CHICAGO — 

If you can’t go home again, why do they hold homecomings?

In my suburban hometown, the prairie is just starting to pop — a maple here, a birch there. Damn these wide lush lawns, soft as quilts. You know you’ll always be a Midwestern guy when you still have grass envy.

In a couple of weeks, “the caps are off the paints,” as Illinois poet June Luvisi once wrote. Till then, the sky puts on a fine fall show: big clouds, puffy clouds. You could sprinkle some flour and bake these clouds. Might be the initial feathered edges of the Milky Way.

Always been a sucker for stuff that glows: sunsets, fire pits, rising moons. Pumpkins on the porch. Children’s cheeks after autumn recess.

And now homecomings. Our most American month, October is.

And I’m spending some of it here, amid what my wife used to call “the square-faced Midwesterners,” wearing flannel shirts and big welcome-back grins.

As you know, I am a collector of inconsequential moments. I like the way small groups laugh together in bars or the way they hug good night after too much dinner. I like the waitress in the diner who is almost too eager to help.

“Everything still OK over here?” she asks for the 27th time.

Yeah. Thanks. Go away.

There is lots of overt niceness here, for it is homecoming — a local holiday — and the cool Canadian air has everyone a little extra pumped.

The class of ’79 is working late on an elaborate float, in a big empty barn that smells like Carl Sandburg.

Conversely, my classmates (class of ’74) will ride in the parade in a pickup truck with a flask and a single bale of hay.

Who’s happier?

We’re all happier.

This is my 45th reunion, and the first one I’ve managed to make. Probably not my last, as with lots of things you avoid and then end up enjoying. Now I’m hooked.

One programming note: After 45 years, I’m still awkward around Sue Kelly, one of the class beauties who seemed out of everyone’s league.

Still is.

You know, it’s all a little wistful, a little Hallmark, as homecomings should be. There’s a parade, and a tailgate party, then a football game on the edge of town, in the kind of high school stadium where a million memories are made.

After all, that’s what hometowns are: Memory factories. Benchmarks. Comfort zones.

I want to put this place in a pipe and smoke it.

Of course, at a 45th high school reunion, there is more life behind us than in front. The tendency is to look back, perhaps too much.

A nice development: “We’ve finally quit talking about our kids,” as one friend noted.

Remember those endless dialogues, when we were all just passengers in our children’s lives? We had nothing to chat about but soccer and travel ball and tutors.

Now we do. For many, there are grandchildren.

But there are also retirements and next chapters. Good, long marriages. Vacation homes. Hip surgeries. A new novel “you just have to read.”

The banter is brisk and easy. I’ve known some of these “kids” since kindergarten. Is there anything better than a slap on the back from a boyhood pal?

“Hey Vic, wanna throw the football?”

In some of the faces you see forever (mine looks like a catcher’s mitt). I guess 45 years is a long way from Algebra II.

My classmates’ eyes are good though, twinkling and filled with fall. Amazing eyes. And smiles you can land a plane on.

But I have to go now. I am overflowing with Bloody Mary mix, and my fingers are turning into brats. My hands are sore from all the hearty handshakes. If I stay much longer, I’ll readopt that broad Midwestern patois, as flat as the surrounding farmland.

“You’re an L.A. guy now,” my sister says (pronouncing “now” as nay-owe).

Not sure what “L.A. guy” means. I prefer dark blazers over crisp white shirts, so there’s that. I wear flip-flops till Christmas. I once tried yoga. I am always just a little tan.

An L.A. guy? Not such a bad thing, though I fear old college buddies would mock that.

“Hey, Wink Martindale, your turn to buy,” they’d say at the saloon.

But I’m not Wink. And I’m certainly not Mike Ditka, the beloved Bears coach and broad-shouldered mascot for this marvelous city.

I’m probably some sort of hybrid, part prairie kid who can still saddle a horse, part L.A. guy who has to ponder the ocean once a month.

In any case, I’ll always have a soft spot for this old village, with its vintage movie theater and country roads. Its ponds and marshes. Its deer and geese.

Inconsequential stuff? No way.

So yeah, it’s been kind of a Hallmark homecoming.

As Ditka would say: “You got a problem with dat?”

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Finding the Avenue 33 Farm is a serious challenge. Plug the address into GPS and you end up on a steep residential street packed with older, neatly landscaped homes. To the west, downtown L.A. fills the horizon and, to the south, your destination looks like a modest home with a slightly scruffy frontyard and a long, sloping driveway that ends with a carport.

How can this be the site of a farm?

The answer lies above, an arduous climb up the hill behind the home of farmers Ali Greer and Eric Tomassini, past the covered patio, with the new walk-in refrigerator Tomassini built the week before, past barrels of rainwater and flats of seedlings waiting to be planted, up another set of stairs to an acre-wide sprawl of flowers, tomatoes, peppers and lettuce basking in the sun.

There are fruit trees too, along with new rows of carrots and beets tucked in among the taller plants, a sump pump for gray water and giant piles of compost. A rickety bistro table and chairs perch precariously on a short ledge of mostly flat ground, and chirping birds flit endlessly in and out of oak and black walnut trees that line the perimeter.

“When we call our family on speakerphone, they say it sounds like Snow White’s birds,” Tomassini said, laughing, “because that’s all they can hear.”

Clearly, this is a working farm, but you’d better be sturdy on your feet.

Tomassini, 31, a lanky man who tilled this ground by hand last fall using a broad fork tool to loosen the soil, admits the uneven terrain can be a challenge. The first time he spent a day balancing on the hill, “I woke up the next morning to aching knees,” he said. “But in L.A., if you find a piece of land that’s not insanely expensive, it’s on a hill, with no road access, that’s essentially unbuildable.”

