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    Kristi Noem Killed Her Dog—and Committed ‘Political Suicide’

    Peter Watson
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    Kristi Noem Killed Her Dog—and Committed ‘Political Suicide’

    South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem’s gruesome recounting of how she killed her dog may have also killed something else: her hopes to be Donald Trump’s running mate.

    In Trump’s orbit, Noem’s decision to disclose in her forthcoming memoir that she once shot and killed a family dog is being seen as pure political self-immolation—part of a series of “lapses in judgment” and a sign of “desperation that President Trump especially doesn’t like,” according to a over a half-dozen GOP sources who spoke to The Daily Beast on condition of anonymity to detail confidential conversations.

    “Everyone around Trump is talking about this,” said a MAGA operative.

    “Haven’t seen a more public suicide than Jim Jones at Jonestown,” another Trumpworld source told The Daily Beast.

    For years, Noem has been seen as a rising star in Republican politics, thanks to her combative, unabashedly MAGA image. She routinely appears in news reports as one of Trump’s top contenders for his vice-presidential slot in 2024.

    At this point, though, even Republicans may agree that by deeply offending a bipartisan constituency—pet lovers—Noem isn’t just politically incorrect but politically incompetent.

    In a startling revelation from her new memoir No Going Back, set to be published next month, Noem details the shocking end of her 14-month-old wirehair pointer, Cricket.

    Noem recounts she killed the dog, who lived on the family’s farm in South Dakota, because of its “aggressive personality” and lack of hunting skills. She also writes that Cricket escaped her truck and attacked a group of chickens, “grabb[ing] one chicken at a time, crunching it to death with one bite, then dropping it to attack another.” This was the final straw.

    “I hated that dog,” Noem writes, adding that Cricket was simply “untrainable,” “worthless as a hunting dog,” and “dangerous to anyone she came in contact with.” It was then, she says, she realized “I had to put her down.”

    But Noem did the dirty work herself, leading Cricket to a gravel pit and then shooting the dog.

    Donald Trump listens as Gov. Kristi Noem speaks at a rally in Ohio in March 2024.

    KAMIL KRZACZYNSKI/AFP via Getty Images

    This graphic and shocking excerpt has been poorly received by many, including those in Trumpworld, and it may have sunk whatever hopes she had to be Trump’s running mate.

    The Trumpworld source added that Noem had “a very slight shot before” of being Trump’s running mate but that it is “less than zero now.”

    “A vice president is chosen to solve problems and add real value. A proven gaffe machine does neither,” a source close to the Trump campaign told The Daily Beast.

    Not only that, but a MAGA operative said Noem’s chances at a Cabinet position could also be toast. Her involvement with the Trump campaign at all could be limited going forward, too.

    Operatives around Trump “are fixated on the ads that would run if she were anywhere involved with President Trump’s campaign, regarding the dog,” the Trump operative said. “I mean, this stuff is devastating. There’s nothing more popular in politics than dogs, and she killed one—and she continues to talk about it… That’s what’s baffling and shows out-of-control judgment.”

    The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for Noem also did not respond to a request for comment.

    Indeed, amid all the blowback, Noem has refused to apologize. She wrote in subsequent posts on X that she “understands” why people might be upset but that “tough decisions like this happen all the time on a farm.”

    The governor also tried to spin the execution as an example of how she doesn’t “shy away from tough challenges.”

    “Whether running the ranch or in politics, I have never passed on my responsibilities to anyone else to handle,” Noem said on X. “Even if it’s hard and painful. I followed the law and was being a responsible parent, dog owner, and neighbor.”

    The widespread and swift backlash to Noem’s bizarre and off-putting story within Trumpworld is an exception to the general rule that Trump’s most trusted allies typically are protected when a bad news cycle comes for them after a self-inflicted wound.

    Take Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and his Trumpian ability to survive serious scandal. Or look at how the likes of Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-CO) and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) have been able to avoid—at least in the friendly confines of Trumpworld—being forever tied down to episodes they’d like to forget, from the infamous ‘Beetlejuice’ escapades for Boebert to Greene’s remarks about “Jewish space lasers.”

    Yet Noem might be in a league of her own.

    Matthew Bartlett, a GOP strategist and director of public affairs at the Department of State under Trump, said Noem may have carved out a new category for herself in the lexicon of political blunders.

    “For Kristi Noem, it’s hard to even call this an unforced error,” Bartlett said, “because she deliberately told this story from something she thought would be a position of strength.”

    A Trump-aligned strategist called Noem’s decision “one of the worst PR handlings I’ve ever seen.”

    “In America we love beer, baseball, and dogs. It’s bipartisan,” the strategist said. “And to think that Donald Trump would think you’re tough ’cause you killed a dog? It’s the weirdest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”

    The canine blow-up has also raised questions about who is advising Noem, or whether she listens to any sound political advice at all.

    “They just don’t know how to handle this,” another veteran GOP strategist said of Noem’s team. “Confirming it yourself, and doing so in a book—this wasn’t a slip of the tongue—it shows kind of a string of bad judgment along the way.”

    “What she put in the book is the most positive version of this story she could possibly have,” the strategist added. “Think of it that way.”

    Noem’s main champion in Trumpworld has long been Corey Lewandowski, Trump’s former campaign manager in 2016. Several Republicans who spoke with The Daily Beast said Noem’s account of shooting the puppy may well blow back on Lewandowski, who insisted in a Monday talk radio interview in New Hampshire that Noem was “still in the top three” contenders for Trump’s VP pick.

    Lewandowski did not return a request for comment.

    What’s made matters worse for Noem is that she has aggressively maneuvered to put herself in the VP conversation—magnifying the scrutiny on her missteps not just by Trump’s top lieutenants but by others who are angling for the No. 2 spot, too.

    “She’s sort of put herself in the VP-or-bust bucket,” the MAGA operative said, “and that’s a really bad place to be.”

    Bartlett said Noem may have fallen into a trap in her “misguided attempt” to project “some sort of Midwesternly strength.”

    “Connecting with rural America to show strength and hard decisions could have been a true asset,” Bartlett said, “but shooting a puppy never is.”

    Tensions grow as China ramps up global mining for green tech

    Peter Watson
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    Tensions grow as China ramps up global mining for green tech
    • By Global China Unit
    • BBC News

    Image source, Getty Images

    Image caption, Lithium is extracted in Chile’s Atacama desert, located within the “lithium triangle”

    Earlier this year, Ai Qing was woken up in the middle of the night by angry chants outside her dormitory in northern Argentina.

    She peered out of the window to see Argentine workers surrounding the compound and blockading the entrance with flaming tyres.

