Passage 1:Inoue Masaru (bureaucrat)Viscount Inoue Masaru ( , August 25, 1843 – August 2, 1910) was the first Director of Railways in Japan and is known as the "father of the Japanese railways".BiographyHe was born into the Chōshū clan at Hagi, Yamaguchi, the son of Katsuyuki Inoue. He was briefly adopted into the Nomura family and became known as Nomura Yakichi, though he was later restored to the Inoue family.Masaru Inoue was brought up as the son of a samurai belonging to the Chōshū fief. At 15, he entered the Nagasaki Naval Academy established by the Tokugawa shogunate under the direction of a Dutch naval officer. In 1863, Inoue and four friends from the Chōshū clan stowed away on a vessel to the United Kingdom. He studied civil engineering and mining at University College London and returned to Japan in 1868. After working for the government as a technical officer supervising the mining industry, he was appointed Director of the Railway Board in 1871. Inoue played a leading role in Japan's railway planning and construction, including the construction of the Nakasendo Railway, the selection of the alternative route (Tokaido), and the proposals for future mainline railway networks.In 1891 Masaru Inoue founded Koiwai Farm with Yanosuke Iwasaki and Shin Onogi.  After retirement from the government, Inoue founded Kisha Seizo Kaisha, the first locomotive manufacturer in Japan, becoming its first president in 1896. In 1909 he was appointed President of the Imperial Railway Association. He died of an illness in London in 1910, during an official visit on behalf of the Ministry of Railways.HonorsInoue and his friends later came to be known as the Chōshū Five. To commemorate their stay in London, two scholarships, known as the Inoue Masaru Scholarships, are available each session under the University College London 1863 Japan Scholarships scheme to enable University College students to study at a Japanese University. The value of the scholarships are £3000 each.His tomb is in the triangular area of land where the Tōkaidō Main Line meets the Tōkaidō Shinkansen in Kita-Shinagawa.Chōshū FiveThese are the four other members of the "Chōshū Five":Itō Shunsuke (later Itō Hirobumii)Inoue Monta (later Inoue Kaoru)Yamao Yōzō who later studied engineering at the Andersonian Institute, Glasgow, 1866-68 while working at the shipyards by dayEndō KinsukeSee alsoJapanese students in BritainStatue of Inoue MasaruPassage 2:Obata ToramoriObata Toramori (, 1491 – July 14, 1561) was Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku Period. He is known as one of the "Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen" He also recorded as having been wounded 41 times in 36 encounters. He was the father of Obata Masamori.See alsoIsao ObataPassage 3:Takayama TomoteruTakayama Tomoteru () (1531–1596) was a Japanese samurai of the Azuchi–Momoyama period, who served Matsunaga Hisahide.He was the father of Takayama Ukon, and was a Kirishitan.Passage 4:Wendell WillkieWendell Lewis Willkie (born Lewis Wendell Willkie; February 18, 1892 – October 8, 1944) was an American lawyer, corporate executive and the 1940 Republican nominee for President. Willkie appealed to many convention delegates as the Republican field's only interventionist: although the U.S. remained neutral prior to Pearl Harbor, he favored greater U.S. involvement in World War II to support Britain and other Allies. His Democratic opponent, incumbent President Franklin D. Roosevelt, won the 1940 election with about 55% of the popular vote and took the electoral college vote by a wide margin.Willkie was born in Elwood, Indiana, in 1892; both his parents were lawyers, and he also became one. He served in World War I but was not sent to France until the final days of the war, and saw no action. Willkie settled in Akron, Ohio, where he was initially employed by Firestone, but left for a law firm, becoming one of the leaders of the Akron Bar Association. Much of his work was representing electric utilities, and in 1929 Willkie accepted a job in New York City as counsel for Commonwealth & Southern Corporation (C&S), a utility holding company. He was rapidly promoted, and became corporate president in 1933. Roosevelt was sworn in as U.S. president soon after Willkie became head of C&S, and announced plans for a Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) that would supply power in competition with C&S. Between 1933 and 1939, Willkie fought against the TVA before Congress, in the courts, and before the public. He was ultimately unsuccessful, but sold C&S's property for a good price, and gained public esteem.A longtime Democratic activist, Willkie changed his party registration to Republican in late 1939. He did not run in the 1940 presidential primaries, but positioned himself as an acceptable choice for a deadlocked convention. He sought backing from uncommitted delegates, while his supporters—many youthful—enthusiastically promoted his candidacy. As German forces advanced through western Europe in 1940, many Republicans did not wish to nominate an isolationist like Robert A. Taft, or a non-interventionist like Thomas E. Dewey, and turned to Willkie, who was nominated on the sixth ballot. Willkie's support for aid to Britain removed it as a major factor in his race against Roosevelt, and Willkie also backed the president on a peacetime draft. Both men took more isolationist positions towards the end of the race. Roosevelt won an unprecedented third term, taking 38 of the 48 states.After the election, Willkie made two wartime foreign trips as Roosevelt's informal envoy, and as nominal leader of the Republican Party gave the president his full support. This angered many conservatives, especially as Willkie increasingly advocated liberal or internationalist causes. Willkie ran for the Republican nomination in 1944, but bowed out after a disastrous showing in the Wisconsin primary in April. He and Roosevelt discussed the possibility of forming a liberal political party after the war, but Willkie died in October 1944 before the idea could bear fruit. Willkie is remembered for giving Roosevelt vital political assistance in 1941, which helped the president to pass Lend-Lease to send supplies to the United Kingdom and other Allied nations.Youth, education and World War I serviceLewis Wendell Willkie was born in Elwood, Indiana, on February 18, 1892, the son of Henrietta (Trisch) and Herman Francis Willkie. Both of his parents were lawyers, his mother being one of the first women admitted to the Indiana bar. His father was born in Germany, son of Joseph Wilhelm Willecke or Willcke, born 1826. His mother was born in Indiana, to German parents; his grandparents were involved in the unsuccessful 1848 revolutions in Germany. The Trisches initially settled in Kansas Territory but, as they were abolitionists, moved to Indiana after the territory was opened to slavery in the mid-1850s. Willkie was the fourth of six children, all intelligent, and learned skills during the nightly debates around the dinner table that would later serve him well.Although given the first name Lewis, Willkie was known from childhood by his middle name. Herman Willkie, who had come from Prussia with his parents at age four, was intensely involved in progressive politics, and in 1896 took his sons to a torchlight procession for Democratic presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan, who had come to Elwood during his campaign. The Willkie boys had a sidewalk fight with Republican youths, and though the Willkies won their battle, Bryan lost his to William McKinley. When Bryan ran again in 1900, he stayed overnight at the Willkie home, and the Democratic candidate for president became the first political hero for the boy who would later seek that office.By the time Willkie reached age 14 and enrolled in Elwood High School, his parents were concerned about a lack of discipline and a slight stoop, and they sent him to Culver Military Academy for a summer in an attempt to correct both. Willkie began to shine as a student in high school, inspired by his English teacher; one classmate said that Philip "Pat" Bing "fixed that boy up. He started preaching to Wendell to get to work and that kid went to town." Faced with a set of athletic brothers—Edward became an Olympic wrestler—Willkie joined the football team but had little success; he enjoyed the debate team more, but was several times disciplined for arguing with teachers. He was class president his final year, and president of the most prominent fraternity, but resigned from the latter when a sorority blackballed his girlfriend, Gwyneth Harry, as the daughter of immigrants.During Willkie's summer vacations from high school, he worked, often far from home. In 1909, aged 17, his journey took him from Aberdeen, South Dakota, where he rose from dishwasher to co-owner of a flophouse, to Yellowstone National Park, where he was fired after losing control of the horses drawing a tourist stagecoach. Back in Elwood, Herman Willkie was representing striking workers at the local tin plate factory, and in August journeyed with Wendell to Chicago in an attempt to get liberal attorney Clarence Darrow to take over the representation. They found Darrow willing, but at too high a price for the union to meet; Darrow told Wendell Willkie, "there is nothing unethical in being adequately compensated for advocating a cause in which you deeply believe."After graduation from Elwood High in January 1910, Willkie enrolled at Indiana University in Bloomington. There, he became a student rebel, chewing tobacco, reading Marx, and petitioning the faculty to add a course on socialism to the curriculum. He also involved himself in campus politics, successfully managing the campaign of future Indiana governor Paul McNutt for student office, but when Willkie ran himself, he was defeated. He graduated in June 1913, and to earn money for law school, taught high school history in Coffeyville, Kansas, coaching debaters and several sports teams. In November 1914, he left his job there for one as a lab assistant in Puerto Rico arranged by his brother Fred. Wendell Willkie's  commitment to social justice was deepened by the sight of workers suffering abuse there.Willkie enrolled at Indiana School of Law in late 1915. He was a top student, and graduated with high honors in 1916. At the commencement ceremony, with the state supreme court present, he gave a provocative speech criticizing his school. The faculty withheld his degree, but granted it after two days of intense debate. Willkie joined his parents' law firm, but volunteered for the United States Army on April 2, 1917, the day President Woodrow Wilson asked Congress for a declaration of war against Germany. An army clerk transposed his first two names; with Willkie unwilling to invest the time to have the bureaucracy correct it, he kept his name as Wendell Lewis Willkie. Commissioned as a first lieutenant, Willkie was sent for artillery training. He arrived in France as the war was ending and  did not see combat. In January 1918 he married Edith Wilk, a librarian from Rushville, Indiana; the couple had one son, Philip. In France, Willkie was assigned to defending soldiers who had slipped away for time in Paris against orders. He was recommended for promotion to captain, but was discharged in early 1919 before the paperwork went through.Lawyer and executive (1919–1939)Akron attorney and activistDischarged from the army, Willkie returned to Elwood. He considered a run for Congress as a Democrat, but was advised that the district was so Republican


