What’s New With This Story:
-The NoMi Night Market has split into two separate market operations after the co-founders split after a personal squabble.
-The newly named Urban Habitat Night Market [led by Howard Tonkin] will continue to take place Friday nights at a property located near the intersection of NE 123rd St and NE 13th Ave
-The NoMi Night Market [led by Laura Hill] vows to relaunch in the future, but is currently looking to secure a permanent space.
-Hill and Tonkin had worked together to bring North Miami’s first night market into being and it opened to a nice amount of support from the community on Nov. 3.
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Personal differences have split a promising North Miami happening into two, only a few days after it officially started.
The NoMi Night Market is now the Urban Habitat Night Market or just a night market that happens at Urban Habitat, depending on who you ask.
And the NoMi Night Market is not dead, just looking to continue on at a different venue, depending on who you ask.
So yeah.
RISE NEWS attended the first weekly NoMi Night Market when it debuted on Nov. 3.
There were around 10 vendors and a smattering of local residents who popped in to sample various organic and sustainable products.
We even did a video on the opening:
But in the days following that opening, the co-founders split into two competing organizations.
As a result, North Miami may end up with two separate night markets.
What caused the split is based on who you believe.
Laura Hill and Howard Tonkin were the co-founders.
Hill is a North Miami activist and organizer, and Tonkin runs Urban Habitat, a sustainable landscaping business.
They both agree that they worked together to launch a night market at Tonkin’s new Urban Habitat property in North Miami.
But that’s about all they seem to agree on.
The biggest sticking point?
Just who came up with the idea in the first place.
Tonkin told RISE NEWS that the night market has been a dream of his for years, dating back to his time in Australia when he would visit the Mindil Beach night market.
He said that he’s wanted to bring the concept to Miami for years and that it is part of his overall long-term strategy for Urban Habitat.
“It’s my dream to bring people into my market,” Tonkin said. “It’s exciting to bring people into the market at night. That’s when the plants come alive.”
But Hill said that she came up with the idea.
“I’ve been around [Tonkin] for four years and I haven’t really heard him talk about the night market,” Hill said. “NoMi Night Market was the market we were bringing to that space. I brought the market together. Everything.”
What actually tore them apart is unclear as they each have wildly different versions.
“His vision and his methods made it clear to me that we had to rethink the market,” Hill said of Tonkin. “I’ve spent hundreds and hundreds of hours putting the thing together. He’s very upset with me because I decided to part ways. Our philosophies of running a business are just different.”
Tonkin said that he felt that Hill was trying to “sabotage my business and take the idea and run with it on [her] own.”
No matter what caused the split, it could actually end up benefiting North Miami in the long run.
Now, the city and surrounding communities will have two night markets to choose from.
The Urban Habitat Night Market will take place every Friday near the intersection of NE 123rd St and NE 13th Ave.
The NoMi Night Market is looking to secure a space but plans to open in the near future.
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Is Humankind Really Ready For The First Head Transplant?
This article first appeared on The Conversation. In a 1978 essay titled “Where Am I?” the philosopher Daniel Dennett suggested that the brain was the only organ of which it’s better to be a transplant donor than recipient. Now Italian neurosurgeon Sergio Canavero wants to turn philosophical thought experiments into reality by transplanting the head of… Read More
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The Unlucky History Of Friday The 13th And Why Some Of Us Fear It
It’s that special day of the year again. This Friday will be the 3rd and final Friday the 13th of the year.
Like black cats and broken mirrors, the day has become synonymous with bad luck and dread in western culture.
According to NPR, fear of Friday the 13th is an actual clinical condition called paraskevidekatriaphobia.
People suffering from this condition fear the day so much that some actually refuse to fly, make business decisions, or even spend a lot of money on this most inauspicious of days.
According to National Geographic, “It’s been estimated that $800 or $900 million is lost in business on this day because people will not fly or do business they normally would do.”
But this begs the question, why?
Accounts vary greatly as to the origins of the superstition of Friday the 13th. Some historians claim that the superstition surrounding the day most likely originated during the Middle Ages and may even have Biblical origins, according to the Telegraph.
One of the most popular legends surrounding the misfortune of Friday the 13th involves the events of Friday October 13th, 1307.
It was on this day that King Philip IV of France ordered the arrest and execution of all those associated with the Knights Templar to avoid having to pay back the massive financial debt he owed to the knightly order.
This legend was popularized when it was referenced in Dan Brown’s novel, The Da Vinci Code.