Which doesn’t mean it should be unusable, say Tomassini and his wife. They point to the brown hills across the street, which the city pays to clear every year to avoid fire problems. “Why not have it be productive, profitable land, growing food?” Tomassini said. “My dream is to see a lot more urban farms in L.A., especially on hillsides. I hope to show that it’s a financially viable option to grow food on hillsides that are tough to build on.”

The two became a couple 11 years ago in Colorado, where they were attending the University of Colorado at Boulder. Greer, 32, was from Minneapolis, with an avid interest in filmmaking and urban farming. Tomassini, who grew up outside Philadelphia, had come to learn about farming, trading food he grew for a place to sleep. Eventually, he said, he learned how to prepare all that fresh food and supported his farming habit by becoming a chef at local restaurants. “I looked at cooking as the only way I could afford the food I wanted to eat,” he said. “If you work 80 hours a week for eight years, you can jam a lot in.”

The day they met, they discovered their mutual geekiness on a tree walk through Boulder. “Everybody was over 60 but me and Eric,” Greer said, grinning at her husband, who smiled back as he pinned tomato branches to a trellis.

They moved to Oregon a year later, leasing land outside Portland to farm while working full time at other jobs— Greer doing video production and Tomassini as a baker and a cook at Tasty n Alder, a popular restaurant in Portland’s downtown. Greer got work editing the “Portlandia” TV series, which eventually led to more TV work and the couple’s move to Los Angeles in 2013. In L.A., Tomassini worked as chef de cuisine at Sqirl in East Hollywood and then as a cook in the two-Michelin star kitchen of Providence in Hollywood before moving to his present job as director of the culinary program for GrowGood, a nonprofit in Bell, where he provides culinary job training for residents in the kitchen of the Salvation Army Bell Lighthouse Corps shelter, which feeds more than 500 people a day.

It took them nearly five years of searching to find affordable property they could farm in L.A. They learned you can’t easily lease vacant land in Los Angeles or get a mortgage on unbuildable land, but you can get a mortgage if you buy a house with an acre of hill in the back. So they focused on northeast L.A., which had many houses backed up against vacant hillsides. They finally found their 1.2-acre property in August 2018 and went right to work, determined to make the land productive — and profitable — as soon as possible.

They spend their mornings in their field before Greer takes a seven-mile bicycle ride to work in East Hollywood and Tomassini drives to work in Bell. The days are long but Tomassini shrugs it off. “It’s like this for anybody who freelances or starts a small business,” he said. “You’re always working,”

Greer maintains that it’s a kind of a balm. “I’m an outdoors kid doing an indoors job most of the day,” she said. “That’s why gardening is so great.”

In the first year, they’ve cultivated about half their hill, but crammed as much as possible into that space. Towering tomato plants shade more tender sprouts of carrots and beets as well as flowers both edible and for restaurant bouquets. The lower levels are dotted with young fruit trees, like quince, crab apple and heirloom King David apples, as well as perennials like capers and peppercorns.

“The idea is to create a food forest,” Tomassini said, and the effect is impressive. Long rows of lettuce thrive despite the heat (their secret is drip irrigation, shade cloth and lots of compost for mulch). They use a trellis system and Dutch Qlipr clamps for their heirloom tomatoes — Costoluto Genovese, a delicious, ridged Italian variety and an old American favorite, Brandywine — and in late summer, the fruit is hanging heavy on the vines. Tomassini says they are harvesting 70 to 80 pounds of tomatoes a week for a variety of customers, such as Urban Homestead community-supported agriculture farm boxes, Eagle Rock Brewery Public House, as well as several private caterers, including Hank and Bean in Altadena.

They don’t do it alone. Paul Everett, one of Tomassini’s former colleagues at Sqirl, helps on the farm part time, making deliveries when they’re at work, and Calli Goldstein, is an intern/volunteer. They also got a three-year grant from Kiss the Ground, a nonprofit farmland program, to study how the regular addition of amendments like compost and mulch benefit the soil. The grant pays for regular soil tests, Tomassini said, which would be difficult for them to afford on their own.

And most important for Greer and Tomassini, Avenue 33 Farm hosts volunteer days, once a month (The next is Oct. 26). More than 20 adults and children visited last month for a tour and one of Tomassini’s simple meals in exchange for a few hours of weeding, trellising or other jobs.

The help is welcome, but getting people involved with farming is part of their vision. They see themselves as part of the Drawdown movement, which offers a multitude of small steps to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reverse the effects of climate change. “We’re not going to feed everybody,” Tomassini said. “Our goal is to connect people with the food they eat, and a chance to get their hands in the ground.”

So yes, they are dreamers, yes, they have a vision, but don’t call it a mission. Greer’s eyes widen and she shakes her head when she’s asked if this is a mission. “No, no, we’re not trying to convert anybody,” she said.”For us, it’s more like being an example…. Plus, the closer you get to your food, the better you eat!”

INFO BOX
What: Avenue 33 Farm Volunteer Day

When: Saturday, Oct. 26

Where: Lincoln Heights. Register online to get directions and times.

Info: Follow on Instagram @ave33farm or join the email list at ave33farm.com.

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KYIV, Ukraine — 

The Ukrainian president said Thursday that there was no pressure from the White House during his now-infamous July phone call with President Trump, who had asked him to investigate former Vice President Joe Biden as well as a theory that Ukraine had interfered in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

“There was no pressure or blackmail from the U.S.,” Volodymyr Zelensky said during a 14-hour series of meetings with Ukrainian and international journalists that were broadcast live from Kyiv on social media and several television channels.

“This call influenced only one thing. We needed to secure a meeting, that it was necessary to meet with the president,” he said. “I wanted to show him our team, our young team. I wanted to get him into Ukraine.”

