Republicans Not for Trump

Numerous prominent republicans have expressed reluctance or outright opposition to supporting Donald Trump in his bid for the presidency in 2024. These individuals and organizations have an interest in seeing that republicans are successful, but for varying reasons, all have turned their backs on Trump and admit that even if it takes democrat Joe Biden to serve four more years, that's preferable to having that disaster of a candidate Donald Trump given the reins of power.
Here is a partial list of some notable figures:
George Bush – Former republican President of the US
Dick Cheney – former republican Vice President of the US
Mike Pence – Vice President under President Donald Trump
Carl Rove - Republican political consultant, policy advisor, and lobbyist, Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff during the George W. Bush administration
Dan Coats, Director of National Intelligence (2017-2019)
Mark Esper, United States Secretary of Defense (2019–2020), United States Secretary of the Army (2017–2019)
Nikki Haley, Ambassador to the United Nations (2017–2018), Governor of South Carolina (2011–2017) (former candidate for president)
John F. Kelly, White House Chief of Staff (2017–2019), United States Secretary of Homeland Security (2017)
Mick Mulvaney, acting White House Chief of Staff (2019-2020), Director of the Office of Management and Budget (2017-2020), acting Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (2017-2018), U.S. Representative from SC-05 (2011-2017)
John Bolton, U.S. National Security Advisor (2018–2019), Ambassador to the United Nations (2005–2006)
Ty Cobb, White House Special Council (2017-2018), Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland in (1981–1986)
Condoleezza Rice, American diplomat and political scientist, United States Secretary of State (2005–2009), current director of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University.
Ashley Davis, White House Deputy Director of Management and Administration (2001–2003)
Ronald Gidwitz, Acting U.S. Ambassador to the European Union (2020–2021), U.S. Ambassador to Belgium (2018–2021), chair of the Illinois State Board of Education (1999–2003)
Alyssa Farah Griffin, White House Director of Strategic Communications (2020), Press Secretary of the U.S. Department of Defense (2019–2020), Press Secretary to the Vice President (2017–2019)
Stephanie Grisham, White House Communications Director and White House Press Secretary (2019–2020)
Cassidy Hutchinson, executive assistant to the White House Chief of Staff (2020–2021)
Bobbie Kilberg, Director of the Office of Public Liaison (1989–1992)
Mary Kramer, U.S. Ambassador to Barbados (2004–2006)
Frank Lavin, U.S. Ambassador to Singapore (2001–2005), White House Director of Political Affairs (1987–1989)
Sarah Matthews, Deputy White House Press Secretary (2020–2021)
H.R. McMaster, U.S. National Security Advisor (2017-2018)
Harriet Miers, White House Counsel (2005–2007), White House Deputy Chief of Staff (2003–2005), and White House Staff Secretary (2001–2003)
Omarosa, Communications Director of the Office of Public Liaison (2017–2018)
Karen Pence, Second Lady of the United States (2017–2021), First Lady of Indiana (2013–2017)
Jeanne Phillips, United States Ambassador to the OECD (2001–2002)
Anthony Scaramucci, White House Communications Director (2017)
Marc Short, Chief of Staff to the Vice President (2019–2021)
Miles Taylor, Chief of Staff of the United States Department of Homeland Security (2019)
Jay Town, United States Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama (2017–2020)
Olivia Troye, Homeland Security adviser and lead COVID-19 adviser to the Vice President (2018–2020)
~Current and Former U.S. Senators~
Bill Cassidy, U.S. Senator from Louisiana (2015–present), U.S. Representative from LA-06 (2009–2015)
Susan Collins, U.S. Senator from Maine (1997–present)
Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senator from Alaska (2002–present)
Mitt Romney, U.S. Senator from Utah (2019–present), 2012 nominee for president, Chair of the Republican Governors Association (2005–2006), Governor of Massachusetts (2003–2007)
Mike Rounds, U.S. Senator from South Dakota (2015–present), Governor of South Dakota (2003–2011), member of the South Dakota Senate (1991–2001)
Todd Young, U.S. Senator from Indiana (2017–present), U.S. Representative from IN-09 (2011–2017)
Jeffrey Chiesa, U.S. Senator from New Jersey (2013), Attorney General of New Jersey (2012–2013)
Bob Corker, U.S. Senator from Tennessee (2007–2019)
Jeff Flake, Ambassador to Turkey (2022–present), U.S. Senator from Arizona (2013–2019), U.S. Representative from AZ (2001–2013)
Cory Gardner, U.S. Senator from Colorado (2015–2021), and U.S. Representative from CO-04 (2011–2015)
George LeMieux, U.S. Senator from Florida (2009–2011)
Rob Portman, U.S. Senator from Ohio (2011–2023), Director of the Office of Management and Budget (2006–2007), United States Trade Representative (2005–2006), U.S. Representative from OH-02 (1993–2005), White House Director of Legislative Affairs (1989–1991)
Pat Toomey, U.S. Senator from Pennsylvania (2011–2023), U.S. Representative from PA-15 (1999–2005)
~Current and Former U.S. Representatives~
Larry Bucshon, U.S. Representative from IN-08 (2011–present)
Mike Gallagher, U.S. Representative from WI-08 (2017–present)
David Joyce, U.S. Representative from OH-14 (2013–present)
Mike Lawler, U.S. Representative from NY-17 (2023–present)
Thomas Massie, U.S. Representative from KY-04 (2012–present)
Greg Pence, U.S. Representative from IN-06 (2019–present)
Chip Roy, U.S. Representative from TX-21 (2019–present)
David Valadao, U.S. Representative from CA-22 (2023–present), U.S. Representative from CA-21 (2013–2019, 2021–present)
Gresham Barrett, U.S. Representative from SC-03 (2003–2011)
John Boehner, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (2011–2015), U.S. Representative from OH-08 (1991–2015)
Mo Brooks, U.S. Representative from AL-05 (2011–2023), Member of the Madison County Commission (1996–2011)
Susan Brooks, U.S. Representative from IN-05 (2013–2021)
Liz Cheney, U.S. Representative from WY-AL (2017–2023), Chair of the House Republican Conference (2019–2021)
Barbara Comstock, U.S. Representative from VA-10 (2015–2019)
Anthony Gonzalez, U.S. Representative from OH-16 (2019–2023)
Will Hurd, U.S. Representative from TX-23 (2015–2021) (former candidate for president)
John Katko, U.S. Representative from NY-24 (2015–2023)
Adam Kinzinger, U.S. Representative from IL-16 (2013–2023), U.S. Representative from IL-11 (2011–2013)
Mia Love, U.S. Representative from UT-04 (2015–2019)
Peter Meijer, U.S. Representative from MI-03 (2021–2023)
Connie Morella, U.S. Representative from MD-08 (1987–2003)
Tom Rice, U.S. Representative from SC-07 (2013–2023)
Paul Ryan, Speaker of the United States House of Representatives (2015–2019), U.S. Representative from WI-01 (1999–2019), 2012 nominee for Vice President
Joe Scarborough, U.S. Representative from FL-01 (1995–2001), host of Morning Joe (independent since 2017)
Fred Upton, U.S. Representative from MI-06 (1993–2023), U.S. Representative from MI-04 (1987–1993)
Joe Walsh, U.S. Representative from Il-08 (2011–2013), candidate for president in 2020
~State and Local Officials~
~Current and Former Governors~
Spencer Cox, Governor of Utah (2021–present), Lieutenant Governor of Utah (2013–2021)
Eric Holcomb, Governor of Indiana (2017–present), Lieutenant Governor of Indiana (2016–2017)
Phil Scott, Governor of Vermont (2017–present), Lieutenant Governor of Vermont (2011–2017)
Charlie Baker, Governor of Massachusetts (2015–2023) and President of NCAA (2023–present)
Jeb Bush, Governor of Florida (1999–2007), candidate for president in 2016
Chris Christie, Governor of New Jersey (2010–2018), U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey (2002–2008), candidate for presidency in 2016
Bill Haslam, Governor of Tennessee (2011–2019), chair of the Republican Governors Association (2017–2018)
Larry Hogan, Governor of Maryland (2015–2023), Chair of the National Governors Association (2019–2020)
Asa Hutchinson, Governor of Arkansas (2015–2023), Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration (2001–2003), U.S. Representative from AR-03 (1997–2001)
John Kasich, Governor of Ohio (2011–2019), 2000 and 2016 candidate for president, Chair of the House Budget Committee (1995–2001), U.S. Representative from OH-12 (1983–2001)
George Pataki, Governor of New York (1995–2006), candidate for president in 2016
Marc Racicot, Governor of Montana (1993–2001), chair of the RNC (2001–2003)
Bruce Rauner, Governor of Illinois (2015–2019
Mark Sanford, Governor of South Carolina (2003–2011), U.S. Representative from SC-01 (1995–2001 and 2013–2019), Republican candidate for U.S. President in 2020.
Arnold Schwarzenegger, Governor of California (2003–2011)
Bill Weld, Governor of Massachusetts (1991–1997)
Christine Todd Whitman, Governor of New Jersey (1994–2001), Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency (2001-2003)

~Current and Former Statewide Elected Officials~
John Dougall, Auditor of Utah (2013–present), Utah State Representative from District 27 (2003–2013)
Jeanette Nunez, Lieutenant Governor of Florida (2019–present)
Winsome Sears, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia (2022–present)
Roby Smith, Treasurer of Iowa (2023–present)
Geoff Duncan, Lieutenant Governor of Georgia (2019–2023), Member of the Georgia House of Representatives (2013–2017)
Adam Laxalt, Attorney General of Nevada (2015–2019), 2022 nominee for U.S. Senator from Nevada and 2018 nominee for Governor of Nevada
Corey Stapleton, 2024 candidate for president, Secretary of State of Montana (2017–2021)
Michael Steele, Lieutenant Governor of Maryland (2003–2007), Chair of the RNC (2009–2011), co-host of MSNBC's The Weekend
Cate Zeuske, Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Revenue (1996–2001), Treasurer of Wisconsin (1991–1995), Deputy Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Administration (2015–2018), Wisconsin State Assemblywoman from District 4 (1985–1991) and District 54 (1983–1985)

~Other Public Figures~
Kathy Barnette, candidate for Senator from Pennsylvania in 2022, and Republican nominee for U.S. Representative from PA-04 in 2020
Michael Cohen, Donald Trump’s lawyer of several decades
Ann Coulter, political commentator and public republican pundit
S. E. Cupp, political commentator
Jenna Ellis, lawyer and alleged racketeering co-conspirator
Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard (1999–2005) and candidate for president in 2016
David Frum, political commentator and speech writer
Robert Kagan, former republican, former U.S. State Department official, Senior Fellow at The Brookings Institution, contributor to The Washington Post
Tomi Lahren, political commentator
Meghan McCain, political commentator, daughter of 2008 nominee for President John McCain
Rupert Murdoch, businessman and owner of Fox News
Michael Reagan, political commentator and son of Ronald Reagan

~Generally Right Leaning Organizations Opposed to a Second Trump Presidency~
43 Alumni for America, Americans for Prosperity, The Bulwark, National Review, New York Post, Republican Accountability Project , Republicans for the Rule of Law, The Lincoln Project - a centrist American political action committee founded in December 2019 by moderate conservatives and former Republican Party members who oppose U.S. President Donald Trump and Trumpism.

One of my biggest questions is why is it ok to use a fictionalized account of Brown’s life as a serious scholarly work? If someone made a comedy on Anne Frank or Martin Luther King Jr, I think most people would be up in arms.
I think the same people who use the Good Lord Bird and Midnight Rising, as a biography of Brown, are the same people who live in gentrified neighborhoods, disparage religion, and have a visceral and subtle hatred of non white people. It’s eerily similar to how most anti slavery whites in America felt: a sort of mercurial hatred of chattel slavery and also the ‘black presence’ as Louis Decaro Jr, an eminent biographer of John Brown, puts it.
It’s easier to swallow the myth that Brown was some chaotic good, anti hero who suffered from schizophrenia than the truth: that he was more comfortable interacting with Native Americans and blacks than whites at times. He was not guided by a paternalistic condescension towards them, but a Christian sympathy for those who were downtrodden in society.
I think this praxis he put into motion is hard for a lot of white liberals and conservatives to swallow. He didn’t read Ibrahim Kendi’s books on anti racism and cross the street when he saw a black or Native American person, he lived, worked with, and socialized with minorities.

Hi, I will be traveling end of May (20-26) to three cities: Paris, Lille, and Amsterdam. I been before to different parts of the world (US, Japan, Morocco …) but it is my first time to France and Netherlands. So it will be mostly exploring experiences. I am male, 26 years and looking for a travel buddy. For interested people, DM and I will provide you with many references for people that traveled/hosted/hang out with me. See below is a draft for the plan, we will not follow it exactly. But this will help us:
Day 1 - May 20 Arrive at CDG airport at 2 PM. Take a taxi/train to your hotel and check in. Relax and have a light dinner at a nearby cafe. Take a leisurely evening walk.
Day 2 - May 21 Morning: Visit the Louvre early to avoid crowds. Afternoon: Stroll through Tuileries Garden, head to Montmartre and explore. Evening: Dinner in the Latin Quarter, trying traditional French cuisine.
Day 3 - May 22 Morning: Take a day trip to the Palace of Versailles. Afternoon: Return to Paris, visit Notre Dame area. Evening: Enjoy Parisian pastries, consider a Seine river cruise.
Day 4 - May 23 Morning: Train to Lille, check into hotel. Afternoon: Visit the Palais des Beaux-Arts. Evening: Explore Vieux Lille and dine in a local restaurant.
Day 5 - May 24 Morning: Visit the Wazemmes market. Afternoon: Relax in the Citadel Park. Evening: Enjoy dinner at a bistro with French-Belgian dishes.
Day 6 - May 25 Morning: Early train to Amsterdam, check into hotel. Afternoon: Visit Van Gogh Museum and Vondelpark. Evening: Dinner by the canals.
Day 7 - May 26 Morning: Tour Anne Frank House (book in advance). Afternoon: Explore Jordaan, stop at cafes. Evening: Try Dutch pancakes for dinner.

