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In the midst of battling monsters and trying to save the world, it is important to take a breather every now and then, which is exactly what Alchemy Stars are offering in their newest event. Entitled Trees, Fish, and a Slow Life, it is a two-part event centring on a nice tea party and brings exclusive items, new characters and more with it.

Alchemy Stars is set in a world named Astra where the Aurorians and the Caelestites are locked in a neverending battle against the evil Eclipsites. The battles take place on a tactical grid with a unique tile-connecting gameplay, where if you move along the same colour tiles you rack up a combo, which allows you to unleash powerful skills.

Trees, Fish, and a Slow Life gives the characters a reprieve from battles and invites players to warm up a mug of tea and relax a bit. There are two parts to complete in the quest, Afternoon Tea Party and Teatime Pleasantries, and clearing them will reward Lumamber, Special Star Flames and access to two new Aurorions, Nina and Sanae. There is also Anderson Association Tickets up for grabs, which can be exchanged in the limited-time event store for rewards such as a 5-Star Auroiran United Kit 2 or a Special Star Flare. The event also brings with it limited edition furniture to collect. The store will remain open until July 14, so there is time to redeem any tickets won before the event itself ends on July 11.

Any player who logs in before July 11 is eligible to claim the log-in bonuses, totalling 8 days of prizes. Rewards range from Anderson Association Tickets, Recharger Packs, Nightium and more, all the way up to the Ninas Afternoon Tea Avatar on day 8.

Alchemy Stars is available to download for free on the App Store and Google Play.

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Take a break and relax with Alchemy Stars new Event Trees, Fish, and a Slow Life - AppSpy

MARTINSBURG Candidates for the Miss West Virginia and Miss West Virginia Outstanding Teen competition enjoyed a tea party in downtown Martinsburg at 1902 On Queen to encourage positive mentorships and sisterhood with several girls from the Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle.

Stacie Rohn, executive director of the BGCEP, said that the event means a lot to her and that it also means a lot to the girls in the club.

I hope the girls that are competing in Miss West Virginia had a chance to talk to the girls about positive self-esteem and why the pageant could benefit them the scholarship opportunities and learning confidence and saying, You know what, I can do anything I want to, Rohn said. I want our kids to have those positive role models that help to set the tone for what their future could look like. If we have strong, successful women who are mentoring our girls, we cant go wrong.

Shelley Nichols-Franklin, state director for the Miss West Virginia competition, was pleased to see the event come together and benefit those in attendance.

I am really excited for the Boys & Girls Club to participate with us. This is what our program is all about, mentoring young ladies and giving back to the community, Nichols-Franklin said. We are glad to have all of these girls together.

Tiffany Lawrence, Miss West Virginia 2006, sponsored the event.

To see the community come together like this with the Miss West Virginia organization is amazing. To see the faces and smiles of these little girls who look up to our contestants in this way, it is heartwarming for me as a former, Lawrence said. Seeing opportunities like this come to fruition in our community and being a part of that is very special.

1902 On Queen hosted the event and donated the space.

Patty McIntyre, human resources and business director for the BGCEP, sat and watched all of the girls interact at the tea party with a bright smile on her face, excited for their futures.

It is so exciting to see them be elevated and being treated to something nice and fancy. I dont know how many of the girls have a chance to do this. I think this is great, McIntyre said. Our goal is always to have our kids go through school and graduate from high school and either choose a trade or go to college. If a scholarship can help them get on their way in that, that is definitely a plus. These girls are so great and so resilient. Theyve had a tough couple of years during the pandemic.

Rohn added that she would be pleased if events and collaborations, like the tea party, would continue with the community at large.

For the young ladies and the young men, I would love the business community to come in and talk about what they do. I would like for some of our successful kids to have reasons to stay in the community and what better way than to explore what businesses are here and what are their opportunities.

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Boys & Girls Club of the Eastern Panhandle young women gather with Miss West Virginia candidates for tea party - Martinsburg Journal

Ring in Independence Day in Tennessee this July 4. Spend the weekend surrounded by rich history, special celebrations and southern charm with these festivals, events and fireworks shows across the state by region.

East Tennessee

Patriots Festival Pigeon Forge

Country music artist Josh Turner will headline Pigeon Forges 31stannual Patriot Festival on July 4 in Patriot Park. The festivals activities kick off at 4 p.m.