Zelensky said that he had no evidence to say whether Ukraine interfered in the 2016 election but that it was in his country’s best interest to conduct a thorough investigation.

“It is very important for us, because we will never interfere in the elections of any country in the future,” he said.

The news conference did little to clarify whether the Ukrainian government would investigate Biden or his son Hunter, who sat on the board of the gas company Burisma in 2014. The country’s top prosecutor has said he plans to reopen an investigation into the company, but he has not detailed the focus of that inquiry.

More than 300 journalists from around the world attended the media event, asking questions on subjects as diverse as his role in Trump’s impeachment inquiry and resolving the conflict with Russia-backed militias in eastern Ukraine.

The former comedic actor with no previous political experience took office in July after a landslide election victory in which he promised to combat corruption and end the war in the east.

Last month, Zelensky found himself in the center of a domestic U.S. political scandal after the July 25 phone call between the two leaders was made public and became the basis for an impeachment inquiry against Trump.

Democrats have accused Trump of pressing Zelensky for a quid pro quo by asking for a “favor” that would open an investigation into Biden — a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination to face Trump in the 2020 presidential election — in exchange for releasing nearly $400 million in military aid.

The U.S., along with the European Union and other nations, has supported Kyiv’s fight to counter Russian President Vladimir Putin’s support for the eastern militias in a war that began in 2014 and has killed13,000.

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Zelensky said he had no idea the military aid was held up at the time of the call. When he discovered that it was on hold, he raised it with Vice President Mike Pence at a meeting in Warsaw, he said.

“And after this meeting, the U.S. unlocked the aid and added $140 million. That’s why there was no blackmail,” he said.

At home in Ukraine, Zelensky has been criticized by journalists for being inaccessible to the media. On Thursday, his team sought to dispel that idea and show that he intended to be a different kind of president for a country that has been challenged by decades of corruption and governments run by politicians deeply entangled in the country’s oligarchy.

Zelensky’s team announced late on Wednesday that he would be holding what they called a “press marathon” that would start at 10 a.m. The chosen venue was the Kyiv Food Market, one of the capital’s hip new food halls. The modern venue recently opened in a renovated, centuries-old factory complex, Arsenal, which once produced weapons, among other things.

The journalists were placed into groups of seven to 10 people and scheduled for 20- to 30-minute sit-down sessions with the president, at which they sat at a long dining table on the food hall’s second-floor balcony. Questions were not taken in advance and there were no limits set on the line of questioning.

The event was in stark contrast to Putin’s annual events, in which as many as 1,200 Russian and international journalists sit in an auditorium for sometimes four hours as Putin takes preapproved questions from Kremlin-selected media.

Zelensky told reporters he was not afraid of meeting Putin either in direct talks or at a peace summit known as the Normandy format tentatively scheduled with leaders of Russia, Germany and France at the end of the month.

Ukraine accuses Putin of conducting an aggressive campaign against it since the Maidan street revolution of 2014 led to the ouster of a Kremlin-friendly president and firmly put the nation of 45 million on a path out of Moscow’s perceived sphere of influence. Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine months later.

Qantas Wallabies Head Coach, Ewen McKenzie has been travelling around to the five Australian Super Rugby teams over the last few weeks to see how they are shaping up for the 2014 season. The ARU Media team sat down with Ewen to get his thoughts on how the provinces are looking.

ARU Media: Ewen, what were your first impressions of how the Australian Super Rugby conference is shaping up for 2014?

Ewen: I am pretty pleased with what I’ve seen. Preseason is a long period of time and the guys have been putting a lot of effort in to get themselves fit and take advantage of having not played a game yet.

Everyone looked in good shape and I can see lots of good innovation and ideas out there. I’m quite pleased with that. I trust the set ups and the coaching and I think everyone looked fresh and ready to go. I’m really looking forward to the games now.

ARU Media: Let’s start with what you thought of the ACT Brumbies. They fell short in the Super Rugby final for 2013, how do you think they are looking under their new coaching structure?

Ewen: I can only judge on what I’ve seen. Obviously being the Reds coach last year, I didn’t have the advantage of seeing them in the previous environment. Everyone was happy and their new set up at the Australian Institute of Sport looks great. It has the right feel about it and the new facility being built at the University of Canberra. That’s all going to be terrific. They were in good spirits and training well.

ARU Media: The Brumbies travelled a lot during last year’s final series before going down to the Chiefs in the final. Do you think they will be better prepared coming into this Super Rugby season having that experience under their belt?

Ewen: I think they will be really motivated. Half the battle of Super Rugby is the relentless competition but once you get a taste of it and understand what it takes to get there, you get to understand it better. They have the benefit of knowing how to do it! I mean, they had some outstanding wins along the way; I thought the semi-final win against The Bulls over in South Africa was great. There is a lot there for them to build on and they still have the guts of the side still there and the same mentality so I don’t see there is any reason why they would have lower expectations than a finals birth. They will have to carry the burden of extra public expectation but that is the burden you bare.

ARU Media: Let’s move on to the NSW Waratahs. Michael Cheika heads into his second year as Head Coach having made some significant changes to the team’s tactics since his arrival. What did you make of the men in blue?

Ewen: Yeah likewise, you can see where they are putting their own stamp on it. Michael is a very experienced coach and he knows what he needs to do to succeed in that role. The lofty heights of competition, well he’s experienced that in Europe so he knows what that looks like. I can’t think of a better guy to take that outfit and try and take it forward.

I think the wider Rugby community feels connected to the team and hopefully in the end with that goodwill and that great stadium they can average crowds of 30,000. At the moment they are not there, but they’ve been there before so there is no reason why they can’t again.