    “It was getting scary because I could see the sky being lit up by the fire. It had become a riot,” says Ms Ai, who works for a Chinese company extracting lithium from salt flats in the Andes mountains, for use in batteries.

    The protest, sparked by the firing of a number of Argentine staff, is just one of a growing number of cases of friction between Chinese businesses and host communities, as China – which already dominates the processing of minerals vital to the green economy – expands its involvement in mining them.

    It was just 10 years ago that a Chinese company bought the country’s first stake in an extraction project within the “lithium triangle” of Argentina, Bolivia and Chile, which holds most of the world’s lithium reserves.

    Many further Chinese investments in local mining operations have followed, according to mining publications, and corporate, government and media reports. The BBC calculates that based on their shareholdings, Chinese companies now control an estimated 33% of the lithium at projects currently producing the mineral or those under construction.

    Image source, Getty Images

    Image caption, Latin America’s “lithium triangle” has larger quantities of the mineral than anywhere else in the world

    But as Chinese businesses have expanded, they have faced allegations of abuses similar to those often levelled at other international mining giants.

    For Ai Qing, the tyre-burning protest was a rude awakening. She had expected a quiet life in Argentina, but found herself involved in conflict mediation because of her knowledge of Spanish.

    “It wasn’t easy,” she says.

    “Beyond the language, we have to tone down many things, like how management thinks the employees are simply lazy and too reliant on the union, and how locals think Chinese people are only here to exploit them.”

    The BBC Global China Unit has identified at least 62 mining projects across the world, in which Chinese companies have a stake, that are designed to extract either lithium or one of three other minerals key to green technologies – cobalt, nickel and manganese.

    All are used to make lithium-ion batteries – used in electric vehicles – which, along with solar panels, are now high industrial priorities for China. Some projects are among the largest producers of these minerals in the world.

    China has long been a leader in refining lithium and cobalt, with a share of global supply reaching 72% and 68% respectively in 2022, according to the Chatham House think tank.

    Its capacity to refine these and other critical minerals has helped the country reach a point where it made more than half of the electric vehicles sold worldwide in 2023, has 60% of the global manufacturing capacity for wind turbines, and controls at least 80% of each stage in the solar panel supply chain.

    China’s role in the sector has made these items cheaper and more accessible globally.

    But it’s not only China that will need to mine and process minerals needed for the green economy. The UN says that if the world is to reach net-zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, their use must increase six-fold by 2040.

    The US, the UK and the European Union have all developed strategies, meanwhile, to reduce their dependence on Chinese supplies.

    As Chinese companies have increased their overseas mining operations, allegations of problems caused by these projects have steadily risen.

    The Business and Human Rights Resource Centre, an NGO, says such troubles are “not unique to Chinese mining” but last year it published a report listing 102 allegations made against Chinese companies involved in extracting critical minerals, ranging from violations of the rights of local communities to damage to ecosystems and unsafe working conditions.

    These allegations dated from 2021 and 2022. The BBC has counted more than 40 further allegations that were made in 2023, and reported by NGOs or in the media.

    People in two countries, on opposite sides of the world, also told us their stories.

    Image source, BBC Byobe Malenga

    Image caption, Activist Christophe Kabwita lives near Ruashi mine in DR Congo

    On the outskirts of Lubumbashi in the far south of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Christophe Kabwita has been leading opposition to the Ruashi cobalt mine, owned by the Jinchuan Group since 2011.

    He says the open-pit mine, situated 500m from his doorstep, blights people’s lives by using explosives to blast away at the rock two or three times per week. Sirens wail when the blasting is about to start, as a signal for everyone to stop what they are doing and take cover.

    “Whatever the temperature, whether it’s raining or a gale is blowing, we have to leave our homes and go to a shelter near the mine,” he says.

    This applies to everyone, including the sick and women who have just given birth, he adds, as nowhere else is safe.

    Image source, BBC Byobe Malenga

    Image caption, A village borders the edge of Ruashi mine

    In 2017 a teenage girl, Katty Kabazo, was reportedly killed by a flying rock on her way home from school, while other rocks are said to have punched holes into the walls and roofs of local houses.

    A spokesperson from the Ruashi mine, Elisa Kalasa, acknowledged that “one young kid was in that area – she was not supposed to be there and was affected by the flying rocks”.

    She said that since then “we have improved the technology, and now we have the sort of blasting where there are no flying rocks any more”.

    However, the BBC spoke to a processing manager at the company, Patrick Tshisand, who appeared to give a different picture. He said: “If we mine, we use explosives. Explosives can cause flying rocks, which can end up in the community because the community is too close to the mine… so we had several accidents like that.”

    Ms Kalasa also said that between 2006 and 2012 the company compensated more than 300 families to relocate further away from the mine.

    On Indonesia’s remote Obi Island, a mine jointly owned by a Chinese company, Lygend Resources and Technology, and Indonesian mining giant Harita Group has rapidly swallowed up the forests around the village of Kawasi.

    Jatam, a local mining watchdog, says that villagers have been under pressure to move and accept government compensation. Dozens of families have refused to relocate, saying what is on offer is below market value. As a result, some say they have been threatened with legal action for allegedly disrupting a project of national strategic importance.

    Jatam says old-growth forests have been logged to make way for the mine and they’ve documented how the rivers and ocean have been filled with sediment, polluting what was once a pristine marine environment.

    “The water from the river is undrinkable now, it’s so contaminated, and the sea, that is usually clear blue, turns red when it rains,” Nur Hayati, a teacher who lives in Kawasi village, says.

    Indonesian soldiers have been deployed to the island to protect the mine and when the BBC visited recently, there was a noticeable, increased military presence. Jatam claims soldiers are being used to intimidate, and even assault, people who speak out against the mine. Ms Nur says her community feels the army is there to “protect the interests of the mine, not the welfare of their own people”.

    The military’s spokesperson in Jakarta said allegations of intimidation “cannot be proven” and that while the soldiers were there to “protect the mine” they were not there to “directly interact with locals”.

    In a statement, he claimed the relocation of villagers to make way for the mine had been overseen by the police in a “peaceful and smooth manner”.

    Ms Nur was among a group of villagers who travelled to the Indonesian capital, Jakarta, in June 2018, to protest against the impact of the mine. But a local government representative, Samsu Abubakar, told the BBC no complaints had been received from the public about environmental damage.

    He also shared an official report that concluded Harita Group had been “compliant with environmental management and monitoring obligations”.

    Harita itself told us that it “adheres strictly to ethical business practices and local laws” and it is “continuously working to address and mitigate any negative impacts”.