Fourth of July Midnight Parade Gatlinburg

Escape the summertime blues in Gatlinburg this Independence Day weekend with the first July 4thparade in the nation. Gatlinburgs award-winning Fourth of July Midnight Parade offers visitors a chance to take in patriotic floats, displays and balloons with a fireworks finale at the Space Needle to end the night.

Festival on the 4th- Knoxville

Experience Knoxvilles rich history at Worlds Fair Park for its Festival on the 4th. Music, food and family-friendly activities will take place with a free musical finale with Knoxville Symphony Orchestra accompanied by fireworks.

Pops on the River Chattanooga

Kick-off the weekend in Chattanooga with its popular Fourth of July event Pops on the River July 2 at Coolidge Park. Enjoy outdoor concerts, local food and drinks and a beautiful fireworks display over the Tennessee River.

Red, White & BOOM Independence Day Festival Kingsport

In northeast Tennessee, take your Independence Day festivities to the next level with Kingsports Red, White & BOOM Independence Day Festival July 2. The event will take place on the citys main street with headliner 38 Special. The night will end with Kingsports biggest fireworks show to date.

Jonesborough Days JonesboroughTennessees oldest town will celebrate Jonesborough Days June 30-July 3 in its cute, charming downtown. A low country boil kicks off the weekend of festivities with music by The Jonesborough Novelty Band, followed by a parade, contests and fireworks show.

Museum of Appalachias Independence Day Anvil Shoot Celebration Norris

While most Americans celebrate Independence Day with fireworks, the Museum of Appalachia marks the occasion with old-fashioned anvil shoots, a once common way for pioneers to celebrate holidays, elections and other special events. Other activities taking place during the day include live music, flag procession and demonstrations from blacksmiths, beekeepers, woodworkers and much more.

Pepsi Independence Day Johnson City

Spend July 4 in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in Johnson City, where guests can partake in two huge July 4 bashes a free summer concerts series in King Commons Park on July 1 and the Pepsi Independence Day Celebration on July 3. Enjoy fireworks, live music, food and a beer garden.

Middle Tennessee

Let Freedom Sing! Music City July 4 Nashville

One of the nations largest July 4 celebrations happens in Music City. Head to Nashville on July 3 to catch the citys largest fireworks show yet synchronized to a live performance by the Nashville Symphony. The celebration continues on July 4 with performances by some of Nashvilles biggest stars, including Old Dominion, Gramps Morgan, Cassadee Pope, Levi Hummon and more.

Red, White & Book July Fourth Celebration Cookeville

Spend July Fourth weekend in Cookeville, where there are many opportunities to get in the American spirit, including a Classic Car Cruise in Celebration, the Patriotic Concerts featuring the 129thUS Army Band, Celebration of Upper Cumberland Music and Community Concert and wrap the weekend with Cookevilles very own Jake Hoot, season 17 winner of The Voice, with a concert and second-largest fireworks show in Tennessee July 4.

2022 Independence Day Celebration Clarksville

Kick off the weekend on July 1 with a free concert by Americas Heart Tribute Band, Barracuda, at Downtown Commons. On July 3, celebrate Independence Day with live music, inflatable games, food and a fireworks show at Liberty Park.

Freedom Fest 2022 MontereyJoin Chris Janson, Davisson Brothers, Darryl Worley, Ty Hendon and Andy Griggs at The Old Gray Amphitheaters first annual Freedom Fest July 1-July 2. Enjoy over 75-acres of Fourth of July fun with food trucks, a kid zone, BBQ and fireworks show.

Fireworks on the Cumberland Historic Granville

Celebrate the red, white and blue with family and friends at Historic Granvilles free professional fireworks show. Bask in the specular fireworks reflected off Cordell Hull Lake.

Maury County Parks Fireworks Columbia

Celebrate Independence Day with fireworks at Maury County Park Sunday, July 4. Fireworks begin at 9 p.m. and will be shot from the top of the hill to provide attendees with many viewing points. Tune your radio to 87.9 FM to hear synchronized music.

51st Annual Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival SmithvilleJoin Downtown Smithville for the 51stAnnual Smithville Fiddlers Jamboree and Crafts Festival, July 1 - July 2. From 9 a.m. until 10 p.m., enjoy bluegrass and Appalachian style music, dance, handmade crafts and food booths.