Any recs on what to get? For the life of me, I just cant find a list of what is covered under each pass.
About my trip....I'm in Amsterdam about 3 days, then heading to Haarlem, The Hague, and Belgium. While in Amsterdam, I will be commuting only by public transportation (mentioning this because I think 1 pass has unlimited transportation). Sites I plan to see include:

1. Anne Frank house
2. Rijksmuseum
3. Van Gogh museum
4. Rembrandthuis
5. Canal museum (Grachtenhuis)
6. Oude Kerk
7. Royal Palace (probably just walk by outside)
8. Begijnhof
9. Westerkerk
10. Nieuwe Kerk (maybe)
11. Zaanse Schans daltrip
12. Canal cruise
13. Verzetsmuseum Amsterdam
14. Our Lady in the Attic Museum
15. Willet Holthuysen Museum

Any recs on the pass to get? So weirdly hard to just find a breakdown of what is the most economical. Can't imagine paying individually for everything would be better either. .
.
.
Leaning towards Amsterdam Pass, but Museumkaart having the Anne Frank House is intriguing, because tickets are sold out online. If it's sold out online for the days I want to go, can I still get in with Museumkaart AND avoid queueing? My plan otherwise was to go 30 minutes before opening in the morning and try to get in. Or at the end of the night.

I can’t take any credit for this. I just had it saved in my phone from a previous sub in case anything ever…disappeared. I’m sure plenty more could be added at this point. I also am not sure how to fix any formatting errors so bear with me.
***All information is gathered from Ambers videos and what she herself has shared online with her 200k subscribers. All Names of people mention are thus public figures shown to us by Amber Lynn.***
2013:
Youtube Account Created
Amber uploaded her first YouTube video called "Nervous + Awkward + Weight Loss Vlog" on November 17, 2013
First Weigh In Video
Amber began her weight loss journey at 368 pounds.
Krystle Era
Location: Virginia
Amberlynn started filming videos for YouTube while she was dating Krystle. Krystle notably did not want to be filmed, but Amber would constantly shove the camera in her face and post the videos anyway. Its also important to note that while Amber was dating Krystle, Krystle's family was allegedly paying Amber to essentially exist in their home.
2014:
Dancing Queen
In an effort to loose weight Amber decided to resurrect her dancing career. This is when she informed her audience she had choreographed dance routines and had won multiple competitions. Her audience later got a first hand view of her award winning dancing. As can be expected, it seemed Amber had embellished her achievements
The 89 elbees
This is the first time we heard AMber tell us that she knew how to lose weight. She had lost 89 pounds before. We still hear about this today.
Pantry Raiding
Amber is known for her binges. Krystle's parents discovered this first hand. Krystle's parents resorted to locking the cupboards/fridge because Amber would literally eat a weeks worth of food at nighttime. She would then proceed to blame the cats and dogs.
2015:
Krystle Era Ends
Krystle ended the relationship and dodged the bullet that Amber would become to those around her.
Destiny Era Begins
Location: Florida/Kentucky
Gracie The Cat
#JusticeforGracie
Gracie was Destiny's long time cat but she went missing in summer of 2015 when she was "accidentally" let out of the house. Amber had wanted a cat of her own, but the place they lived wouldnt allow more pets. The running theory is Amber let Gracie out. Amber then bought Wasabi.
"The Nursing Home Job"
Amber got a "job" working with Destiny at a nursing home. She would filmed elderly patients without their consent or knowledge. She then eventually quit
Riding Scooters in Walmart
After Ambers job (at the nursing home) where she was on her feet "all day", the dynamic duo went on their nightly trip to Walmart. There they both rode mobility scooters despite the fact neither one needed them. When asked about this, Ambers reply was "I wore the wrong shoes."
2016:
Hot Cheeto Mukbang
On May 7th 2016 Amber uploaded a video called MUKBANG EAT WITH ME SPICY. This is the video that pushed her into the Mukbang limelight and is still her most viewed Mukbang to date.
Libby
Libby was a 15 year old that spent alot of time around Destiny (early 20's) and Amber (mid 20's) Amber filmed Libby (15 at the time) in the shower after barging in with a camera. Nothing was shown, but she knew she was showering and later focuses the camera on Libby walking around in a towel. Amber displayed other creepy behavior towards her
The Grave Of ABN
Amber vlogged herself and Destiny going to a graveyard to see the resting place of a child. (This was a child of one of Destinys friends) Amber was literally SINGING AND DANCING in the car on the way there to see a child's headstone. She then proceed to show the headstone with the child's full name on video. She then miss age her even though it was on the headstone. Destiny, in the video sounded very annoyed with AMber.
My Aunt Hates Me Because I'm Fat!
Amber made a video called MY AUNT LEFT ME BECAUSE IM FAT! Were Amber claimed her aunt no longer spoke to her because of her weight. In reality it was because Amber was a horrible person. The Aunt later went on the farms, and proceed to blast Amber. Amber later redacted the statement in a video called Everything Ive Lied About
Rape and Abuse Allegations / Rain and Petals Eavesdrop
In late 2016 (late August/early September), Amber posted a video where she stated that her ex, Casey , had abused and raped her while they lived together from 2008-2011 in Arizonia. The original video, titled "IN AN ABUSIVE RELATIONSHIP- I WAS RAPED", has since been deleted. On September 16th, 2016, Casey posted a response video where he accused Amber of the same abusive behavior.
Amber then wrote and read a poem titled "Rain and Petals Eavesdrop" that detailed the abuse in a video that followed. She wore a black furry blanket around her shoulders, making it appear she was wearing a cape. This gave off Nights watch vibes for Game Of Thrones, make the video all that more absurd. This poem is still quoted to this day, as it is considered horrible and iconic at the same time.
2017:
Destiny Era Ends
Destiny broke up with Amberlynn on January 13th, 2017. Destiny began to date Dana Robbins exactly one month later. Destiny and Amberlynn continued to live together for some time following their breakup
The Drunk Livestream
On Valentine's Day a month after The Destiny Break-Up, Amber decided to go live, and get shitfaced. She proceeded to be petty, talk shit, cry, and made a general fool of herself**.**
Becky Era Begins
Location: Kentucky
Becky was a viewer and reached out to Amber to see if she was doing ok after seeing all of the hate she got online. Becky confesses that she said she was not looking for a relationship at the time. Amber went to meet Becky in person for a week visit, but literally never left.
Enter Eric & Ricky
Eric and Ricky were the roommates of Becky. By Amber moving in they became the new side characters of the Amberverse. Eric and Ricky were known for their shading Amber at every turn much to the delight of Haydur Nation.
Rafe & Hannah
I'm Such A Blackie
In one vlog with Rafe, Amber proceeded to don a black hat and say "I'm black on black on black. When did I become such a blackie?" Rafe proceeded to tell Amber she shouldn't say that because it sounded bad. Amber proceeded to act dumb as to why.
2018:
Beanbag In A Hurry
In one vlog when Amber was rushing out of a chinese restaurant looking for Becky, a man said, "Good Lord, the beanbag is in a hurry." This became one of the most iconic quips to Amber in the Amberverse, and is still used to this day.
The Lake, The Fall, & Twinkie
In May of this year, Amber uploaded a video called: I FELL IN THE LAKE!!! *not clickbait* Where she showed herself, Becky, Eric and Ricky going to a lake to swim. In this video Amber procced to walk into the Lake with Twinkie and fell. Twinkie, being a chihuahua, panicked once going under water and desperately tried climbing Amber to prevent herself from going under. This clip has been used to this day.
Animal Abuse Allegations (1)
Starting in 2018, Amberlynn came under fire for mistreating her animals. It has been noted that her dog, Twinkie Star, is grossly overweight. Amberlynn dismissed this by saying that Twinkie is a breed of dog that grows larger than chihuahuas usually do.
In a 2018 video Amberlynn uploaded of Twinkie in a swing, views also noticed that Twinkie's nails were long and untrimmed, which can cause a lot of pain for dogs to walk on. Amberlynn said that there were no groomers or veterinarians available and near her for her to get Twinkie groomed.
Videos also surfaced of Amberlynn and her then-girlfriend, Destiny Cook, mishandling her cat Wasabi in a YouTube Video, along with Amberlynn holding her cat by the neck.
AmberCon
In 2018 AmberCon was a joint livestream done by Micheal B Petty, Zachary Michael, Cxnt, WiLLO Davis & The Sarcastic Potato. This was the inception of Haydur Nation.
Damon White
“Damon white” was a sock account the Amber used to infiltrated facebook groups. She simultaneously defended herself and snarked on herself.
2019:
The OPTAVIA MLM
In February of this year Amber was messaged by a "nutrition coach" and told her she could help her using the program called Optavia. Amber bought into it hook line and sinker, doing zero research on the company. Optavia is a MLM company that has a very bad reputation for its dangerously low caloric intake. She bought the most expensive plan. Once she received her diet products she started the diet and quit within 24 hours.
Shrimpgate
Amber uploaded a video called "Shrimp Mukbang / Gaining Weight?" where she berated her audience and told them they should support her no matter what and she was going to do what she wanted, aka do mukbangs and screw it. She proceed to lose 10k subscribers thus called Shrimpgate.
Zachary Michael
In June Amber made a reaction to a video of Zachary Micheals. This was a huge mistake, as she edited it to make Zachary look bad. When Zachary saw this, they made a reaction back to it and pointed out everything wrong. This video is still one of their highest viewed to date. This cemented Zachary as the one of "it" reactors and is still respected in Haydur Nation.
Animal Abuse Allegations (2)
By September 2019, viewers noticed that Twinkie's nails were still long and ungroomed. On Vlogmas day 9 (December 2019), Amberlynn expressed concern for Twinkies health, as Twinkie was struggling to walk and jump on the bed. Amberlynn also said that Twinkie was shaking in pain during the day. Amberlynn then went to Walmart before going out to eat at Chili's with Becky, Destiny, and Dana. Amberlynn claimed that there were no emergency vets in her area. However, viewers noted that there was a 24 hour vet's office with a vet designed specifically for walk-ins less than 20 minutes from where Amberlynn went out to eat. This resulted in people calling animal control on Amberlynn. Amberlynn did not take Twinkie to a vet, but rather gave her Aspirin and said that Twinkie felt better the next day.
The Orignal Sub-ageddon
Amber got the old school threads nuked late 2019 early 2020. They were rebuilt and survived until Sub-ageddon 2.0
No Showering
The year of 2019 was the year Amber didn't shower. These are her words, not Haydur Nations. She revealed this to her audience in 2022
The Jeffree Star / Press On Nails Personality
One of Ambers most iconic moments is when she got on snapchat and proceed to tell her audience how much better she was then them. She than called us a "Dispektful piece of shet “
2020:
Tom Harlock
In April a youtuber named Tom Harlock (subscriber count of 1.1 Million) made a video titled "What's Wrong With Amberlynn?" In this 40 minute video he proceeded to give an over view of AMber's controversies from 2013-2019 This video sits at 2.4 Million views. Amber reacted to the video, which Tom then reacted to that. His reaction gave him another 2 Million Views. Tom had exposed alot his subscribers to Amber and had a boost in her own subscriber numbers.
Free Bleeding & The Floor Matress
Prior to Ambers Cancer diagnosis, Amber had been free bleeding for a portion of 2019 and into 2020. This meant she was aware of a very serious issue but kept saying it was a UTI. During this period, AMber had to sit on a mattress on the floor to avoid damaging Eric & Ricky's furniture.
Cancer
Amber was diagnosed with uterine cancer. She underwent a total hysterectomy. She hasnt done any following up on it, but reassures us that she is cancer free, because she knows it in her heart. There is a large portion of her community that questions whether or not she actually had cancer or, she had pre-cancerous cells resulting in the hysterectomy. Others question if she actually had cancer at all.
Panic Buying During the Pandemic
Amber was living with Eric, Ricky and the Beckster, but shared space in cabinets, pantry, fridge, and her entire own deep freezer. During the pandemic she stockpiled frozen goods, only to find the deep freezer left unplugged, and all of the food subsequently going bad. (Later she claimed to have been trolling)
Go-Fund Me Scandal
A go-fund-me was set up for Becky's mother Norma to help with treatment costs due to her cancer. Amber promoted the go fund me in a video also saying everyone should watch the adds so she could use the ad revenue for it (this is against TOS for youtube and she later deleted the video). The go-fundme’s goal was 5k. This angered fans because Amber could EASY afford to give Norma 5k due to Amber's high income at the time, but, some fans did in fact donate. Later, It was leaked via voice notes that Amber herself had sent Norma that Amber never gave her the money and actually was very rude to her.
2021:
Nickocado Avocado
Nickocado has been known to make parodies of Amberlynn. At the beginning of this year, Nick made a parody that had strong suggestions that Amber may have confided to him that she faked her cancer. This stirred up a lot of speculation in the community that has lasted to date.
Posting Old Videos
Pateron
Amber started a Patreon at the beginning of 2021 where she charged 20 and 77 dollars a month because, quote, "77 is a wonderful number". She posted poems she had wrote years ago and could be found for free on the internet. Her supporters where very unhappy. She later deleted her patreon with a quickness after collecting her coin.
Selling Mystery Earrings
Over many years of spending sprees where she purchased hundreds of earrings from Target, Walmart, Shein, and other places, Amberlynn decided to open a Depop store called "lovelyearrings", where she would sell random sets of earrings to her viewers and anyone who was interested. Only a few hours after she posted the video announcing the store opening , the store was mass reported and closed by Depop due to mystery items not being allowed for sale on their service.
The Livestream Era
Amberlynn stopped doing vlogs and regular video content around May and instead began doing livestreams where only members who paid a subscription fee every month could talk in. Most of the time she ignored the chat and only responded to superchats. This made her viewers extremely angry. She also claimed to pay Becky after the Becky Break-up for said livestreams which Becky than verified she never did.
Becky Era Ends
#freebecky
Wifey Jade Era Begins
Location: Kentucky
Jade (aka wifey) started dating Amberlynn at neck breaking speed after the break-up. Jade moved in with Amber while Becky was still living in the apartment. Once Jade got there Becky ran away as fast as she could.
Apathetic Faxx
Amber went on rampage and started striking channels down, saying they were stealing her views. Most notable being Apathetic Faxx. She got Apathetic Faxx's channel completely removed. The channel was later reinstated, and now gets even more views than before.
2022:
My Girlfriends Name is Alex
In a desperate attempt to undox Jade (when she was the one who originally doxxed her) she tried to convince her audience she had a new girlfriend named Alex, when in fact it is and was still Jade. Unfortunately for her, we are not dumb.
Ring Gate
Before the Becky Break-Up Amber and Becky were engaged. There was controversy over whether or not Amber had paid for her engagement ring. She venomously denied this only for it to come out later that she had paid for it. Post breakup, Becky was hard up for cash and was trying to sell the ring, after AMber said she could keep it. When the ring was listed it was a size 10, Amber being a danity queen said her finger size is a 9 and Becky must have messed up the listing. Amber then made Becky return the ring, and Amber sold it herself to a fan who then confirmed it was a size 10
Outpatient Eating Disorder Program
After years of viewers insisting that she get help with her issues with food, Amberlynn finally "enrolled herself" into a psychiatric program. After her first meeting with the therapist, she was already doubting the program due to the therapist wanting her to do intuitive eating. This seems to have been all bullshit.
FBI Frank
In May Amber told her viewers that a totally real FBI agent named Frank had reached to her and was monitoring her comments for hate and threats. He then told her how impressed he was with her sub count.
The Nader Apology
Amber apologies to Foodie Beauty's ALLEGED abuser for calling him a narcissist in a previous community post. Foodie fires back after damaging footage of Nader is leaked. Amber desperately then tries to backtrack. This "feud"continues during "The Great Fall" when Foodie makes fun of Amber's cankle.
Ozempic Arc
Amberlynn finally took the plunge and started Ozempic. She proceeded to actively loose weight, but as Ozempic is designed to suppress your appetite, AMber couldn't have that. She refused to up her dosage to insure it would keep working. After The Stevie Wonder Conspiracy we stopped hearing about Ozempic. Viewer's assume she quit taking it so she could keep eating
It's Becky's Fault
In the summer, Amber accused Becky of not taking Amber's health seriously, thus delaying her getting treatment. Becky fired back at this obvious lie saying, herself Ricky and Eric all took Amber's health very serious. In fact , it was Amber that did not, and refused to seek out medical treatment
The Great Fall
Amber took a great fall of a sidewalk and said she broke/tore/sprained/ her foot was dangling. This is a case of thou dost protest to much making countless videos trying to prove her injury leading many to believe the fall was no where as bad as she made it seem.
Sub-ageddon 2.0
In fall of this year, Amber got both the AmberlynnReid Snark and AmberlynnYT subreddits taken down. Both sat at roughly 49K plus members. After that multiple other threads where nuked. After this happened her views began to drop. One sub stands too date. All subs have been scrubbed.
Clickbaiting Thyroid Cancer
Amber has been known to weaponize her previous uterine cancer. So when she titled a video "thyroid cancer, pancreatitis, side effects, price / is Ozempic still working?" In the video she then stated "No human has ever gotten thyroid cancer from Ozempic" (hence the clickbait) viewers were not amused. Amber changed the title of her video to "risk of thyroid cancer, pancreatitis, side effects, price / is Ozempic still working?" only after getting her views.
Stevie Wonder Conspiracy
In an effort to distract viewers from Clickbaiting Thyroid Cancer She talked about "fun" conspiracies she believes in. The one that really upset viewers was when she said Stevie Wonder faked being blind. She later issued an apology.
The Partially Collapsed Lung Fluid On The Lung Nodule On The Lung
False Flags
It was later revealed she had walking pneumonia, but allowed viewers to build up concern and sympathy for her well being before finally telling the truth.
Lipedema
Late this year Amber was officially diagnosed with Lipedema. She announced this is why she can't lose weight. She also announced that she would be doing keto in an attempt to lose weight. She quit after a week, saying that it caused her gallstones to flair up.
Halloween Livestream
On Halloween Amber went live and proceeded to eat edibles. This was a first for views as we have never seen her high. Also durning the livestream Amber proceeded to talk shit about The Narc Alert. When her chat told her The Narc Alert had had a heart attack, she said she didnt feel bad for her and didnt care. After getting backlash, she issued a statement saying that viewers took it in the wrong way and out of context. She also verified that she was no longer taking Ozempic per doctors orders.
Bambi / Faline
During Vlogmas Amber began calling Jade Faline. This still continues to this day much to the annoyance of her audience
2023:
My Subscriber Made Me Binge
In January Amber received a box of Australian candies and weight watcher products from a subscriber. Amber claimed she had not been binging but the box of treats was the reason she did. She was admitted on this being the subscribers fault for sending her the box, instead of taking responsibility for her own actions.
FBI FRANK APPROVES THIS TIMELINE

