung and composed songs for we have descended into pinning this incredibly unfortunate intimately suffering the loss.” industry. —IANS Mira Nair in A Suitable Boy.

Namit Das: You can never lie to Mira Nair

Actor Namit Das has two projects My father taught me to be with acclaimed filmmaker Mira Nair, and he says you can never lie to her. He has acted, sung and composed songs for Mira’s A Suitable Boy. Namit also plays a key role in happy in my space: Shaan Monsoon Wedding Musical. “Everything about Mira is so much or ever have to be strict with aesthetically solid. My association By Sugandha Rawal them too much. I think I am the kind with her has become very deep of person they would look up to as a because of the two projects that I father and be a role model for them. am involved in. I am not going to ollywood playback singer All this while, I have managed to be say it was easy, but I will say it was and composer Shaan lost the right kind of person. It makes satisfying and I have learnt a lot. You his late father, whom me feel proud to say that my kids, always learn in her presence,” Namit he lost at 14, has been a respect me, love me and look up to told IANS. huge influence in his life. me and I hope and pray that I never Further talking about his BThe singer noted that his father was let them down,” added the singer, experience of working with Mira, he “extremely talented” and he is not who started his musical journey at a said: “I can’t even tell you how Mira “even two percent of him”. very young age. communicates with her actors. Such “I lost my father at a very early He continued: “As a father, I beautiful words she chooses. But age, I was just 14 and he was 43. think I am not very proactive, their making music was equally beautiful, He was a very unique person with mother (Radhika) is much more especially writing lyrics with my a strong sense of integrity, which I proactive. She always knows how mom was really fun.” imbibed,” Shaan told IANS, while to create a moment for them on “Mira is one of those special talking of his father, the late music their birthdays. I am more like the people in the world who understands director Manas Mukherjee. father who is always there for you human relationships. She knows “He taught me to never take credit if you need me, I am around and human beings so well. That’s why for something I haven’t done, and yes if they need me and if I can be you can never lie to her. You have to to always give credit where it is due. of any help to them I am always be truthful. She forces you to be the He made us learn that if you owe there. Also, I am usually caught up best version of yourself. You cannot someone something, then promptly in my own situations, and I don’t be lazy. That’s one of the best things make sure you give it back. He get as much time I want to spend about her. You have to bring your also taught me not to owe anyone with them. I am not very good at A game to the table each time,” she anything and never take obligations organising stuff so I may not be very added. from people. There are a lot of things proactive as a dad but yes I am a He has donned many hats for A I learnt from him, most importantly very supportive father.” Suitable Boy. is to be happy in your own space. After doing some jingles, he burst “When your focus is right, Musically, he was extremely talented onto the pop scene with his sister everything becomes easy. You have and I am not even two per cent Sagarika in the 1990s. He made his to live in that moment. You have of him. My father played a very place in Bollywood with hits like Jab to be true to that moment. And important role in my life, in making se tere naina and Chand sifarish. He everything will become easy. And me who I am,” he added. also came up with a song, PAPA hain only then will you able to focus on Shaan, who is a father today, na, which features him with his son. multiple jobs,” said the actor. feels “lucky to be blessed by “There are many other projects Namit would also love to two wonderful kids who are I am currently working on. There collaborate with his father Chandan very respectful and yet very are many online reality shows I am Dass, who is a renowned gazal communicative”. currently doing and, of course, there singer. “Both my kids have their own are many more interesting projects “I don’t know whether my father individual personalities. I feel coming up,” added the singer, who is CANDID: Shaan says he lost his father at a very early age and that would be interested. But that’s blessed and happy to say that, I elated to stay in touch with his fans he was a very unique person with a strong sense of integrity, which a father-son thing — you would never had to discipline them too through GoNuts. — IANS Shaan imbibed. understand,” he said. — IANS Wednesday, June 24, 2020 GULF TIMES 15 HOLLYWOOD COMMUNITY

Justin Timberlake: We differently because of the color thanked his wife Biel for teaching try to teach our son to of their skin. We teach him this their son always the right thing. love, respect everyone because one day, he will go on “I’m grateful for my wife, to teach his kids the same. It’s who made me a father, and is my Singer-actor Justin a cycle. favorite person/partner/teacher/ Timberlake says he wants his “And right now, as we all friend in all of it. I’m grateful for son Silas to love and respect work to undo generations my son, who is always ALWAYS everyone, and added that he of discrimination that have teaching me right back.” knows the values will be passed plagued our system and our He then wished everyone down to future generations. communities across this Happy Father’s Day. “While Timberlake, who is married country...” we owe our sons and daughters to actress Jessica Biel, took to Timberlake stressed that the these lessons in the places where Instagram, where he shared a first lesson starts at home. the doors close at night, I hope string of pictures with Silas. “I’m grateful for both of you are as inspired as I am to He wrote: “Boys grow up to be my dads and my mother for make them THE TRUTH in the fathers. I think about that a lot teaching me those lessons from places that same door opens these days. the beginning. And for listening every morning and we send them “We try to teach our son to to me when I had something to out to discover. love and to respect everyone say that they hadn’t learned. I “There’s more to do. And we — we teach him that all people pray for that humility with my are built for it. After all, we are are all created equal, and own son.” the Dads. Sending my love to you FAMILY: Timberlake, who is married to actress Jessica Biel, took to Instagram, that no one should be treated The Cry me a river crooner and yours.” — IANS where he shared a string of pictures with son Silas. Remembering Joel Schumacher