    It claimed it had not caused widespread deforestation, it monitored the local source of drinking water, and independent tests have confirmed the water met government quality standards. It added that it had not carried out forced evictions or unfair land transactions and had not intimidated anyone.

    Image source, Getty Images

    Image caption, Heavy rains in Kawasi now turn the rivers and sea red

    A year ago, the Chinese mining trade body, known as CCCMC, started setting up a grievance mechanism, intended to resolve complaints made against Chinese-owned mining projects. The companies themselves “lack the ability – both cultural and linguistic” to interact with local communities or civil society organisations, says a spokesperson, Lelia Li.

    However, the mechanism still isn’t fully operating.

    Meanwhile, China’s involvement in foreign mining operations seems certain to increase. It’s not just a “geopolitical play” to control a key market, says Aditya Lolla, the Asia programme director at Ember, a UK-based environmental think tank, it also makes sense from a business perspective.

    “Acquisitions are being made by Chinese companies because, for them, it’s all about profits,” he says.

    As a result, Chinese workers will continue to be sent to mining projects around the world and for them, these projects mostly present a chance to earn good money.

    People such as Wang Gang, who has worked for 10 years in Chinese-owned cobalt mines in DR Congo. The 48-year-old lives in company accommodation and eats in the staff canteen, working 10-hour days, seven days a week, with four days’ leave per month.

    He accepts the separation from his family in Hubei province, because he earns more than he could at home. He also enjoys the clear skies and tall forests of DR Congo.

    He communicates with local mine workers in a mixture of French, Swahili, and English, but says: “We rarely chat, except for work-related matters.”

    Even Ai Qing, who speaks the language of her host country fluently, has little interaction with Argentines outside work. She’s started seeing a fellow Chinese worker, and they mostly hang out with other people like themselves – being thousands of miles from home pulls everyone closer.

    A highlight for her is visiting the salt flats high up in the Andes where the lithium is mined and life is “chill”.

    “The altitude sickness always gets me – I can’t fall asleep and I can’t eat,” she says. “But I really do enjoy going up there because things are much simpler, and there are no office politics.”

    Ai Qing and Wang Gang are pseudonyms

    Additional reporting by Emery Makumeno, Byobe Malenga, Lucien Kahozy

    Darren Bailey, Dan Proft deny illegal coordination claims

    Peter Watson
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    Darren Bailey, Dan Proft deny illegal coordination claims

    The day after Darren Bailey won the 2022 Republican governor primary, he and his campaign manager made an urgent, unscheduled helicopter trip from downstate to meet political operative and right-wing radio show host Dan Proft for a closed-door meeting to talk about “serious” campaign funding.

    At a Chicago-area country club, Proft met both men at the front door and led them to a secluded room where he placed a white envelope on a table and said it contained $20 million from ultraconservative billionaire mega-donor Richard Uihlein.

    FCC Fines Major U.S. Wireless Carriers for Selling Customer Location Data – Krebs on Security

    Peter Watson
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    FCC Fines Major U.S. Wireless Carriers for Selling Customer Location Data – Krebs on Security

    The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) today levied fines totaling nearly $200 million against the four major carriers — including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon — for illegally sharing access to customers’ location information without consent.

    The fines mark the culmination of a more than four-year investigation into the actions of the major carriers. In February 2020, the FCC put all four wireless providers on notice that their practices of sharing access to customer location data were likely violating the law.

    The FCC said it found the carriers each sold access to its customers’ location information to ‘aggregators,’ who then resold access to the information to third-party location-based service providers.

    “In doing so, each carrier attempted to offload its obligations to obtain customer consent onto downstream recipients of location information, which in many instances meant that no valid customer consent was obtained,” an FCC statement on the action reads. “This initial failure was compounded when, after becoming aware that their safeguards were ineffective, the carriers continued to sell access to location information without taking reasonable measures to protect it from unauthorized access.”

    The FCC’s findings against AT&T, for example, show that AT&T sold customer location data directly or indirectly to at least 88 third-party entities. The FCC found Verizon sold access to customer location data (indirectly or directly) to 67 third-party entities. Location data for Sprint customers found its way to 86 third-party entities, and to 75 third-parties in the case of T-Mobile customers.

    The commission said it took action in response to a May 2018 story broken by The New York Times, which exposed how a company called Securus Technologies had been selling location data on customers of virtually any major mobile provider to law enforcement officials.

    That same month, KrebsOnSecurity broke the news that LocationSmart — a data aggregation firm working with the major wireless carriers — had a free, unsecured demo of its service online that anyone could abuse to find the near-exact location of virtually any mobile phone in North America.

    The carriers promised to “wind down” location data sharing agreements with third-party companies. But in 2019, reporting at Vice.com showed that little had changed, detailing how reporters were able to locate a test phone after paying $300 to a bounty hunter who simply bought the data through a little-known third-party service.

    The FCC fined Sprint and T-Mobile $12 million and $80 million respectively. AT&T was fined more than $57 million, while Verizon received a $47 million penalty. Still, these fines represent a tiny fraction of each carrier’s annual revenues. For example, $47 million is less than one percent of Verizon’s total wireless service revenue in 2023, which was nearly $77 billion.

    The fine amounts vary because they were calculated based in part on the number of days that the carriers continued sharing customer location data after being notified that doing so was illegal (the agency also considered the number of active third-party location data sharing agreements). The FCC notes that AT&T and Verizon each took more than 320 days from the publication of the Times story to wind down their data sharing agreements; T-Mobile took 275 days; Sprint kept sharing customer location data for 386 days.

    A new measure of ‘Trump amnesia’ in swing states

    Peter Watson
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    A new measure of ‘Trump amnesia’ in swing states

    In theory, elections are choices between two candidates whose positions are duly considered by voters and whose victories are a reflection of popular will for those positions. In reality, of course, things are hazier. Candidates emphasize or downplay their beliefs to win votes and are subject to the vagaries of public belief and memory in ways that can be hard to predict.

    For example: On Sunday, CBS News published new polling from the three swing states that flipped to Donald Trump in 2016 and then flipped back to support Joe Biden four years later. The polling, conducted by YouGov, found that most respondents in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin viewed the economy in their states fairly poorly — a few percentage points better than the national economy but not great overall.

    Predictably, there was a gap by party, with Democrats being substantially more likely to view the national and state economies positively.

    But the pollsters also asked another question: How did respondents view the economy in their states under Trump? The split was striking: On average across the three states, respondents viewed their state’s economy at least 20 points more positively when Trump was president than viewed the economy positively now. That was driven heavily by overwhelmingly positive assessments from Republicans, but also by strongly positive retrospective views from independents.