Hello
I may be going on a business trip to Amsterdam in the next couple of weeks. This is the 2nd time I go to Amsterdam. The first was with my girlfriend about 10 years ago. It was an ok time but, at the risk of sounding prudish all she wanted to do was get stoned and see the prostitutes at the red light district. I'm not judging, and it worked out for me but, I somehow felt that I didn't truly experience the city. I did want to visit the museums and explore the history much more but she had no interest and (to be frank) I wanted to get laid every night so, I went along with her plans.
So now I may be going in a couple of weeks, providing my director approves. I would fly out on a Tuesday night from Canada, arrive Wednesday morning and fly back Saturday early afternoon.
My itinerary would be Thursday and Friday at the conference from 09h30, ending 17h00 on Thursday and 16h00 on Friday. My Wednesday is free.
I did read the FAQ but there are some subjects that interest my greatly that I couldn't find.
In particular, sights, places, in Amsterdam linked to the reformation, 30 years war. I have a deep passion and interest in the subject. I am a football fanatic (I am Portuguese). The Anne Frank house is also something that interests me but always seems perpetually booked, is this true? Are there ways to get tickets on the side? Places to drink/buy Dutch wine? Any recommendations?
How risky is raw herring? So many questions. I literally just sent the application for the event minutes ago. Hoping it'll be approved.
many thanks!

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Maybe someone can help me with this (I am not a developer or know anything about how to hack).
We are using the Oculus Go for school and student groups for education about Anne Frank and the holocaust in Amsterdam. We have several groups per week that are using the Anne Frank VR experience to get to know more about Anne Frank. We have 60 headsets with the VR app (free app from the meta store).
Since last weekend we are getting an error in all headsets, 'Entitlement failed error'. This means none of our headsets are working anymore and we already have to disappoint the first schoolclasses.
We contacted Meta and the developers but both don't seem to care :-( We are still trying but it looks like they are not wanting to update or change anything (it is an older app and the oculus go too of course).
So the questions. 1. is there a way to go around the entitlement check in this app? I learned it happens after some seconds when starting the app. 2. How to implement a solution? 3. Is there someone who can help with this :-) As mentioned before I am not a developer and don't even know where to start.
We will most probably in the coming year change to a newer version of the Oculus, but we don't want to dissappoint more school classes in the next months.
Thanks for the help,
You can also send me a personal message.

So I’ve been re-reading Anne’s diary and doing some research on things that pertained to that time in history and her family. While reading, at the end of the diary in the afterword it explains a first hand account of Lies Goosens her childhood best friend. In this account in the afterword of Anne’s diary she says that she saw Anne at Bergen Belson, she goes on to describe that only barb wire separated them “nothing more” and that she saw Anne’s sunken eyes, “her sunken face in the darkness”, “her eyes were very large” and basically describes her physical features.
While doing my research I came upon another firsthand account from Lies Goosens, where she says “Anne came to the barbed wire. I couldn't see her because the barbed wire was stuffed with straw. The lamps weren't very good. I may have seen a glimpse of a shadow. It wasn't the same Anne that I had known.”
These claims are vastly different. In one statement she says she sees Anne and describes her in detail, in another she says she didn’t see Anne and stresses the fact she couldn’t see her.
Does anyone know why Lies made such different claims about the same event? Or if Lies is infact a good first hand resource for other readings of Anne Frank as I thought about buying her books to get a deeper look into Anne franks life but after this discrepancy I’m having a hard time believing I should do that.
(I’m not sure if links are allowed in this Reddit but if anyone wants my sources I can provide them for further context)