filmmaking. He served as costume designer By Josh Rottenberg on such films as Paul Mazursky’s 1973 film Blume in Love and Woody Allen’s futuristic 1973 comedy Sleeper before moving into ilm director Joel Schumacher, directing, having earned a master’s in fine whose varied work included such arts from UCLA. movies as St. Elmo’s Fire, The Though he enjoyed only modest success Client, Batman Forever and Falling with his first two films, the comediesThe Down, died in New York City on Incredible Shrinking Woman (1981) and D.C. FMonday morning. He was 80. Cab (1983), he tapped the zeitgeist with his Schumacher died after a yearlong battle third movie, 1985’s St. Elmo’s Fire. Centered with cancer, according to a representative. on a group of glamorously angsty young A costume designer turned filmmaker, graduates of Georgetown University, the Schumacher established himself as one of film became a box-office hit despite largely the preeminent mainstream studio directors scathing reviews. (Times critic Sheila Benson of the 1980s and ’90s, with a stylish visual said that, like the atmospheric phenomenon flair that drew on his background in fashion for which it was named, the film was “a and a knack for discovering and nurturing deceptively beautiful electrical display that young stars like Rob Lowe, Kiefer Sutherland, can’t be confused with reality.”) The film Matthew McConaughey and Colin Farrell. helped cement the fame of the Brat Pack, a Though he was by his own admission group of young stars including Lowe, Demi never a critic’s darling, he earned positive Moore, Judd Nelson and Emilio Estevez, reviews for such films as the 1993 white- though Schumacher himself resisted that collar-vigilante thriller Falling Down, label. which was entered into competition at the In 1993, Schumacher directed the hit legal Cannes Film Festival, and the 2000 Vietnam thriller The Client, based on the bestseller soldier drama Tigerland. Despite a mixed by John Grishman. The film earned solid reception from critics, his 2004 adaptation reviews and a best actress Oscar nomination of the Broadway musical “The Phantom of for Susan Sarandon, and Grisham asked the Opera” earned three Academy Award for Schumacher to return to helm 1996’s nominations, including for cinematography courtroom drama A Time to Kill, which and art direction. gave McConaughey his first breakthrough But while he delivered a steady stream performance and also proved a financial of hits, including the 1987 teen-vampire success. movie The Lost Boys, the 1990 medical But while he proved himself capable of thriller Flatliners and the 1996 John Grisham handling a range of genres, establishing adaptation A Time to Kill, Schumacher also himself as one of the go-to directors had his share of duds, one of which nearly for Warner Bros. throughout the ’90s, derailed his high-flying career. Schumacher’s foray into the comic-book Taking over the Batman series from arena was less successful. While Batman departing director Tim Burton, he pushed Forever overcame poor reviews to become the the franchise in what many deemed an biggest box-office hit of 1995, Schumacher’s overly cartoonish and campy direction with follow-up, “Batman & Robin,” proved an VERSATILE: Schumacher’s works included movies such as St. Elmo’s Fire, The Client, Batman 1995’s Batman Forever and 1997’s Batman utter debacle. The over-the-top, candy- Forever and Falling Down. & Robin. The latter film, which notoriously colored film was so creatively misbegotten, introduced nipples to George Clooney’s Times critic Kenneth Turan wrote, “The worst thing to do with a serious comic book Farrell. He directed his final film, the thriller bat suit, was lambasted by critics and fans strutting bully that was the Batman franchise is to make it a cartoon. I’m still answering for Trespass, in 2011 and most recently directed alike and underperformed at the box office. is no more.” Indeed, Warner Bros. decided that movie with some people.” two episodes of the Netflix drama series Schumacher _ who was often unflinchingly to shelve the franchise for eight years until For Schumacher, that flop left a lasting House of Cards in 2013. candid about his own work as well as his director Christopher Nolan rebooted it with bruise. “After Batman & Robin, I was scum” “I went on to make movies and I didn’t past _ later apologized for having steered the grimmer, grittier “Batman Begins.” he told Vice in a 2017 interview. “It was like I have a nervous breakdown,” Schumacher told the venerable comic-book property into a Through its failure, the film was ultimately had murdered a baby.” Vice. “Woody Allen, one of many mentors of creative ditch. credited with helping push the comic-book Still, Schumacher continued to work mine, once said to never read anything about Born in New York on Aug. 29, 1939, genre in a more serious, grounded direction. steadily, though often on a smaller scale, yourself because to believe the good, you Schumacher studied at Parsons School “What got lost in Batman & Robin is the earning a measure of critical success for the would have to believe the bad and when they of Design and the Fashion Institute of emotions aren’t real,” the film’s screenwriter more stripped-down Tigerland and the 2003 hate you, you remember every ugly word to Technology before shifting from fashion to Akiva Goldsman told The Times in 2009. “The thriller Phone Booth, both of which starred the day that you die.” Los Angeles Times/ TNS 16 GULF TIMES Wednesday, June 24, 2020 COMMUNITY Swedish expat attempts to conquer Everest while at home Ann Jangsell is using her time at home to climb up and down 6,000 flights of stairs by June end