    Just before the 2020 election, YouGov asked voters in these same states how they viewed Trump’s handling of the economy — a different question than how people viewed the economy in their state, admittedly, but a useful means of comparing views of Trump before the 2020 election with how his tenure is viewed now.

    In each state, respondents were 15 points less likely to have viewed Trump’s handling of the economy positively than said this month that their state economies were in good shape during the Trump presidency. The YouGov poll conducted in October 2020 aggregated party views across the three states, but the state-level results in the most recent poll were similar enough to show that the biggest differences between views of Trump in 2020 and retrospective views of the economy during his presidency came from Democrats.

    On average, Democrats were 24 points more likely to tell YouGov this month that the economy under Trump was good than said they approved of Trump’s handling of the economy in October 2020.

    It’s worth noting that between 5 and 7 percent fewer residents of these three states were employed in October 2020 than the previous October, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic. In each of those three states, employment is at least 1 percent higher now than in October 2019.

    It’s not uncommon, though, for polling to show that views of a president who has left office improve over time. In July, Gallup found that nine of the 10 presidents who preceded Biden had seen their approval ratings increase relative to when they were in office — including Trump. What’s unusual here is that a former president is running for election after having left office. The boost that Trump has seen since leaving office has ramifications that gains among other past presidents don’t.

    The recent CBS News-YouGov poll also found that Democrats were much more likely to say that they were worried about having a functioning democracy in the future than they were about having a strong economy. Republicans were slightly more likely to say the opposite.

    This is an unusual question to ask, one centered on the politics and political concerns of the moment. It is a reflection of the focus Biden has placed on the threat to democracy posed by Trump’s possible return to power. But it is also useful for Biden if Americans view economic issues as less urgent than preserving democracy — given that even members of his party view the economy under his opponent better than they did when his opponent was president.

    Inside the Vatican’s Uncanny Venice Biennale Pavilion

    Peter Watson
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    Inside the Vatican’s Uncanny Venice Biennale Pavilion
    The outside of the Vatican Pavilion at the Venice Biennale featuring a mural by Maurizio Cattelan (photo Julie Baumgardner/Hyperallergic)

    VENICE — There was a minute when the art press might have been able to meet the Pope. It was a short minute, a New York one, even — definitely not a Venetian one. The encounter was slated to take place at the Pavilion of the Holy See at the Venice Biennale on April 21; instead, Pope Francis became the first pontiff to visit the contemporary art event on Sunday, landing by helicopter in a private event with no outsiders allowed.

    The Papacy is an organization that operates on secrecy. God, after all, isn’t exactly a visible figure. Faith requires a leap, a trust in the invisible. And yet visibility is at the heart of the Holy See Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, whose exhibition title, Con i miei occhi (With my eyes), is borrowed from Book of Job 42:5: “Mine eyes have seen thee.” But this isn’t exactly a pavilion about “being seen” in the sense of the English colloquialism denoting empathy and embrace, despite the Church’s attempts. 

    The Courtyard of Stroll at the Venice Giudecca Female Penitentiary (photo by Marco Cremascoli, courtesy the Holy See Pavilion)

    No, in fact, the literal infrastructure of the pavilion is hidden. In a prison. The Giudecca Women’s Detention Home is a 13th-century monastery converted into a prison for unwed mothers, sex workers, and mentally ill people in 1859. Curators Chiara Parisi and Bruno Racine selected nine artists to create site-specific works that engage and employ the imprisoned women. Visitors to Parisi and Racine’s exhibition cannot enter (nor exit) freely. It’s a pavilion quite literally hidden behind bars, where entry is only granted after a passport check, phones are sequestered, and doors only open after preceding ones are locked. A place where the rules aren’t in a citizen’s favor. 

    This pavilion, in particular, follows a strict protocol — and not just the one set by the Italian Ministry of Justice’s Department of Prison Administration. Visits are limited to groups of 25 people four times a day. They begin in the prison guard’s cafeteria, a space out of Italian central casting, where an espresso machine sits prominently on a bar alongside vitrines of cornettos, the walls covered in Corita Kent’s 1960s sloganeering serigraphs with mottos like “life-new life,” “yes people like us,” and “e eye love.” Kent was an activist American artist and nun, known as Sister Mary Corita Kent. She taught at the Immaculate Heart College in Los Angeles, where she set rules for the Art Department. One can take a pamphlet of them here: “Rule 1: Find a place you trust and then try trusting it for a while.” Against the backdrop of a prison, that’s a chilling order. 

    The barred window at the Giudecca (photo Julie Baumgardner/Hyperallergic)
    Installation view of Sister Mary Corita Kent’s work at the Vatican Pavilion (photo by Marco Cremascoli, courtesy the Holy See Pavilion)

    It’s here that the group meets the guides: Marceby and Giulia, who both participated in the art-making. Visitors are not allowed to ask the imprisoned women personal questions — where they come from, why they’re there, how long their sentence is.

    Behind the commendatori — the chief warden, we’d call it in English — we follow. Led by Marceby, we walk down an outside corridor, where artist Simone Fattal has adapted letters prisoners mailed to their loved ones into paintings on volcanic slates that hang upon the walls. The commendatori explains that the imprisoned women only ever walk this corridor when arriving at and departing the prison.

    Left: A representative from the Department of Prison Administration (left) along with Cardinal José Tolentino de Mendonça (second from the left) and Maurizio Cattelan (second from the right) (photo Julie Baumgardner/Hyperallergic); Right: The work of Simone Fattal at the Holy See Pavilion (photo by Marco Cremascoli, courtesy the Holy See Pavilion)
    Installation view of Claire Fontaine’s work at the Vatican Pavilion (photo by Marco Cremascoli, courtesy the Holy See Pavilion)

    Fattal asked the women to write poems of their experience inside; these have been printed onto cardstock as take-away mementos for visitors. Marceby’s poem “Free Spirit” reads: “Corri cavallo bianco corri. Corri finché hai fiato.” (“Run white horse run. Run while you can still breathe.”) 

    Next, we are led into a grand courtyard, where an illuminated sign by Claire Fontaine faces the dormitories, reading “Siamo con voi nella notte” (“We are with you at night”). Indeed, the words, which were first graffitied in front of the federal jail in Florence as part of the 1970s Italian prison reform movement, shine brightly after dark. As Parisi put it, “the language used in all the works is present in the history of the place.” 