Passage 1:Louis, Count of GravinaLouis of Durazzo (1324 – 22 July 1362) was Count of Gravina and Morrone. He was the son of John of Durazzo and Agnes ofPérigord.In 1337, he was named Vicar- and Captain-General of the Kingdom of Albania. During the ascension of the Durazzeschi at the court of Naples during thereign of Joanna I, he was one of the royal ambassadors to the Roman Curia. Upon the invasion of Louis I of Hungary and the execution of his elder brother,Charles, Duke of Durazzo, in 1348, he was imprisoned, with his younger brother Robert of Durazzo, until 1352. The rest of his life was spent stirring up revoltsagainst Joanna in Apulia with the aid of some Free Companions. These were ultimately quashed in 1360 by Louis of Taranto, and Louis of Durazzo was imprisonedin the Castel dell'Ovo in Naples and murdered by poison.FamilyHe married Margaret of Sanseverino in 1343, by whom he had three children:Louis (1344–d.young)Charles III of Naples (1345–1386)Agnes (1347–d. young)Passage 2:Louisa Montagu Douglas Scott, Duchess of BuccleuchLouisa Jane Montagu DouglasScott, Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry  (26 August 1836 – 16 March 1912) was the daughter of James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn.  In 1884, shebecame the Duchess of Buccleuch and Duchess of Queensberry, the wife of William Henry Walter Montagu Douglas Scott, 6th Duke of Buccleuch and 8th Duke ofQueensberry. She was the paternal grandmother of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, and of Marian Louisa, Lady Elmhirst, as well as a maternalgreat-grandmother of Prince William of Gloucester and Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester, and a great-great-grandmother of Sarah, Duchess of York. Diana,Princess of Wales, is one of her great-great-great-nieces.Early life, marriage, and familyLouisa Jane Hamilton was born on Friday 26 August 1836 in Brighton,Sussex, England, the third child of fourteen born to James Hamilton, 1st Duke of Abercorn, and the former Lady Louisa Russell, daughter of John Russell, 6thDuke of Bedford.She married William Montagu Douglas Scott, Earl of Dalkeith, on 22 November 1859 in London. Lord Dalkeith was the eldest son of the WalterMontagu Douglas Scott, 5th Duke of Buccleuch, and his wife, the former Lady Charlotte Thynne. They had six sons and two daughters:Walter Henry MontaguDouglas Scott, Earl of Dalkeith (17 January 1861 – 18 September 1886)John Charles Montagu Douglas Scott, 7th Duke of Buccleuch (30 March 1864 – 19October 1935)Lord George William Montagu Douglas Scott (31 August 1866 – 23 February 1947); married on 30 April 1903 Lady Elizabeth Emily Manners(daughter of John Manners, 7th Duke of Rutland and Janetta Hughan) and had issueLord Henry Francis Montagu Douglas Scott (15 January 1868 – 19 April1945)Lord Herbert Andrew Montagu Douglas Scott (30 November 1872 – 17 June 1944); married 26 April 1905 Marie Josephine Edwards and had issue, maternalgrandfather of Sarah, Duchess of YorkLady Katharine Mary Montagu Douglas Scott (25 March 1875 – 7 March 1951); married Thomas Brand, 3rd ViscountHampden, and had issueLady Constance Anne Montagu Douglas Scott (10 March 1877 – 7 May 1970); married on 21 January 1908 The Hon. Douglas HalyburtonCairns (son of Hugh Cairns, 1st Earl Cairns and Mary Harriet McNeill) and had issueLord Francis George Montagu Douglas Scott (1 November 1879 – 26 July1952); married on 11 February 1915 Lady Eileen Nina Evelyn Sibell Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound (daughter of Gilbert Elliot-Murray-Kynynmound, 4th Earl of Minto,and Lady Mary Caroline Grey) and had issueCareerShe served as Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria from 1885 – 1892 (Conservative), and again from 1895– 1901. She was appointed Mistress of the Robes to Queen Alexandra in 1901, a position in which she served until her death in 1912.DeathThe duchess died onSaturday 16 March 1912, in her 76th year, at Dalkeith Palace, Midlothian, Scotland.  She was survived by her husband, and six of her children and theirfamilies.She was buried on Wednesday 20 March 1912 in the Buccleuch family crypt in St. Mary's Church, Dalkeith Palace, Midlothian, Scotland.Titles, styles, andhonours16 April 1884 – 1912: The Duchess of Buccleuch and QueensberryHonours1885: Invested as Lady, Royal Order of Victoria and Albert (VA), 3rd Class1885– 1892 and 1895 – 1901:  Mistress of the Robes to Queen Victoria1901 – 1912: Mistress of the Robes to Queen AlexandraAncestryPassage 3:Joanna, Duchess ofDurazzoJoanna of Durazzo (1344 – 20 July 1387) was the eldest daughter and eldest surviving child of Charles, Duke of Durazzo, and his wife, Maria of Calabria.She succeeded as duchess on the death of her father in 1348 when she was only a child of four years old. Joanna was a member of the House ofAnjou-Durazzo.She reigned as Duchess of Durazzo from 1348-1368. She married twice; firstly to Louis of Navarre and then to Robert IV of Artois, Count ofEu.LifeJoanna's father died in 1348 and Joanna succeeded him, being the eldest surviving child. However, Joanna remained in Naples rather than going toDurazzo. It was here she was betrothed to her cousin Charles Martel, son of Queen Joan. Charles Martel was heir in Hungary due to a lack of male heirs. The boywas moved to Hungary, however the engagement was broken when the young boy died around 1348 in Hungary.In 1365 aged twenty one, Joanna married herfirst husband Louis of Navarre, who became Duke of Durazzo in right of his wife. He was the son of Joan II of Navarre. In 1368 Durazzo was captured by theAlbanian Topia dynasty under the leadership of warlord Karl Thopia. Joanna and her husband immediately began planning the reconquest of not only Durazzo, butall the lands of the former Angevin Kingdom of Albania, conquered by the Bulgarian Sratsimir dynasty in 1332. They were successful in rallying the support ofLouis' brother Charles II the Bad and Charles V King of France in this undertaking. In 1372, Louis brought over the Navarrese Company of mercenaries, who hadfought with him during the war in France, to assist them in taking Durazzo. Their ranks swelled considerably in 1375 with new recruits directly from Navarre.Many documents survive telling us of the complex nature of the military planning and engineering which was undertaken to ensure success. This they attained,taking the city in midsummer 1376. Louis died shortly after. Louis and Joanna had no children. Joanna never fully regained full control of Durazzo and by 1385the City was back in the hands of Karl Thopia.Around 1376 Joanna remarried to Robert IV of Artois, Count of Eu. This marriage was also childless. Robert was notCount of Eu for long, he and Joanna were not informed of his father's death in 1387. Joanna and Robert were staying at Castel dell'Ovo in Naples where they wereboth poisoned on July 20, 1387 on the orders of Joanna's sister Margaret, queen dowager and regent of Naples.Joanna is buried in San Lorenzo (Naples).Passage4:Agnes of PérigordAgnes of Périgord (died 1345) was Duchess consort of Durazzo, through her marriage to John of Gravina, Duke of Durazzo, who was also theruler of the Kingdom of Albania. Although Agnes was never styled as Queen consort, she became politically influential. Following the death of Robert, King ofNaples in 1343, she organised a marriage for her eldest son to Robert's granddaughter, who was second-in-line to the Neapolitan throne. Agnes's ambition was tobring her family closer to the line of succession.Early life and marriageAgnes was daughter of Helie VII, Count of Périgord and his second wife, Brunissende ofFoix. Amongst her siblings was Hélie de Talleyrand-Périgord, a Cardinal who would become a major figure in the Avignon Papacy.The marriage between Agnesand John was likely arranged by King Robert of Sicily due to his favour for the Avignon Papacy. The King had anti-Ghibelline ambitions in Northern Italy anddesired support from the Papacy and the French in achieving them. Agnes's family had marital ties to Pope John XXII as her sister Rosemburge was married toJacques de Lavie, the Pope's grand-nephew. Acting upon this during his visit to Avignon, Robert arranged for his brother to marry Jacques's sister-in-law.Themarriage contract is dated 14 November 1321. The couple were married shy of fourteen years and had three sons:Charles, Duke of Durazzo (1323–1348)Louis ofDurazzo (1324–1362), Count of GravinaRobert of Durazzo (1326–1356)Agnes became, through her husband's brotherly quarrel with Philip I, Prince of Taranto,duchess of Durazzo. Her husband died in 1335 and he was succeeded by their son, Charles.Political intriguesAny plans that the Durazzo family may have had ofmarrying Joanna, heiress to Robert's throne, were thwarted in 1333 when Robert arranged for her to marry Andrew of Hungary. However, in his final will andtestament, Robert instructed that if Joanna were to die without issue, the Neapolitan throne should pass to her sister, Maria, who was unmarried. Whilst themonarch was spoken for, the heir was not. Agnes did her best to make her family appear favourable towards the royals, in the hope that Robert would consider aDurazzo match for Maria. In 1338, she supported her son's position at the head of Robert's armada to conquer Sicily. However, the campaign failed due to theoutbreak of typhus. Agnes used her own position at court to her advantage, making friendly overtures towards Queen Sancha and the young princesses. This toodid not result in any marriage plans.King Robert died in January 1343. Agnes's tactics during his final years had proven unsuccessful therefore, she took mattersinto her own hands. Immediately after Robert's death, she orchestrated the marriage between her eldest son and Maria. The timing of this marriage was crucialas Joanna strongly favoured the Taranto faction, having an affair with Prince Robert, son of Catherine, and Maria was promised in marriage to one of Andrew'sbrothers. The two matters would only have politically isolated the Durazzo clan and thwarted their chances of reaching the throne.Agnes used her connection toher influential brother, Cardinal Talleyrand, to put aside the Hungarian match for Maria and obtain the Pope's permission for the ambitious marriage. Not relyingon family feeling alone, Agnes bribed her brother with 22,000 florins left over from her dowry in order to ensure absolute support. Building up a friendship withQueen Sancha also appears to have paid off as the dowager queen supported the match. On the other hand, the Taranto clan were horrified when they discoveredAgnes's scheme and used their influence over Joanna to put an end to it. Catherine instructed the young queen to oppose the match, hoping that the lack of royalfavour would act as a deterrent.Much to the dismay of the Tarantos, their control over Joanna was not enough to prevent Agnes, who responded by abductingMaria one night in April 1343 and marrying her off to Charles. The marriage was a great insult to Joanna and Andrew as their royal authority was defied and thelatter's family lost out on their chance for total control of the succession. The Tarantos were ready for armed warfare against their Durazzo cousins, Naples stoodon the brink of civil war. To remedy the matter, the Pope wrote letters to both Joanna and Agnes, confirming the validity of the papal dispensation, asking them