The first time I encountered "Red Mars", I abandoned the novel. I was too young for such material.
A decade later I managed to finish the novel, but thought it was dull and confusing. This was largely because I had no idea what each section of the novel was attempting to do, where things were going, and was weighed down by certain preconceptions.
On my third reading of the novel, however, fifteen years after first encountering it, everything suddenly clicked into place. Everything felt purposeful. The pacing mostly felt right. The characters felt deeply fleshed out. And most surprisingly, I found this 500+ page doorstop to be a quick read. I devoured it in just two weeks, possibly due to reading it on an Ipad (my print copy is heavy and has tiny text).
Some random thoughts: I think the novel is structured as a series of expanding journeys. In the first section, we simply wander around the streets of a city. In the second section, we wander around a ship that is a third of a mile long. In the next section, we wander around our first base camp (Underhill), and spend time exploring the Martian landscape around it.
From here, things keep blooming outward. The next section features a trip to the North Pole, which ends with a moment of sublime beauty (two female astronauts bonding over the Martian vistas).
Then we get a long trip via an airship, as most of the planet is circumnavigated and viewed from above. This leads to the novels longest section: we jump forward many years and get a huge section starring a character called John Boone. He travels all over Mars, visiting every major settlement, mohole, and village. The planet, we realize, is now teaming with life.
IMO all these sections work beautifully and are well paced. You get a real sense of an entire planet being methodically explored, colonized, and of human life expanding outward. Cities are popping up everywhere. Factories are producing new robots. Immigrants and new cultures are constantly coming over from Earth. Different factions and blocs of power begin asserting their control. It's staggering how much changes as the novel progresses- Mars literally goes from a barren, empty rock to a busy planet with giant trucks larger than buildings and vast skyhooks floating over the horizon.
This chunk of the book also ends powerfully and poetically with the death of a much loved character. The way Stan sticks with this character for hundreds of pages, watches him break his back to keep this planet and its multiple factions together, only to die, is profoundly affecting and tragic. This character is the soul of Mars, the first hero of Mars, and Stan wants you to feel his loss.
IMO the novel then loses some of its power. The next section follows Frank Chalmers, who like John travels the entire planet visiting colonies and cities. We're meant to contrast his cynical, sociopathic, Machiavellian style of politics with John's humanism, but the structure of the novel is repetitive- it's just too much colony-hopping and city-visiting. Better to have kept this section in a single city, Frank conducting his affairs via screens.
Thankfully this is only a short section (a hundred or so pages). We then get the Martian revolution, and because the author is committed to every section following the same structure, we once again follow a character (an engineer called Nadia) across the globe as the world erupts into conflict. It's tense and well written, but would IMO play better if we didn't just do the same trek with Frank.
The final section of the novel follows a group of survivors in a rover as they head to the colony of Zygote hidden in the Martian South Pole. It's here that you realize that the novel is structured as a mirror: the trip to the north pole in the first half of the novel mirrors the trip to the south pole in the second half. The airship trip in the first half, mirrors the airplane trips in the second half. A character called Michel's disappearance into a Hiroko-cult in the first half, becomes his reappearance in the second half. The colonization of Phobos (an asteroid) in the first half, becomes its crashing in the second half. The Underhill refuge in the first half, becomes the underground Zygote in the second half. And on and on it goes.
Incidentally, the final section of the novel features a truly ballsy piece of writing. In Robinson's "2312", there's a huge section, about a hundred pages long, where we simply watch two characters as they walk and walk and walk and walk down a long underground tunnel. The sequence is meant to be plodding and exhausting, and to induce a certain psychological state in the reader. When it ends, and the two half-dead characters are rescued, both reader and characters feel a palpable sense of relief.
Stanley does a similar thing at the end of "Aurora", where a character almost drowns in the ocean. This drowning is described for multiple pages, and is taken beyond a point most authors would stop at. The character and the reader are then released, gulping a lungful of oxygen and breathing an ecstatic sigh of relief.
The end of "Red Mars" does something similar. For a hundred pages, characters in a rover drive and drive, dodging rocks and floods, over and over again. It's deliberately drawn out and grueling. It tests the limits of your patience. It's torture. It's taunting you with its banality. Miles and miles roll by. And then Stanley releases you into the warmest of embraces. Like the endings of "Aurora", and the tunnel walk in "2312", this section ends with a note of profound beauty that gets its power from, and recontextualizes, the entire torturous section you've just read.
While reading this book I listened to a podcast interview with Kim Stanley Robinson. He says that he structured each novel in the trilogy around big set pieces which referenced the classical elements (Earth, Water, Wind, Fire). IMO we see this clearly in "Red Mars":
Wind - there is a great storm that lasts several months, and which causes temperatures to plummet, and fine grains of sand to destroy everything from lungs to crops to computers.
Fire - during the revolution, hackers jack up the oxygen levels in the domed cities, and set whole settlements on fire. Human bodies are instantly ignited, and whole towns go up in flames.
Earth - the novel climaxes with two natural disaster sequences. The first of these involves masses of rock and ejecta falling from the skies, mountains collapsing, landslides and boulders being tossed everywhere.
Water - the final set piece involves a massive flood, as ice melts, aquifers erupt, and whole chunks of the planet end up underwater.
And I think such symbolism extends to the names of the major characters in the novel:
Ann Clayborne - Her name is suggestive of someone born of red clay or red rock. Fittingly, she belongs to the "Red Mars" movement, and wants to keep Mars unchanged and as it always was. Incidentally, her character arc in the novel is beautiful. In her final section, she essentially goes from a misanthrope to someone who values the presence of human beings.
Saxifrage Russell - He's named after the evergreen plant (saxifrages or rockfoils) renowned for breaking up rocks. No surprise that he wants to terraform the planet and break everything up and turn it green. He is leader of the Green Movement. Fittingly, he's also likened to mice, always hunched over and chewing things: data, theories and rocks.
John Boone - he's named after Daniel Boone, the all-American folk hero and frontiersmen. Both characters blaze a trail through the wilderness and plant the seeds of a new civilization. Both are also hugely mythologized (when Boone dies in the novel, the heavens open up and lightning seemingly strikes with fury every inch of the planet).
Hiroko Ai - her name means in Japanese "to love children", and she's the first to secretly take everyone's DNA and make a tribe of "ectogene" children on the planet. She's associating with mating rituals, and names her personal city "Zygote".
Frank Chalmers - he's a sociopath or "charmer", someone who uses his personality to impress and manipulate others, and who believes that all human behavior is false, a lie, a performance, and is masking some hidden motivation. Because he believes everyone is a liar, Frank is able to justify his own scheming and lying. Note too that when we first meet him, he's moaning about a speech by John Boone. He's incapable of believing that anyone - including Boone - is speaking sincerely and from the heart. When we next get a chapter from Frank's perspective, it opens with a section written in italics that rejects proper punctuation and language rules entirely. This echoes Frank's own distrust of language and distrust of human rituals or language codes. He's frequently described as being "hollow" and "empty". He's a classic sociopath. But what's interesting is how this is frequently portrayed as being useful or socially beneficial. For example, Frank's blunt "frankness" is what enables him to succeed at politics where John fails- he understands the sociopathy of his capitalist enemies. And his cynicism allows him to cut through false myths. Witness, for example, how his second section begins by mentioning all the flowery myths attributed to John Boone, only to then casually undercut them all by mentioning that Boone slept with underage girls. In a single sentence, John's dethroned. And so while Frank's a bastard, he's a sociopath who has some moral code (it is Frank who sacrifices himself to save others at the end of the novel). He's using his sociopathy to help the inhabitants of Mars.
Nadia Cherneshevsky - she's named after Nikolay Chernyshevsky, a "pragmatic" revolutionary. She loves jazz music, the music symbolic of her skills at improvisation. She goes with the flow, adapts and rolls with the punches. She's not interested in idealism. She makes do with what's on hand.
Arkady Bogdanov - the coolest character in the novel, he's named after Alexander Bogdanov, a more idealistic revolutionary who also authored a utopian novel about colonizing mars ("Red Star"). He has a red beard and hair, and loves walking about naked, highlighting his fiery personality and disregard for convention.
Hellmut - the villain who represents the capitalists in the novel is called Hellmut, like a dog working for devils and set loose on the virgin planet.
Phyllis Boyle - the woman who does the bidding of counter-revolutionary transnational corporations is Phyllis Boyle, who festers and leads to suffering like a boil. "Phyllis" also means "greenery" or "plant life", and she is part of the Green Mars movement. Throughout the novel, her Christianity is linked to her free market fundamentalism.
Maya Toitovna - this one is interesting. I can find no references to the name "Toitovna" online. Did Stanley invent this word? "Toit" in Russian would be "делать это", which means "doing so", and "ovna" would be "овна", which means "Aries", associated on the Zodiac with the planet Mars. Not sure what Stan is up to here.
Finally, I want to talk about Stan's fondness for walking. The moment Nadia first lands on Mars, she begins walking and humming an old Jazz standard which famously begins with the lyrics: "No use to talkin', no use to talkin', you'll start dog-walkin' no matter where!" [...] "Can't keep still, it's against my will, my feet they can't refuse!"
Her first section will then end with another Jazz song about walking: "Ain't Misbehavin'", sung by Louis Armstrong ("All by myself, no one to walk with, but I'm happy on the shelf...")
So everyone else is gawking at the landscape, and fretting, but Nadia's an engineer who just loves walking to the next mundane technical problem that needs solving (indeed, the first thing she does on Mars is fixes a lowly broken door).
Fittingly, she's named after Nikolay Chernyshevsky, a utopian socialist famous for his "a little less conversation, a little more action" mantras. He wrote the novel "What Is To Be Done?", which is Nadia's catchphrase throughout the series; she identifies problems to be done, and gets on with things.
And you look at the utopian novels of the 1500s, all the way up to the utopian works of HG Wells, and you'll notice that they're typically constructed around WALKING. Typically a character will wash up on a utopian island, or hit their head and wake up 1000 years in a utopian future, or land on a utopian planet, and then spend endless chapters walking about and learning the world. Usually they'll have a guide. Always the walk will be used as a means for the author to criticize contemporary politics/socio-economics and propose some utopian alternative.
Such trends would continue in the mid 20th century, with utopian novels like Ernest Callenbach's "Ecotopia", in which a character walks through utopian villages and learns new ways of living.
What's great (or annoying, depending upon your point of view) about KSR is that he's a utopian writer who literally loves walking and hiking in real life ("Can't keep still, it's against my will, my feet they can't refuse!"). So his utopian novels tend to double down on the chief trait of their ancestors: his novels are all structured as a series of long walks. The Mars trilogy is itself structured as a series of repeated journeys, as different characters hike, fly, drive or sail from A to B, or C to D, or vice versa. Conventional drama, action or plot recedes to the background, and KSR instead foregrounds all the stuff that other novelists tend to ignore. This puts the reader in strange frame of mind: you're asked to not only observe the changing world as you move through it, but reflect upon the ways in which the material world (of matter and history) shapes human beings.
Anyway, this was IMO a great novel. It felt like reading a big Russian novel from the 1920s, only with spaceships and robots. I intend to read the second book soon, but I think I need a little break first. Need to prepare myself for another 500 pages of Martian regolith.

Course Title: Exploring the Panorama of Poetry
Course Description: This course delves into the rich tapestry of poetic forms, guiding students through the exploration and creation of fifty distinct styles of poetry. From classic sonnets to innovative forms like golden shovel and palindrome poetry, students will gain a comprehensive understanding of poetic expression, learning the nuances of each style and honing their creative skills.
Week 1-2: Introduction to Poetry and Sonnets - Overview of poetry styles - In-depth study of sonnets - Writing Exercise: Crafting a sonnet on personal experiences
Week 3-4: Embracing Haiku and Villanelle - Understanding the elegance of haiku - Exploring the repetitive beauty of villanelles - Writing Exercise: Composing haikus inspired by nature
Week 5-6: Limericks and the Art of Humor - Decoding the humor in limericks - Crafting limericks with wit and wordplay - Writing Exercise: Creating humorous limericks on everyday topics
Week 7-8: Free Verse and Acrostic Poetry - Liberating creativity through free verse - Playing with words in acrostic poems - Writing Exercise: Expressing emotions through free verse
Week 9-10: Ghazal and Tanka Mastery - Unveiling the beauty of ghazals - Crafting tankas with precision - Writing Exercise: Creating a ghazal on themes of love and longing
Week 11-12: Cinquains and Pantoum Prowess - Perfecting the art of cinquains - Embracing the rhythmic challenges of pantoums - Writing Exercise: Developing a pantoum on personal growth
Week 13-14: Sestina and Rondeau Exploration - Mastering the intricacies of sestinas - Crafting rondeaus with musicality - Writing Exercise: Composing a sestina on the theme of time
Week 15-16: Triolets and Kyrielles - Understanding the charm of triolets - Embracing the structure of kyrielles - Writing Exercise: Crafting a triolet on the beauty of simplicity
Week 17-18: Ode to Joyful Ballads - Writing joyful odes - Crafting narrative ballads - Writing Exercise: Creating an ode celebrating personal achievements
Week 19-20: Epic Journeys and Blank Verse - Exploring epic storytelling - Mastering the art of blank verse - Writing Exercise: Composing a blank verse poem reflecting on personal reflections
Week 21-22: Petrarchan Musings and Terza Rima Mastery - Delving into Petrarchan sonnets - Crafting poems using terza rima - Writing Exercise: Writing a Petrarchan sonnet on conflicting emotions
Week 23-24: Renga Collaboration and Prose Poetry - Collaborative renga creation - Experimenting with prose poetry - Writing Exercise: Crafting a prose poem inspired by a vivid memory
Week 25-26: Concrete Poetry and Narrative Art - Creating visual impact with concrete poetry - Mastering the art of narrative poetry - Writing Exercise: Developing a narrative poem based on personal experiences
Week 27-28: Pastoral Elegies and Morning Aubades - Writing pastoral poetry - Crafting mournful elegies - Writing Exercise: Composing an aubade capturing the essence of dawn
Week 29-30: Ekphrastic Marvels and Found Poetry Adventures - Creating poetry inspired by art - Crafting poems through found materials - Writing Exercise: Developing an ekphrastic poem based on a chosen artwork
Week 31-32: Epigrams and Clerihew Laughter - Crafting witty epigrams - Writing humorous clerihews - Writing Exercise: Composing a clerihew about a contemporary figure
Week 33-34: Quatrains and Double Dactyl Delight - Mastering the art of quatrains - Crafting light-hearted double dactyls - Writing Exercise: Creating a quatrain reflecting on the beauty of simplicity
Week 35-36: Terzanelles and Haibun Adventures - Crafting terzanelles with precision - Exploring the combination of prose and haiku in haibun - Writing Exercise: Composing a haibun narrating a meaningful travel experience
Week 37-38: Golden Shovel Challenges and Villancico Celebrations - Creating poems using the golden shovel technique - Crafting festive villancicos - Writing Exercise: Developing a golden shovel poem using a line from a favorite poem
Week 39-40: Tercet Beauty and Sevenling Narratives - Embracing the charm of tercets - Crafting sevenlings with narrative flair - Writing Exercise: Composing a sevenling reflecting on a vivid childhood memory
Week 41-42: Palindrome Reflections and Parallelismus Membrorum Insights - Creating palindrome poetry - Crafting poems using parallelismus membrorum - Writing Exercise: Developing a palindrome poem exploring balance in life
Week 43-44: Rubaiyat Contemplations and Blues Poem Expressions - Exploring Persian poetry with rubaiyats - Crafting poems inspired by the blues - Writing Exercise: Composing a rubaiyat on themes of love or mortality
Week 45-46: Erasure Transformations and Anaphora Intensity - Crafting poetry through erasure - Mastering the use of anaphora - Writing Exercise: Creating an erasure poem using a page from a novel or newspaper
Week 47-48: Tetractys and Sijo Harmonies - Crafting tetractys with specific syllable counts - Exploring traditional Korean poetry with sijo - Writing Exercise: Developing a sijo capturing a moment of beauty or introspection
Week 49-50: Blitz Poem Exploration and Epitaph Conclusions - Crafting blitz poems with rapid expression - Writing poignant epitaphs - Final Project: Compose an original poem using a style of the student's choice, reflecting personal growth throughout the course.
Assessment: - Weekly writing exercises - Participation in collaborative projects - Midterm and final projects showcasing mastery of chosen styles
Materials: - Poetry anthologies - Artworks for ekphrastic exercises - Writing journals - Selected readings for each style
Prerequisites: None. Open to all students with an interest in poetry and creative expression.

I know there’s lots of posts about this. I woke up early to get a spot for the Anne Frank house on June 11 for after 5pm. However there were only tickets up to 5pm. Is it normal for them to not have the afternoon/evening tickets when they release them 6 weeks in advance or is there a weird early closing hour that week? Thanks!

1. Sonnet:
   A 14-line poem, traditionally written in iambic pentameter, with various rhyme schemes such as Shakespearean (ABABCDCDEFEFGG).
   
2. Haiku:
   

A three-line Japanese poem with a 5-7-5 syllable count, typically capturing a moment in nature.

1. Free Verse:
   Poetry without a fixed rhyme or meter, allowing for greater freedom and natural flow of expression.
   
2. Villanelle
   

: A 19-line poem with a specific structure, containing five tercets followed by a concluding quatrain, using only two rhymes.

1. Acrostic:
   A poem where the first letter of each line, when read vertically, spells out a word or message.
   
2. Limerick
   

: A humorous five-line poem with a specific meter and rhyme scheme (AABBA).

1. Ghazal:

A form of poetry with rhyming couplets and a repeating refrain, often exploring themes of love and loss.

1. Tanka

: A Japanese form of poetry with a 5-7-5-7-7 syllable count structure, focusing on nature and emotions.

1. Sestina:
   A complex poem with six stanzas of six lines each, ending with a three-line envoi; the same six words end the lines in a shifting pattern.
   
2. Cinquain
   

: A five-line poem with a specific syllable count for each line (2-4-6-8-2), often used to capture a moment or emotion.

1. Rondeau:
   A 13-line poem with a rhyme scheme and repetition of specific words, often emphasizing themes of love.
   
2. Pantoum
   

: A form of poetry with repeating lines, where the second and fourth lines of each stanza become the first and third lines of the next.

1. Ode:

A lyrical poem expressing strong emotions or deep feelings, often addressed to a particular person or thing.

1. Elegy:
   A mournful poem, typically written in remembrance of someone who has passed away.
   
2. Ekphrastic
   

: A poem inspired by a work of art, often describing or reflecting on the visual piece.

1. Concrete Poetry:
   Poems where the arrangement of words on the page forms a visual representation of the subject.
   
2. Prose Poetry
   

: A hybrid of prose and poetry, characterized by its free-flowing structure and poetic language within prose form.

1. Epigram:

A short, witty, and often satirical poem or statement, typically with a clever or humorous ending.

1. Quatrain

: A four-line stanza or poem with various rhyme schemes, commonly used in ballads and hymns.

1. Epitaph

: A short poem or inscription on a tombstone in memory of the deceased.