    Then comes Marco Perego’s untitled film starring Zoë Saldaña. Its claustrophobic depiction of squeezing through alleyways and tunnels is a haunting treatise on the power of female friendship through an intimate portrayal of the inmates. Tears are abundant in the viewing room — tears that only continue as we enter Claire Tabouret’s series depicting the women’s children, some of whom grew up within the prison’s walls, separated from their imprisoned mothers except for short encounters between 10am and 2pm on Wednesdays and Saturdays. It’s a reminder that children are unintended collateral in the carceral system. 

    Installation view of Marco Perego’s film (photo by Marco Cremascoli, courtesy the Holy See Pavilion)

    The Giudecca Women’s Detention Home is notorious in Italy. One male, working-class Venetian resident who looked to be in his 40s told me, unprovoked, while we had morning espressos at a standing bar, of the Church hypocrisy in infantilizing pregnant women yet punishing those who use their sexuality to their advantage. “The pregnant women, they steal and get away with it, because the Vatican deems it ok,” he said. “But then they lock a woman away in Giudecca who sells her figa [read: slang for vagina]. How is this fair?” Inside the prison is a working farm, where those imprisoned produce a bounty of produce sold at market on Thursdays. Front and center in the setting is labor. They toil, whether in their everyday farming or for this pavilion. The official press line from the Detention Center about compensation is that it is “a confidential matter that will be defined internally.”

    There’s been critique floating around about the exploitive capacity of the pavilion. But it’s complicated by the voices of the participants. “I’m not an artist, but this was an opportunity to be one,” Marceby said repeatedly during the tour. “I get to meet people every day, I get to write poetry, I get to connect to the outside world.” Can a project like this be an opportunity for empowerment, as suggested by Corita Kent’s adages, and a space for hope, as in Fattal’s or Fontaine’s projects, as much as one that unfairly takes advantage of those who provide labor without receiving the benefit? 

    The complication arises, as it often does, with the power exchange between players in these little acts of art. “The Church understands and accepts the autonomy of art,” the Cardinal told Hyperallergic. “I personally see a line of intersection between the mission of contemporary art and the mission of the Church.” Inviting Maurizio Cattelan, the Italian trickster who always shows up when least expected to pull prank — or rank, in this case, for Hyperallergic’s first of many promised interviews with the Cardinal was scratched in favor of the artist’s impromptu visit — might be read as a sign of this respect for art’s autonomy. Indeed, Cattelan’s “La Nona Ora” (1999), a statue of the pope struck by a meteor, caused cries of heresy throughout the land. But for an institution that preaches and protects itself behind vows of caritas and giving alms to the poor and unfortunate, the Vatican’s commandeering of imprisoned women reads more like a globally influential institution engaging in untransparent indentured labor to produce artwork for its own gain.

    The work of Sonia Gomes at the Holy See Pavilion, from below (photo by Marco Cremascoli, courtesy the Holy See Pavilion)

    Throughout the exhibition, pleas of empowerment are tossed around frequently. Parisi calls these imprisoned artists “philosophers.” The Cardinal adds: “When we conceived the Pavilion, we imagined it as a listening station.” Works by Afro-Brazilian sculptor Sonia Gomes from her series Sinfonia (2021–present), consisting of 34 woven works of fabric, stones, and buttons hanging from the ceiling in the prison’s Baroque Chapel, is a gesture to “look up and be free,” as the artist told the inmates. It hangs between a fresco reading “Remissa sunt eius peccata multa” — “Her sins, though many, are forgiven.” There are still 80 women held at the prison as of press time. 

    The work of Claire Fontaine at the Holy See Pavilion (photo by Marco Cremascoli, courtesy the Holy See Pavilion)
    The work of Sonia Gomes at the Holy See Pavilion, from the side (photo by Marco Cremascoli, courtesy the Holy See Pavilion)

    ID@Xbox April 2024: Everything Announced

    Peter Watson
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    ID@Xbox April 2024: Everything Announced

    Microsoft just held its latest ID@Xbox, a digital showcase showing many fantastic indie games headed to Xbox and PC. From existing games getting updates, such as Palworld and Vampire Survivors, to new details on existing indie games, like 33 Immortals and Lost Records: Bloom & Rage, today’s showcase likely had a game for just about every type of player.

    If you missed today’s ID@Xbox showcase, don’t worry. IGN has recapped everything announced, which you can read below.

    Astor: Blade of the Monolith is out on May 30

    Originally announced as Monolith: Requiem of the Ancients before the rebranding, Astor: Blade of the Monolith is a hack-and-slash ARPG. Players control the titular character, Astor, as he ventures off to unravel the mystery regarding the disappearance of the ancients.

    33 Immortals’ closed beta is set for late May

    If you are looking for a co-op roguelike game with 32 of your friends, 33 Immortals’ is the game for you. The top-down action game has beautiful hand-drawn visuals reminiscent of Spiritfarer combined with constant on-screen action from something like Vampire Survivors, 33 Immortals’ closed beta is set for May 24.

    Palworld is getting a massive update with new Pals this Summer

    Palworld, the indie darling that has become a breakout hit for Xbox early into 2024, is getting a big update this summer that includes the introduction of four new Pals. More interestingly, the trailer showed a flamethrower weapon being wielded by a player; previously, players who wanted to use a flamethrower in Palworld needed a Foxsparks to replicate a flamethrower.

    WWII-era game Commandos: Origins is getting a closed beta this Summer

    Claymore Game Studios has provided a new look at the next entry in the Commandos franchise, subtitled Origins. Set in World War II, players control Jack O’Hara or one of his five companions in a series of missions that set in ” historically authentic WWII environments.”

    A closed beta is set to be held sometime this Summer.

    Centum is an 8-bit point-and-click adventure game coming this Summer

    If you like 8-bit visuals and point-and-click adventure games, Centum might be worth adding to your watchlist. The gameplay from the reveal trailer reveals that the game will shift between medieval and modern settings. Centum is out this Summer.

    Lost Records: Bloom & Rage gets a new trailer, but no release date

    Announced at the 2023 Game Awards, Lost Records: Bloom & Rage is the next project from Don’t Nod, the creator of Life is Strange. Unlike Don’t Nod’s previous story-driven choose-your-own-adventure games, which were set in a more modern period, Lost Records is set in 1995. The latest trailer oozes 90s nostalgia, with kids skateboarding and footage of the trailer being “recorded” from a 90s-era camcorder.

    Keylocker is out this Summer on PC and Xbox

    A turn-based cyberpunk action game, Keylocker, will be released on PC and Xbox sometime this Summer. Set in a world where music is outlawed, players control a singer. Developer Moonana explained on the game’s Steam page that the Mario & Luigi RPG series and Chrono Trigger inspired Keylocker.