West Tennessee

All-American Elvis-Inspired Fireworks Extravaganza Memphis

Head to the King of Rock n Rolls estate, Elvis Presleys Graceland, for an All-American Elvis-Inspired Fireworks Extravaganza July 2-3. Attendees will be able to enjoy all things Elvis, BBQ and fireworks, including a performance by the 2021 Ultimate Elvis Tribute Artist contest winner Pat Dunn.

West Tennessee Independence Day Celebration HornbeakBook a stay at Blue Bank Resort to take part in the West Tennessee Independence Day Celebration July 1-4. Enjoy the beautiful view ofReelfoot Lakewhile Reelfoot Lakes Tourism fireworks show takes place over the water. While in the area, visitDiscovery Park of Americaon July 2 for a wide array of activities including a reenactment of the Boston Tea Party, ringing of the bells ceremony and the annual reading of the Declaration of Independence.

Colliervilles Independence Day Celebration Collierville

On July 2, head to West Tennessee for Colliervilles Independence Day Celebration for food vendors, entertainment and fireworks show choreographed to an 18-minute musical salute by the TN Mass Choir.

City of Milan Fireworks Show & Live Music - Milan

Grab a blanket and lawn chairs and head toMilan City Parkon July 1, 6-9:30 p.m., to enjoy live music from local band, Mostly Locust, food trucks and a fireworks show.

Festival of the Lakes Lexington

Festival of the Lakes returns to Beech Lake July 4 with Independence Day celebrations kicking off at 5 p.m. with music, entertainment and a stunning fireworks extravaganza.

2022 White Squirrel Festival Kenton

Start your July Fourth weekend early in Kenton this year at the White Squirrel Festival June 28-July 4. Throughout the week, participate in the 2022 White Squirrel Festival Parade, Arts & Crafts Market, the Car, Truck, Bike and Tractor Show, fireworks and much more.

To find more Fourth of July events across the state, visitwww.tnvacation.com.

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Where To Watch Fireworks In Tennessee This 4th Of July - The Chattanoogan

Let the games begin.

Today was the first day for candidates to declare for office in the 2022 primary and general elections. Well update our candidate filings at least twice daily, taking our information from the Rhode Island Secretary of States office.

Candidates are required to file the declaration papers today, tomorrow or Wednesday. Heres the latest updates for statewide and local communities.

This story will continue to be updated.

U.S. House of Representatives, District 2.

General Treasurer Seth Magaziner, who was endorsed by the Democratic State Convention yesterday, and former state Rep Spencer E. Dickinson, David A. Segal, and Donald L. Keith, also Democrats, filed declaration papers.

Donn M. Antonia (Independent) and Patricia A. Landy (Independent) have also filed declaration papers.

U.S. House of Representatives, District 1.

Republican Allen R. Waters, who has run for U.S. House and U.S. Senate in both Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Independent Lenine Camacho.

Governor.

Former CVS executive Helena Buonanno Foulkes, a Democrat. And Republicans Emmanuel Boateng Adjei and Jonathan J Riccitelli.

Elijah J. Gizzarelli (Independent Libertarian), James T. Aubin (Independent Libertarian), and Zachary Baker Hurwitz (Independent) have filed declaration papers.

Lieutenant Governor.

State Rep. Deborah Ruggiero (D). Independent Ross I. McCurdy.

Attorney General.

Incumbent Peter F. Neronha (D). Republican Charles Calenda.

General Treasurer.

Former Commerce Secretary Stefan Pryor (D)

Secretary of State.

Democratic State Rep. Gregg Amore, who was endorsed by the Democratic State Convention yesterday, Anthony N.B. Tamba (D), and Pat Cortellessa (R).

State Senate, District 10, Tiverton, Warren.

Incumbent Walter Felag (D), and Republican Allyn Meyers.

State Senate, District 12,Little Compton, Middletown, Newport, Tiverton.

Incumbent Louis DiPalma (D) and Republican Stephen J. Horridge.

State Senate, District 13, Jamestown, Newport.

Incumbent Dawn Euer (D) and David Quiroa Sr. (R)

State Rep., District 70,Tiverton.

Incumbent John Edwards (D) and Republican Christopher M. Borden.

State Rep., District 71,Portsmouth, Tiverton & Little Compton.

Incumbent Michelle McGaw (D)

State Rep. District 72,Portsmouth & Middletown.

Incumbent Terri-Denise Cortvriend (D)

State Rep., District 73,Newport and Middletown.

Incumbent Marvin Abney (D)

State Rep., District 74,Jamestown, Middletown.