Bonnie Lass of Albanie jacobite song created by Robert Burns after he heard the news that Prince Charles Edward Stuart had legitimized his daugther Charlotte Stuart. He even considered naming one of his daugther after her has reveled in a letter to his friend Robert Ainslie.
Séarlas Òg One of the 2 version of the Irish Jacobite song, Séarlas Òg, that would latter be rewritten by Pádriag Pearse and made into Oro Sé Do Bheatha' Bhaile.
The other version is this one:
Chorus:
Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile,
Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile,
Óró, sé do bheatha 'bhaile
Anois ar theacht an tsamhraidh.
A Shéarlais Óig, a mhic Rí Shéamais
'Sé mo mhór-chreach do thriall as Éirinn
Gan tuinnte bróig' ort, stoca nó leinidh
Ach do chascairt leis na Gallaibh
Chorus
'Sé mo léan géar nach bhfeicim
Mur mbéinn beo 'na dhiaidh ach seachtain
Séarlas Óg is míle gaiscidheach
Ag fógairt fáin ar Ghallaibh
Chorus
Tá Séarlas Óg ag triall thar sáile
Béidh siad leisean, Franncaigh is Spáinnigh
Óglaigh armtha leis mar gharda
'S bainfidh siad rinnce as éiricigh!
Chorus
Chorus:
Oh-ro, You're welcome home,
Oh-ro, You're welcome home,
Oh-ro, You're welcome home,
Now that summer's coming!
Young Charles, son of King James
It's a great distress – your exile from Ireland
Without thread of shoe on you, socks or shirt
Overthrown by the foreigners
Chorus
Alas that I do not see
If I were alive afterwards only for a week
Young Charles and one thousand warriors
Banishing all the foreigners
Chorus
Young Charles is coming over the sea
They will be with him, French and Spanish
Armed Volunteers with him as a guard
And they'll make the heretics dance!
Oran eile don phrionnsa Another song for the Prince written by Alasdair Mac Mhaighstir Alasdair in English Alexander Macdonald.
Oran air breith a Phrionnsa Tearlaich Song upon the birth of Prince Charles written in 1721 when news of the Prince Birth reached Scotland by John McLachlan.
This version recorded by Capercaille is missing one stanza, the third stanza of the original song(stanza definition: group of verses, verse difinition: one line of a poem or song)
Here is a gaelic lyrics and english translation:

1. An naigheachd a fhuair sinn an dràsd'

A thàinig oirnn nuadh do'n tir
Chuir m'airtneal air chairtealan uam
Dh'fhàg aigeantach, uallach mî
Cha bhi sinn tuilleadh na's mo
Aig Deôrsa fada fo chîs
Thig sonas ri linn a' Phrionns'ôig
'S gheibh fir tha air fôgradh sîth.

1. Rugadh Phoenix thall anns an Rôimh

Sgeul aigeantach môr ri 'linn
Gum bi neart agus ceart mar ri treôir
Do'n fhear sheasas côir an Rîgh
Théid a' chuibhle fhathast mu'n cuairt
'S am fear a tha shuas, bidh e sios
Bidh am fear a tha streapadh, gu h-ard,
'S fear eile gu làr tuitidh sîos

1. Tha rionnag a breithe mar thà

Toirt fios agus faisneachd fîor,
Gur mac rath a thàinig an dràsd'
Chuir Athair nan Gràs 'gar dîon;
'N neach thogas 'na aghaidh a làmh
Gheibh breitheanas àraid gu cinnt',
Thig cogadh air, gort, agus plàigh,
Us faighinn a' bhàis a chion bîdh.

1. Tha Neptun a' mionnachadh dhà

Gum bheil muir dhà co réidh us tîr
Tha Aeolus a'feitheamh a ghnàth
'S a'gleidheadh dhà bàidh a ghaoith
Tha Mars us a chlaidheamh 'na làimh
Le buaidh-chath' 's gach àite am bî
Tha plannta nan duilleagan tlàth
Toirt urraim 'nan àiteachan fin

Thig mùthadh air fonn as droch-ghnè
Cha bhi dris ann an làr nach crion
Bidh gach tulach 'na iomairibh réidh
'S fàsaidh 'n cuithneachd air aodainn shliabh;
Cha dean sinn tuilleadh cion-fàth
O'n a theirig an fhreumh nach cinn
Sin an gartlann a ghlanadh o'n chàrr
Bha bacadh dhuinn fàs ar sîol

1. Sgeul eile cha cheil mi an dràsd'

Cuiridh coille trom-bhlàth os ar cînn
Cuiridh 'n talamh gun airceas de bhàrr
Tacar mara cur làin's gach lîon
Bidh bainn' aig an eallaich's gach àit'
Mil air bhàrraibh nan sràbh's gach tîr
Gun ghainne, gun airceas, gu bràth
Gun ghaillionn ach blàths 's gach sian.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION
The tidings we have now received
Which are freshly come to the land
Have chased all my sorrow away
And left me both joyful and proud
No more are we going to be
Under subjection to George
Joy will come in the young Prince's time
Peace will be to the exiles restored

1. A Phoenix is born o'er in Rome

A tale of great joy in its time
May he who the King's right maintains
Have strength and justice and aid.
Fortune's wheel will yet turn again
And the man who's aloft will fall low
The man who is climbing will rise
And the other to earth will fall.

1. Already does his birthday star

Give a message and omen true,
That a son of fortune now comes
From the Father of Grace for our guard;
Whoe'er lifts against him his hand
Will swift and sure judgment receive,
On him will come war, famine, plague,
With death from starvation his end.
4. Neptune does promise for him
A sea as smooth as the land
And Aeolus is ready always
For him keeping his favoring winds;
Mars with his sword in his hand
Will give victory wherever he be
The herbs with their delicate leaves
Give honor in their own abodes

A change will come o'er barren lands
No thorn on the ground but will fade
Every hill will be laid in smooth rigs
And wheat will grow on the hillsides
Contention no more shall we own
Since the root that won't grow is consumed
There's the corn-field now cleansed of its weeds
Which did hinder the growth of our crop

1. Another tale that I'll not hide

The woods will put leaves o'er our heads
The earth will yield crops without stint
The sea's fruit will fill every net
Herds will give milk everywhere
And honey on straw-tops be found
Without want, unstinted, forever
Without storms, but every wind warm.
Rosc Catha na mumha Irish Jacobite song written in 1758-59 when there was rumours of a french invasion of Ireland. The French foreign minister had tried to get the Prince to command the invasion, but the Prince had to practically be convinced to go to the reunion and he went to drunk to the reunion, accompanied by a Jacobite agent he knew the French Ministers hated, insisted in the French giving him reparations for how he was trown out of France in 1750 and that it was either a full on invasion of Britain or nothing since according to his own words he didn't wanted to be used has a scare crow by the French.
The French foreign minister abandoned the idea of involving him in the planification of the invasion, but due to letters from Jacobites and even the dauphin, planned to, when they got secured a part of Ireland grab the Prince sent him to Ireland to Crown him King of the Irish there.
The Prince seems to have percived that the French were again finally serious to help him gain back the throne that he got sober enough to be able to write a Manifesto in case he would need it.
He declared that the poor where going to be the priority of his goverment, denounced standing armies favoring citizens militia, wrote a scheme to pay goverment debt, wrote ways in which the industries could be improved and promised to lower taxes has much has possible.

I (never-jw) have had several conversations with a JW elder over the last few months. The last time we spoke about morality and also the 'Golden Rule' (do unto others as you would have them do unto you). I came away with some thoughts on the matter.

1. Blood transfusions. Of course the JW stance on blood transfusions has flip-flopped over the years, at the moment it is a matter of conscience about accepting blood fractions. Question, what do JWs say about DONATING blood? Since if they would never donate blood then they are not obeying the golden rule by only accepting blood fractions.
2. Charitable status. We have several countries that seem to be moving towards removing the charitable status of JWs. I would argue that the JW organisation is not charitable. All the funds they collect go towards themselves and I am not aware of any funds that go towards 'worldly' people. I guess they don't need it since they are all shortly to be destroyed? Again this is a double standard.
3. He claims that morality is objective. I was arguing that morality is subjective. For example, was it moral to lie to nazis to protect Anne Franks. If you have to decide when to lie and when not to lie then it must be subjective. Also if morality comes from god then we have Euthyphros dilemma.

I am still pondering these question but I would love to hear from exjws about the possibility of donating blood?

The Chelsea FC Women April round-up - (double) semi-final heartbreak, but the Blues battle on

Welcome to the seventh Chelsea FC Women monthly round-up of the 2023/24 season.
These reviews are posted on a monthly basis throughout the season, and feature a summary of the exploits of Emma Hayes' Chelsea side, as well as a brief preview of the month ahead.
(This post is a long read, so feel free to skip to the end for the summary!)

Introduction

March had ended for Chelsea with a gutting loss in extra time of the Conti Cup final - meaning our quadruple hopes were at an end, but we still had three trophies left to fight for.
"Fight" being the operative word - it has been a grind of a season for Chelsea, between fixture congestion and significant injuries to key players. April had fewer games than the eight that we packed into March - but all of huge significance.
First, we would return from the final international break of the season to an FA Cup semi-final, away to Manchester United. It would then be back to WSL action, at home against Aston Villa, before ending the month with the toughest test of all - the two legs of our Champions League semi-final vs Barcelona.
The Catalan side have been the dominant force in Europe over the past several years - and were the team we fell to at the same stage of this competition last year. In Emma HAyes’ final season at the club, it would be her final shot at Champions League glory for Chelsea - but the Blues would be big underdogs.

Key headlines

Legendary goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger leaves Chelsea
Chelsea started this season with three goalkeepers good enough to start as the number 1 - and it was one of the early storylines as to who would win that battle.
After having been the first choice since her arrival to the club in January 2019, Ann-Katrin Berger was to be displaced by Hannah Hampton - and since autumn has barely featured, through a combination of injury and appearing to fall out of favour.
It was no surprise to see the German leave the club, as such - and this month it was announced the 33-year-old had signed for NWSL side Gotham FC.
She leaves as one of the greatest to ever play between the sticks for the club, having been a key part of 10 trophies - and most memorably, the hero in the penalty shootout win in last season’s Champions League quarter-final vs Lyon, in what was one of the best nights in our history.
Her departure does raise questions about the future of Jess Carter, who Berger has been in a relationship with for many years - the centre half's contract expires next summer.

Now - to the action!