    Stampede: Racing Royale is a battle royale racing game with 60 players on the course

    While Mario Kart is still the franchise that dominates the kart racing subgenre, it is still limited to Nintendo hardware. Sumo Digital’s Stampede: Racing Royale might give Xbox players something to fill the Mario Kart void.

    A racing game that fuses kart racing and battle royale, Stampede: Racing Royale has 60 players burning rubber on the course. The gameplay and power-ups are similar to those in a Mario Kart game, combined with the goofiness found in MediaTonic’s platform battle royale game Fall Guys.

    Jackbox Games is finally making an adult-themed Party Pack coming this year

    Adult Jackbox players wishing for an adult-themed Party Pack can stop praying as Jackbox Games announced today that it is finally making one.

    Jackbox Naughty Pack is coming sometime this year. While there is no information on what games will be included in the party pack, the announcement reminds me of how Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity exist, with the Naughty Pack taking a darker and more provocative twist.

    Times & Galaxy gets June release window

    Copychaser Games’ upcoming point-and-click game Times & Galaxy will be available on PC and Xbox sometime in June. Payers control a robot, the first robot reporter for the prestigious Times & Galaxy newspaper. The reporter is asked to find stories across the Galaxy as an intern, hoping to get a scoop.

    Sulfur is a contemporary shooter with old-school vibes coming to Xbox

    A contemporary first-person shooter with roguelike elements and an old-school design. One of the user-defined tags on the game’s Steam page describes it as a “boomer shooter.” Looking at the previous trailer and the one that appeared at ID@Xbox, gameplay might remind people of the older Doom and Wolfenstein games.

    Fera: The Sundered Tribes is out later this year

    Massive Damage Studios has shared a new trailer for Fera: The Sundered Tribes, an action RPG that fuses monster hunting with tribe management and building mechanics. The gameplay and screenshots resemble Monster Hunter: World.

    Fera, The Sundered Tribes is launching later this year.

    All You Need Is Help is a quirky puzzle game from the creators of PixelJunk Monsters

    If you are looking for a silyl but cozy puzzle game, PixelJunk Monsters creator Q-Games’ next project, All You Need Is Help, is hitting the sweet spot. The trailer indicates that this puzzle game is a multiplayer game in which players have time and need to place their puzzle pieces in the correct position.

    All You Need Is Help is out sometime this Fall.

    Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter gets new trailer, still no release date

    Odd Bug Studio’s upcoming soulslike action RPG Tails of Iron 2: Whiskers of Winter got a new trailer at ID@Xbox, flaunting more of its comic book 2D art style. Players will control Arlo, who is on a quest to defeat giant beasts and bandits that are scattered throughout the world.

    Hangry briefly appears at ID@Xbox

    Hangry, the “snack n’ slash” RPG in which players hunt down and eat monsters, briefly appeared at ID@Xbox, where players got a brief new look at gameplay.

    Promise Mascot Agency is the next game from the creators of Paradise Killer

    Kaizen Game Works, the developers behind Paradise Killer, are back with a sophomore title called Promise Mascot Agency. As the name implies, players run a mascot agency, and gameplay includes card-based battles.

    I promise Mascot Agency will be out sometime next year.

    Five games published by Gamera Games are headed to Xbox Game Pass

    Indie game publisher Gamera Games appeared at ID@Xbox today, revealing that five games—Depersonalization, Firework, Volcano Princess, Kelperth, and The Rewinder—are headed to Game Pass. All these games were released initially on PC before today’s announcement.

    Over 15 games from the Triple-I Initiative showcase will be playable on Xbox

    Earlier this month, the Triple-I Initiative showcase highlighted many indie delights that are headed shortly. Games such as Palworld Arena and Cat Quest 3 appeared. Towards the end of the showcase, it was revealed that 17 games from that sizzle during ID@Xbox will be playable on Xbox.

    Dungeons of Hinterberg gets a colorful new trailer focusing on gameplay

    A fusion of social sim and action RPG genres with cel-shaded graphics, Dungeons of Hinterberg is set in the Austrian Alps where players control Luisa, a law trainee suffering burnout who opts to drop the corporate life and trade it in for the rugged life of living in the wild and conquer dungeons.

    Vampire Survirors: Operation Guns DLC gets one more trailer before its May 9 release date

    Vampire Survivors: Operation Guns, known affectionately as the Contra DLC, is headed to all platforms early next month. We got another look at the new DLC before it gets into players’ hands. But the most interesting thing about the new trailer is that at the end, viewers get a “one more thing…” revealing that Brad Fang, a character who first appeared in Contra: Hard Corps, will be featured in the DLC.

    Taylor is a Reporter at IGN. You can follow her on Twitter @TayNixster.

    Jerry Seinfeld’s Pop-Tarts Movie Unfrosted Promo Has Soup Nazi, More

    Peter Watson
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    Jerry Seinfeld’s Pop-Tarts Movie Unfrosted Promo Has Soup Nazi, More
    Jerry Seinfeld and Tarty.

    Jerry Seinfeld and Tarty.


    Pop-Tarts / Le Truc

    Pop-Tarts is getting back at Jerry Seinfeld.

    It all started when Seinfeld directed and co-wrote a movie, Unfrosted, about the origin of Pop-Tarts. He also stars in the film, which hits Netflix on May 3.

    Unfrosted tells the (fictional) origin story of Pop-Tarts, which resulted in a race between breakfast rivals Kellogg’s and Post to create a pastry for the masses in 1963. While Pop-Tarts does indeed have an origin story, this is not it. (The idea had been percolating with Seinfeld for several years — he even made jokes about Pop-Tarts in his stand-up routine and once tweeted he was mulling over the idea of this film — but Pop-Tarts was not involved in the making of Unfrosted.)

    “This really did happen in Battle Creek, Michigan, where Kellogg’s and Post were located, and they did compete to come up with this product,” Seinfeld has said. “But the rest of it is complete lunacy. … We’re going to tell you a story, but if we want to do something funny that doesn’t make any sense, we’re going to do that too.”

    In a comedic digital short (written by Seinfeld) that was released Monday to promote Unfrosted, the actor-comedian meets with Kelman P. Gasworth, the (fictional) president of Pop-Tarts, in the company’s headquarters in Battle Creek, Mich., to discuss the film. 

    The issue? “When Jerry Seinfeld made the movie Unfrosted, he referenced 221 trademarked breakfast products without permission or proper legal clearance. This prompted a meeting,” explains a text card at the beginning.

    “It’s my understanding that you neither sought nor received permission to use our product in your movie,” Gasworth tells Seinfeld. 