ARU Media: Moving north, let’s talk about the Queensland Reds. The team has been working hard under new Head Coach Richard Graham, having come from there last season, do you think this squad has the goods to take home the 2014 title?

Ewen: Well it’s a similar situation to the Brumbies, a lot of the Reds guys knows what it’s like in finals Rugby, that’s a great advantage. Obviously they’ve got a new set up there, but new ideas are good. Sports teams are always in states of evolution and Richard had a great entrée last year in terms of what the Reds are about with his work with his defence role.

There are a lot of good players there and selection headaches everywhere, so it should be exciting.

ARU Media: The Reds have been very good at beating New Zealand sides in recent years. Can you see that continuing?

Ewen: There is no reason why that can’t continue! Despite the Chiefs outstanding record in recent times, the Reds have beaten them the last three times they’ve played in New Zealand. They would be more concerned about The Reds record in South Africa. If you want to finish higher in the competition you have to be taking on the South Africans over there and winning. That hasn’t been the case in the last couple of years.

ARU Media: We’ve seen their membership number grow and grow at the Western Force, do you think they are set for a big year?

Ewen: There has been a lot of change for The Force on and off the field. Everyone talks a lot about the South African element there but I saw a lot of young powerful players which is handy in any team! There has been some astute acquisitions there and culturally I saw some dedicated, happy guys. They’ve been in the competition for a little while now but they actually have a new generation of players. They’ve probably gone through that first generation of guys in the start-up side; there aren’t too many of them left now. New generation, new players, new coaches. There’s a lot of good change there and I think they seemed pretty excited about how they are going.

ARU Media: The Melbourne Rebels excited their fans with some big wins last year. Do you think they can turn that into a really positive season this year?

Ewen: There is an interesting stat I noticed, recently about The Rebels. Last year against the Australian Super Rugby sides they led them all at half time-except for one, so they put themselves in a position to do well but the end couldn’t always finish it off. So they had opportunities and they were competitive. We saw some great attacking spirit.

I think if we saw one thing they would be keen to change, I think that would be defence side of things. Tony McGahan (Head coach of The Melbourne Rebels) has done a great job down there, remodelling the culture on and off the field. I was very impressed with what I saw and obviously his forte is defence. I think they have some interesting players coming in and I think Scott Higginbotham and Tom Kingston will be ones to watch. I saw a good team spirit and team culture down there and they are being well led. I can’t say that they won’t trouble teams as they go along and they’ll be looking to improve on last year.

ARU Media: Ewen, the Rugby family has grown to 615 809 participants in 2013. This is more people that have played Rugby in Australia than ever before. Do you think this trend will continue and what needs to be done in your opinion to make that happen?

Ewen: I think we all have our part to play. Obviously the Qantas Wallabies success is very important, but now it’s the role of our Super Rugby teams to entertain and inspire the next generation of players. Sport is very cyclical in Australia, I think we only have to look as far as cricket with the Ashes. There was a lot of doom and gloom just a few months ago but now there is a lot of colour and movement and things happening. It can change very quickly!

Success is measured in a thousand little things. It’s not going to be one big thing that makes the difference but a thousand little things. It’s not just the Qantas Wallabies responsibility, but it’s also the fans. The best thing a fan can do is buy a ticket and come and watch. The teams then need to put on a good event, the game needs to be good and the kids need to be inspired so that they will continue supportive of Rugby.

I’ve always said that if everyone looks after the level below them in the game, well, we’ll be in good shape. If everyone takes a keen interest and supports the level down the line then, that’s the best way for us to go forward as a code. We’ve got a lot of plans from the Qantas Wallabies down to connect with the wider community and the country. They will be announced as we go along.

It’s going to be an exciting year!

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Iranian women cheer during the World Cup Qatar 2022 Group C qualification match between Iran and Cambodia at Azadi Stadium in Tehran. 

(Atta Kenare / AFP / Getty Images)

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An Iranian woman flashes a victory sign during a soccer match between Iran and Cambodia in the 2022 World Cup qualifier at the Azadi Stadium in Tehran. 

(Vahid Salemi / Associated Press)

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Iranian women cheer during thematch between Iran and Cambodia at Azadi Stadium in Tehran. 

(Atta Kenare / AFP / Getty Images)

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Female soccer fans watch the match as as female police officers, left, monitor at Azadi Stadium in Tehran. 

(Vahid Salemi / Associated Press)

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Iranian women cheer during the match.  

(Amin M. Jamali / Getty Images)

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Iranian women hold an Iranian flag during a soccer match between their national team and Cambodia at Azadi Stadium in Tehran. 

(Vahid Salemi / Associated Press)

TEHRAN — 

As thousands of Iranian women young and old made their way inside Tehran’s Azadi Stadium on Thursday to watch the World Cup qualifying match between the Iranian and Cambodian men’s teams, the excitement was palpable.

The sea of cheering women grew louder as they took their seats in women’s-only sections, making their presence known by proudly showing their faces, painted with streaks of green, white and red, as they waved Iranian flags from their seats.

“We are so happy to be here. It is a memorable day for our generation,” Marziye Hoshmand, 30, said before she entered the stadium with her friend Elahe Hoshyar.

It marked the first time in nearly four decades that Iranian women were able to buy tickets and enter a stadium here to watch a live sports event.

The ban on women has been an unwritten policy in effect since 1981, shortly after Iran’s Islamic Revolution.

Domestic pressure spearheaded by the country’s burgeoning women’s rights movement, coupled with international condemnation, has now culminated in what many see as a step in the right direction.

Before Thursday’s match, some women had gone to great lengths to sneak into stadiums, at times even disguising themselves as men.

Such was the case for 29-year-old Sahar Khodayari, now memorialized as Iran’s Blue Girl. Khodayari set herself on fire last month outside a courthouse in Tehran where she had been summoned after she was arrested trying to enter Azadi Stadium in March to watch a soccer game.