Passage 1:Beatrice of Bourbon, Queen of BohemiaBeatrice of Bourbon (1320 – 23 December 1383) was a French noblewoman. A member of the House of Bourbon, she was by marriage Queen of Bohemia and Countess of Luxembourg.She was the youngest daughter of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon, and Mary of Avesnes.LifeMarriageOn 28 September 1330, Queen Elisabeth of Bohemia, wife of King John of Bohemia, died:"The news was that the King, distraught for the loss of his wife manifested his feelings using mourning clothes, after all, they were married for twenty years, and yet remained completely himself with a brief time, this was in Bohemia, the other side used to be mostly in their county or elsewhere, where he discussed the matter."Despite the fact that John and Elisabeth became estranged during the last years of their marriage, the king remained a widower for the next four years. The French King Philip VI wanted to tie John more closely with France, and he suggested to the Bohemian king a second marriage. The proposed bride was Beatrice, youngest daughter of the Duke of Bourbon and member of a cadet branch of the House of Capet. Beatrice was already betrothed, however, to Philip, the second son of Philip I, Prince of Taranto, as of 29 May 1321. The engagement was broken soon after the marriage negotiations with Bohemia started.The marriage of King John of Bohemia and Beatrice of Bourbon was solemnized in the Château de Vincennes in December 1334, at which time she was fourteen years old. But because the two were related in a prohibited degree (they were second cousins through their common descent from Henry V, Count of Luxembourg, and his wife Margaret of Bar), Pope Benedict XII had to give dispensation for the marriage, which was granted in Avignon on 9 January 1335 at the request of Philip VI.The marriage contract stipulated that if a son was born from the marriage, the County of Luxembourg (King John's paternal heritage), as well as lands belonging to it, would go to him. King John's sons from his first marriage, Charles and John Henry, were not informed of the contents of the marriage contract, but both princes were compelled to accept it along with the knights and citizens of Luxembourg in August 1335.Life in BohemiaBeatrice arrived in Bohemia on 2 January 1336:"...our father came to Bohemia and brought him a wife, named Beatrix, daughter of the Duke of Bourbon and relative of the King of the Frenchs..."In the Bohemian court, Beatrice took care of the wife of her oldest stepson Charles, Blanche of Valois. Both women could easily communicate in French. The Queen soon felt ill-at-ease in Prague, where she was always compared unfavorably with the Margravine of Moravia (Blanche's title as wife of the Bohemian heir). Also, the Czech people were offended by her coldness, insolence and aversion to learning their language.The new Queen of Bohemia and Countess of Luxembourg brought with her an annual income of 4,000 livres extracted from her father's County of Clermont. On 25 February 1337, Beatrice gave birth in Prague to her only child, a son named Wenceslaus after the holy patron of the Přemyslid dynasty; probably calling her son with this name either the queen or her husband tried to gain the favor of the Bohemians. There is some indirect evidence that this was the first caesarean section that was survived by both the mother and child. However, the relationship between Beatrice and her new subjects remained estranged: her coronation as Queen of Bohemia in St. Vitus Cathedral three months later, on 18 May, was an event of spectacular indifference  from the citizens of Prague.Shortly after her coronation, in June 1337, Beatrice left Bohemia leaving her son behind, and went to live in Luxembourg. After this, she rarely visited the Bohemian Kingdom.Later YearsOn 26 August 1346 King John was killed in the Battle of Crécy and Beatrice ceased to be queen consort. Her stepson, now King Charles of Bohemia, confirmed the provisions of her marriage contract. Beatrice, now Dowager Queen of Bohemia, received in perpetuity lands in the County of Hainaut, the rent of 4,000 livres and the towns of Arlon, Marville and Damvillers (where she settled her residence) as her widow's estate. These revenues were used not only for their own needs, but also for the education of her son. King Charles also left her all the movable property and income from the mines in Kutná Hora. In addition, when her father Duke Louis I of Bourbon died in 1342, she received the sum of 1,000 livres, which was secured from the town of Creil.Around 1347, Beatrice married for a second time to Eudes II, Lord of Grancey, (then a widower) at her state of Damvillers. Despite her new marriage, she retained the title of Queen of Bohemia. The couple had no children. Soon after her second marriage, she arranged the betrothal of her son Wenceslaus with the widowed Joanna, Duchess of Brabant, daughter and heiress of John III, Duke of Brabant, who was fifteen years older than he was. The marriage took place in Damvillers four years later, on 17 May 1351.Despite all the grants of land and money given to Beatrice, the Bohemian king delayed the investiture of his young half-brother Wenceslaus as Count of Luxembourg. In fact, he held on to the title until 1353, when Wenceslaus finally obtained sovereignty over the County.  One year later (13 March 1354) the County was elevated to the rank of a Duchy.Beatrice died on 27 December 1383, having outlived her son (for only sixteen days) and all her stepchildren. She was buried in the now-demolished church of the Couvent des Jacobins in Paris - her effigy is now in the Basilica of St Denis. Her second husband survived her by six years.Passage 2:Obata ToramoriObata Toramori (, 1491 – July 14, 1561) was Japanese samurai warrior of the Sengoku Period. He is known as one of the "Twenty-Four Generals of Takeda Shingen" He also recorded as having been wounded 41 times in 36 encounters. He was the father of Obata Masamori.See alsoIsao ObataPassage 3:Bonne of ArmagnacBonne of Armagnac (19 February 1399 – 1430/35) was the eldest daughter of Bernard VII, Count of Armagnac and Constable of France, and his wife Bonne of Berry.MarriageOn 15 April 1410 at the age of 11, she married Charles, Duke of Orléans (left an orphan by his father Louis's assassination in 1407). This marriage made the constable not only Charles's father-in-law but also his natural defender. The Orléans party, left without a leader by Louis's death, thus became the Armagnac party, the name it held up to the treaty of Arras in 1435.Following the French defeat at the Battle of Agincourt on 25 October 1415, Charles was taken prisoner by the English. Bonne had not borne any children prior to his imprisonment. She died sometime between 1430 and 1435 while her husband was still in captivity.In literature and artBonne appears in the critically acclaimed historical novel Het woud der verwachting (1949) by Hella Haasse, (translated into English in 1989 under the title "In a Dark Wood Wandering"). The novel portrays the life of Bonne's husband Charles. Charles and Bonne's marriage at the Chateau de Dourdan is thought to be depicted in the elaborate illuminated manuscript entitled Très Riches Heures du duc de Berry (Very Rich Hours of the Duke of Berry) in the illustration for April.AncestryPassage 4:Mathilde of BourbonMathilde of Bourbon (French: Mahaut de Bourbon; c. 1165/69 – 18 June 1228) was a French noblewoman who was the ruling Lady of Bourbon from 1171 until her death.LifeMathilde was the only child of Archambault of Bourbon and his wife Alix (or Adelaide) of Burgundy (daughter of Odo II).  She was born in the second half of the 1160s.Her father, the heir apparent of Bourbon, died in 1169, without ever inheriting the lordship.  Her grandfather, Archambault VII, died in 1171.  Mathilde, as his only surviving grandchild, succeeded him.Before 1183, she married Gaucher IV of Vienne, Lord of Salins.  After he returned from the Third Crusade, they frequently quarreled.   In the end, he became violent and had her locked up.: p. 117   She fled to her grandmother's estate in Champagne: p. 217   During her escape, she allegedly also used violence,: p. 117 and for this she was excommunicated by Archbishop Henri de Sully of Bourges.  After she arrived in Champagne, she asked Pope Celestine III for a divorce from her husband, arguing that Gaucher IV and she were close relatives and that the marriage therefore had been inadmissible.  The Pope tasked the bishops of Autun and Troyes and the abbot of Monthiers-en-Argonne with investigating her claim.  These men found that Mathilde and her husband were third cousins, as they were both great-great-grandchildren of William II, Count of Burgundy, and that, therefore, her claim that they were too closely related was justified.  The pope granted the divorce, and also lifted the excommunication.In September 1196, only a few months after her divorce, she married Lord Guy II of Dampierre.  Thus, the Bourbonnais fell to the House of Dampierre.  This marriage lasted 20 years: he died in 1216.Mathilde died twelve years after her husband.   After her death, Margaret, her daughter from her first marriage claimed the Lordship of Bourbon.  Guy II had initially recognized Margaret as heir of Bourbon, however, he later claimed the Lordship for his oldest son, Archambault VIII.  In the end, Archambault prevailed.Marriages and issueMathilde married Gaucher IV of Vienne, Lord of Salins.  Together, they had one daughter:Margaret of Vienne (c. 1190/95 – c. 1259), married William III of Forcalquier, later she married Joceran, Lord of BrancionMathilde's second husband was Guy II of Dampierre.  With him, she had:Archambaud VIII (1189–1242), Lord of BourbonWilliam II (1196–1231), married Margaret II, Countess of Flanders and Hainaut (d. 1280), a daughter of Latin Emperor Baldwin I of ConstantinoplePhilippe (d. 1223), married in 1205 to Guigues IV, Count of Forez (d. 1241)Guy of Saint Just (d. 22 March 1275)Marie, married 1201 to Hervé of Vierzon, later married 1220 to Henry I of SullyMatilde, married Guigues V of ForezSourcesTheodore Evergates: The aristocracy in the county of Champagne, 1100–1300, University of Pennsylvania Press, Philadelphia, 2007, ISBN 978-0-8122-4019-1, pp. 117, 217, 343 (Partially online).Devailly, Guy (1973). Le Berry du X siecle au milieu du XIII (in French). Mouton & Co.Passage 5:John II, Duke of BourbonJean (John) de Bourbon, Duke of Bourbon (1426 – 1 April 1488), sometimes referred to as John the Good and The Scourge of the English, was a son of Charles I of Bourbon and Agnes of Burgundy. He was Duke of Bourbon and Auvergne from 1456 to his death.LifeJohn earned his nicknames " John the Good" and "The Scourge of the English" for his efforts in helping drive out the English from France.He was made constable of France in 1483 by his brother Peter and sister-in-law Anne, to neutralize him as a threat to their regency.In an effort to win discontented nobles back to his side, Louis XI of France made great efforts to give out magnificent gifts to certain individuals; John was a recipient of these overtures. According to contemporary chronicles, the King received John in Paris with "honours, caresses, pardon, and gifts; everything was lavished upon him".John is notable for making three brilliant alliances but leaving no legitimate issue.First MarriageIn 1447, his father, the Duke of Bourbon, had John married to a daughter of Charles VII, King of France, Joan of Valois. They