    Accompanied by the Pop-Tarts mascot, Tarty, Gasworth asks Seinfeld: “Are you familiar with the concept of trademark infringement? … You see Mr. Seinfeld, you took something of ours, and now, we’re going to take something of yours. Show him, Tarty.”

    Tarty removes a blue covering from a large glass box that reveals three characters from Seinfeld.

    “Schmoopie, Jackie Chiles and the Soup Nazi! My characters!” Seinfeld exclaims of the characters, memorably played by Ali Wentworth, Phil Morris and Larry Thomas, respectively.

    Replies Gasworth: “They’re my characters now, Mr. Seinfeld. Tell me, how does it feel when people steal your ideas and then do whatever they want with them?

    “You mean like Friends?” Seinfeld quips of another long-running, beloved comedy series.

    Gasworth then says he’s created a new show, People in Pontiacs Eating Pop-Tarts, which is, of course, an imitation of Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. 

    Watch the digital short below.

    For its part, Pop-Tarts isn’t actually upset. The company notes that the movie is “farce, not fact” but adds that it represents “the ultimate flattery because it is fanfiction.”

    Moreover, Pop-Tarts has created a limited-edition Unfrosted Strawberry “Trat-Pops” packaging (typo intentional). Fans can sign up at poptarts.com/Unfrosted for a chance to win.

    The limited-edition Unfrosted Strawberry “Trat-Pops” packaging

    Pop-Tarts / Le Truc

    Interactive mHealth App Helped Improve Patients’ Lifestyle Habits After Undergoing PCI

    Peter Watson
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    Interactive mHealth App Helped Improve Patients’ Lifestyle Habits After Undergoing PCI

    For patients with coronary heart disease who received a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), using the interactive mobile health (mHealth) application EVITE helped these patients improve and adhere to lifestyle changes.

    Mobile health app | Image credit: Kaspars Grinvalds – stock.adobe.com

    According to a study published in JMIR mHealth and uHealth, these lifestyle changes included adherence to the Mediterranean diet, improved frequency of healthy food consumption, increased physical activity, and quitting smoking.1 The EVITE app also helped patients increase their knowledge of healthy lifestyles and the control of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs), and patients reported overall satisfaction with the app and improved quality of life. The app had multiple components—website, messages, emails, and calls—to encourage users to adhere to the lifestyle modifications, and associated taking medication with these daily activities to help establish set times for taking their medication.

    “The self-monitoring and recording in the app improves the patients’ awareness of their lifestyle behavior, and motivation promotes the initiation and continuation of changes in behavior over time,” the authors said.

    Coronary heart disease is a leading cause of death worldwide, and secondary prevention is essential to reduce the risk of further coronary events. As defined by Yale Medicine, a PCI is a non-surgical procedure that treats coronary artery blockages by opening up narrowed or blocked sections of the artery and restoring proper blood circulation to the heart.2 Less invasive than a coronary artery bypass surgery, this procedure is usually conducted through a small artery in the wrist. Approximately 900,000 PCIs are performed annually in the US alone, with most patients discharged from the hospital within 24 hours and going back to their normal daily routines after a minimal recovery period.

    In this randomized controlled trial, 128 participants were assigned to either the mHealth intervention group (n = 67) or the control group receiving standard health care (n = 61). Of this group, 71.9% were male and the mean (SD) age was 59.49 (8.97) years. The app facilitated goal-setting and self-monitoring of lifestyle habits and CVRFs, provided educational resources on healthy living, and offered motivational feedback on achievements and areas for improvement.

    After 9 months, patients in the mHealth group demonstrated significant lifestyle improvements compared with the control group across several parameters. It is important to note that this study included patients who underwent PCI in Spain between November 2019 and June 2022, so precautions taken during the COVID-19 pandemic could potentially have impacted certain lifestyle changes during the study.

    Mediterranean diet adherence was determined using the Mediterranean Adherence Score out of 14 points, with scores below 9 deemed low adherence and scores above 9 deemed high adherence. At baseline, adherence scores were similar between the mHealth (7.24) and control group (7.52). After 9 months, patients who used the mHealth app had a mean (SD) score of 11.83 (1.74) points, compared with a mean score of 10.14 (2.02) points in the control group (P < .001). Proportionally, more patients in the mHealth group adhered to the Mediterranean diet with a score above 9 points (90%) compared with the control group (75%; P = .02).

    Using the food frequency questionnaire, the researchers found a significant reduction in the consumption of red meat and industrial pastries among those using the app compared with those in the control group. Meanwhile, patients using the app also significantly increased their vegetable, fruit, and whole-meal cereal consumption.

    In another similar trend, the group using the EVITE app increased their physical activity significantly more than the control group, according to patient-reported entries. At baseline, the mHealth group was already slightly more active than the control group by about 35 minutes per week, but this difference increased drastically to nearly 150 minutes per week between the groups at 9 months; patients in the mHealth group increased their physical activity to a mean (SD) of 619.14 (318.21) min/week compared with 471.70 (261.43) min/week in the control group (P = .007).

    At baseline, 33 mHealth patients and 26 control patients were active smokers. After 9 months, 25 patients who used the app quit smoking compared with 11 patients who did not use the app (P = .01).

    A validated scale with 24 items and five response options was utilized to assess participants’ understanding of CVRFs and healthy lifestyle practices, with a maximum possible score of 120 points. A high level of knowledge was defined as correctly answering over 75% of the items or scoring at least 90 points on the scale. Participants in the mHealth group exhibited notably greater understanding of healthy lifestyle practices and cardiovascular risk factor management after using the app compared with those in the control group, with a mean (SD) score of 118.70 (2.65) points in the mHealth group compared with 111.25 (9.05) points in the control group (P < .001). However, therapeutic adherence showed similar improvements in both groups by the end of the follow-up period, with no statistically significant variances observed between them.

    “Knowledge of the risk factors for the disease is an essential requirement for patients to decide to adopt behaviors in line with a healthy lifestyle,” the authors said. “However, people also need to be motivated to incorporate such behavior into their daily lives. Innovative mHealth technology could help to achieve both objectives by increasing the patients’ knowledge and motivation.”

    In terms of quality of life, patients in the intervention group demonstrated significantly better scores in the physical component compared with the control group, while both groups showed similar scores for the mental component. Although the mHealth group showed slightly better scores in the well-being index, the difference did not reach statistical significance. Regarding overall satisfaction with health care, patients in the mHealth group rated their experience higher than those receiving standard health care, with mean (SD) scores of 48.22 (3.89) points and 46.00 (4.82) points, respectively, out of a maximum of 50 points (P = .002).