Prior to this; however, Friday and the number 13 were both considered to unlucky. Geoffrey Chaucer referenced the belief that it was bad luck to start a journey or a project on a Friday in the Canterbury Tales.
In Christian tradition, Good Friday is remembered as the day when Jesus was crucified. Some biblical scholars actually claim that the crucifixion of Jesus actually took place on Friday the 13th.
The number 13 has also been considered unlucky in western culture since antiquity. A Norse myth told of a dinner party for 12 gods at which Loki, 13th guest, showed up and shot the god of joy and happiness according to Livescience. A similar belief exists that Judas the betrayer, was the 13th person to arrive at the last supper.
Today, Friday the 13th is most commonly associated with the Friday the 13th movie franchise.
But whether you’re talking about dead Templars or dead camp counselors, Friday the 13th continues to capture the imagination and hold a special place in western superstition.
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Cover Photo Credit: Ed Schipul/ Flickr (CC By 2.0)
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Tila Tequila Is A Desperate Little Nazi
Another day, another desperate celebrity trying to bring attention to themselves and revive their 15 minutes of fame.
Tila Tequila, who became famous back when MySpace was still a thing and we had a Bush in office, has upped the crazy meter on her antics to DEFCON One.
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In case you have either stopped listening to the news altogether since the November 8th Presidential Election, or you choose to ignore the growing white nationalist pride and racist rhetoric being spewed in this country, Ms. Tequila has decided that she wants to throw her hat in the race for craziest racist and modern day Nazi sympathizer.
Here is my problem with Tila Tequila.
She is a Vietnamese American sexually fluid woman who is named after a Mexican liquor who would have been exactly what Hitler would have tried to rid during his time in power.
She is everything white Nationalists want to get rid of. As much as she provides an outlet to spread the racist and vitriolic message that is promoted by the Nation Policy Institute, it also makes for strange bedfellows.
In an article in 2013 from Tablet Mag, they chronicle her journey from Jewish convert to her path to posing as “sexy Hitler” and openly and honestly explaining why she sympathizes with the man who proudly brought upon the deaths of over 12 million people who were deemed a problem and were not part of his perfect race.
Tila Tequila is not a credible person.
Having been a fan of Tila Tequila’s scandalous bi-sexual dating show “A Shot at Love with Tila Tequila” I can’t quite fathom how she went from being someone who was representing the LGBT community to turning around and supporting an ideology that wants to see the end of those who brought her credibility.
Her brand is extremely tarnished and now she will continue to spew whatever comes out of her very fragile, damaged brain in an attempt to bring further relevance to herself, without thinking about the long term repercussions.
Unfortunately in 2016, it is no longer about your message having meaning, it is only about the message you are putting out.
While Tila Tequila has had a rough go of her life since she hit peak fame during the course of her show, she does not have much to show for herself since. Her failed relationship and then death of her girlfriend Casey Johnson, her very public and nasty abuse lawsuit against former NFL football player Shawn Merriman, her attempted suicide and subsequent rehab stint, her numerous outlandish and offensive remarks about the Jewish people all paint the picture of a woman who is not mentally stable.
As a Jewish-American, I am of course baffled by the idea that white nationalist pride and the growing Nazi sentiment are becoming prevalent in 2016, but I am also baffled at people who are part of the “minority” lying in bed with the people who view them as lesser human beings.
Even though I am still a white male in today’s society, I also understand the struggles of those who are not as privileged as I am because of the horrific history of my ancestors, those who had to suffer so future Jewish individuals could live a better life than they did.
The growing anti-Semitism and white Nationalist pride and assault on free speech by those on the extreme right are damaging the reputation of this country, and the true reason for the founding of the original colonies here in North America.
Our settlers were looking to escape persecution and no longer live in fear because of their beliefs.
Now we have celebrities like Tila Tequila (and using the phrase celebrity is being extremely generous) being used by the very individuals who they support, especially if what is being supported is not well received or downright inhumane.
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America was, has been and will always be great, so if anything, we need to make America respectful again.
We need to make America tolerant again. We need to stop breeding hate and we need to be willing to turn away notions of racism, of sexism, of misogyny, of anti-Semitism, of xenophobia, fear of anything that is not homogenous with the dominant white patriarchy that has run this country for 240 years.
RISE NEWS is a grassroots journalism news organization that is working to change the way young people become informed and engaged in the world. You can write for us.
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