Passage 1:John G. AdolfiJohn Gustav Adolfi (February 19, 1888 – May 11, 1933) was an American silent film director, actor, and screenwriter who was involved inmore than 100 productions throughout his career. An early acting credit was in the recently restored 1912 film Robin Hood.BiographyHe was born in New YorkCity to Gustav Adolfi and Jennie Reinhardt. Adolfi entered films as an actor in The Spy: A Romantic Story of the Civil War in 1907, but after appearing in thirty orso films he switched roles and concentrated on directing until his death in 1933 from a brain hemorrhage in British Columbia, Canada while huntingbears.FilmographyPassage 2:Who's Your Daddy? (film)Who's Your Daddy? is a 2002 American comedy film directed and directed by Andy Fickman.SynopsisChrisHughes (Brandon Davis), an adopted and geeky Ohio high school senior, discovers that his recently deceased birth parents are the proprietors of a vastpornography empire and he is the inherited heir. Dropped into a bitter power struggle, his new flock of beautiful co-workers come to his aid. Chris Hughes is anoutsider and geek in Ohio. He is in the middle of his senior year at high school and he is 18 years old. Chris earns extra money working on a paper route riding amoped. Right now, he would do anything to get out of the job. Chris is raised by his religious parents, Carl Hughes (Dave Thomas) and Beverly Hughes (ColleenCamp). They own a grocery store and are very strict on no drinking, smoking. sex until marriage. They also don't tolerate porn or porn magazines that Chris hidesunder his bed. His little adopted brother Danny Hughes (Justin Berfield) is popular and has a better chance with a girl than Chris. Danny usually gets away withmurder from his parents; Chris always ends up getting in trouble. Chris is a reporter in the school newspaper, and he is a good writer. However, he is always lateon deadlines or dedication. He has a crush on the most popular girl Brittany Van Horn (Marnette Patterson), who is the mean girl of their school. She dreamsabout getting out of town and becoming a famous actress or model. She has an entourage, too, and she is dating Hudson Reed (Ryan Bittle) on and off. Hudson isthe popular jock—handsome and able to get any girl he wants. Chris always wished he could be like him sometimes. Chris even fantasizes a lot of times, wishinghe could hook up with Brittany. It is never going to happen, as she does not know Chris even exists. Brittany only dates good-looking popular guys. Chris and hisfriends, who are nerdy perverts like Adam Torey (Charlie Talbert), Scooter (Martin Starr), Murphy (Robert Ri'chard) and Steven Chambers, are labeled as theoutsiders and geeks of their high school. For once, they want to do something noticeable to earn a ticket to popularity. Chris had an idea to throw a party at hishouse while his parents are out of town. They need the booze to attract the popular crowd, especially Brittany and her entourage.Production and releaseThe film'sproducers intended for Who's Your Daddy? to capitalize on the start of the 21st century's teenage sex comedy revival, as spearheaded by 1999's AmericanPie.Fickman shot the film in 2001, but after an unsuccessful test-screening process in 2002, the film was shelved for a number of years. Unreleased theatrically inNorth America, Who's Your Daddy? finally reached US audiences on DVD in January 2005, followed by a short run in Icelandic cinemas the followingsummer.Passage 3:Hassan ZeeHassan "Doctor" Zee is a Pakistani-American film director who was born in Chakwal, Pakistan.Early lifeDoctor Zee grew up inChakwal, a small village in Punjab, Pakistan. as one of seven brothers and sisters  His father was in the military and this fact required the family to move often todifferent cities. As a child Zee was forbidden from watching cinema because his father believed movies were a bad influence on children.At age 13, Doctor Zee gothis start in the world of entertainment at Radio Pakistan where he wrote and produced radio dramas and musical programs.  It was then that he realized hispassion for storytelling At the age of 26, Doctor Zee earned his medical doctorate degree and did his residency in a burn unit at the Pakistan Institute of MedicalSciences. He cared for women who were victims of  "Bride Burning," the archaic practice used as a form of punishment against women who fail to providesufficient dowry to their in-laws after marriage or fail to provide offspring.  He also witnessed how his country’s transgender and intersex people, called “hijras”,were banned from having jobs and forced to beg to survive. These experiences inspired Doctor Zee to tackle the issues of women’s empowerment and genderinequality in his films.In 1999, he came to San Francisco to pursue his dream of filmmaking and made San Francisco his homeEducationHe received his earlyeducation from Jinnah Public School, Chakwal. He got his medical doctor degree at Rawalpindi Medical College, Pakistan.Film careerDoctor Zee's first film titledNight of Henna was released in 2005. The theme of the film dealt with "the conflict between Old World immigrant customs and modern Western ways..." Night ofHenna focused on the problems of Pakistani expatriates who found it hard to adjust in American culture. Many often landed themselves in trouble when it came tomarrying off their children.His second film Bicycle Bride came out in 2010, which was about "the clash between the bonds of family and the weight of tradition."His third film House of Temptation that came out in 2014 was about a family which struggles against the temptations of the Devil. His fourth film “Good MorningPakistan”, concerned a young American’s journey back to Pakistan where he confronts the contradictory nature of a beautiful and ancient culture that's marred byeconomic, educational and gender inequality His upcoming fifth film, "Ghost in San Francisco" is a supernatural thriller starring Felissa Rose, Dave Sheridan, andKyle Lowder where a soldier comes home from Afghanistan to discover that his wife is having an affair with his best friend. While battling with his inner ghostsand demons, he meets a mysterious woman in San Francisco who promises him a ritual for his cure.Passage 4:Henry Moore (cricketer)Henry Walter Moore (1849– 20 August 1916) was an English-born first-class cricketer who spent most of his life in New Zealand.Life and familyHenry Moore was born in Cranbrook, Kent, in1849. He was the son of the Reverend Edward Moore and Lady Harriet Janet Sarah Montagu-Scott, who was one of the daughters of the 4th Duke of Buccleuch.One of his brothers, Arthur, became an admiral and was knighted. Their great grandfather was John Moore, Archbishop of Canterbury from 1783 to 1805. One oftheir sisters was a maid of honour to Queen Victoria.Moore went to New Zealand in the 1870s and lived in Geraldine and Christchurch. He married HenriettaLysaght of Hāwera in November 1879, and they had one son. In May 1884 she died a few days after giving birth to a daughter, who also died.In 1886 Moorebecame a Justice of the Peace in Geraldine. In 1897 he married Alice Fish of Geraldine. They moved to England four years before his death in 1916.CricketcareerMoore was a right-handed middle-order batsman. In consecutive seasons, 1876–77 and 1877–78, playing for Canterbury, he made the highest score in theshort New Zealand first-class season: 76 and 75 respectively. His 76 came in his first match for Canterbury, against Otago. He went to the wicket early on thefirst day with the score at 7 for 2 and put on 99 for the third wicket with Charles Corfe before he was out with the score at 106 for 3 after a "very fine exhibition offree hitting, combined with good defence". Canterbury were all out for 133, but went on to win the match. His 75 came in the next season's match against Otago,when he took the score from 22 for 2 to 136 for 6. The New Zealand cricket historian Tom Reese said, "Right from the beginning he smote the bowling hip andthigh, going out of his ground to indulge in some forceful driving." Canterbury won again.Moore led the batting averages in the Canterbury Cricket Association in1877–78 with 379 runs at an average of 34.4. Also in 1877–78, he was a member of the Canterbury team that inflicted the only defeat on the touring Australians.In 1896–97, at the age of 47, he top-scored in each innings for a South Canterbury XVIII against the touring Queensland cricket team.Passage 5:Who's YourBrother?Who's Your Brother? is a 1919 American silent drama film directed by John G. Adolfi and starring Edith Taliaferro, Frank Burbeck and Paul Panzer. It wasalso released under the alternative title Keep to the Right.CastEdith Taliaferro as Esther FieldFrank Burbeck as Stephen FieldPaul Panzer as Stephen Field (20years earlier)Coit Albertson as Dr. William MorrisHerbert Fortier as Robert E. Graham Sr.Gladden James as Robert E. Graham Jr.Elizabeth Garrison as Mrs. RobertGrahamElizabeth Kennedy as The kidEdith Stockton as Dorothy GrahamPassage 6:Wale AdebanwiWale Adebanwi (born 1969) is a Nigerian-born first BlackRhodes Professor at St Antony's College, Oxford where he was, until June 2021, a Professor of Race Relations, and the Director of the African Studies Centre,School of Interdisciplinary Area Studies, and a Governing Board Fellow. He is currently a Presidential Penn Compact Professor of Africana Studies at the Universityof Pennsylvania. Adebanwi's research focuses on a range of topics in the areas of social change, nationalism and ethnicity, race relations, identity politics, elitesand cultural politics, democratic process, newspaper press and spatial politics in Africa.Education backgroundWale Adebanwi graduated with a first degree in MassCommunication from the University of Lagos, and later earned his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Ibadan. He also has an MPhil. and aPh.D. in Social Anthropology from the University of Cambridge.CareerAdebanwi worked as a freelance reporter, writer, journalist and editor for many newspapersand magazines before he joined the University of Ibadan's Department of Political Science as a lecturer and researcher. He was later appointed as an assistantprofessor in the African American and African Studies Department of the University of California, Davis, USA. He became a full professor at UC Davis in2016.Adebanwi is the co-editor of Africa: Journal of the International African Institute and the Journal of Contemporary African Studies.WorksHis published worksinclude:Nation as Grand Narrative: The Nigerian Press and the Politics of Meaning (University of Rochester Press, 2016)Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria:Obafemi Awolowo and Corporate Agency (Cambridge University Press, 2014)Authority Stealing: Anti-corruption War and Democratic Politics in Post-MilitaryNigeria (Carolina Academic Press, 2012)In addition, he is the editor and co-editor of other books, including.The Political Economy of Everyday Life in Africa:Beyond the Margins (James Currey Publishers, 2017)Writers and Social Thought in Africa (Routledge, 2016)(co-edited with Ebenezer Obadare) Governance andthe Crisis of Rule in Contemporary Africa (Palgrave Macmillan, 2016)(co-edited with Ebenezer Obadare) Democracy and Prebendalism in Nigeria: CriticalInterpretations (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013).(co-edited with Ebenezer Obadare) Nigeria at Fifty: The Nation in Narration (Routledge, 2012)(co-edited with