Man United 2-1 Chelsea (FA Cup)
FA Cup semi-final weekend meant a fixture for Chelsea, whilst title rivals Man City benefitted from an extended rest after the international break.
Chelsea had never previously lost to Man United since they reformed their women’s team in 2018. Although Marc Skinner’s side pushed the Blues to the final day in the WSL last year, we had the beating of them on three occasions in 2022/23 - and managed to hold off their title push.
It has been a more challenging year for them this year - falling off quite considerably in the league, and being well short of the top three in the battle for Champions League qualification.
Fears were that that could potentially only serve to motivate them further in the FA Cup - a competition where Chelsea dashed their hopes last year, by beating them in the final. This was the only trophy left for Man United to contest
There was only one change to the line up who had lost to Arsenal in the Conti Cup final at the end of March, with Guro Reiten coming in to start.
Disaster immediately struck for Chelsea, when Eve Perisset - who has been so good in recent weeks - sold Hannah Hampton short with a back pass. The lurking Leah Galton pounced, and crossed to Lucia Garcia. The Spaniard headed Man United into a shock early lead, with less than a minute played.
Chelsea were slightly stunned - and struggled to respond in the face of a highly-motivated home side, who were roared on by a jubilant crowd.
It was to get even worse, with Man United doubling their lead inside 25 minutes - and putting themselves into a commanding position in the tie.
It was another headed goal - this time Rachel Williams finishing off an Ella Toone cross, and meaning Chelsea were left facing a mountain to climb.
The Blues did gradually grow into the game, and began dominating possession and territory, but without creating many real chances.
A lifelime emerged in the form of a first half stoppage time goal from our top scorer this year, Lauren James - a thumping finish from a Niamh Charles cutback. It was LJ’s fourth goal this season against her former club, and the timing of it meant a platform to mount a comeback in the second half.
There had been some concern over Mayra Ramirez late in the first half - who was challenged off the ball by Maya Le Tissier, and required lengthy treatment. Thankfully the Colombian was okay to continue - but the lack of action against the Man United defender set a tone for the second half to come.
Chelsea came out like a team who knew what was on the line - and the second half was one-way traffic, as Man United defended mostly with 11 players behind the ball.
Mary Earps was called upon on several occasions - tipping substitute Cat Macario’s corner onto the bar, and producing an outstanding save from a James’ header.
The Blues were also unfortunate on several occasions with officiating decisions, in addition to the Ramirez incident in the first half. There were two separate good shouts for penalties - and it was a justified sense of aggrievement, given that the coin consistently seemed to flip in the home side’s favour throughout the game.
Chelsea kept pushing - and Man United kept defending for their lives. None of Chelsea’s eight corners (compared to Man United’s none…) could force the issue - and Aggie Beever-Jones came agonisingly close in injury time, hitting the side netting.
We could not find the equaliser that our play in the second half had merited- and so it was Man United who progressed to the Wembley final, where they will face Spurs with both sides looking to win their first major trophy. The damage had been done with the poor start in the first half, which meant that a comeback was always going to be difficult.
It means that Emma Hayes will not end her Chelsea career with victory at Wembley, and add to the five FA Cups she has already won in her tenure - and that Chelsea’s hopes of silverware this season have been slashed in half from four down to two, in the space of our last two games.
There was not much time to commiserate, however - with another key match to come just three days later, away to Aston Villa in the WSL.
Chelsea 3-0 Aston Villa (WSL)
Just three days after the gutting FA Cup semi-final defeat to Man United, we had to get straight back on the horse, and return to the pressure cooker of the WSL title race - hosting Aston Villa at home.
Having now played a game more, Man City led the way - with a three point advantage, and being one ahead at goal difference. That meant Chelsea had to win to keep pace - and with just four games left of the league season, and City having the kinder run-in both in terms of opponents and rest days, any dropped points could prove fatal.
Like every match between now and the end of the season, it could be season-defining - and given the back-to-back defeats that preceded it, a win was an absolute imperative.
The opponents were not as tough a prospect as they once seemed - Aston Villa have struggled this year, after their breakout season in 2022/23… but are still a good team, with some dangerous players.
Emma Hayes rotated heavily, with no doubt one eye on the Champions League semi-final first leg to come at the weekend. There were seven changes in total, including Cat Macario making her first start - and Maika Hamano only making her second start in Blue. Lauren James missed out entirely, with a foot injury.
Such heavy rotation could have been a risk - but the task was made a lot easier inside five minutes, when Villa were reduced to ten players.
Captain Rachel Corsie’s loose pass was pounced on by Sjoeke Nüsken, and with keeper Anna Leat stranded, the German attempted a long range shot. Leat diverted it away from goal - but in doing so handled it outside of the box, and was given her marching orders. Villa manager Carla Ward had to turn to 17-year-old Sophia Poor as her reserve, who was making her senior debut.
This was therefore a golden opportunity for Chelsea… not just to take three points, but to add to our goal difference, which could prove crucial in such a close fight with City.
The Blues set about amping up the pressure, and it felt a matter of time before the breakthrough. It took a moment of what is quickly becoming characteristic quality, from Aggie Beever-Jones - a swinging volleyed finish from a Niamh Charles cross.
It was the 20-year-old’s seventh WSL goal this season, and she was to be joined on the scoresheet by the only other Chelsea player younger than her - Maika Hamano.
The Japanese teenager started the season injured, and had waited a long time for her debut - so her first Chelsea goal was especially sweet for her, and everyone watching on.
Ashley Lawrence’s cross was flicked on by Macario - who was probably trying to score - and Hamano was on hand to finish from close range. After a challenging few weeks at Chelsea, this was restorative of many smiles - and the 2-0 lead also meant we went top on goal difference.
The only disappointment of the first half was that we could not press home our advantage more - but there were still 45 minutes to come.
Beever-Jones led the charge in the second half, and a brilliant mazy run from her inside the first few minutes deserved a goal - but our young dynamo could not quite find a finish.
There was then more worry for Villa, when Poor went down injured - but the teenager was fine to continue, although she did appear in discomfort for the rest of the game.
Hamano nearly exploited this almost immediately after Poor restarted play - closing down the young keeper, but not quite being able to squeeze in a third goal.
Hayes started to ring the changes, with Reiten coming on for Charles. Soon after this, the Blues did finally have a third goal - and it was another milestone moment.
In her second season at Chelsea, Kadeisha Buchanan registered her first goal - heading home a Macario corner. It was a deserved assist too for the American, whose delivery had been on the money all night.
Rytting Kaneryd, Ramirez and Cuthbert all joined the fray, but could not quite bring more goals to the party - Reiten in particular smashing a shot straight down Poor’s throat, when she really should have made it 4-0.
It took until the 90th minute for Hannah Hampton to make her first save of the game, against her former club, as the ten women managed a shot on target at the death. It was an important save - as it would have been immensely frustrating to lose our clean sheet in a game like this.
Despite nine minutes of injury time - and not for lack of trying - Chelsea were not able to force any more goals, so had to be content with a 3-0 victory.
It was a win which put us back on top of the WSL - level on points with Man City, but now with a two superior goal difference.
We might rue not scoring more against a vulnerable Villa side - but given the previous two results, the win was the most important outcome, and it felt a relief to be one that was so straightforward.
Barcelona 0-1 Chelsea (WCL)
The next game was not likely to be so straightforward.
For the first leg of our Champions League semi-final, we were to face arguably the toughest test in women’s football - Barcelona away.
The all-conquering Barcelona Femení are not only the reigning European champions, but boasted a frankly incredible record of having gone over five years undefeated on their own ground.
It was the third time in four seasons the Blues had faced the Catalans in this competition. In 2021, our first (and only) Champions League final had ended in tatters - a 4-0 hammering, in which Barca scored all four goals inside a hurricane of an opening 30 minutes.
The scoreline in last year’s semi-final had been closer - a 2-1 aggregate loss - but truthfully the gap in quality was just as vast, with Chelsea giving everything they had and still coming up way short.
With the travails of this season, a positive result at the Estadi Olímpic felt unlikely.
There was a boost ahead of kick off, with club captain Millie Bright being named in a match day squad for the first time since her knee injury in November. It was unlikely Bright would feature after such an extended spell on the sidelines, but it was a heartening sight nonetheless.
After having missed the midweek win vs Villa, Lauren James was fit to start, taking her place alongside Mayra Ramirez. Erin Cuthbert lined up in midfield with Sjoeke Nüsken and Melanie Leupolz, whilst Emma Hayes chose to pack the defensive third with a back five - Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Ashley Lawrence flanking Niamh Charles, Jess Carter and Kadeisha Buchanan.
The back five was a signal of Hayes’ intent, and the only way Chelsea were realistically going to get a result against such a dangerous side. Barcelona set about their business as they tend to - dominating possession and pinning the Blues (in our mint green kit) back. Within the opening minute they had already put a dangerous cross in, and the signs felt ominous.
Unlike in our previous encounters against the Blaugrana, however, once we had ridden the early storm there was more attacking intent - showing an ambition befitting of our status.
Lawrence and Rytting Kaneryd, as wing backs, showed they had more to bring to the party than just defensive reinforcement. Their threat out wide was causing problems for Barca’s defence, especially with the lurking Ramirez, who would be well known to Barcelona from her time in La Liga with Levante.
Despite their dominance in possession, Barcelona struggled to create many clear chances in the first half - and to the surprise of the near 40,000 in the stadium, and all of those watching elsewhere, it was instead Chelsea who got the opening goal.
It was a goal befitting of the occasion - and the significance.
There were two key moments of quality. First Nüsken showed excellent skill and composure to retain possession inside the opposition box - something that often most characterises the home side - and then turning brilliantly to play in Cuthbert.
The captain for the day often stands up tall in the biggest games - and this was another for her collection. The Scot took a touch to make her own space, and then rifled the ball into the top corner, making it 1-0 to Chelsea.
The next objective was to get through to half time - and Chelsea managed the next five minutes well, meaning we had a lead to defend for the second half.
Of note, Barcelona were yet to register a shot on target - and that it took until injury time of the second half to do so is testament to just how well Chelsea did curtail the European champions.
The story could have been very different, if not for the intervention of VAR, shortly after the resumption of play.
The on-field referee had initially awarded a penalty for handball against Buchanan. On VAR review, it was deemed that Salma Paralluelo, who was offside, was interfering with play in the build-up, and so the decision was overturned.
That reprieve strengthened Chelsea’s resolve, with Jess Carter in particular immense in the centre of defence - producing one of her best-ever displays for the club, against the team who had given her such a torrid time in the 2021 final. She was deservedly named Player of the Match, at full time.
Chelsea were unlucky with the officiating ourselves - with what looked like a clear penalty on Ramirez being waved away just after the hour mark.
There was arguably some good fortune for the Blues, too with Barcelona’s normally lethal attacking players spurning some good chances - this included Paralluelo, and two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, who had come on as a second half substitute.
On balance, Ramirez too, could have added to Chelsea’s lead - and 2-0 would have been genuine dreamland territory.
With every last player on the pitch given everything they had, Chelsea were able to see out a historic win - one of the greatest in our club's history, and after the tough times of recent weeks, a delightful one. There was certainly some experience on display too - with the Blues making the most of any opportunity to run down the clock, to the increasing frustration of the Barcelona players and their fans, who created a hostile atmosphere to make Chelsea’s achievement all the greater.
Hayes was cautious post-match - warning that there was a lot of work to be done, with it still only being the cliched ‘half time in the tie’.
Nonetheless, to become the first team to beat Barcelona in five years at home - and to register our first-ever win against them - this was huge, this was history, and a true highlight of Emma Hayes’ final season… whatever happens next.
Chelsea would have a week to recover - and prepare for the second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea 0-2 Barcelona (WCL) - Barcelona win 2-1 on aggregate
A full week of preparation was a rarity for Chelsea this season - in fact, a full six days of rest between the first and second legs of this tie was the longest we had had this calendar year to prepare for a game.
It was going to be needed.
Following the historic 1-0 win against Barcelona in Spain, the Blues came into the second leg of our semi-final tie with a slender advantage - but also with the knowledge that the European champions can blow away any team.
There had been much chat in the media from the Catalans, with the reigning Ballon d’Or holder Aitana Bonmati leading the complaints against Chelsea’s so-called “dirty” tactics in the first leg - although how she judged a fairly routine bit of time wasting as more against the spirit of the game than the rough treatment of Mayra Ramirez had raised a few eyebrows.
Games do not come much bigger than this, and the Saturday evening showdown at Stamford Bridge was the talk of women’s football.
There had been a huge push to get the crowd at the Bridge to mark the occasion - which would also be the final time Emma Hayes led her team out at the ground. Fittingly, the 39,000 made it a record crowd for Chelsea FC Women.
Hayes persisted with the back three that had been deployed to so much success in the first leg. The only change to the starting XI was Mayra Ramirez - who was ruled out with injury. This was a big blow for Chelsea - the Barcelona defence had struggled to handle the Colombian the week previously. It did mean an opportunity for Cat Macario to start - and the American has experience in this competition with Lyon, scoring in their 2022 final win… vs Barcelona.
The sellout crowd contributed a loud soundtrack to the evening kick off, with Barcelona also trying to bring their famous intensity from the start, in a step up from their performance last week.
Chelsea showed early signs that they were not content to just sit back - attempting to release Lauren James and Macario whenever given the chance. The wide threat from Ashley Lawrence and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd was carried over from the week previously, too - and from Lawrence’s good wing play Erin Curhtber had a chance to replicate her goal from the first leg, but instead blazed over.
Hannah Hampton’s first real save came after around 20 minutes - a straightforward one from the dangerous Caroline Graham Hansen.
Unfortunately, it was less than five minutes later that Barcelona finally got on the scoresheet in the tie - and it was through the reigning Ballon d’Or holder, Bonmati. The midfielder’s striker took a cruel deflection off of Kadeisha Buchanan to wrongfoot Hampton, but they all count… and that crucially made it 1-1 on aggregate.
Cuthbert took her frustration out by booting a clearance straight into Bonmati’s face, leading to a break in play shortly after the goal - and a chance to regroup.
There was soon after a heartstopping moment, when Melanie Leupolz struck the crossbar with what looked like a golden chance to restore Chelsea’s overall lead - after our best attacking move of the match. However, the flag was raised for offside in the build up, to spare some of the agony - and it did show the Blues were still in the tie.
That moment did spark off what was Chelsea’s best 10 minute period of the match - and the Blues should have scored when Barcelona made an uncharacteristic error in defence. Nusken won the ball in the opposition box, but her cutback could not quite find James. There was a worry we would not get many better chances than that…
It was crucial to get to half time with the game still in the balance - and we did, meaning it was all still to fight for in the second half.
The pressure was to keep building, however, in the second half - and Chelsea were turning to increasingly desperate defending to hold back the Barcelona surge. The raucous home support tried their best - but were silenced by the few minutes around the hour mark.
First, Chelsea came the closest we would get to a goal in the game. A brilliant long pass from James found Lawrence, whose cross was met first time by the onrushing Nusken. Her stretched effort bounced off the outside of the post - leaving the German, and everyone in Blue, with head in hands.
Then, just minutes later, the game changed entirely. Chelsea are no stranger to dodgy referee decisions in the Champions League versus Barcelona - and this one would have had Didier Drogba out of his seat. Buchanan was shown a very harsh second yellow card, reducing Chelsea to ten players - and making the task mountainous.
Hayes made her first change, with Guro Reiten coming on for Macario. And Chelsea kept on fighting, pushing into the final 20 minutes with it still locked at 1-1 on aggregate.
Then, typically, another favourable refereeing decision for the opposition changed the game again. The lightest of pushes on Bonmati from Lawrence - after the Spaniard had appeared to first push the defender herself - resulted in a penalty, which unlike last week, VAR allowed to stand.
Fridolina Rolfo showed the coolest of heads from 12 yards to convert the spot kick, and for the first time in over 160 minutes of this tie, Barcelona were in front.
With 15 minutes left to play, a player and a goal down - it did feel like the end. Hayes threw the kitchen sink at it - bringing on each of Aggie Beever-Jones, Fran Kirby and Eve Perisset… and her wildcard, Millie Bright.
The centre half was making her first appearance in six months, after a long and difficult rehab from a knee injury - and the reception from the near 40,000 at the Bridge for our returning captain was a truly special moment.
Bright has before in crunch games for both England and Chelsea been used as an emergency centre forward - and this was her role for this cameo, as the Blues gave everything they had in the final throes, whilst the rain fell heavier and heavier.
There was to be six minutes of injury time for Chelsea to get an implausible goal to level up the tie - and after their complaints, it was Barcelona’s turn to waste time.
In the end, everything we had was not enough. The dream was over - but it was not without a fight, and any Chelsea fan could at least be happy that with odds increasingly stacked against us, through both injury and officiating, we acquitted ourselves well… and that gap really does appear to be closing.
It was next going to be a big task to pick ourselves up for the one trophy left to win, in this long season.

April results in brief

Fixture	Result	Competition	Goal scorers
Man United (A)	2-1 L	FA Cup	James (Charles assist)
Aston Villa (H)	3-0 W		WSL
Barcelona (A)	1-0 W	WCL	Cuthbert (Nüsken assist)
Barcelona (H)	2-0 L	WCL	n/a

Summary

April saw two gutting semi-final defeats for Chelsea FC Women, meaning our chances of silverware are now cut down to just one competition - the WSL.
Our loss to Man United in the FA Cup was frustrating, both due to our poor first half performance - and then due to refereeing decisions which could have made for a different result.
The second semi-final gave us both all of the highs and the lows of Champions League knockout ties. The win in Barcelona against the Catalan giants was their first on home territory in five years, our first-ever against them, and gave genuine hope of progressing through to the Champions League final - and keep alive the dream of winning the one trophy which has eluded Chelsea and Emma Hayes.
It was not to be. More harsh officiating made it a very difficult loss to take - Chelsea had performed brilliantly across the two legs, despite further injuries, and showed we can compete with the very best.
In the interim, we had won vs Aston Villa in the WSL, to ensure we stayed in the title race. Man City have now played two games more than the Blues, and comprehensive wins mean they now have a 7 goal advantage in goal difference, as well as a six point lead.
It is the only trophy we now have left to win - and given the form of Man City, who have it in their hands, it looks an increasingly tall order. a
Preview - Man City look favourites, tall order, may be tme to accept we will end trophyless
Lauren James, Mayra Ramirez and Aggie Beever-Jones also continue to shine - creating much cause for cheer and optimism for not just the weeks to come, but also the years after.