She died in a Tehran hospital less than two weeks later.

It was her plight and subsequent death that prompted Iranians from all walks of life to take to social media to express outrage. Khodayari’s story made international headlines and drew condemnation from FIFA officials, who threatened to suspend the country from international tournaments.

“FIFA’s position is firm and clear: Women have to be allowed into football stadiums in Iran,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in late September.

Iranian authorities appeared to succumb to pressure last week when they made tickets available for women to purchase. Authorities had initially capped the number of seats for female-only sections in the 78,000-seat Azadi Stadium at 2,000, but later increased it to 3,500 given the high demand.

Hoshmand and Hoshyar went to great lengths to snag their tickets after government officials, bowing to international condemnation, announced Oct. 3 that women would be allowed to attend.

Hoshmand said she stayed up all night hitting the refresh button on a purchasing website.

“Once we got the tickets, we couldn’t believe it,” she said.

“This is a new chapter in our history and we are happy,” Hoshyar chimed in.

Khodayari was not forgotten during the soccer match, with some women deciding to honor her life by chanting, “Blue Girl, your seat is empty.”

Such behavior was risky. Authorities intensified security ahead of the game. Empty seats and barbed wire separated the women’s sections from the men’s, and some male journalists caught speaking or taking photos of women were detained by plainclothes police officers.

Female attendees said they were warned by security officials that they could be ejected if they shouted slogans deemed inappropriate. Still, many women ignored such warnings and embraced the moment.

“I think FIFA has played a very important role in opening the stadium to women,” said Raha, a 27-year-old psychology student. She asked that only her first name be used because of concerns for her safety.

Although Thursday’s game marked a pivotal moment, some Iranian activists remain wary that the change is merely temporary. Conservative lawmakers continue to be dead-set against allowing women into stadiums.

“It still remains to be seen whether officials will allow women to enter stadiums to watch domestic sports games,” Raha said.
The game ended on a high note, with Iran winning 14-0.

Until last week, Marzie Rasooli, a 40-year-old women’s rights activist, said she didn’t consider attendance at sports events an issue worth aggressively addressing compared with other pertinent issues women face. But Rasooli says she has had a change of heart.

“Thanks to FIFA’s pressure and the self-sacrifice of Blue Girl, we will keep fighting for our rights until families can enjoy watching matches together … shoulder to shoulder and next to each other.”

Special correspondent Mostaghim reported from Tehran and Times staff writer Etehad from Los Angeles.

I

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AMMAN, Jordan — 

Turkey said Thursday that it had carried out military strikes on dozens of targets in Syria during two days of an offensive against Kurdish fighters, a move that sent tens of thousands of people fleeing in fear.

Dozens of Kurdish civilians were killed or wounded by a heavy barrage of artillery and airstrikes since the incursion began Wednesday, said Mustafa Bali, a spokesman for the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, a group of militias that for years has received U.S. backing in the fight against Islamic State militants.

Turkey has pounded an area of Syria controlled by the Syrian Democratic Forces. The Kurds retaliated with fighting in several Turkish border towns, injuring 16 people, Turkey’s state-run Anadolu Agency reported.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who a day earlier announced the start of the incursion, said in a televised speech Thursday that 109 “terrorists have been neutralized.”

The United States, meanwhile, faced accusations of betraying an ally because the operation came after President Trump unexpectedly said early this week that U.S. troops would be withdrawn, in effect allowing Turkey, an ally, to attack the Kurds in Syria, also allies. Trump later said in a statement that the U.S. did not endorse the attack, calling it a “bad idea.”

International Rescue Committee, an aid group, warned Thursday that 64,000 people had been displaced and that an additional 236,000 could join them if the offensive continues.

Signs of that displacement could be seen on the road leading to the Semalka border crossing with Iraq, with families crowding in cars and atop trucks laden with furniture.

The Turkish Defense Ministry said Thursday that it had so far carried out strikes on 181 targets in Syria. It also launched a ground offensive, deploying Turkish commandos and Syrian rebel factions.

By the evening, those factions, part of a loose grouping of opposition fighters who have styled themselves as the Syrian National Army, announced they had seized control of a number of villages around Tal Abyad and Ras al-Ayn, both key border towns that Turkey aims to commandeer in the first phase of its operations.

“We’re aiming to reach the Syrian-Iraqi border,” said Maj. Yusef Hammoud, spokesman for the Syrian National Army, in a phone interview Thursday.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a monitor opposed to the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad, said 16 of the Kurdish fighters had been killed.

Turkey insists it is carrying out a campaign to push out the Kurdish fighters from a 20-mile band of territory — what Ankara has called a safe zone — extending along the Syrian-Turkish border, and resettle the millions of refugees it has hosted since the start of the Syrian civil war in 2011.

But the offensive marks yet another splintering of sides in the eight-year conflict, as it raises fears of a sectarian massacre and a new refugee crisis in the region.

In its search for a reliable partner to counter Islamic State in Syria, the U.S. had chosen the Kurdish fighters, making them the nexus of the Syrian Democratic Forces and pouring training, weapons and air support for their campaign to roll back the extremists. The Kurds also used that support to solidify their grip over northeastern Syria and create the foundations of a quasi-state.

But the choice of the Kurds proved unacceptable to Ankara, which viewed them as nothing more than a proxy for its longtime nemesis, the Kurdistan Workers Party.

The offensive began three days after Trump said he would withdraw a small contingent of U.S. troops from their outposts in Syria, in effect acquiescing to Erdogan’s often-repeated demand that Turkey take charge of northeastern Syria.