Passage 1:Dana BlanksteinDana Blankstein-Cohen (born March 3, 1981) is the executive director of the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School. She wasappointed by the board of directors  in November 2019.  Previously she was the CEO of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television. She is a film director, and anIsraeli culture entrepreneur.BiographyDana Blankstein was born in Switzerland in 1981 to theatre director Dedi Baron and Professor Alexander Blankstein. Shemoved to Israel in 1983 and grew up in Tel Aviv.Blankstein graduated from the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School, Jerusalem in 2008 with high honors.During her studies she worked as a personal assistant to directors Savi Gabizon on his film Nina's Tragedies and to Renen Schorr on his film The Loners.  She alsodirected and shot 'the making of' film on Gavison's film Lost and Found. Her debut film Camping competed at the Berlin International Film Festival, 2007.Film andacademic careerAfter her studies, Dana founded and directed the film and television department at the Kfar Saba municipality. The department encouraged andpromoted productions filmed in the city of Kfar Saba, as well as the established cultural projects, and educational community activities.Blankstein directed themini-series "Tel Aviviot" (2012). From 2016-2019 was the director of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television.In November 2019 Dana Blankstein Cohen wasappointed the new director of the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School where she also oversees the Sam Spiegel International Film Lab. In 2022, shespearheaded the launch of the new Series Lab and the film preparatory program for Arabic speakers in east Jerusalem.FilmographyTel Aviviot (mini-series;director, 2012)Growing Pains (graduation film, Sam Spiegel; director and screenwriter, 2008)Camping (debut film, Sam Spiegel; director and screenwriter,2006)Passage 2:Brian Kennedy (gallery director)Brian Patrick Kennedy (born 5 November 1961) is an Irish-born art museum director who has worked in Irelandand Australia, and now lives and works in the United States.  He was the director of the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem for 17 months, resigning December 31,2020. He was the director of the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio from 2010 to 2019. He was the director of the Hood Museum of Art from 2005 to 2010, and theNational Gallery of Australia (Canberra) from 1997 to 2004.CareerBrian Kennedy currently lives and works in the United States after leaving Australia in 2005 todirect the Hood Museum of Art at Dartmouth College. In October 2010 he became the ninth Director of the Toledo Museum of Art. On 1 July 2019, he succeededDan Monroe as the executive director and CEO of the Peabody Essex Museum.Early life and career in IrelandKennedy was born in Dublin and attended ClonkeenCollege. He received B.A. (1982), M.A. (1985) and PhD (1989) degrees from University College-Dublin, where he studied both art history and history.He workedin the Irish Department of Education (1982), the European Commission, Brussels (1983), and in Ireland at the Chester Beatty Library (1983–85), GovernmentPublications Office (1985–86), and Department of Finance (1986–89). He married Mary Fiona Carlin in 1988.He was Assistant Director at the National Gallery ofIreland in Dublin from 1989 to 1997. He was Chair of the Irish Association of Art Historians from 1996 to 1997, and of the Council of Australian Art MuseumDirectors from 2001 to 2003. In September 1997 he became Director of the National Gallery of Australia.National Gallery of Australia (NGA)Kennedy expandedthe traveling exhibitions and loans program throughout Australia, arranged for several major shows of Australian art abroad, increased the number of exhibitionsat the museum itself and oversaw the development of an extensive multi-media site.  Although he oversaw several years of the museum's highest ever annualvisitation, he discontinued the emphasis of his predecessor, Betty Churcher, on showing "blockbuster" exhibitions.During his directorship, the NGA gainedgovernment support for improving the building and significant private donations and corporate sponsorship. However, the initial design for the building provedcontroversial generating a public dispute with the original architect on moral rights grounds.  As a result, the project was not delivered during Dr Kennedy'stenure, with a significantly altered design completed some years later.  Private funding supported two acquisitions of British art, including David Hockney's ABigger Grand Canyon in 1999, and Lucian Freud's After Cézanne in 2001. Kennedy built on the established collections at the museum by acquiring theHolmgren-Spertus collection of Indonesian textiles; the Kenneth Tyler collection of editioned prints, screens, multiples and unique proofs; and the Australian PrintWorkshop Archive. He was also notable for campaigning for the construction of a new "front" entrance to the Gallery, facing King Edward Terrace, which wascompleted in 2010 (see reference to the building project above).Kennedy's cancellation of the "Sensation exhibition" (scheduled at the NGA from 2 June 2000 to13 August 2000) was controversial, and seen by some as censorship. He claimed that the decision was due to the exhibition being "too close to the market"implying that a national cultural institution cannot exhibit the private collection of a speculative art investor. However, there were other exhibitions at the NGAduring his tenure, which could have raised similar concerns. The exhibition featured the privately owned Young British Artists works belonging to Charles Saatchiand attracted large attendances in London and Brooklyn. Its most controversial work was Chris Ofili's The Holy Virgin Mary, a painting which used elephant dungand was accused of being blasphemous. The then-mayor of New York, Rudolph Giuliani, campaigned against the exhibition, claiming it was "Catholic-bashing" andan "aggressive, vicious, disgusting attack on religion." In November 1999, Kennedy cancelled the exhibition and stated that the events in New York had "obscureddiscussion of the artistic merit of the works of art". He has said that it "was the toughest decision of my professional life, so far."Kennedy was also repeatedlyquestioned on his management of a range of issues during the Australian Government's Senate Estimates process - particularly on the NGA's occupational healthand safety record and concerns about the NGA's twenty-year-old air-conditioning system. The air-conditioning was finally renovated in 2003. Kennedy announcedin 2002 that he would not seek extension of his contract beyond 2004, accepting a seven-year term as had his two predecessors.He became a jointIrish-Australian citizen in 2003.Toledo Museum of ArtThe Toledo Museum of Art is known for its exceptional collections of European and American paintings andsculpture, glass, antiquities, artist books, Japanese prints and netsuke. The museum offers free admission and is recognized for its historical leadership in the fieldof art education.  During his tenure, Kennedy has focused the museum's art education efforts on visual literacy, which he defines as "learning to read, understandand write visual language."   Initiatives have included baby and toddler tours, specialized training for all staff, docents, volunteers and the launch of a website,www.vislit.org. In November 2014, the museum hosted the International Visual Literacy Association (IVLA) conference, the first Museum to do so. Kennedy hasbeen a frequent speaker on the topic, including 2010 and 2013 TEDx talks on visual and sensory literacy.Kennedy has expressed an interest in expanding themuseum's collection of contemporary art and art by indigenous peoples. Works by Frank Stella, Sean Scully, Jaume Plensa, Ravinder Reddy and Mary Sibandehave been acquired.  In addition, the museum has made major acquisitions of Old Master paintings by Frans Hals and Luca Giordano.During his tenure the ToledoMuseum of Art has announced the return of several objects from its collection due to claims the objects were stolen and/or illegally exported prior being sold tothe museum.  In 2011 a Meissen sweetmeat stand was returned to Germany followed by an Etruscan Kalpis or water jug to Italy (2013), an Indian sculpture ofGanesha (2014) and an astrological compendium to Germany in 2015.Hood Museum of ArtKennedy became Director of the Hood Museum of Art in July 2005.During his tenure, he implemented a series of large and small-scale exhibitions and oversaw the production of more than 20 publications to bring greater publicattention to the museum's remarkable collections of the arts of America, Europe, Africa, Papua New Guinea and the Polar regions. At 70,000 objects, the Hoodhas one of the largest collections on any American college of university campus. The exhibition, Black Womanhood: Images, Icons, and Ideologies of the AfricanBody, toured several US venues. Kennedy increased campus curricular use of works of art, with thousands of objects pulled from storage for classes annually.Numerous acquisitions were made with the museum's generous endowments, and he curated several exhibitions: including Wenda Gu: Forest of Stone Steles:Retranslation and Rewriting Tang Dynasty Poetry, Sean Scully: The Art of the Stripe, and Frank Stella: Irregular Polygons.PublicationsKennedy has written oredited a number of books on art, including:Alfred Chester Beatty and Ireland 1950-1968: A study in cultural politics, Glendale Press (1988), ISBN978-0-907606-49-9Dreams and responsibilities: The state and arts in independent Ireland, Arts Council of Ireland (1990), ISBN 978-0-906627-32-7Jack B Yeats:Jack Butler Yeats, 1871-1957 (Lives of Irish Artists), Unipub (October 1991), ISBN 978-0-948524-24-0The Anatomy Lesson: Art and Medicine (with DavisCoakley), National Gallery of Ireland (January 1992), ISBN 978-0-903162-65-4Ireland: Art into History (with Raymond Gillespie), Roberts Rinehart Publishers(1994), ISBN 978-1-57098-005-3Irish Painting, Roberts Rinehart Publishers (November 1997),  ISBN 978-1-86059-059-7Sean Scully: The Art of the Stripe,Hood Museum of Art (October 2008), ISBN 978-0-944722-34-3Frank Stella: Irregular Polygons, 1965-1966, Hood Museum of Art (October 2010), ISBN978-0-944722-39-8Honors and achievementsKennedy was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal in 2001 for service to Australian Society and its art. He is atrustee and treasurer of the Association of Art Museum Directors, a peer reviewer for the American Association of Museums and a member of the InternationalAssociation of Art Critics. In 2013 he was appointed inaugural eminent professor at the University of Toledo and received an honorary doctorate from LourdesUniversity. Most recently, Kennedy received the 2014 Northwest Region, Ohio Art Education Association award for distinguished educator for art education.==Notes ==Passage 3:William DearWilliam Dear (born November 30, 1943) is a Canadian actor, director, producer and screenwriter. He is known for directing thefilms Harry and the Hendersons, If Looks Could Kill, Angels in the Outfield, Wild America, and Santa Who?.He also directed episodes of the television seriesSaturday Night Live, Television Parts, Amazing Stories, Dinosaurs, Covington Cross, and The Wannabes Starring Savvy.Dear was born on November 30, 1943, in