May preview

It is now all about the league.
Chelsea have four WSL games left to play - and it is a challenging fixture list.
First up in May we travel to Liverpool, who sit fifth in the league and are hunting down rivals Man United for fourth spot. Then, we will host already-relegated Bristol City at Kingsmeadow - in what will be Emma Hayes’ final home game as Blues manager.
In the last week of the season, we travel first to Tottenham Hotspur - who this month reached their first-ever FA Cup final - and then away to Man United, on the final day of the season.
Neither of those away fixtures are easy - and especially so given there is an acceptance that every team in the WSL would quite enjoy Chelsea being knocked off the perch that we have sat on for the past four years, with our four consecutive league title wins.
Man City, have just two to play - they will end the season away to Aston Villa, but first host Arsenal at home. It is that Arsenal game which gives the faintest glimmer of hope - but given Arsenal have secured third spot and hence European football, and have no prospect of challenging for the title, it is a slim hope. Add to that the bitter rivalry between Chelsea and our North London rivals, and it does not seem likely they will be doing us a favour.
Given that - Man City are favourites. They have the form, the fixtures, and the better goal difference. If they win their two games, they will likely win the league. It seems more likely Chelsea will drop points - and even if we do not, we have a big goal differential to make up.
It is not done yet, however - and one thing is certain is that Chelsea will fight to the end, as shown in the second leg vs Barcelona. The long-awaited return of Millie Bright to the pitch, after a knee injury which has kept her out for six months, is a boost too - and may help to see us through.
Four games left to win a title - and four games left for Emma Hayes.

UTC!

The Chelsea FC Women April round-up - (double) semi-final heartbreak, but the Blues battle on

Welcome to the seventh Chelsea FC Women monthly round-up of the 2023/24 season.
These reviews are posted on a monthly basis throughout the season, and feature a summary of the exploits of Emma Hayes' Chelsea side, as well as a brief preview of the month ahead.
(This post is a long read, so feel free to skip to the end for the summary!)

Introduction

March had ended for Chelsea with a gutting loss in extra time of the Conti Cup final - meaning our quadruple hopes were at an end, but we still had three trophies left to fight for.
"Fight" being the operative word - it has been a grind of a season for Chelsea, between fixture congestion and significant injuries to key players. April had fewer games than the eight that we packed into March - but all of huge significance.
First, we would return from the final international break of the season to an FA Cup semi-final, away to Manchester United. It would then be back to WSL action, at home against Aston Villa, before ending the month with the toughest test of all - the two legs of our Champions League semi-final vs Barcelona.
The Catalan side have been the dominant force in Europe over the past several years - and were the team we fell to at the same stage of this competition last year. In Emma HAyes’ final season at the club, it would be her final shot at Champions League glory for Chelsea - but the Blues would be big underdogs.

Key headlines

Legendary goalkeeper Ann-Katrin Berger leaves Chelsea
Chelsea started this season with three goalkeepers good enough to start as the number 1 - and it was one of the early storylines as to who would win that battle.
After having been the first choice since her arrival to the club in January 2019, Ann-Katrin Berger was to be displaced by Hannah Hampton - and since autumn has barely featured, through a combination of injury and appearing to fall out of favour.
It was no surprise to see the German leave the club, as such - and this month it was announced the 33-year-old had signed for NWSL side Gotham FC.
She leaves as one of the greatest to ever play between the sticks for the club, having been a key part of 10 trophies - and most memorably, the hero in the penalty shootout win in last season’s Champions League quarter-final vs Lyon, in what was one of the best nights in our history.
Her departure does raise questions about the future of Jess Carter, who Berger has been in a relationship with for many years - the centre half's contract expires next summer.

Now - to the action!

Man United 2-1 Chelsea (FA Cup)
FA Cup semi-final weekend meant a fixture for Chelsea, whilst title rivals Man City benefitted from an extended rest after the international break.
Chelsea had never previously lost to Man United since they reformed their women’s team in 2018. Although Marc Skinner’s side pushed the Blues to the final day in the WSL last year, we had the beating of them on three occasions in 2022/23 - and managed to hold off their title push.
It has been a more challenging year for them this year - falling off quite considerably in the league, and being well short of the top three in the battle for Champions League qualification.
Fears were that that could potentially only serve to motivate them further in the FA Cup - a competition where Chelsea dashed their hopes last year, by beating them in the final. This was the only trophy left for Man United to contest
There was only one change to the line up who had lost to Arsenal in the Conti Cup final at the end of March, with Guro Reiten coming in to start.
Disaster immediately struck for Chelsea, when Eve Perisset - who has been so good in recent weeks - sold Hannah Hampton short with a back pass. The lurking Leah Galton pounced, and crossed to Lucia Garcia. The Spaniard headed Man United into a shock early lead, with less than a minute played.
Chelsea were slightly stunned - and struggled to respond in the face of a highly-motivated home side, who were roared on by a jubilant crowd.
It was to get even worse, with Man United doubling their lead inside 25 minutes - and putting themselves into a commanding position in the tie.
It was another headed goal - this time Rachel Williams finishing off an Ella Toone cross, and meaning Chelsea were left facing a mountain to climb.
The Blues did gradually grow into the game, and began dominating possession and territory, but without creating many real chances.
A lifelime emerged in the form of a first half stoppage time goal from our top scorer this year, Lauren James - a thumping finish from a Niamh Charles cutback. It was LJ’s fourth goal this season against her former club, and the timing of it meant a platform to mount a comeback in the second half.
There had been some concern over Mayra Ramirez late in the first half - who was challenged off the ball by Maya Le Tissier, and required lengthy treatment. Thankfully the Colombian was okay to continue - but the lack of action against the Man United defender set a tone for the second half to come.
Chelsea came out like a team who knew what was on the line - and the second half was one-way traffic, as Man United defended mostly with 11 players behind the ball.
Mary Earps was called upon on several occasions - tipping substitute Cat Macario’s corner onto the bar, and producing an outstanding save from a James’ header.
The Blues were also unfortunate on several occasions with officiating decisions, in addition to the Ramirez incident in the first half. There were two separate good shouts for penalties - and it was a justified sense of aggrievement, given that the coin consistently seemed to flip in the home side’s favour throughout the game.
Chelsea kept pushing - and Man United kept defending for their lives. None of Chelsea’s eight corners (compared to Man United’s none…) could force the issue - and Aggie Beever-Jones came agonisingly close in injury time, hitting the side netting.
We could not find the equaliser that our play in the second half had merited- and so it was Man United who progressed to the Wembley final, where they will face Spurs with both sides looking to win their first major trophy. The damage had been done with the poor start in the first half, which meant that a comeback was always going to be difficult.
It means that Emma Hayes will not end her Chelsea career with victory at Wembley, and add to the five FA Cups she has already won in her tenure - and that Chelsea’s hopes of silverware this season have been slashed in half from four down to two, in the space of our last two games.
There was not much time to commiserate, however - with another key match to come just three days later, away to Aston Villa in the WSL.
Chelsea 3-0 Aston Villa (WSL)
Just three days after the gutting FA Cup semi-final defeat to Man United, we had to get straight back on the horse, and return to the pressure cooker of the WSL title race - hosting Aston Villa at home.
Having now played a game more, Man City led the way - with a three point advantage, and being one ahead at goal difference. That meant Chelsea had to win to keep pace - and with just four games left of the league season, and City having the kinder run-in both in terms of opponents and rest days, any dropped points could prove fatal.
Like every match between now and the end of the season, it could be season-defining - and given the back-to-back defeats that preceded it, a win was an absolute imperative.
The opponents were not as tough a prospect as they once seemed - Aston Villa have struggled this year, after their breakout season in 2022/23… but are still a good team, with some dangerous players.
Emma Hayes rotated heavily, with no doubt one eye on the Champions League semi-final first leg to come at the weekend. There were seven changes in total, including Cat Macario making her first start - and Maika Hamano only making her second start in Blue. Lauren James missed out entirely, with a foot injury.
Such heavy rotation could have been a risk - but the task was made a lot easier inside five minutes, when Villa were reduced to ten players.
Captain Rachel Corsie’s loose pass was pounced on by Sjoeke Nüsken, and with keeper Anna Leat stranded, the German attempted a long range shot. Leat diverted it away from goal - but in doing so handled it outside of the box, and was given her marching orders. Villa manager Carla Ward had to turn to 17-year-old Sophia Poor as her reserve, who was making her senior debut.
This was therefore a golden opportunity for Chelsea… not just to take three points, but to add to our goal difference, which could prove crucial in such a close fight with City.
The Blues set about amping up the pressure, and it felt a matter of time before the breakthrough. It took a moment of what is quickly becoming characteristic quality, from Aggie Beever-Jones - a swinging volleyed finish from a Niamh Charles cross.
It was the 20-year-old’s seventh WSL goal this season, and she was to be joined on the scoresheet by the only other Chelsea player younger than her - Maika Hamano.
The Japanese teenager started the season injured, and had waited a long time for her debut - so her first Chelsea goal was especially sweet for her, and everyone watching on.
Ashley Lawrence’s cross was flicked on by Macario - who was probably trying to score - and Hamano was on hand to finish from close range. After a challenging few weeks at Chelsea, this was restorative of many smiles - and the 2-0 lead also meant we went top on goal difference.
The only disappointment of the first half was that we could not press home our advantage more - but there were still 45 minutes to come.
Beever-Jones led the charge in the second half, and a brilliant mazy run from her inside the first few minutes deserved a goal - but our young dynamo could not quite find a finish.
There was then more worry for Villa, when Poor went down injured - but the teenager was fine to continue, although she did appear in discomfort for the rest of the game.
Hamano nearly exploited this almost immediately after Poor restarted play - closing down the young keeper, but not quite being able to squeeze in a third goal.
Hayes started to ring the changes, with Reiten coming on for Charles. Soon after this, the Blues did finally have a third goal - and it was another milestone moment.
In her second season at Chelsea, Kadeisha Buchanan registered her first goal - heading home a Macario corner. It was a deserved assist too for the American, whose delivery had been on the money all night.
Rytting Kaneryd, Ramirez and Cuthbert all joined the fray, but could not quite bring more goals to the party - Reiten in particular smashing a shot straight down Poor’s throat, when she really should have made it 4-0.
It took until the 90th minute for Hannah Hampton to make her first save of the game, against her former club, as the ten women managed a shot on target at the death. It was an important save - as it would have been immensely frustrating to lose our clean sheet in a game like this.
Despite nine minutes of injury time - and not for lack of trying - Chelsea were not able to force any more goals, so had to be content with a 3-0 victory.
It was a win which put us back on top of the WSL - level on points with Man City, but now with a two superior goal difference.
We might rue not scoring more against a vulnerable Villa side - but given the previous two results, the win was the most important outcome, and it felt a relief to be one that was so straightforward.
Barcelona 0-1 Chelsea (WCL)
The next game was not likely to be so straightforward.
For the first leg of our Champions League semi-final, we were to face arguably the toughest test in women’s football - Barcelona away.
The all-conquering Barcelona Femení are not only the reigning European champions, but boasted a frankly incredible record of having gone over five years undefeated on their own ground.
It was the third time in four seasons the Blues had faced the Catalans in this competition. In 2021, our first (and only) Champions League final had ended in tatters - a 4-0 hammering, in which Barca scored all four goals inside a hurricane of an opening 30 minutes.
The scoreline in last year’s semi-final had been closer - a 2-1 aggregate loss - but truthfully the gap in quality was just as vast, with Chelsea giving everything they had and still coming up way short.
With the travails of this season, a positive result at the Estadi Olímpic felt unlikely.
There was a boost ahead of kick off, with club captain Millie Bright being named in a match day squad for the first time since her knee injury in November. It was unlikely Bright would feature after such an extended spell on the sidelines, but it was a heartening sight nonetheless.
After having missed the midweek win vs Villa, Lauren James was fit to start, taking her place alongside Mayra Ramirez. Erin Cuthbert lined up in midfield with Sjoeke Nüsken and Melanie Leupolz, whilst Emma Hayes chose to pack the defensive third with a back five - Johanna Rytting Kaneryd and Ashley Lawrence flanking Niamh Charles, Jess Carter and Kadeisha Buchanan.
The back five was a signal of Hayes’ intent, and the only way Chelsea were realistically going to get a result against such a dangerous side. Barcelona set about their business as they tend to - dominating possession and pinning the Blues (in our mint green kit) back. Within the opening minute they had already put a dangerous cross in, and the signs felt ominous.
Unlike in our previous encounters against the Blaugrana, however, once we had ridden the early storm there was more attacking intent - showing an ambition befitting of our status.
Lawrence and Rytting Kaneryd, as wing backs, showed they had more to bring to the party than just defensive reinforcement. Their threat out wide was causing problems for Barca’s defence, especially with the lurking Ramirez, who would be well known to Barcelona from her time in La Liga with Levante.
Despite their dominance in possession, Barcelona struggled to create many clear chances in the first half - and to the surprise of the near 40,000 in the stadium, and all of those watching elsewhere, it was instead Chelsea who got the opening goal.
It was a goal befitting of the occasion - and the significance.
There were two key moments of quality. First Nüsken showed excellent skill and composure to retain possession inside the opposition box - something that often most characterises the home side - and then turning brilliantly to play in Cuthbert.
The captain for the day often stands up tall in the biggest games - and this was another for her collection. The Scot took a touch to make her own space, and then rifled the ball into the top corner, making it 1-0 to Chelsea.
The next objective was to get through to half time - and Chelsea managed the next five minutes well, meaning we had a lead to defend for the second half.
Of note, Barcelona were yet to register a shot on target - and that it took until injury time of the second half to do so is testament to just how well Chelsea did curtail the European champions.
The story could have been very different, if not for the intervention of VAR, shortly after the resumption of play.
The on-field referee had initially awarded a penalty for handball against Buchanan. On VAR review, it was deemed that Salma Paralluelo, who was offside, was interfering with play in the build-up, and so the decision was overturned.
That reprieve strengthened Chelsea’s resolve, with Jess Carter in particular immense in the centre of defence - producing one of her best-ever displays for the club, against the team who had given her such a torrid time in the 2021 final. She was deservedly named Player of the Match, at full time.
Chelsea were unlucky with the officiating ourselves - with what looked like a clear penalty on Ramirez being waved away just after the hour mark.
There was arguably some good fortune for the Blues, too with Barcelona’s normally lethal attacking players spurning some good chances - this included Paralluelo, and two-time Ballon d’Or winner Alexia Putellas, who had come on as a second half substitute.
On balance, Ramirez too, could have added to Chelsea’s lead - and 2-0 would have been genuine dreamland territory.
With every last player on the pitch given everything they had, Chelsea were able to see out a historic win - one of the greatest in our club's history, and after the tough times of recent weeks, a delightful one. There was certainly some experience on display too - with the Blues making the most of any opportunity to run down the clock, to the increasing frustration of the Barcelona players and their fans, who created a hostile atmosphere to make Chelsea’s achievement all the greater.
Hayes was cautious post-match - warning that there was a lot of work to be done, with it still only being the cliched ‘half time in the tie’.
Nonetheless, to become the first team to beat Barcelona in five years at home - and to register our first-ever win against them - this was huge, this was history, and a true highlight of Emma Hayes’ final season… whatever happens next.
Chelsea would have a week to recover - and prepare for the second leg at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea 0-2 Barcelona (WCL) - Barcelona win 2-1 on aggregate
A full week of preparation was a rarity for Chelsea this season - in fact, a full six days of rest between the first and second legs of this tie was the longest we had had this calendar year to prepare for a game.
It was going to be needed.
Following the historic 1-0 win against Barcelona in Spain, the Blues came into the second leg of our semi-final tie with a slender advantage - but also with the knowledge that the European champions can blow away any team.
There had been much chat in the media from the Catalans, with the reigning Ballon d’Or holder Aitana Bonmati leading the complaints against Chelsea’s so-called “dirty” tactics in the first leg - although how she judged a fairly routine bit of time wasting as more against the spirit of the game than the rough treatment of Mayra Ramirez had raised a few eyebrows.
Games do not come much bigger than this, and the Saturday evening showdown at Stamford Bridge was the talk of women’s football.
There had been a huge push to get the crowd at the Bridge to mark the occasion - which would also be the final time Emma Hayes led her team out at the ground. Fittingly, the 39,000 made it a record crowd for Chelsea FC Women.
Hayes persisted with the back three that had been deployed to so much success in the first leg. The only change to the starting XI was Mayra Ramirez - who was ruled out with injury. This was a big blow for Chelsea - the Barcelona defence had struggled to handle the Colombian the week previously. It did mean an opportunity for Cat Macario to start - and the American has experience in this competition with Lyon, scoring in their 2022 final win… vs Barcelona.
The sellout crowd contributed a loud soundtrack to the evening kick off, with Barcelona also trying to bring their famous intensity from the start, in a step up from their performance last week.
Chelsea showed early signs that they were not content to just sit back - attempting to release Lauren James and Macario whenever given the chance. The wide threat from Ashley Lawrence and Johanna Rytting Kaneryd was carried over from the week previously, too - and from Lawrence’s good wing play Erin Curhtber had a chance to replicate her goal from the first leg, but instead blazed over.
Hannah Hampton’s first real save came after around 20 minutes - a straightforward one from the dangerous Caroline Graham Hansen.
Unfortunately, it was less than five minutes later that Barcelona finally got on the scoresheet in the tie - and it was through the reigning Ballon d’Or holder, Bonmati. The midfielder’s striker took a cruel deflection off of Kadeisha Buchanan to wrongfoot Hampton, but they all count… and that crucially made it 1-1 on aggregate.
Cuthbert took her frustration out by booting a clearance straight into Bonmati’s face, leading to a break in play shortly after the goal - and a chance to regroup.
There was soon after a heartstopping moment, when Melanie Leupolz struck the crossbar with what looked like a golden chance to restore Chelsea’s overall lead - after our best attacking move of the match. However, the flag was raised for offside in the build up, to spare some of the agony - and it did show the Blues were still in the tie.
That moment did spark off what was Chelsea’s best 10 minute period of the match - and the Blues should have scored when Barcelona made an uncharacteristic error in defence. Nusken won the ball in the opposition box, but her cutback could not quite find James. There was a worry we would not get many better chances than that…
It was crucial to get to half time with the game still in the balance - and we did, meaning it was all still to fight for in the second half.
The pressure was to keep building, however, in the second half - and Chelsea were turning to increasingly desperate defending to hold back the Barcelona surge. The raucous home support tried their best - but were silenced by the few minutes around the hour mark.
First, Chelsea came the closest we would get to a goal in the game. A brilliant long pass from James found Lawrence, whose cross was met first time by the onrushing Nusken. Her stretched effort bounced off the outside of the post - leaving the German, and everyone in Blue, with head in hands.
Then, just minutes later, the game changed entirely. Chelsea are no stranger to dodgy referee decisions in the Champions League versus Barcelona - and this one would have had Didier Drogba out of his seat. Buchanan was shown a very harsh second yellow card, reducing Chelsea to ten players - and making the task mountainous.
Hayes made her first change, with Guro Reiten coming on for Macario. And Chelsea kept on fighting, pushing into the final 20 minutes with it still locked at 1-1 on aggregate.
Then, typically, another favourable refereeing decision for the opposition changed the game again. The lightest of pushes on Bonmati from Lawrence - after the Spaniard had appeared to first push the defender herself - resulted in a penalty, which unlike last week, VAR allowed to stand.
Fridolina Rolfo showed the coolest of heads from 12 yards to convert the spot kick, and for the first time in over 160 minutes of this tie, Barcelona were in front.
With 15 minutes left to play, a player and a goal down - it did feel like the end. Hayes threw the kitchen sink at it - bringing on each of Aggie Beever-Jones, Fran Kirby and Eve Perisset… and her wildcard, Millie Bright.
The centre half was making her first appearance in six months, after a long and difficult rehab from a knee injury - and the reception from the near 40,000 at the Bridge for our returning captain was a truly special moment.
Bright has before in crunch games for both England and Chelsea been used as an emergency centre forward - and this was her role for this cameo, as the Blues gave everything they had in the final throes, whilst the rain fell heavier and heavier.
There was to be six minutes of injury time for Chelsea to get an implausible goal to level up the tie - and after their complaints, it was Barcelona’s turn to waste time.
In the end, everything we had was not enough. The dream was over - but it was not without a fight, and any Chelsea fan could at least be happy that with odds increasingly stacked against us, through both injury and officiating, we acquitted ourselves well… and that gap really does appear to be closing.
It was next going to be a big task to pick ourselves up for the one trophy left to win, in this long season.