On Thursday, Trump wrote on Twitter that “Turkey had been planning to attack the Kurds for a long time. They have been fighting forever.”

He said he was trying to end the fighting, and threatened Turkey with sanctions if it did not “play by the rules.”

Erdogan responded to his critics in Europe, saying that if they continued to call the incursion an “invasion” he would “open the gates and send 3.6 million refugees your way.” Turkey and its coastal cities were one of the main launching points for Syrian refugees coming to Europe.

Special correspondent Kamiran Saadoun in Qamishli, Syria, contributed to this report.

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There are no fruits that should be avoided. None can be labelled as ‘not recommended’ because they all have great benefits due to their high vitamins, minerals and antioxidant content, says Nela Berlanga, pharmacist and nutritionist at KilosOut. It’s vital to eat three to five pieces of fruit a day—whatever the fruit is.

While Berlanga says that there are no universal rules on nutritional issues—“something good for one person can be upsetting for another”—she does note that there are certain fruits that can make you feel bloated and gassy. “Fruits have sugars such as fructose and sorbitol, and these two nutrients can cause inflammation and gases,” she says. “They also contain fibre, which we all need for healthy gut function, but when consumed in excess it can result in lower digestibility, causing greater abdominal swelling and gases.”

Even though this article contains a list of fruits that can actually cause the dreaded stomach bloating—and if you’re reading this, it’s probably why you’re here—it’ll also provide ways of still eating those fruits and avoiding those unwanted symptoms. The key is reducing the effects of bloating, rather than blacklisting the fruits themselves and therefore missing out on their positive properties.

Learn which fruits cause bloating
As Berlanga says, we shouldn’t think that these fruits have the same effect on everyone, “hence the importance of observing what we eat, how we eat it and how we feel afterwards”. The truth is that there are certain fruits that can generally produce more inflammation. “Apples, bananas, grapes and figs have higher sugar (fructose) levels and not all of that sugar may be fully absorbed, causing inflammation,” explains Berlanga, who recommends eating seasonal fruits at their ripest.

The importance of slow eating
Click Here: NRL Telstra PremiershipAlthough this golden rule should always be followed, in the case of bloat-producing fruits, it is mandatory. It’s about chewing these fruits a lot to help digest all their fructose. “It is also very important to eat slowly, drinking enough water and to keep an eye on other foods that might be contributing to bloating,” Berlanga points out.

Mix them with kefir
If you find these (or other) fruits hard to digest, an option is to combine them with probiotics such as fermented dairy products, since according to Berlanga, “to some extent they help regulate our gut flora.” Think about adding them to kefir or natural yogurts.

Have a warm infusion afterwards
Berlanga says that certain spices such as oregano, cinnamon, fennel, mint, ginger, bay leaf and sage have an eupeptic effect, meaning they increase our gastric juices and improve digestion as a result. Try infusing them into a warm drinks after you eat fruit; they may reduce bloating.

Learn when you bloat throughout the day—and manage it
Berlanga reminds us that fruit bloating varies from one person to another. For example, the unwritten rule that advises against eating fruit after lunch or dinner is a more individual question rather than a universal law. “Eating or not eating fruit after a meal is a personal issue,” says Berlanga. “In the case of some people with slower digestion, it stays in their stomach longer and produces more gas or swelling. It depends on how balanced your gut flora is and whether you have any digestive pathology.”Berlanga advocates for having fruit during breakfast to fuel up, but she also recommends it in the afternoon: “Regarding the theory that advises against having fruit after 2pm, there is no solid proof of a greater spike in blood sugar, nor that our body will lack time to stabilise those levels and store it. In fact, if we stop eating fruit in the afternoon, we might be hungry, turn to unhealthy snacks and gain weight. Fruit is the perfect non-fattening healthy snack.”

Eat more bananas
Given that bananas are on the list of fruits that can cause bloating, and some nutritionists advise against eating them when trying to lose weight. We turned to the expert for her take on the advantages of eating the yellow fruit. “Banana is a superstar fruit,” says Berlanga. “It does have more sugar than other fruits, but it’s intrinsic, healthy sugar. Not only do we not advise against eating bananas, but we recommend having one daily since they are rich in potassium and tryptophan, a precursor of serotonin (the hormone of the ‘good vibes’). Furthermore, you can carry one easily inside your bag for a snack, they won’t stain anything and comes with natural packaging… and they’re delicious!”

This story originally appeared on Vogue.es

Image credit: Hattie Molloy

What goes around, comes around. It might be a cliché, but in the fashion, design and art worlds, nothing could be more true. From the return of the ‘80s silhouette in our furniture to the continuing reign of the ‘90s in fashion, designers, artists and makers all over the world can’t stop drawing inspiration from the near-past. Now, it seems our love for nostalgia has made it all the way to the flowers we want in our homes. 

“Flowers used in floristry can be considered like any other artistic practice — art, fashion, and music — there is always room to look back at history and take it forward to contemporise past ideas,” says Hattie Molloy, a Melbourne-based florist making waves for her unconventional use of traditionally dated flowers. 

Focusing on colour and shape, Molloy’s arrangements are less about quantity and more about telling a story and conveying a feeling. Works of art, but for the everyday. 

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Image credit: Lucas Dawson Photography

“I would consider carnations and gerberas to be making a real comeback,” she says. “Gerberas have recently been a huge component in my work, as I was inspired by a new colour variety. I enjoy the challenge of using any flower that inspires me, even the ‘90s gerbera, a flower some might consider an uninspiring flower from the supermarket, can be given a second life on a contemporary platform.”

It’s a bold statement, and one some florists would balk at. Known for their plastic-wrapped, often cartoonish-like flower, the gerbera is one plant most contemporary arrangers would steer clear of. But, as Molloy’s healthy Instagram following and sold out workshops will attest, it’s clearly got an audience. 