Passage 1:Danny DeVitoDaniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He gained prominence for hisportrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series Taxi (1978–1983), which won him a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. He playsFrank Reynolds on the FX and FXX sitcom It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia (2006–present).He is known for his film roles in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest(1975), Terms of Endearment (1983), Romancing the Stone (1984), Throw Momma from the Train (1987), Twins (1988), The War of the Roses (1989), BatmanReturns (1992), Jack the Bear (1993), Junior (1994), Get Shorty (1995), Matilda (1996), L.A. Confidential (1997), The Big Kahuna (1999), Big Fish (2003), Deckthe Halls (2006), When in Rome (2010), Wiener-Dog (2016) and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). He is also known for his voice roles in such films as Hercules(1997), The Lorax (2012) and Smallfoot (2018).DeVito and Michael Shamberg founded Jersey Films. Soon afterwards, Stacey Sher became an equal partner. Theproduction company is known for films such as Pulp Fiction, Garden State, and Freedom Writers. DeVito also owned Jersey Television, which produced theComedy Central series Reno 911!. DeVito and wife Rhea Perlman starred together in his 1996 film Matilda, based on Roald Dahl's children's novel. DeVito wasalso one of the producers nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture for Erin Brockovich (2000).In 2017, he earned a Tony Award nomination for BestFeatured Actor in a Play for his performance in the Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's The Price.Early lifeDeVito was born at Raleigh Fitkin-Paul Morgan MemorialHospital in Neptune Township, New Jersey, the son of Daniel DeVito Sr., a small business owner, and Julia DeVito (née Moccello). He grew up in a family of five,with his parents and two older sisters. He is of Italo-Albanian descent; his family is originally from San Fele, Basilicata, as well as from the Arbëresh Albaniancommunity of Calabria. He was raised in Asbury Park, New Jersey. He lived a few miles away from the original Jersey Mike's location and would eat therefrequently, which would  inspire him to become the sub shop's first celebrity spokesman in a line of commercials that began to air in September 2022.DeVito wasraised as a Catholic. When he was 14, he persuaded his father to send him to boarding school to "keep him out of trouble", and graduated from OratoryPreparatory School in Summit, New Jersey, in 1962. While working as a beautician at his sister's salon, his search for a professional makeup instructor led him tothe American Academy of Dramatic Arts, where he graduated in 1966. In his early theater days, he performed with the Colonnades Theater Lab at the EugeneO'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. Along with his future wife Rhea Perlman, he appeared in plays produced by the Westbeth Playwrights FeministCollective.CareerFilm workDeVito played Martini in the 1975 film One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, reprising his role from the 1971 off-Broadway play of thesame title.After his time on the Taxi series ended, DeVito devoted more effort to a growing successful film career, appearing as Vernon Dalhart in the 1983 hitTerms of Endearment; as the comic rogue Ralph in the romantic adventure Romancing the Stone (1984), starring Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner; and itssequel, The Jewel of the Nile (1985). In 1986, DeVito starred in Ruthless People with Bette Midler and Judge Reinhold, and in 1987 he made his feature-directingdebut with the dark comedy Throw Momma from the Train, in which he starred with Billy Crystal and Anne Ramsey. He reunited with Douglas and Turner twoyears later in The War of the Roses (1989), which he directed and in which he co-starred.Other work included Other People's Money with Gregory Peck; directorBarry Levinson's Tin Men, as a rival salesman to Richard Dreyfuss' character; the comedies Junior (1994) and Twins (1988) with Arnold Schwarzenegger; playingthe villain The Penguin in director Tim Burton's Batman Returns (1992); and the film adaptation Matilda (1996), which he directed and co-produced, along withplaying the role of Matilda's father, the villainous car dealer Harry Wormwood.Although generally a comic actor, DeVito expanded into dramatic roles with TheRainmaker (1997); Hoffa (1992), which he directed and in which he co-starred with Jack Nicholson; Jack the Bear (1993); neo-noir film L.A. Confidential (1997);The Big Kahuna (1999); and Heist (2001), as a gangster nemesis of Joe Moore (Gene Hackman).DeVito has an interest in documentaries. In 2006 he began apartnership with Morgan Freeman's company ClickStar, for whom he hosts the documentary channel Jersey Docs. He was also interviewed in the documentaryRevenge of the Electric Car, discussing his interest in and ownership of electric vehicles.TheatreIn April 2012, DeVito made his West End acting debut in a revivalof the Neil Simon play The Sunshine Boys as Willie Clark, alongside Richard Griffiths. It previewed at the Savoy Theatre in London from April 27, 2012, opened onMay 17, and played a limited 12-week season until July 28.DeVito made his Broadway debut in a Roundabout Theatre Company revival of the Arthur Miller playThe Price as Gregory Solomon, for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. The production began preview performances at the American Airlines Theatre onFebruary 16, 2017, and opened on March 16 for a limited run-through on May 7.ProducingDeVito has become a major film and television producer. DeVitofounded Jersey Films in 1991, producing films like Pulp Fiction, Get Shorty, Erin Brockovich (for which he received an Academy Award nomination for BestPicture), Gattaca, and Garden State. In 1999, he produced and co-starred in Man on the Moon, a film about the unusual life of his former Taxi co-star AndyKaufman, played in the film by Jim Carrey. DeVito also produced the Comedy Central series Reno 911!, the film spin-off Reno 911!: Miami, and the revival onQuibi.DirectingDeVito made his directorial debut in 1984 with The Ratings Game. He then directed and starred in Throw Momma from the Train (1987), The Warof the Roses (1989), Hoffa (1992), Matilda (1996), Death to Smoochy (2002) and Duplex (2003). The War of the Roses was a commercial and critical success, aswas the film adaptation of Roald Dahl's Matilda; Death to Smoochy and Duplex had mixed reviews. He also directed the TV movie Queen B in 2005.DeVito hasdirected eight short films between 1973 and 2016, five of which were released across 2010 and 2011. These are The Sound Sleeper (1973), Minestrone (1975),Oh Those Lips (2010), Evil Eye (2010), Poison Tongue (2011), Skin Deep (2011), Nest of Vipers (2011) and Curmudgeons (2016).Television and voice-overworkIn 1977, DeVito played the role of John "John John the Apple" DeAppoliso in the Starsky & Hutch episode "The Collector". DeVito gained fame in 1978 playingLouie De Palma, the short but domineering dispatcher for the fictional Sunshine Cab Company, on the hit TV show Taxi.In 1986, he directed and starred in theblack comedy "The Wedding Ring", a season 2 episode of Steven Spielberg's anthology series Amazing Stories, where his character acquires an engagement ringfor his wife (played by DeVito's real-life wife, actress Rhea Perlman). When the ring is slipped on his wife's finger, she is possessed by the ring's former owner, amurderous black widow. That year, DeVito also voiced the Grundle King in My Little Pony: The Movie. In 1990, he and Rhea Perlman played the couple Vic &Paula, commenting on the state of the environment in The Earth Day Special. In 1991 and 1992, DeVito voiced Herb Powell in The Simpsons episodes "Brother,Can You Spare Two Dimes?" and "Oh Brother, Where Art Thou?". In 2013, he would voice Herb for a third time in the episode "The Changing of the Guardian".In1996, he provided the voice of Mr. Swackhammer in Space Jam. In 1997, he was the voice of Philoctetes in the Disney film Hercules.In 1999, DeVito hosted thelast Saturday Night Live episode before the year 2000. He earned a 2004 Emmy nomination for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series for an episode ofFriends, following four Emmy nominations (including a 1981 win) for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy for Taxi. In 2006, he joined the cast of It'sAlways Sunny in Philadelphia as Frank Reynolds.In 2011, DeVito received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his work in television. In 2012, he voiced thetitle character in the animated version of Dr. Seuss' The Lorax. He appeared in the Angry Birds Friends "Champions for Earth" tournament advertisement inSeptember 2015. Following the Japanese release of the Nintendo 3DS game Detective Pikachu, dedicated Pokémon fans submitted a 40,000-signature petitionrequesting that DeVito be the English voice actor for the title character. However, he declined to audition for the role, commenting that he was unfamiliar with thefranchise.Appearances in other mediaDeVito played a fictional version of himself in the music video of One Direction's song "Steal My Girl". He also appeared inthe short film Curmudgeons, which he also produced and directed.In 2021, DeVito wrote a 12-page story centered on the Penguin and Catwoman for theanthology comic Gotham City Villains.Personal lifeDeVito stands 4 feet 10 inches (1.47 metres) tall. His short stature is the result of multiple epiphyseal dysplasia(Fairbank's disease), a rare genetic disorder that affects bone growth.On January 17, 1971, DeVito met Rhea Perlman when she went to see a friend in the singleperformance of the play The Shrinking Bride, which featured DeVito. They moved in together two weeks later and married on January 28, 1982. They have threechildren: Lucy Chet DeVito (born March 11, 1983), Grace Fan DeVito (born March 1985), and Jacob Daniel DeVito (born October 1987).Perlman and DeVito haveacted alongside each other several times, including in the television show Taxi and the feature film Matilda (where they played Matilda's parents). They separatedin October 2012, after 30 years of marriage and over 40 years together, then reconciled in March 2013. They separated for a second time in March 2017, butremained on amicable terms and Perlman stated they had no intent of filing for divorce. In 2019, Perlman told interviewer Andy Cohen that she and DeVito havebecome closer friends after their separation than they were in their final years as a couple.DeVito and Perlman resided in a 14,579-square-foot (1,354 m2) housein Beverly Hills, California, that they purchased in 1994, until selling it for US$24 million in April 2015. They also own a bungalow near Rodeo Drive in BeverlyHills, and a multi-residence compound on Broad Beach in Malibu. They also frequented a home they owned in Interlaken, New Jersey to get away from LosAngeles.Politically, DeVito is a Democrat and a staunch supporter of Bernie Sanders.FilmographyDeVito has an extensive film career, dating back to the early1970s.Selected work:Awards and nominationsDeVito has a large and varied body of work as an actor, producer and director in stage, television and film. He hasbeen nominated for Academy awards, Creative Arts Emmy awards, Golden Globe awards, Primetime Emmy awards, Producers Guild awards, Screen Actors Guild