Democrat Alex S. Finkelman. The incumbent, Deb Ruggiero, a Democrat, is a candidate for lieutenant governor.

State Rep., District 75,Newport.

Incumbent Lauren Carson (D)

Newport City Council.

Incumbent Charles Holder (Ward 2), Incumbent Kathryn Leonard (Ward 3), Incumbent Lynn Ceglie (At-Large), Eames Yates (At-Large), and Stephanie Smyth (At-Large). Council candidates are non-partisan.

Newport School Committee.

Incumbent Sandra Flowers, Incumbent James Dring, and Incumbent Louisa Boatwright.

Middletown Town Council.

Incumbent Councilman Christopher M. Logan, Lawrence Frank, and Antone Viveiros. Middletown Council candidates are non-partisan.

Middletown School Committee.

Incumbents Liana Ferreira-Fenton and Theresa Spengler as well as Wendy E. Heaney

Portsmouth Town Council.

Michael DiPaola (I). Charles Levesque (D), Incumbent Keith Hamilton (R), and Sharlene Patton (R). Town Council Incumbents Andrew Kelly and Linda Ujifusa have announced that they will run for Senate District 11 (Portsmouth, Bristol).

Little Compton.

Town Clerk Incumbent Carol Wordell, a Republican; and for Town Council, incumbents Robert L. Mushen (R), Paul Golembeske (R), and Patrick McHugh (D). Also, Mike Folcarelli (I).

Candidates for all local and statewide offices must file their declaration of candidacy this week (between Monday and close of business on Wednesday).

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Election 2022: Politicians begin to declare candidacies - What'sUpNewp

Laura Ingalls Wilder was an American farmer and small-town farm journalist who rarely got involved in 20th-Century politics. She was not an activist for the vote and only entered in politics in old age, when she ran for a paid local office and lost.

And yet for decades, conservative Americans have held up her series, the Little Housebooks, which includesLittle House on the Prairie, as a Bible of libertarianism: true examples of American self-reliance and independent spirit. The nine childrens books about a hard-working pioneer family warned about the encroaching power of the state, and heralded the rise of the modern Republican party. They are fiction, of course, but based on Wilders real childhood.

Published in the throes of the Great Depression, the Little House books were powerful allegories opposing President Franklin Roosevelts New Deal programmes, which provided unprecedented financial support to struggling Americans. They also illustrated a major shift in Republican ideology that took place in the Thirties, as the party sought to widen its appeal. It shed its reputation as the party of elite business owners, and instead began to emphasise the power of the individual.

In one of the scenes in The Long Winter, a storekeeper is overcharging starving residents of De Smet, South Dakota, who want to buy the last grain in town. A riot seems imminent until the hero of the books, Charles Pa Ingalls, speaks up. This is a free country, and every mans got a right to do as he pleases with his own property, he tells the storekeeper. Dont forget that every one of us is free and independent, Loftus. This winter wont last forever, and maybe you want to go on doing business after its over.

This impromptu speech is anachronistic: arguing about unregulated markets was a debate rooted in the Thirties, when this book was written, rather than the 1880s, when it was set. It hints at the secret lying at the heart of the Little House books: it was Wilders daughter and secret co-author, Rose Wilder Lane, who imbued the books with their political message.

Lane was one of the intellectual architects of the libertarian political movement in America: she was an influential free-market activist, writer, and acquaintance of the philosopher Ayn Rand. Her projection of her radical political views onto her mothers pioneering childhood means that the series should be read as a double history: folk stories about the 1870s and 1880s woven through the vantage point of the Great Depression and the Second World War.

Pulsing through the books, meanwhile, are principles rooted in the Declaration of Independence. Thanks often to Lanes revisions, characters occasionally quote that document, noting that they want to be free and independent. In Little Town on the Prairie, Pa takes Laura and her sister to the Fourth of July celebration in town. In Lanes revision, Laura is transfixed by the reading of the Declaration of Independence and the singing of My Country Tis of Thee:

The crowd was scattering away then, but Laura stood stock still. Suddenly she had a completely new thought. The Declaration and the Song came together in her mind, and she thought: God is Americas king. She thought: Americans wont obey any king on earth. Americans are free. That means they have to obey their own consciences.

This is why the books are so beloved by conservatives today: these libertarian views formed the basis of the modern Republican Party.