    “More studies are required to examine the impact of smartphone interventions on people who have undergone a coronary event, with long-term follow-ups that analyze mortality and cardiac-cause hospitalization, because these are important yardsticks of the success of secondary prevention strategies that make it possible to establish the clinical importance of the findings,” the authors concluded. “Cost analyses are also required to promote the generalized use of these tools, their implementation, and their feasibility.”

    References

    1. Bernal-Jiménez MÁ, Calle G, Gutiérrez Barrios A, et al. Effectiveness of an interactive mhealth app (EVITE) in improving lifestyle after a coronary event: randomized controlled trial. JMIR Mhealth Uhealth. 2024;12:e48756. doi:10.2196/48756
    2. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Yale Medicine. Accessed April 24, 2024. https://www.yalemedicine.org/conditions/percutaneous-coronary-intervention-pci

    Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards can’t run from stardom anymore

    Peter Watson
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    Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards can’t run from stardom anymore

    PHOENIX — Fresh off, arguably, the most important performance of his young career, Anthony Edwards sat in front of the world with a white tank top and an all-black Atlanta Braves fitted cap that sat loose, hovering just above his crisp hairline — making him look more like an extra in Outkast’s “Player’s Ball” video than the future face of the NBA.

    Edwards is who he is. Silly. Lovable. Intelligent. Country. He wears it all, loudly and proudly. He’s also a competitor. A trash-talker. He wears all of those things just as loud, just as proud.

    You add all of that up and you have a star. You add all of those things up plus a 40-point performance in a playoff-sweeping 122-116 victory over the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night, and you start to enter superstardom.

    Yet, Edwards, for one reason or another, is afraid to go there. For as honest, brash and confident as he is and can be, there lives a bashfulness inside the 22-year-old when it comes to talking about his stature within the sport’s most prestigious club.

    A year ago, before a first-round loss to the eventual-champion Denver Nuggets, Edwards said he couldn’t consider himself a young star until he “wins in the playoffs.”

    A year later, he did it. Edwards not only won in the playoffs, but he was the alpha in a series that featured the likes of Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, his all-time favorite player. Edwards led his organization to heights it hadn’t seen in 20 years, the second round of the NBA playoffs. He did it with rim-twisting dunks. He did it with a sweet shooting stroke. He did it with gnaw-your-arm-off defense. He did it with leadership. He did it with WWE “Suck It!” extracurriculars. He did it while giving an earful to the player he has looked up to since he was 5.

    These are the things that make stars. This is what stardom looks like.

    “Nah, not yet, man,” Edwards said Sunday after reaching the benchmark he placed on himself a year ago. “Not yet.”

    Edwards, unbeknownst to him, lost the privilege to decide what he is and isn’t in this league.


    Kevin Durant congratulates Anthony Edwards after Minnesota swept Phoenix in the first round of the NBA playoffs. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)

    When you score 40 points in a series-clinching victory — on the road at that — you’re a star. When you played 79 regular-season games and were the best player for a team that was one game short of having the top record in your conference, you’re a star. When you’re one of 12 players, at the age of 22, picked to represent your country in the Olympics, you’re a star. When you make everyone laugh every time you’re in front of a microphone, order McDonald’s off Uber Eats immediately after a game, like he did in Detroit last season, you’re a star.

    “He’s the face of the league,” said teammate Karl-Anthony Towns, who sat next to Edwards as his reserved side took center stage when talking about his status in the NBA. “He hates when I say it, but it’s true. Like I said, ‘Future so bright, got to put the sunglasses on.’ ”

    Regular players don’t decide to dominate when they have a chance to end their opponent for good.  They don’t have that ability. Stars shoot 11 of 15 from the floor for 31 points in the second half when their team is trailing at halftime like Edwards did on Sunday. Stars muster up their last bit of energy late in the fourth quarter to throw down a “Night, night!” dunk — like he did with just over two minutes to play when he crossed up Bradley Beal on the wing, took a gather dribble, launched from outside of the paint and forced his childhood hero out of the way as he punished the rim like it hit his sister.

    Stars get on their other star teammate amid all the chaos when they do something wrong like Edwards did when Towns committed another unnecessary foul with the game in the balance.

    Edwards can’t run from it anymore. No matter how hard he tries. If he doesn’t want to be a star, then stop playing like one.

    “He rises to the occasion,” Wolves forward Kyle Anderson told The Athletic.

    Stars also make their teammates better. That’s the point of having a star. The gravity of one person makes the existence of others more meaningful.

    Edwards picked apart the Suns’ defense as a playmaker. The 40 points will make the headlines, but he also had six assists with only two turnovers in 41 minutes of play. He should have had 10-plus assists, but the Wolves couldn’t buy a bucket in the game’s first 24 minutes.

    There were signs throughout the season, but it was this series where Edwards blossomed as a creator for others. There were times early on in his career when it felt like he passed because he had to. There was nowhere else for him to go.

    As the season went on, and this playoff series played out, Edwards was welcoming blitzes so that he could create advantages to make the pass to an open man, so that he could get his teammates involved in the flow of the game, so that this Timberwolves team could potentially do something only one team before has accomplished in the franchise’s 35-year history.

    But, yeah, Edwards is not a star.

    “He is a good person,” said Minnesota assistant coach Micah Nori, who filled in for coach Chris Finch after a collision on the sideline in the fourth quarter left him with a serious leg injury. “And what I mean by that is, they trust him. He’s got some self-humor. You’ve seen all of his interviews. He’s the first one to congratulate and move all of his glory over to his teammates. They all love him.

    “When he plays, makes the right play, and they know he cares, not only about himself but the team, he’s done a good job of stepping up in that regard.”

    Edwards can keep running from the label all he wants, but if he doesn’t want to embrace it out of fear of being content, then it will never go away. His mindset is correct. His intentions are good. But it’s impossible for anyone with two eyes and a pinch of sense not to see a star when they look at Edwards.

    From this point on, there’s no point in even asking Edwards about it. He has spoken — with his play and his personality. He never needs to say it out loud. We’ll all keep saying it for him.

    “He’s my favorite player to watch,” Durant said of his star pupil after Sunday’s game. “He’s just grown so much since coming in the league. At 22, his love for the game shines so bright. That’s one of the reasons why I like him the most because he just loves basketball and is grateful to be in this position.

    “He’s going to be someone I follow for the rest of his career.”

    Related reading

    Krawczynski: Timberwolves fans deserve to celebrate a rare trip to Round 2

    (Top photo: Ross D. Franklin / Associated Press)

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