Passage 1:Worskla ForestThe Worskla Forest (на Ворскле) is in the Belgorod Oblast of Russia. It is part of the (Sapowednik) Belogorye Nature Reserve.It lies onthe high right side of the Worskla river, between the Worskla and the Gotnja rivers. It covers an area of 1,038 hectares (2,560 acres). Geographically the areabelongs to the southern part of the forest-steppe zone. The nature reserve is bordered to the north-west by the village of Krasny Kutok, to the southeast byBorisovka, and in the north and the south and west by the Worsklatal. On the left bank of the Vorskla, is the village of Dubino (Landsgemeinde Belenkoje). Theterritory of the forest itself is part of the rural community Kryukovo.GeographyThe western, northwestern and southern edges form the river terraces and slopesof Woskla and Loknjatal Rivers. The highest point in the forest at 217 metres (712 ft) is located in the northeastern part of the forest. The lowest point (137metres (449 ft)) is located in Worsklatal. Through the forest run numerous small gullies that are called in this region "Jar".In the forest there are no springs andwatercourses although the forest is quite wet at the beginning of spring, after the snow melts, flowing rivulets at the bottom of canyons. The rivers Vorskla,Gotnja and Loknja flow along the forest edge for a distance of 10 to 900 metres (33 to 2,953 ft).On the territory of the forest there is no natural pond. Only in theprotection zone of the nature reserve, in the Worsklatalaue, there are small backwaters. In the 20th century, ponds were built in the Klosterrunse whose damsbroke through snow meltwater. Only a pond remained at the top of the gully.SoilsThe soils of the forest at the Vorskla developed on different parent materials,especially on the loam, which is found in the eastern half of the forest. In the northwestern part of the forest, old alluvium sands play a role. They are distributedon the river terraces of Gotnja and Loknja. At the southern and south-eastern edge of the forest an oligozänischer sandy loam is common parent rock. In someplaces in the southern part of the forest, a rust-colored clay comes out. The oligozänische sandy loam and the rust-colored clay are the starting materials of soilformation, where erosion has removed the loess. Under the oligozänischen clay are rocks from the Cretaceous, which do not appear on the surface in the territoryof the forest.Here 20 different soil types are distinguished. They differ on the degree of podsolisation and the humus content. All floors of the Forest on theVorskla are based on the Russian soil classification from 1977 about the types of gray forest soils.  According to the USDA soil classification they belong to the Alfisols, after the German soil classification if they were classified as Luvisols.HistoryUntil the 17th century, the Worskla forest was a part of an undivided oak forestthat stretched along the high right bank of the Vorskla River. Forest was used as a natural barrier against depredations of the Tartars. Therefore, logging of thewoods was strictly forbidden. At the end of the 17th century, however, the Tartar threat had diminished.In the Early 18th century the forest was protected frombeing cut down by regulations of Peter I. In 1701, the deforestation along the rivers was banned, then in 1703, the ban was extended to the small rivers. Theedict included a ban on grazing and oaks, pines, maples and elms with trunk thicknesses of more than 54 centimetres (21 in) were excluded from felling.In 1705the forest was owned by Count Boris Sheremetev who created a conservation area and hunting reserve. In 1714 Count Sheremetev founded a nunnery inBorisovka on the edge of the forest, today it is a nature reserve.In the 1880s and 1890s the first major deforestation in the fourth section of the forest and in thenorthern part of the tenth section the deforestation continued into the 20th century.After the October Revolution, the forest on the Vorskla was in danger withfelling beginning in 1917, with grazing and vegetable gardens being introduced. Larger native animals almost disappeared.It fell to the entomologist Malyshev tobegin a movement to save the forest. He knew the forest at the Vorskla from the time before the revolution when as a student he undertook entomologicalresearch there. In 1919 he wrote appeals to various authorities. He also appeared in the People's Assembly of the residents of Borisovka and made propagandawork for forest conservation in schools and village libraries. His efforts were successful, and after the establishment of Zoopsychologischen Station (in 1922) theforest was made a nature reserve in 1924.  Malyshev organized the protection of forests. In the nature reserve began scientific research, the nature reserve, theNatural History Museum was founded. In Russian and Germany  scientific journals first article on the forest at the Vorskla were published. However, Malyshev wassubject to a political witch-hunt under Joseph Stalin and he was dismissed from his role at the Nature Reserve and in 1934, Malyshev was transported toLeningrad.In 1934 the forest was transferred to control of Leningrad University. During World War II, the forest fell under German occupation who felled tens ofthousands of trees. During the Battle of Kursk, trenches were laid out in the forest, causing soil erosion, which can be seen to this day.In 1994, the NatureReserve of the University of St. Petersburg was handed over to the Ministry of Natural Resources. Today an area of 160 hectares (400 acres), is the only forestwith 300-year-old oak trees to have survived in the European part of the former Soviet Union.GalleryPassage 2:Pearl AirwaysPearl Airways or Pearl AirwaysCompagne Haitienne was an airline based in Haiti.Passage 3:Olavina UdugoreOlavina Udugore is a 1987 Indian Kannada-language film directed, written andco-produced by D. Rajendra Babu. The film stars Ambareesh, Manjula Sharma and Ramakrishna. The music was composed by M. Ranga Rao and the script waswritten by B. L. Venu.CastAmbareesh as SureshIlavarasi(Manjula Sharma) as Suma and Uma (Dual Role)Leelavathi as Rathnamma, Suresh's MotherRamakrishnaas Ramesh, Suresh's CousinKeerthiraj as PrathapBalakrishna as RagannaDinesh as Shridhara Raya, Suma's Adoptive FatherN. S. Rao as Baalu, Suresh'sClassmateUmashree as Baby, Suresh's ClassmateShanthammaSoundtrackAll songs were composed by M. Ranga Rao, with lyrics by R. N. Jayagopal andShyamasundara Kulkarni. The album consists of five tracks. The title song will recreated for his son's debut film AmarAwardsFilmfare Award for Best Actor -Kannada - AmbareeshPassage 4:Operation LeopardLa légion saute sur Kolwezi, also known as Operation Leopard, is a French war film directed by Raoul Coutardand filmed in French Guiana. The script is based on the true story of the Battle of Kolwezi that happened in 1978. It was diligently described in a book of the samename by former 1st Foreign Parachute Regiment Captain Pierre Sergent. He published his book in 1979, and the film came out in 1980. Coutard shot the film in adocumentary style.PlotThe film is based on true events. In 1978, approximately 3,000 heavily armed fighters from Katanga crossed the border to the Zaire andmarched into Kolwezi, a mining centre for copper and cobalt. They took 3,000 civilians as hostages. Within a few days, between 90 and 280 hostages were killed.The rebels appeared to be unpredictable and are reported to have threatened to annihilate all civilians.Mobutu Sese Seko, Zaire's head of state, urged Belgium,France and the United States to help. France sent the Foreign Legion's 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment, which were flown from Corsica to Kolwezi. Following theirarrival, they secured the perimeter, in co-operation with Belgian soldiers from Zaire, and then started to evacuate the civilians. Within two days more than 2,000Europeans and about 3,000 African citizens were saved. The film strives to depict the events in a dramatised form, concentrating on the Europeans'plight.ProductionThe late Jean Seberg had filmed scenes on location for the film, but her death caused her to be replaced by another French American actress,Mimsy Farmer, who reshot Seberg's scenes.CastBruno Cremer: Pierre DelbartJacques Perrin:Ambassador BerthierLaurent Malet: Phillipe DenrémontPierreVaneck: Colonel GrasserMimsy Farmer: Annie DevrindtGiuliano Gemma: Adjudant FédéricoRobert Etcheverry : Colonel DubourgJean-Claude Bouillon :MauroisPassage 5:A Pearl in the ForestA Pearl in the Forest (Mongolian: Мойлхон, Moilkhon, Buckthorn) is a 2008 Mongolian historical film.This is a story about ayoung couple whose newly planned life was destroyed by the impact of the Great Purge of 1934–1938 in Mongolia.The main goal of this movie was to provide atestimony for the many Buryats and Mongolians who were persecuted during the Great Purges initiated by Joseph Stalin. In 1937 and 1938, many people, andeven entire families, were killed after being wrongfully accused of conspiracies.The movie was shot on location near the Buryat village of Dadal in the Khentiiprovince of Mongolia. The acting and other participation of many local villagers was a great addition to the authenticity of the film.SynopsisIn the 1930s inMongolia, a former villager returns as a government informer, and is determined to use his authority to crush a village in order to take by force what he cannotwin by love: a young woman who is engaged to another man.CastBayarmaa Baatar : SendemZolboot Gombo : MarkhaaNarankhuu Khatanbaatar : DugarG.Altanshagai : SodnomPassage 6:Cristaria (bivalve)Cristaria is a genus of freshwater mussels or pearl mussels, aquatic bivalve mollusks in the familyUnionidae.SpeciesSpecies in the genus Cristaria include:Cristaria beirensisCristaria plicataCristaria radiataCristaria tenuisCristaria truncataHuman relevanceInChina, one of the species in this genus, Cristaria plicata is "one of the most important freshwater mussels for pearl production" in the country. It is also used formedicinal purposes.Passage 7:Pearl in the CrownPearl in the Crown (Polish: Perła w koronie) is a 1972 Polish drama film directed by Kazimierz Kutz. It wasentered into the 1972 Cannes Film Festival. The film was also selected as the Polish entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 45th Academy Awards, butwas not accepted as a nominee.PlotThe film takes place in August 1934 in the Polish part of Upper Silesia. The film tells the story of a strike in the fictional mine"Zygmunt". Jaś, a young miner who works in the mine in question, has a wife and two young sons. Jaś comes home from shift. The next day he learns that theunprofitable mine is to be closed by flooding with water. A strike breaks out. Families help the strikers, despite the fact that the mine is surrounded by a policecordon. Petitions to the Government remain unanswered, the management persists, so the miners announce a hunger strike. The police retaliate by violentlybreaking up the demonstration. The determined miners decide to continue the strike underground despite the imminent threat of the mine being flooded, as perthe original plan.  Finally though, the management signs a settlement, and the miners come to the surface and they go back to their families.CastŁucja Kowolik -WiktaOlgierd Łukaszewicz - JasJan Englert - Erwin MaliniokFranciszek Pieczka - Hubert SierszaJerzy Cnota - August MolBernard Krawczyk - Franciszek