Image credit: Hattie Molloy

Molloy’s unexpected love of gerberas and carnations follows a wider industry trend valuing individuality and unpredictability, which has seen fellow Australian florists like Christelle Scifo of Fleurette and Ruby Mary Lennox find success in offbeat, sometimes peculiar arrangements, often featuring single stemmed flowers, individual pieces of fruit and sculptural, pared-back silhouettes. 

Image credit: Hattie Molloy

“I always say to keep it simple,” Molloy advises when trying out an unusual flower for the first time. “Use it on mass or with only one other flower variety. Any flower can be stimulating on mass, the dynamic form which the flowers are arranged into is particularly important, this allows the eye to dance though the arrangement.”

Image credit: Hattie Molloy

As for what’s next, Molloy doesn’t have the answers. But, just like with the humble gerbera, it’s best to check your expectations at the door. 

“I never thought I’d see the day where I would be obsessed with a gerbera… so anything is possible! The shedding of preconceived opinions about any material in a creative practice allows room to reinvigorate old ideas.”

Image credit: Hattie Molloy

If you’re getting married next year and the ever looming mountain of wedding admin has left you cold — or maybe you’re not sure where to even begin planning — then fear not. From the cut of the diamond to the end of identical bridesmaid line-ups, this is guide to the biggest wedding trends for 2020, straight from those that know. 

The most in-demand wedding experts in the industry — recruited by the likes of Gwyneth Paltrow and Zoë Kravitz — reveal what an on-message 2020 wedding will look like.

The wedding ring  
If you’re reading this wearing an engagement ring that you your partner both chose, then you’re already ahead of the curve. One of the most gamechanging 2020 wedding trends is couples choosing their rings together, both the engagement and wedding bands. 

“There’s been a huge increase from when I started my business four years ago, when requests were primarily from men,” says Mia Moross, founder of The One I Love NYC, the New York jewellery label where actor Karl Glusman picked up his now-wife Zoë Kravitz’s antique engagement ring (above) after she’d spotted it on Instagram. “I hope it continues,” she says. “It’s important that it’s a ring that both of you love, so it symbolises the taste of the person giving it as well as receiving it.” 

Moross also notes a spike in popularity for cushion-cut, hand-mined diamonds (a square cut with rounded corners, like Jessica Biel’s engagement ring) and predicts a rise in yellow-gold rather than platinum bands, alongside Art Deco pieces. “Couples want rings that tell a story,” adds Moross. “They don’t want to buy something off the rack. They want a piece that has depth, soul and lineage.”

The wedding dress 
This is the big one. Except it’s no longer just dress; brides are now shopping for ‘The Dress’, plus accessories, an evening gown and other looks to see them through the rehearsal dinner, the reception and beyond. 

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The ceremony dress is still the main event and for next year, there’s a move towards pared-back gowns. “Since the UK’s royal wedding [Meghan and Harry in 2018], we’ve noticed brides leaning towards simple and elegant lines, paired with dramatic veils that have beaded or lace edging to add wow-factor,” says Kate Johnson, buyer at Browns Brides, the London boutique stocking designers favoured by Miley Cyrus and Beyoncé. “Unlike Meghan [Duchess of Sussex], our brides are increasingly opting for off-the-shoulder silhouettes that flatter the bust-line and add a modern touch.”

Katherine Holmgren, co-founder of bridal and eveningwear label Galvan, recently designed one of the three dresses that model Heidi Klum wore over her wedding weekend in August. “There’s definitely a shift away from volume,” agrees Holmgren. “People are starting to go for sleek and less ‘princess’.”

Some couples might want to shake-up tradition, shunning the bridal dress entirely. Actor Sophie Turner wore a jumpsuit at her Las Vegas wedding to pop star Joe Jonas this year, while singer Solange bucked tradition in 2014 wearing a cream, all-in-one trouser suit with an attached cape. “For an after party or a civil ceremony, people are leaning towards suiting, jumpsuits or cropped-length dresses,” says Holmgren. “Separates are going to become more popular, too. Head-to-toe bridal white, but with the idea that you can wear certain pieces again.”

The bridesmaids’ dresses 
The days of bridesmaids wearing identical gowns are fading away, but that doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all. In 2020, the bride will likely still choose the bridesmaid dresses ensuring they match her aesthetic, but she’ll take individual body shapes and skin tones into consideration, making sure that everyone is feeling great on the big day. 

“We’re seeing brides pre-selecting a palette and silhouettes they like, then asking bridesmaids to choose from that narrowed-down range,” says Holmgren. Next year’s bride will allow her bridesmaids to select from three or four different shapes in select colours that complement her own dress.

The wedding day
The 2020 wedding is set to be about individuality, so make your wedding day personal to you and your future spouse — which means considering where your wedding . What does the location say about you both? If it’s a destination wedding, why did you choose there? Translate that sentiment into everything from the food and decor to entertainment, ensuring consistency and authenticity. 

“People are looking for authentic, local ways to incorporate their location into the day,” says Sarah Haywood, who organises high-profile weddings around the world including model Hannah Quinlivan’s wedding to pop superstar Jay Chou. 

“Last year for a wedding in Italy, the Save The Date was a tile made in an original Tuscan factory. Each tile was hand painted with the couple’s initials and the coordinates of where the wedding would take place. For the welcome party, we created a street fiesta with a Murano glassblower making cocktail swizzles and a ceramicist crafting Sicilian pots. It’s about incorporating local touches.”