“I was let go from my job in April due to the pandemic. I was in shock and sadness for a couple of days. Then I thought no, I needed to get out of the depressed feeling. So, I started to do early morning power walks for one hour every day. I started to feel better and happier as I got my mind off from my problems and fears related to the pandemic” — Ann Jangsell

distancing. She thought it was time talking to Community recently. I started to work on myself for Challenge. “To complete the By Mudassir Raja for her to take care of her mental The expatriate felt down soon myself. Exercise and the new way challenge by the end of June, I do and physical health, instead of after losing her job but convinced of living have helped me to cope 200 flights [each flight is equal to staying idle at home surrounded by herself to get out of the depressed with Covid-19 pandemic. I got 10 stair-steps] up and down every he world is replete negative thoughts and fears about mood. “I was let go from my job in something else to focus on instead day. In 30 days, I will have climbed with stories of human the future. April due to the pandemic. I was in of using social media and watching up and down 6,000 flights. It will endurance and Ann, a strong woman, has shock and sadness for a couple of TV.” be like climbing to the Mount resilience. Man has done taken up different challenges from days. Then I thought no, I needed to After a couple of weeks with Everest peak and then climbing extraordinary things reducing her weight to completing get out of the depressed feeling. So, power walks, Ann got in contact down. The tallest mountain of byT being positive during adverse the Mount Everest challenge at I started to do early morning power with Julie Caradec, her former the world stands 8,848 metre times and turning challenges into home. With regular exercise and walks for one hour every day. I transformation coach. “She wanted high. I think no one has done this opportunities. positive state of mind, she is all set started to feel better and happier as me to start the ultimate thriving challenge in Qatar so far.” The novel coronavirus pandemic to climb up and down the number I got my mind off from my problems experience. Her programme Ann did not find it easy to start has not only brought social of stair-steps equal to the height of and fears related to the pandemic.” was to get for me sustainable the hard exercise in the beginning. isolation but also economic woes the tallest mountain of the world in Ann started losing weight as and observable results in order “I had in my training programme, and health concerns. All around the one month. It is set to be the first she became regular in her exercise to achieve successful mental from the beginning, a part where I world, an overwhelming majority of achievement of its kind in Qatar. and diet control. “I had put on peak state and physical results was doing the butterfly sit-ups. I people are sitting at home– many “I am president of the Swedish weight due to the lifestyle of not through her online transformation could not do it and I needed to do without jobs or business prospects. Association of Qatar, a social doing so much physically, hardly coaching. I have made it a fun to the normal ones. It was only last There are, however, very few who networking group for about 600 any exercise and sitting still at lose my weight with photos and week I managed to do the sit-ups are turning quarantine time into expatriates from Sweden. I am also work. I was the director of business videos of my workout and progress. perfectly. I also had to change my a viable opportunity by exploring founder of the business networking development for a film production I have lost 15 kilos since mid-April.” diet. I am now doing KETO meals – activities that may have been group – Happy People Doha. I have company here and also the co-host The Swede uses stairs in the no carbs, no bread, no pasta or rice, difficult to follow through under been in Qatar for about three years. of some podcast shows besides building where she lives for no potato, and of course, no sugar. I normal circumstances. I have expertise and experience being a food reviewer. There used to walk. Walking up and down 10 fell happier, healthier, and stronger Swedish expatriate Ann Jangsell in business development, be amazing dinners. steps flights over and over again both physically and mentally than was quick to recover from the sales, marketing, and media “While staying at home, I got a led her to take on the month- ever before.” trauma of job loss and social management,” Ann said while chance to have a healthier lifestyle. long challenge –Mount Everest Instagram @annpluto