Passage 1:Olav AaraasOlav Aaraas (born 10 July 1950) is a Norwegian historian and museum director.He was born in Fredrikstad. From 1982 to 1993 he was thedirector of Sogn Folk Museum, from 1993 to 2010 he was the director of Maihaugen and from 2001 he has been the director of the Norwegian Museum of CulturalHistory. In 2010 he was decorated with the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav.Passage 2:John DonatichJohn Donatich is the Director of Yale UniversityPress.Early lifeHe received a BA from New York University in 1982, graduating magna cum laude. He also got a master's degree from NYU in 1984, graduatingsumma cum laude.CareerDonatich worked as director of National Accounts at Putnam Publishing Group from 1989 to 1992.His writing has appeared in variousperiodicals including Harper's, The Atlantic Monthly and The Village Voice.He worked at HarperCollins from 1992 to 1996, serving as director of national accountsand then as vice president and director of product and marketing development.From 1995 to 2003, Donatich served as publisher and vice president of BasicBooks. While there, he started the Art of Mentoring series of books, which would run from 2001 to 2008.  While at Basic Books, Donatich published such authorsas Christopher Hitchens, Steven Pinker, Samantha Power, Alan Dershowitz, Sir Martin Rees and Richard Florida.In 2003, Donatich became the director of the YaleUniversity Press.  At Yale, Donatich published such authors as Michael Walzer, Janet Malcolm, E. H. Gombrich, Michael Fried, Edmund Morgan and T.J.  Clark.  Donatich began the Margellos World Republic of Letters, a literature in translation series that published such authors as Adonis, Norman Manea andClaudio Magris. He also launched the digital archive platform, The Stalin Digital Archive and the Encounters Chinese Language multimedia platform.In 2009, hebriefly gained media attention when he was involved in the decision to expunge the Muhammad cartoons from the Yale University Press book The Cartoons thatShook the World, for fear of Muslim violence.He is the author of a memoir, Ambivalence, a Love Story, and a novel, The Variations.BooksAmbivalence, a LoveStory: Portrait of a Marriage (memoir), St. Martin's Press, 2005.The Variations (novel), Henry Holt, March, 2012ArticlesWhy Books Still Matter, Journal ofScholarly Publishing, Volume 40, Number 4, July 2009, pp. 329–342, E-ISSN 1710-1166 Print ISSN 1198-9742Personal lifeDonatich is married to Betsy Lerner, aliterary agent and author; together they have a daughter, Raffaella.Passage 3:Dana BlanksteinDana Blankstein-Cohen (born March 3, 1981) is the executivedirector of the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School. She was appointed by the board of directors  in November 2019.  Previously she was the CEO of theIsraeli Academy of Film and Television. She is a film director, and an Israeli culture entrepreneur.BiographyDana Blankstein was born in Switzerland in 1981 totheatre director Dedi Baron and Professor Alexander Blankstein. She moved to Israel in 1983 and grew up in Tel Aviv.Blankstein graduated from the Sam SpiegelFilm and Television School, Jerusalem in 2008 with high honors. During her studies she worked as a personal assistant to directors Savi Gabizon on his film Nina'sTragedies and to Renen Schorr on his film The Loners.  She also directed and shot 'the making of' film on Gavison's film Lost and Found. Her debut film Campingcompeted at the Berlin International Film Festival, 2007.Film and academic careerAfter her studies, Dana founded and directed the film and television departmentat the Kfar Saba municipality. The department encouraged and promoted productions filmed in the city of Kfar Saba, as well as the established cultural projects,and educational community activities.Blankstein directed the mini-series "Tel Aviviot" (2012). From 2016-2019 was the director of the Israeli Academy of Filmand Television.In November 2019 Dana Blankstein Cohen was appointed the new director of the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School where she also overseesthe Sam Spiegel International Film Lab. In 2022, she spearheaded the launch of the new Series Lab and the film preparatory program for Arabic speakers in eastJerusalem.FilmographyTel Aviviot (mini-series; director, 2012)Growing Pains (graduation film, Sam Spiegel; director and screenwriter, 2008)Camping (debutfilm, Sam Spiegel; director and screenwriter, 2006)Passage 4:Michael GovanMichael Govan (born 1963) is the director of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.Prior to his current position, Govan worked as the director of the Dia Art Foundation in New York City.Early life and educationGovan was born in 1963 in NorthAdams, Massachusetts, and was raised in the Washington D.C. area, attending Sidwell Friends School.He majored in art history and fine arts at Williams College,where he met Thomas Krens, who was then director of the Williams College Museum of Art. Govan became closely involved with the museum, serving as actingcurator as an undergraduate. After receiving his B.A. from Williams in 1985, Govan began an MFA in fine arts from the University of California, SanDiego.CareerAs a twenty-five year old graduate student, Govan was recruited by his former mentor at Williams, Thomas Krens, who in 1988 had been appointeddirector of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Govan served as deputy director of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum under Krens from 1988 to 1994, aperiod that culminated in the construction and opening of the Frank Gehry designed Guggenheim branch in Bilbao, Spain. Govan supervised the reinstallation ofthe museum's permanent collection galleries after its extensive renovation.Dia Art FoundationFrom 1994 to 2006, Govan was president and director of Dia ArtFoundation in New York City. There, he spearheaded the conversion of a Nabisco box factory into the 300,000 square foot Dia:Beacon in New York's HudsonValley, which houses Dia's collection of art from the 1960s to the present. Built in a former Nabisco box factory, the critically acclaimed museum has beencredited with catalyzing a cultural and economic revival within the formerly factory-based city of Beacon. Dia's collection nearly doubled in size during Govan'stenure, but he also came under criticism for "needlessly and permanently" closing Dia's West 22nd Street building. During his time at Dia, Govan also workedclosely with artists James Turrell and Michael Heizer, becoming an ardent supporter of Roden Crater and City, the artists' respective site-specific land art projectsunder construction in the American southwest. Govan successfully lobbied Washington to have the 704,000 acres in central Nevada surrounding City declared anational monument in 2015.LACMAIn February 2006, a search committee composed of eleven LACMA trustees, led by the late Nancy M. Daly, recruited Govan torun the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Govan has stated that he was drawn to the role not only because of LACMA's geographical distance from its Europeanand east coast peers, but also because of the museum's relative youth, having been established in 1961. "I felt that because of this newness I had theopportunity to reconsider the museum," Govan has written, "[and] Los Angeles is a good place to do that."Govan has been widely regarded for transformingLACMA into both a local and international landmark. Since Govan's arrival, LACMA has acquired by donation or purchase over 27,000 works for the permanentcollection, and the museum's gallery space has almost doubled thanks to the addition of two new buildings designed by Renzo Piano, the Broad Contemporary ArtMuseum (BCAM) and the Lynda and Stewart Resnick Pavilion. LACMA's annual attendance has grown from 600,000 to nearly 1.6 million in 2016.ArtistcollaborationsSince his arrival, Govan has commissioned exhibition scenography and gallery designs in collaboration with artists. In 2006, for example, Govaninvited LA artist John Baldessari to design an upcoming exhibition about the Belgian surrealist René Magritte, resulting in a theatrical show that reflected thetwisted perspective of the latter's topsy-turvy world. Baldessari has also designed LACMA's logo. Since then, Govan has also commissioned Cuban-American artistJorge Pardo to design LACMA's Art of the Ancient Americas gallery, described in the Los Angeles Times as a "gritty cavern deep inside the earth ... crossed with ahigh-style urban lounge."Govan has also commissioned several large-scale public artworks for LACMA's campus from contemporary California artists. Theseinclude Chris Burden's Urban Light (2008), a series of 202 vintage street lamps from different neighborhoods in Los Angeles, arranged in front of the entrancepavilion, Barbara Kruger's Untitled (Shafted) (2008), Robert Irwin's Primal Palm Garden (2010), and Michael Heizer's Levitated Mass, a 340-ton bouldertransported 100 miles from the Jurupa Valley to LACMA, a widely publicized journey that culminated with a large celebration on Wilshire Boulevard. Thanks in partto the popularity of these public artworks, LACMA was ranked the fourth most instagrammed museum in the world in 2016.In his first three full years, themuseum raised $251 million—about $100 million more than it collected during the three years before he arrived. In 2010, it was announced that Govan will steerLACMA for at least six more years. In a letter dated February 24, 2013, Govan, along with the LACMA board's co-chairmen Terry Semel and Andrew Gordon,proposed a merger with the financially troubled Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and a plan to raise $100 million for the combined museum.ZumthorProjectGovan's latest project is an ambitious building project, the replacement of four of the campus's aging buildings with a single new state of the art gallerybuilding designed by architect Peter Zumthor. As of January 2017, he has raised about $300 million in commitments. Construction is expected to begin in 2018,and the new building will open in 2023, to coincide with the opening of the new D Line metro stop on Wilshire Boulevard. The project also envisages dissolving allexisting curatorial departments and departmental collections. Some commentators have been highly critical of Govan's plans. Joseph Giovannini, recallingGovan's technically unrealizable onetime plan to hang Jeff Koons' Train sculpture from the facade of the Ahmanson Gallery, has accused Govan of "driving theinstitution over a cliff into an equivalent mid-air wreck of its own". Describing the collection merging proposal as the creation of a "giant raffle bowl of some130,000 objects", Giovannini also points out that the Zumthor building will contain 33% less gallery space than the galleries it will replace, and that the linearfootage of wall space available for displays will decrease by about 7,500 ft, or 1.5 miles. Faced with losing a building named in its honor, and anticipating that itsacquisitions could no longer be displayed, the Ahmanson Foundation withdrew its support.On the merging of the separate curatorial divisions to create anon-departmental art museum, Christopher Knight has pointed out that "no other museum of LACMA's size and complexity does it" that way, and characterizedthe museum's 2019 "To Rome and Back" exhibition, the first to take place under the new scheme, as "bland and ineffectual" and an "unsuccessful sample of