Next year’s take on wedding tradition is just as bespoke. “The mindset of modern couples is to be more creative about rituals and customs, rather than blindly following tradition,” says Tina Tharwani, co-founder of Shaadi Squad, the wedding planners behind Bollywood star Anushka Sharma and cricketer Virat Kohli’s wedding. “It’s about finding balance: taking what’s traditional and reframing it into new, fun elements of a wedding.” For interfaith couples preparing for multicultural weddings, take a cue from actor Priyanka Chopra and pop star Nick Jonas (above), who interweaved rituals from their Hindu and Christian faiths into their ceremonies in 2018.

The wedding flowers and decor 
Thoughtful detail rather than over-the-top extravagance will be key for a 2020 wedding, such as discreetly including your initials on everything from glassware to napkins. “[We’re moving towards] weddings with simple tables but with one statement installation piece, such as a cloud of gypsophila over the dancefloor, a floral arch at the entrance to the church, or something to frame the couple when they’re married,” says Nikki Tibbles (above), Wild At Heart’s founding florist, favoured by Tom Ford and regularly recruited to dress high-profile weddings.

Table and bouquet flowers are set to take on a more relaxed and natural feel, too. “There’s a move away from more cultivated flowers such as roses, towards wild flowers and grasses,” says Tibbles. “It’s still elegant, just not quite so ostentatious. I don’t feel a ‘bigger is better’ mood right now.” 

For 2020, Tibbles recommends dried flowers, pampas grass and potted greenery, while Tharwani notes that non-perishable origami flowers are a budding trend thanks to their potential to be kept and reused.

Sustainability matters
No matter what kind of wedding you’re planning, sustainability is set to be high on the 2020 agenda. Tharwani predicts couples will swap physical invitations for digital, or print them on seed paper, which can be planted after use. Requesting a vegan meal will soon no longer fall into ‘special dietary requirements’ either, as 2020 is set to see the rise of an eco-conscious, all-vegan wedding menu. 

Wedding planner Colleen Kennedy Cohen, responsible for Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Falchuk’s nuptials in 2018, concurs: “Look at reducing your carbon footprint and seriously consider travel; not only for you and your guests, but for your vendors. Make sure they’re using local products sourced sustainably,” she says. “And look at your dinner menu: reduce excessive portion sizes, composting whatever’s left over.” 

That message extends to after the big event, too. Tibbles encourages clients to consider the next life of their flowers once the wedding is over, whether that’s donating them to a local hospice or encouraging guests take them home to enjoy. Meanwhile, Tharwani works with charities to swiftly distribute any leftover food to those in need.

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11th Oct 2019

Timothée Chalamet needs no introduction. The 23-year-old New York native, whose title role in Luca Gudagnino’s Call Me By Your Name (2017) escalated the actor to the upper echelons of Hollywood (and brought on a slew of films including Ladybird, Beautiful Boy and Little Women debuting later this year) has fast become one of the most in-demand young actors working today.

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Porcelain-skinned, just-unruly-enough mane and a preternatural understanding of his craft and of the screen have qualified Chalamet for bonafide stardom, catapulting him to the front of the minds of directors Greta Gerwig, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson and Australia’s own David Michôd.

Working with Michôd on The King, a period film loosely based on Shakespeare’s Henry V that sees Chalamet’s character, Hal, take to the throne reluctantly, the film includes many of Chalamet’s contemporaries (Robert Pattinson, Thomasin McKenzie, Lily-Rose Depp) and explores universal themes of war, power, privilege and wrestling with identity.

Following the Australian premiere of The King in Sydney on October 11 (which launches on Netflix on November 1), Chalamet sat down with Vogue to discuss his latest film, the costumes he wore to get into character, and stepping up into our responsibilities irrespective of our needs and wants both on and off-screen. 

“I’m working on things that are of interest and feel new and fresh. I just want to work on things that are good,” explains Chalamet about the projects he’s taken on to date, noting that he’s not necessarily conscious of the common thread of male exploration woven in his body of work so far. 

“As David [Michôd] said, his movies have dealt with – the contemporary way to put it would be a toxic masculinity and the trappings of male ego. The other movies [I’ve worked on] also explore male psychology,” he reflects, before adding more broadly “or human psychology.”

In the same breath, Chalamet notes that the rapport Michôd had established already with certain co-stars would have eased his nerves going into the film. “Thinking of David’s working relationship with Joel [Edgerton] and also Robert Pattinson and Ben Mendelsohn and a lot of people in the movie, [I’ve learned] how helpful it can be to have a working relationship with people, prior to the movie starting. It’s like any job; your day one is wracked with anxiety of like, ‘How am I coming off to people?’ or impressions like that.”

On the subject of impressions, Chalamet, who has straddled the worlds of Hollywood and high fashion with ease (most recently arriving on the red carpet in paint-splattered overalls made by artist-cum-designer Sterling Ruby and showing up in Sydney in a cobalt blue Haider Ackermann suit) reflects that he enjoyed the distance from fashion now in order to get into a character from the past. By embracing a departure from his regular rotation of Virgil Abloh-designed Louis Vuitton and Haider Ackermann, he was able to fully immerse himself in the film’s 15th century context.

“I wasn’t designing the costumes or choosing what was going to be worn, but the intent was to get what the period would have been like, as close to that as possible, and less to do with a stylistic take in a modern or wacky direction.”

And though the film is set centuries ago, Chalamet is well-aware that the onus on youth to take on responsibilities prematurely (be it fighting for climate change; gender equality) like his character has only become more pronounced, and more urgent. “I think the reason my generation speaks up so much is that simply, there’s so much to speak up about. The ways of the world, if hidden in secrecy before… [are now in plain sight].”

And, while Chalamet admits he’s been kept out of the loop of his new ‘artthrob’ status coined by the Internet, he now wears the badge with pride. “I’ve never heard that. Do you think it’s a good thing? If you think it’s a good thing, then yeah, it’s a good thing.”