Yet the books purposefully understate the difficulty of the American pioneer experience. It was in fact a brutally hard life of crop failures, isolation, and disease. Although the Little House books preserved in accurate and lyrical detail many of the skills that small farmers practiced in the 19th century, Lane recast many scenes as optimistic takes on tragedy that did not reflect how the family actually responded. In On the Banks of Plum Creek, Pa announced during a horrible plague of the Rocky Mountain locust that ate crops for two years: We wont let a pesky crop of grasshoppers stop us. The locusts did, in fact, lead to their financial ruin. Two years later, according to Little Town on the Prairie, the family resorted to eating the blackbirds that had destroyed their first corn crop in Dakota Territory. The family sings Sing a Song of Sixpence at the table. And why not show some upbeat pluck in a childrens book?

But Wilder cautioned her daughter that the family was not an optimistic group. The quality they relied on was stoicism, putting up with the bad that came. Thats very different from hope. I wish I could explain to you about the stoicism of the people, she wrote to Lane in 1938, when they were halfway through writing the series. You know a person cannot live at a high pitch of emotion. The feelings become dulled by a natural, unconscious effort at self-preservation. Wilder insisted that the Ingalls family had never reacted to anything emotionally.

The divergence between Wilders real-life story and the Little House narrative was also apparent from what they left out: crime and tragedy. Gone from the books were stories Laura had written in early drafts: the death of a baby brother, a mournful episode running a tavern that ended with the family fleeing late at night to avoid paying its debts. The hardships that did stay in the books shored up tenaciousness as a value, such as sister Mary Ingalls going blind as a teenager. Laura then had to step in to help her and support the family by teaching at several schools.

The books also downplayed the various ways the government helped the family, spinning a myth of self-reliance. Like many pioneer settlers, they were given a free homestead through the federal Homestead Act, which granted tracts the government had taken from American Indians. Then there was sister Marys state-paid college for the blind in Iowa. The stories only talk of Laura having to teach to pay for Marys college expenses perhaps her clothes.

The stories continue to exert a kind of power on the American psyche. The books have sold more than 60 million copies and were taught in classrooms for many decades; the series remains part of homeschooling curricula. Laura Ingalls Wilder is the quintessential American pioneer, says Wilder expert William Anderson in the PBS American Masters documentary Laura Ingalls Wilder: Prairie to Page.

And Lanes legacy can still be felt in the Republican party. Lane only wrote political articles after publishing the Little House books and her libertarian treatise The Discovery of Freedom. But she campaigned for limited government in the last years of her life. In the Sixties, she took under her ideological wing a young man in Connecticut; he was Roger Lea MacBride, who became a champion of libertarian thought and ran for president for the new Libertarian Party in 1976. Later, MacBride took the libertarian ideas with him as he migrated back to the Republican partys Liberty Caucus.

Lane also donated funds to help businessman Robert LeFevre launch an institution for adults in Colorado called the Freedom School, which named a building after Lane. Two of the early students who studied free markets and limited government there were Charles and David Koch, who went on to become members of the Libertarian Party in the Seventies and Eighties. Later, they returned to the conservative branches of the Republican Party and became hugely influential by donating money to Republicans promising to support free-market concerns, including such notions as refuting the science of climate change.

The myth of the pioneers, embodied by Laura Ingalls Wilder, inspired many conservative American values today. They were seen as the kind of independent, self-reliant Americans that the Second Amendment was designed to protect. But even they would have struggled with some aspects of modern Republican policy gun control in particular.

Certainly, the Ingalls family owned and used guns. In one scene in Little House in the Big Woods, Pa Ingalls trudges with his rifle through the snow of northern Wisconsin, checking animal traps. Rounding a large pine tree, he meets a black bear, standing on its hind legs clutching a dead pig. Pa aims his gun, kills the bear, and immediately runs home for the horses and sled to take the meat home. There, it resides in frozen form in a shed. Pa hacks off pieces with an axe at mealtimes.

Even the mythical Pa Ingalls would not have thought todays Americans needed guns in most situations, especially the range of weapons available today. He preached to his daughters the necessity of restraint. You wouldnt shoot a little baby deer, would you, Pa? says Laura. No, never! he answered. Nor its Ma, nor its Pa. No more hunting, now, till all the little wild animals have grown up. Well just have to do without fresh meat till fall.

When baby animals were roaming the forest, it was time to put the rifle away.

Continued here:
The myth of American conservatism - UnHerd