April results in brief

Fixture	Result	Competition	Goal scorers
Man United (A)	2-1 L	FA Cup	James (Charles assist)
Aston Villa (H)	3-0 W		WSL
Barcelona (A)	1-0 W	WCL	Cuthbert (Nüsken assist)
Barcelona (H)	2-0 L	WCL	n/a

Summary

April saw two gutting semi-final defeats for Chelsea FC Women, meaning our chances of silverware are now cut down to just one competition - the WSL.
Our loss to Man United in the FA Cup was frustrating, both due to our poor first half performance - and then due to refereeing decisions which could have made for a different result.
The second semi-final gave us both all of the highs and the lows of Champions League knockout ties. The win in Barcelona against the Catalan giants was their first on home territory in five years, our first-ever against them, and gave genuine hope of progressing through to the Champions League final - and keep alive the dream of winning the one trophy which has eluded Chelsea and Emma Hayes.
It was not to be. More harsh officiating made it a very difficult loss to take - Chelsea had performed brilliantly across the two legs, despite further injuries, and showed we can compete with the very best.
In the interim, we had won vs Aston Villa in the WSL, to ensure we stayed in the title race. Man City have now played two games more than the Blues, and comprehensive wins mean they now have a 7 goal advantage in goal difference, as well as a six point lead.
It is the only trophy we now have left to win - and given the form of Man City, who have it in their hands, it looks an increasingly tall order. a
Preview - Man City look favourites, tall order, may be tme to accept we will end trophyless
Lauren James, Mayra Ramirez and Aggie Beever-Jones also continue to shine - creating much cause for cheer and optimism for not just the weeks to come, but also the years after.

May preview

It is now all about the league.
Chelsea have four WSL games left to play - and it is a challenging fixture list.
First up in May we travel to Liverpool, who sit fifth in the league and are hunting down rivals Man United for fourth spot. Then, we will host already-relegated Bristol City at Kingsmeadow - in what will be Emma Hayes’ final home game as Blues manager.
In the last week of the season, we travel first to Tottenham Hotspur - who this month reached their first-ever FA Cup final - and then away to Man United, on the final day of the season.
Neither of those away fixtures are easy - and especially so given there is an acceptance that every team in the WSL would quite enjoy Chelsea being knocked off the perch that we have sat on for the past four years, with our four consecutive league title wins.
Man City, have just two to play - they will end the season away to Aston Villa, but first host Arsenal at home. It is that Arsenal game which gives the faintest glimmer of hope - but given Arsenal have secured third spot and hence European football, and have no prospect of challenging for the title, it is a slim hope. Add to that the bitter rivalry between Chelsea and our North London rivals, and it does not seem likely they will be doing us a favour.
Given that - Man City are favourites. They have the form, the fixtures, and the better goal difference. If they win their two games, they will likely win the league. It seems more likely Chelsea will drop points - and even if we do not, we have a big goal differential to make up.
It is not done yet, however - and one thing is certain is that Chelsea will fight to the end, as shown in the second leg vs Barcelona. The long-awaited return of Millie Bright to the pitch, after a knee injury which has kept her out for six months, is a boost too - and may help to see us through.
Four games left to win a title - and four games left for Emma Hayes.

If you are interested in learning more about Chelsea FC Women, and keeping a closer eye on the progress of our women's team, then check out our subreddit, /chelsealadiesfc!

UTC!

Week 3: Limericks and the Art of Humor
Day 1: Decoding Limericks - Activity: Analyze classic limericks for rhythm and humor. - Lecture: Discuss the AABBA rhyme scheme and distinctive rhythm. - Discussion: Share favorite humorous poems and discuss elements that make them funny.
Day 2: Crafting Limericks with Wit - Activity: Write limericks individually, focusing on humor and rhythm. - Lecture: Explore the balance of humor and structure in limericks. - Discussion: Share and discuss individual limericks, highlighting successful elements.
Day 3: Understanding Free Verse - Activity: Analyze free verse poems for structure and expression. - Lecture: Introduce the concept of free verse and its flexibility. - Discussion: Discuss the liberation and challenges of writing without a strict structure.
Day 4: Writing Exercise - Expressing Emotions in Free Verse - Activity: Explore emotions and write a free verse poem. - Assignment: Craft a free verse poem exploring a personal experience or emotion. - Vocabulary Words: Enjambment, Cadence, Anapest.
Day 5: Peer Review and Feedback - Activity: Peer review workshop for free verse poems. - Lecture: Discuss the artistic freedom and impact of free verse. - Discussion: Share insights gained from reviewing peers' free verse poems.
Study Guide Questions for Week 3: 1. What defines a limerick, and how does its rhythm contribute to its humor? 2. Discuss the importance of the AABBA rhyme scheme in limericks. 3. How does free verse differ from structured forms of poetry? 4. Explore the challenges and benefits of writing without a strict form in free verse. 5. Reflect on the emotions and experiences expressed in your free verse poem.
Quiz: Assessment on limericks, the AABBA rhyme scheme, and the principles of free verse.
Week 4: Free Verse and Acrostic Poetry
Day 1: Embracing Free Verse - Activity: Analyze diverse free verse poems for individual expression. - Lecture: Discuss famous free verse poets and their impact on the genre. - Discussion: Share personal reactions to the artistic freedom of free verse.
Day 2: Crafting Emotion in Free Verse - Activity: Write a free verse poem expressing a specific emotion. - Lecture: Explore the role of emotions in free verse and the use of vivid imagery. - Discussion: Share and discuss individual poems, highlighting emotional impact.
Day 3: Understanding Acrostic Poetry - Activity: Analyze acrostic poems for clever wordplay. - Lecture: Explain the concept of acrostic poetry and its various forms. - Discussion: Share examples of creative acrostic poems.
Day 4: Writing Exercise - Personal Acrostic - Activity: Craft an acrostic poem using your name or a chosen word. - Assignment: Write an acrostic poem exploring a theme or concept. - Vocabulary Words: Strophe, Stanza, Consonance.
Day 5: Peer Review and Feedback - Activity: Peer review workshop for acrostic poems. - Lecture: Discuss the playfulness and creativity of acrostic poetry. - Discussion: Share insights gained from reviewing peers' acrostic poems.
Study Guide Questions for Week 4: 1. Explore the role of emotions in free verse poetry. How does it differ from structured forms? 2. Discuss the impact of vivid imagery in free verse. How does it contribute to the overall message? 3. What defines acrostic poetry, and how is it different from other forms? 4. How can clever wordplay enhance the impact of an acrostic poem? 5. Reflect on the creative process and thematic exploration in your acrostic poem.
Quiz: Assessment on understanding free verse, emotional expression in poetry, and the principles of acrostic poetry.

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